riding to slow in high gears/2 fast in low gears. i watch my rpms but my helmet muffles the sound a bit.so my question is which gears&rpms should corealate(match up & any other suggestions&advice)……….i use 2 ride a standard 4 wheeler so i know it should b bout the same..shouldnt it?

It started out, when I would kick it, there would be some resistance and it gradually got less and less. Its almost like if there were a gear inside, and in time, the gears teeth wore down or broke off one by one, and now there’s nothing catching the kickstart…but I don’t know the situation "behind the scenes." How does a kickstart work and how can I fix this?

The starter is fine…if I can get any resistance its starts right up. Battery is new, good spark plugs, etc. Also, maybe this is unrelated, but the hose that the gas tickler is hooked up to isn’t getting much suction and the gas isnt filling up in it like it used to.

I am looking to change toe shifter pedal that comes standard on kawasaki ninja 250. Shifting gears up by toes leave marks on my shoes. So i am looking for heel/toe shifter so that I can shift gear up by pushing heel instead sliding shoes under toe pedal.

When shifting gears it makes a cratching sound.

Hey everyone… So I took the alternator apart and had to clean up the rotor but didn’t have to remove it. Getting nice resistance readings (ideal is 4.5 with 10% room for error) I am reading a consistant 4.8 ohms.
The stator tests good but now I can’t get the darned thing back in. I am sure if I really push or rubber mallet the thing to death I can get it back in but… it’s still a good stator and I want to keep it that way.
What is a good rule of thumb for getting the stator back in around the rotor and seated into the housing?
No gears to mesh. The stator is fixed while the rotor spins. The rotor has not moved since the stator has been pulled. I am thinking it is just a tight fit (as it was when I removed it)

Just wondering if i am going to have to sell everything I own to get this bike running reliably…

Basic, It has 4 carbs and seems to need a carb clean and balancing. With a full tune job (carbs, floats, valves, etc) minus plugs and wires, how much would i be in for?

More details…
I bought the bike for 0. It ran and rode just fine when I first checked it out.Like a week and a half later I went to pick it up. Had a hell of a time starting it. At first it wouldn’t stay running. Then it ran but at insanely high rpms. When throttled the rpms would hang (not drop to idle position) which, of course, made shifting gears a bad experience for me. Rpms would drop only after a quick but wide open throttle rev. Finally the bike stalled on me and I couldn’t get it started again. The smell of gasoline told me it was definately flooded as it was when I had initially had the trouble trying to start it.
Anyway, pushed it 2 miles down the road to a shop and they said its definitely going to be a carb job. Said they’d get it starting and running right for me. Told the guy, "if it is something you’d trust not to break down on you mid trip, I’ll be a satisfied customer".

It is a 1982 Yamaha XJ 550 with only 8970 actual miles on it. The original owner had tipped it and hurt himself so he stored it for like 7 years with little maintenance and no riding. The second and last owner before me rode it but seldomly. But they did store and maintain it properly.
And please, people… don’t give me frivolous answers. If you don’t know, don’t answer. This is definitely in response to the NON-answer I just got… someones opinion on the amount of passion I have for a bike I obviously haven’t been able to experience does very little for me.

when setting of upto 2000rpm the bike jerks and jumps like a kangaroo,but pulls fine in all other gears.i have recently removed/cleaned/reset carbs to eliminate mixture problems,but it is no different!
please can you suggest any further mods(the bike is a1999 model with only 12000miles)

Im new to motorcyle riding and wanted to know how to match engine speed to road speed on my motorcycle. I cant find any info on between what rpm’s I need to switch gears for my upshift and downshifting. My bike is used and I dont have the owners manual to go by.

Starting today, I can shift to all the gears, but it takes my bike awhile to catch up to speed. I use to be able to open the throttle and have good acceleration but no matter what gear I’m in, it sounds like I’m in neutral when it revs up and then it eventually gets up to speed. Clutch? Drive-Chain? Any ideas?

Just bought a 2009 BMW R 1200RT. I had to ride it home, two hours on a two lane highway, mainly in 4th and 5th gear. The dealer gave me sh*t cause I wasn’t going to properly break in the motor (which had 16 miles on it), but I had to get it home.

So, since then I have been taking it out on the twisties, changing gears. I’ve owned two brand new cars, never "broke them in"and they both lasted for 100,000 miles.

As long as I keep her below 4000 RPM am I properly "breaking in" the motor?