will pattison
Sponsoring Member
- Jul 24, 2000
- 439
- 0
i almost forgot to tell you guys this one.
one of my good buddies bought a yzf250 late last year, and has been loving it. he trail rides and runs in the +50 intermediate class at the cross country events here in nor-tex. now, skip is a good rider, but he's not wringing the machine out like a lot of pilots. in other words, this machine hasn't been abused. it's also pretty trick, with an fmf pipe, custom wheels, and a carbon fiber airbox.
in fact, he'd had no trouble at all up to the point several weeks ago when he was out warming up his scooter for a sunday cruise. the bike fired right up, and skipper set out at a nice idle down an easy trail. before long he came to a more technical section - a sharp right hander that involved a short climb. with flywheel weight in full effect, he began to ease up towards the top, when without warning, the bike made a clanking noise and died. fearing the worst, skip kicked a few times, but to no avail. you know how that day ended...a hot sweaty push back to the truck and a disappointed feeling at what might have been, combined with the dread of what might actually be.
after some discussion several days later with the techno-types, skip was convinced that he might have a chunk of carbon stuck in a valve. the advice was to pull the carb and the pipe, open the respective valves, and blast through them with contact cleaner. he did, and much to his relief, the bike fired right up and ran great...for about 2 minutes. at that point, it again made the death noise and quit.
well, what followed was several weeks of warranty related gnashing of teeth, during which the dealer informed him that he would have to pay all labor*. not wanting to do that, skip made arrangements to disassemble the motor himself, bring in the affected parts, and make a trade for good ones. well he did. he removed the valve cover. no damage.
now, remember that carbon fiber airbox? turns out those units don't fit just perfectly, and as it turns out, skip had to trim a bit of material off his left side panel during installation. well, it wasn't until he pulled the head off and found a the 1" LONG CHUNK OF PLASTIC wedged firmly underneath one of his EXHAUST VALVES!!:scream:
the moral of this story of course, is that you never know how much trouble a little trim may cause...:p
oh, about the * earlier: YAMAHA REIMBURSES ALL LABOR COSTS TO ANY DEALER THAT DOES WARRANTY WORK. NEVER LET THEM CHARGE YOU FOR IT!!
one of my good buddies bought a yzf250 late last year, and has been loving it. he trail rides and runs in the +50 intermediate class at the cross country events here in nor-tex. now, skip is a good rider, but he's not wringing the machine out like a lot of pilots. in other words, this machine hasn't been abused. it's also pretty trick, with an fmf pipe, custom wheels, and a carbon fiber airbox.
in fact, he'd had no trouble at all up to the point several weeks ago when he was out warming up his scooter for a sunday cruise. the bike fired right up, and skipper set out at a nice idle down an easy trail. before long he came to a more technical section - a sharp right hander that involved a short climb. with flywheel weight in full effect, he began to ease up towards the top, when without warning, the bike made a clanking noise and died. fearing the worst, skip kicked a few times, but to no avail. you know how that day ended...a hot sweaty push back to the truck and a disappointed feeling at what might have been, combined with the dread of what might actually be.
after some discussion several days later with the techno-types, skip was convinced that he might have a chunk of carbon stuck in a valve. the advice was to pull the carb and the pipe, open the respective valves, and blast through them with contact cleaner. he did, and much to his relief, the bike fired right up and ran great...for about 2 minutes. at that point, it again made the death noise and quit.
well, what followed was several weeks of warranty related gnashing of teeth, during which the dealer informed him that he would have to pay all labor*. not wanting to do that, skip made arrangements to disassemble the motor himself, bring in the affected parts, and make a trade for good ones. well he did. he removed the valve cover. no damage.
now, remember that carbon fiber airbox? turns out those units don't fit just perfectly, and as it turns out, skip had to trim a bit of material off his left side panel during installation. well, it wasn't until he pulled the head off and found a the 1" LONG CHUNK OF PLASTIC wedged firmly underneath one of his EXHAUST VALVES!!:scream:
the moral of this story of course, is that you never know how much trouble a little trim may cause...:p
oh, about the * earlier: YAMAHA REIMBURSES ALL LABOR COSTS TO ANY DEALER THAT DOES WARRANTY WORK. NEVER LET THEM CHARGE YOU FOR IT!!
