Bunch of (probably) stupid questions.

I have a couple of questions… hope they aren’t too stupid.

HISTORY: I’ve been riding bikes since I was 5 and had my license since I was 18, but never got into the mechanical side of things. Never had the confidence plus I always figured at the speed I like to ride, I would rather a pro did my servicing and any mechanical repairs etc so I knew I could stop, turn and go without my bike falling apart.
However now I want to try doing some things on my 02’ ZX9 myself.

Can I disconnect the clutch; neutral and side stand alarms/cut out switch and some how earth them so the bike thinks they are connected? Actually I don’t mind the side stand or clutch ones too much, but the neutral one frustrates the crap out of me…

Why are after market air filters (ie: K&N) better for your bike? how are they different or better than OEM?
Why is a carbon fibre air box so much better? Or is it just the weight savings?

Working on after market air filters being better, is it the same for oil filters? If so what type or brand should I get? I have heard about oil filters that are steel mesh inside rather than paper. Are these better? Does the same go for fuel filters?

Due to poor health, my bike has been just sitting in the shed for a few months and only been started a couple of times… yet before it was put in the shed it just had a service… do I need to change the oil again before I use the bike again? I’ve been told about condensation getting into the oil.
If that is the case, what is the best oil for my bike? I see a lot of people are all for Motul 5100.
I was reading my newly purchased Haynes service and repair manual and it gives me 4 grades of viscosity to use, SAE 10W40, 10W50, 20W40 or 20W50. What is best? What do all the numbers mean?

Are the Haynes manuals accurate when they give the difficulty rating of performing the different tasks in the book.

Any hints, tips, suggestions or constructive comments in regards to servicing etc that I can do myself to my bike would be greatly appreciated.
Of course if there is a backyard mechanical master in the Brisbane area willing to impart some of his/her knowledge on me, I’d be more than happy to become a student.

There are alot of online manual floating around but a printed haynes manual definitely more handy.

I learnt in the order of Changing oil -> changing brakes -> some electrical stuff -> replace fork seal -> replace shims -> replace chain. They all went ok except now I don't trust torque wrench, snapped a bolt ... Just plain old spanner (correct size & length!)

I don't think it's too hard after 2nd or 3rd time. In fact I'd get lazier everytime and not doing it in time (eg. oil change) especially in my cold damp garage.

I have a couple of questions… hope they aren’t too stupid.
Can I disconnect the clutch; neutral and side stand alarms/cut out switch and some how earth them so the bike thinks they are connected? Actually I don’t mind the side stand or clutch ones too much, but the neutral one frustrates the crap out of me…

Just breifly:

You would have an open circuit for the side stand one so just (if you are willing) cut the 2 wires & join them together similar to the others they are either an open circuit or closed so just try joining them or separating them, BUT these switches are there for a reason..... SAFETY so I would think twice about doing it.

as for the oil your owners manual should recommend a certain viscosity oil so stick with that & you have not stated how long the bike has been sitting ... 6 months the oil should be fine

as for the aftermarket manuals they are accurate & can be trusted ... they tend to have more DIY info than the genuine ones.... good luck with the work

No one seems to have touched on filters, so I'll have a crack...........

K&N (and other high performance) air filters are designed to reduce the restriction on air flow. In simple terms they let more air through. This in turn means it takes less effort for the engine to get air the same volume of air (engines suck the air using compression), but the engine always uses the same effort, so it gets more air. However, as there is more air in the fuel/air mix, adjustments have to be made to the fueling to get the correct mix. More air and more fuel = more power.

Oil filters work on a similar principle; engine used some of its effort to drive an oil pump, and the pistons use some of their energy to move oil too. Oil fliters basically strain the oil. Pushing a viscous fluid through a strainer takes great effort. The principle with a high flow oil filter is it uses a different type of filtration. The idea is still to trap debris in the oil, only at a higher flow rate, thus less effort for the engine = more effort available to power the rear wheel.

I believe, that these are designed to work best on track, and probably don't work as well as standard filters (this is my opinion and I may be wrong). The extreme revs will kill a race engine before air or oil particles do, but in high milage road bikes, stock filters may help prolong the life of the engine and gearbox.

The numbers on oil.........

Oil is designed to have a set viscosity for it's application. However, that viscosity changes with ambient temperature. To combate changing seasonal temperatures, multigrade oils keep their viscosity through a varied range of ambient temperatures, which is displayed on the bottle as tempwinter(W)/temp summer. So were you to live in Melbourne, a 10W40 would work well - it doesn't often drop below 10 degrees in winter and hardly ever gets over 40 degrees in summer. In Brisvagas you might use 20W50 in Taz a 5W30 might be more appropriate.

For bikes sitting a long time.....

You may want to replace the fuel, or at least drain 1/2 the tank and use fresh fuel - pertrol goes stale and doesn't work so well after a while. Keeping the tank full will stop the inside of the tank rusting.

Keeping you bettery on a trickle charger will help it, or it will drop too low and not hold charge very well. Also makes those colds starts easier with a fully charged battery.

Keep the chain lubed, once rust gets in it's a bugger to get working smoothly again

When you start the bike, make sure it gets fully warm to get oil around the whole engine. I also put it in gear (on the race stand) and go through all gears, just to make sure the whole gear box is lubricated.

If you can, keep the tyres off concrete - it kills the rubber. Either use race stands or put a square of mat under each tyre.

Putting a rag in the exhaust and air box intakes will help prevent you shed inhabitants crawling into the engine and building their home.

Hope that helps

Cheers

Mike

Re clutch/neutral/stand switches-

I disconnected the stand switch on the Geepa 1 coz it was rooted and kept cutting the engine out while riding 2 coz it's a budget rebuild.

I deliberately left the other on coz the first time you hit the starter when it's in gear and drop the bike you'll wish you had put up with the alarms/lights/bells etc!!!

Re aftermarket air filters -

Despite the glossy packaging and sales wank on the boxes , the average K&N , BMC etc re-usable cotton STANDARD REPLACEMENT TYPE FILTER will NOT flow more than the OEM paper one..What they will do however is trap pretty much 100% of fine dust and crap getting into your engine which a paper one would let through!!
As the filter gets dirty, the oiled type ie BMC/K&N still keep the crap out whereas the paper just lets more and more through!!
[This of course depends on the filter being correctly cleaned and re-oiled ie via K&N filter service kit]

A race type air filter ie used for track bikes DO flow more air but don't filter the fine shit as much. I would not recommend for general road use.

SOME after market airboxes offer better flow characteristics over the stocker giving similar benefits as per race filters etc.

Oil / fuel filters-

Stick to genuine filters;
any power gain made by different oil filters would be like the difference between riding on high or low beam!?....Fark All!!.......

Oil -

I use V300 [at $31.00 per litre!!]

Normal/sensible people use 5100 or 7100 Motul , equivilant Sylkolene or Shell Advance series.

Storage -

The biggest killer of engine oil /engine components is acid build up which occurs if the engine does a lot of stop/start , short rides , started in the shed and shut off type thing. Acids build up due to moisture combining with sulphur and other chemicals created by the combustion process when the bike doesn't get the chance to burn off the crap ie over 10km highway rides for example.

FACT; A bike that has been sitting for a while is far better off being cranked over but not fired occasionally to circulate the oil rather than run / idled etc then shut off.
[ref trickle charger also]
...FACT 2 - that space between a woman's.........(you know the rest)


Mike wrote some really good stuff above particularly re storage



Hope it helps

I agree 100% with everything Isle of Ninja said

wow this site is great for knowledge... thanks for all the info.

IsleofNinja... $31 per litre???? whattha? Why would anyone pay that much? is it really a case of "you get what you pay"????

Mike.... bike was only sitting for 2mths. but thanks for the info, if I do any more stints overseas for work I'll definately use your info.

Now to see if I f*ck my bike or it still goes fine with me doing the oil changes etc

wow this site is great for knowledge... thanks for all the info.

IsleofNinja... $31 per litre???? whattha? Why would anyone pay that much? is it really a case of "you get what you pay"????

Mike.... bike was only sitting for 2mths. but thanks for the info, if I do any more stints overseas for work I'll definately use your info.

Now to see if I f*ck my bike or it still goes fine with me doing the oil changes etc

Motul V300 100% Syn' Check for yourself (Make sure you sit down when reading price tag!!)

My 10 only gets the best gear coz it's by far the best bike in my stable!!! I'll save the cheap shit for the lesser bikes thanks!