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Hello! I am new here, and plan to mostly do some research and learning to help 2 friends.
Both of them have come to me with late 90's Vulcans. One an 800, and the other a 500. Both bikes have had hard lives with outside storage, disuse with gas in the tanks and carbs for *years*, and numerous other complaints.
The 1998 500 sat stored outside uncovered for an undetermined amount of time, was got running just enough, and sold to the friend before I could give my 2 cents. He rode it around for about 15 miles with what I guessed to be at least 3 quarts of gasoline in the crankcase. The carbs are pretty bad inside. We got them rebuilt and they seem to be holding gas for now. They need to be balanced badly. There is also now coolant leaking from a weephole on the right side of the cylinder that I am reading is a bad O-Ring? I'm hoping to learn a bit about that, too.
The 1997 800 is in better shape. It was stored indoors, but with gas in the carburetors for 3 years. Turn signals were also dead, but I found a burned out bulb and a blown fuse. After a fresh battery and an oil change, it started but wouldn't idle. He ran with fresh gas for a few miles and so far it seems to have cleared up for the most part. I'm probably going to leave those carbs alone for fear of opening them and "fixing" what isn't broken at the moment. Some stones are best left unturned. His main complaint is the headlamp being mostly worthless. I'd like to find out what LED unit you guys are using the most of and get it installed for him.
As for myself, I have owned many bikes over the years. Everything from mid-70's Yamaha triples to a mid-90's Ural and everything in between. My current rides are a 2007 V-Star 1300, a 2020 Zongshen enduro, and a 1980 Honda Twinstar. Looking forward to reading a lot here and getting these two guys into the wind.
Thanks.
Both of them have come to me with late 90's Vulcans. One an 800, and the other a 500. Both bikes have had hard lives with outside storage, disuse with gas in the tanks and carbs for *years*, and numerous other complaints.
The 1998 500 sat stored outside uncovered for an undetermined amount of time, was got running just enough, and sold to the friend before I could give my 2 cents. He rode it around for about 15 miles with what I guessed to be at least 3 quarts of gasoline in the crankcase. The carbs are pretty bad inside. We got them rebuilt and they seem to be holding gas for now. They need to be balanced badly. There is also now coolant leaking from a weephole on the right side of the cylinder that I am reading is a bad O-Ring? I'm hoping to learn a bit about that, too.
The 1997 800 is in better shape. It was stored indoors, but with gas in the carburetors for 3 years. Turn signals were also dead, but I found a burned out bulb and a blown fuse. After a fresh battery and an oil change, it started but wouldn't idle. He ran with fresh gas for a few miles and so far it seems to have cleared up for the most part. I'm probably going to leave those carbs alone for fear of opening them and "fixing" what isn't broken at the moment. Some stones are best left unturned. His main complaint is the headlamp being mostly worthless. I'd like to find out what LED unit you guys are using the most of and get it installed for him.
As for myself, I have owned many bikes over the years. Everything from mid-70's Yamaha triples to a mid-90's Ural and everything in between. My current rides are a 2007 V-Star 1300, a 2020 Zongshen enduro, and a 1980 Honda Twinstar. Looking forward to reading a lot here and getting these two guys into the wind.
Thanks.
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