New Here, few questions

[lafusmaximus]

Hey Guys. I have been lurking around here for a few weeks after I just got my first Buell, an 05 XB9R. I got the bike really cheap and it is pretty clean, 15k miles, and I paid $2500 for it. I have been going through it, and it has a few cosmetic mods (aftermarket undertail with led lights, zero gravity windscreen, carbon fiber frame covers), but nothing mechanical at all except a home made muffler that is going to be replaced pretty soon cause it looks like crap. Alright, on to the questions. I know the bike had been sitting for about 5 months without being run before I got it, so I knew the gas was really stale and it ran alright when I got it but there was a lot of hesitation on throttle transition which I attributed to the old gas and probably bad plugs. Today I finally got around to draining the old gas out of it, disconnected the fuel line from the throttle body and used the pump to empty it into a can. The first thing I noticed is that as I emptied the tank, the fuel light never came on, but all the other dash lights work. Is it common for these bulbs to burn out or should I be looking deeper into the fuel system? So I put new gas and some stabil into it because I know it will be sitting a little while longer, and now it will not start, but I am pretty sure I fouled the plugs trying to start it yesterday with the old gas in it. I also noticed that my rear cylinder rocker box has some oil residue on the top of it, but I am not sure it is leaking from the rocker box gaskets because there is zero oil running down the sides of the rocker boxes or onto the jugs, it is all on top of the rocker covers. It seems to be coming from the breather maybe, anyone ever see that? I am going to be doing the breather re-route really soon, the thing has run 15k miles with the stock breather config. In the mean time I cleaned off as much of the rocker cover as I could to see how much oil is leaking in the near future. I really don't know much about the maintenance history on the bike because the guy I got it from bought it from an auction with 3 other xb's last year and then he never did anything with it. Anything else I should look for? I know I will probably have a lot more questions, but I have learned a lot so far from reading through this forum, lot of great info here! Thanks a lot in advance!

Lafe

 

[lafusmaximus]

 

[lafusmaximus]

 

[njdevils1990]

looks nice and you got a good deal. i just picked up an 03 9r yesterday and im happy i did. When you put new gas in the tank and tried to start it did the fuel pump prime when you turned the key and kill switch to run?

 

[lafusmaximus]

yeah it did, I did a few primer bursts to make sure it primed all the way to the throttle body, and I definitely heard the pump prime. I am pretty positive it will start with new plugs, I hope anyway haha.

 

[lafusmaximus]

As you can see by the one pic, the lever on the shift shaft was reversed by the original owner to reverse the shift pattern. The guy I got the bike from noticed that at the auction that he got it from and took advantage of the fact that the auction didn't know that, because the auction advertised it as not having any gears over first because when they went to upshift from first to second, they were actually downshifting from second to first and I guess they didn't figure it out. The guy I got it from forgot to tell me that when I jumped on it in the parking lot, and I put it into what I thought was first and I was like "holy crap this thing is geared high" haha. Don't know why you would want to reverse the pattern like that, but that was the first thing I did was flip it back around.

 

[agfish18]

Don't know why you would want to reverse the pattern like that

a lot of people who race, reverse the pattern so that they can upshift going around a corner. if they stick their toe below the shift peg, and are in that much of a lean, their foot may get scuffed by the ground. When you race, the balls of your feet are what is on the peg, not the arch...when you lean too much that peg gets awful close to the ground. I have a nice rub mark on one of my boots from when I first started out at track days.

notice how the pegs nearly scrape the ground in the lean.

 

[J_Undisputed]

You mean It has a GP shift pattern? reversed? I think that pattern is primarily used for racers. So when you're in a lean, you can upshift without trying to hook your foot under the pedal and possibly trapping it between the bike/shifter and the ground.

 

[lafusmaximus]

gotcha, as you can tell I am not a racer haha. That makes a lot of sense though.

 

[agfish18]

I have been lurking around here for a few weeks

on a side note.... I always love it when people say they've been lurking... seems kinda creepy, reminds me of a Dane Cook stand-up joke about how him and his girlfriend used to concoct these scenes where he was a burgler and she was an innocent girl home all alone. He said it was always odd "lurking outside of my own house."

 

[lafusmaximus]

haha, I know, it sounds pretty sketchy. I only call it that because other forums I am a member of in different hobbies call people who look but don't post lurkers. Hope you don't get the wrong impression haha.

 

[lafusmaximus]

well, I got the new ngk iridium plugs in there and did the breather re-route. Bike started right up and ran great. There is a stumble in the transition on the low end, but there is a crack in the initial bend on the home built muffler that I think is the culprit. Also just rebuilt the fork legs, the right oil seal was leaking, but I rebuilt both legs, oil seals, dust seals, bushings, o-rings, the whole bit. Feel better knowing what the status of everything is. The DIY vids are very helpful! I found the front spark plug to be pretty easy to remove with a gear wrench with the left side scoop removed, I just couldn't get the angle on it with a universal joint on an extension.

 

[agfish18]

Hope you don't get the wrong impression haha.

no worries. I know what you mean, I just think it is an odd term to use, but at the same time I suppose it fits.

glad your bike seems to be running nice. It is probably beneficial to do the work to both forks as they have undoubtedly been through the same kind of work if one is leaking, the other one is bound to start any day.

 

[Bossanova]

Welcome to the forum. Nice looking bike! I like the look of the tail light lense- headlight projectors? You may have sorted these issues out but if not-

The first thing I noticed is that as I emptied the tank, the fuel light never came on, but all the other dash lights work. Is it common for these bulbs to burn out or should I be looking deeper into the fuel system?

When you first turn your key on it should display or cycle all the warning/indicator lights. If you see the light illuminated, of course it is not burned out. My 09 XB fuel light is kind of slow to react and will light up when it has been sitting on the side stand and extinguish a few miles down the road, later lighting up again when it reaches the real low level to trigger the switch. It also is slow it extinguish after filling up the tank and takes a few miles to do so.

It seems to be coming from the breather maybe, anyone ever see that?

These will weep and leak if not properly seated. Also known to leak bad enough to short the cooling fan. When you do the reroute, make sure they feel like they are seated and the hoses are not in a bind and unseating them.

 

[RiderX]

oil seep might be from a bad breather mod. i went to do mine after i got the bike and noticed that the idiot that had it b4 me just cut the line and zip tied it pointing back at the rear spring.

so nice of him to try and oil the tire anyhow fixed that, but i do think some breather cray got into the fan works cause i'm starting to short out

getting a used bike = go through the whole dame thing