[Disciple]

Hello everyone! Been riding for 20+ years but never anything bigger than a 650. Just got my first Blackbird today and came across this forum. Seems like a great group and I'm glad to find a forum like this. Thanks for having me!

 

[Mallow1]

Welcome Disciple from the other side of the pond, and enjoy your Bird. They are fabulous.

True depth of knowledge and passion for our rides on this site. Search for whatever you need to know and post whatever you wish to share (within the usual social norms).

Welcome once, again… Mallow1

 

[lovinmycbr1000f]

Welcome aboard fellow fighter pilot! Great forum and even greater people. Anything ya needs to know it's alll here. Again welcome aboard and safe riding!

 

[beestoys]

Welcome to the flock. Enjoy the bird. Be careful if its stock piped it very quiet and very deceptive. It's very very easy to be doing 100 mph. Also if you haven't given her a good leg out yet. Be prepared she hits pretty good at 5k. Climbs well to 7 then hits the redline at 10,500 very quickly after that. At which point you'll be in license threatening territory by that point.

 

[Disciple]

Thanks for the warm welcome! I have quite a few questions and things I would like to do to the bike. I haven't looked through many of the posts on here as of yet so I have a lot of digging to do, but maybe you can point me in the right direction.

She's a 99' model with 35k on the clock and in pretty good shape for the age. The previous owner did quite a bit to her and most of them seem professionally done. The bike has a full Two Brothers exhaust with a carbon fiber slip on and a Dyno Jet II installed. First thing I noticed when starting from cold is a loud rattle that goes away when I pull in the clutch and the almost goes away when warm, almost. The automatic choke seems to turn off way to soon, after about 60 seconds, and the engine will die if you don't give some throttle. Once warm she seems to idle fine however. Never had a dyno on a bike before so not sure if that has anything to do with it.

I also don't know if the CCT or regulator/rectifier has been replaced or is still stock/OEM.


Any advice or thread links on these issues would be greatly appreciated. Also are there any meet-ups/rides in or near Florida?

Thanks again!

 

[beestoys]

The rattle your hearing is clutch basket. Confirmed when you pull the clutch in. Couple things that'll help tame it down some. Bump the idle to at least 1200. 2nd check throttle body synch.
It's something they all do

CCT's when they start to go get really rattle starting around 3000 rpm. So fire her up on the center stand. Then when she's warmed up gently bring the rpm up. If it's going bad It'll start to rattle at 3 and typically drop at around 4 to 4500 rpm.

R/R
If it doesn't have one instal a voltage meter or LED voltage indicator. Then keep an eye on it as you ride. If the voltage starts dropping off you have a charging problem. It's typically the stator going out. A good system will give you about 13.2 at idle and up to 14.5 or so at 5000 rpm. Voltage should not drop below 9.5 when your cranking on a good charged battery. When was the last time it was replaced? If you don't know and have a good charger. Put on there over night then take it to a auto parts po r battery store and have them load check it.
Dynojet II not sure what you mean of it's what I think that's a very old unit. Could you snap a pic to verify. With the exhaust you mention I'm betting its remapped with the unit you state. I'd bet it's got a k&n filter also.

 

[Disciple]

Thanks for the advice! The bike idles at around 800 rpm when cold (dies without throttle input) and 1100 rpm when fully warmed up, not sure how to adjust it or check the throttle body sync, but could it be as simple as just a low idle?? Doesn't that kind of stuff have to be done through the dyno?

I don't have a center stand but got her warm and it's very smooth and noise free throughout the rev range so I'm assuming the CCT is good.

I will install a voltage meter as per your advice and see how she does. It looks like the previous owner did some custom wiring with the fender eliminater and added led blinkers on the rear. It also has a "blackout" toggle switch installed which kills every light on the bike including the instrument cluster. Not sure this is even legal but I'm not going to use it. I'm thinking about just removing it but I'll have to do a bit more research first.

Took a pic of the dyno and yeah it just looks old lol. I don't know anything about these kind of units. My goal is to get the Blackbird in great shape and keep her for a long time so I really appreciate the help!

 

[beestoys]

Yep that's way low sounds like the fast idle ( wax unit) needs some cleaning. Bump the warm idle to 1200.
Agree CCT is good.
Oh yeah that's an older version. I believe they still support that version. First thing I'd do is get a serial adapter and store the existing map.

 

[Disciple]

Will do. Thank you good sir. Time to get to work on it!

 

[fizzy]

With the rear fender replaced by some kind of fender eliminator the ECU mounting may be compromised. Be warned, on this bike (probably all) unless the ECU is properly secure in place, electrical trouble will soon follow.
Is the exhaust single sided or dual ?
Note; bike originally had a center stand, they come up on ebay....very useful, unless you are concerned with adding lightness.

 

[Mallow1]

… 1100 rpm when fully warmed up, not sure how to adjust it or check the throttle body sync…

Get yourself a Haynes manual. Hardback consumer guide to diy jobs on bikes. There's one on our BBs. Procedures, photos, tools. Back from before the days of YouTube! That'll show you where the idle can be adjusted (knob bottom left if memory serves me well)

Haynes can be a really helpful starting point then look out for PDFs of the parts catalogue and another for the service manual for your year/ model/ region (I think they're in the resource centre on here… had mine already so can't point you exactly to them but I'm sure you'll find them).

Rgds Mallow1

 

[Aussie Dave]

Cheers Disciple,

I was just reading the 99-02 workshop manual which you can download from the reference section on this forum......

One of the items I read about was the 'Wax' unit which should raise the rpms for a cold start to around 2k (from memory- so don't trust me )..... then it gradually lowers the revs as the engine warms up. I have my hot idle set to around 1150-1200 rpm ...... something my mechanic suggested way back when I had my 1st BB (an 02FI).....

So the wax unit may need adjusting - if so read about it in the manual.

35k miles...... ....... that's about 56k kms in metric speak...... cct and chain should still be good - mine lasted 114k kms (approx 70k mls) but that was all at my hand, not some other rider, even so I'd expect yours to be good for another 20k miles.

When it's hot does it idle smoothly and feel smooth when riding? If it's vibey at cruising speed, and gruff at idle it probably is due for a vacuum synchro balance of the throttle bodies....... Plugs are Iridium's and Honda specs about 30k mls life so If your's haven't been changed recently they likely have electrode wear/deposits or have gone out of spec for resistance.

Airfilter might need replacing or cleaning too.

Oooops, heads up, it's time over here....... gotta go..........

 

[Disciple]

Fizzy: The PC is very securely mounted on the fender eliminater and the wiring looks professionally done. Everything works on the bike (lights, clocks, horn ect...) so hopefully I'm in the clear with electrical problems. Thanks for the heads up though and I'll be sure to keep an eye on it as I ride her more! The exhaust is single sided and the PO said its a full titanium system with a carbon fiber slip on. A center stand does sound useful but it's already a pretty heavy bike for me so I'm not sure how I feel about adding more weight to her, but the utility it provides may be well worth it.

Mallow1: Found the manual on Amazon for about $45 US, and with everything I plan on doing, it will probably be worth twice that much. Big thanks for recommending it to me, I'm sure it will be infinitely helpful!

Aussie Dave: Haven't looked at the reference section yet but that's some info I could definitely use! The chain and sprockets look like they are in great shape and I have zero rattle noise when riding or when doing the CCT check procedure recommended by beestoys above. I do get some chatter when giving some throttle below 1500 rpm but it goes away completely when above 1500. I'm thinking it's clutch related and most likely due to my riding style as I'm used to v-twins. I'm thinking new/better oil may solve this but it's most likely my fault as it doesn't do it in first gear and I'm just in to low of a gear. Once the bike is warm she idles and runs perfectly. No hesitation, no flat spots, and lots of power. So much power... I can't believe how fast these Blackbirds are, just incredible.

Thanks for the replies and help everyone! So glad I found this forum!!!

 

[beestoys]

Thinking your pulling to low an rpm and it's detonating. You say your used to big twins. She'll pull from down low but not that low. Bump down a gear stay up closer to 2 grand and then hold on.
On another note the wax unit can be cleaned they can get sticky and not react. There is a proceedure to clean it. I'd try that before replacing it

 

[Aussie Dave]

Cheers again Disciple,

Coffee guest has gone....... though he brought custard tarts for us to enjoy while he told us his story! .

I tend to ride BB with +3,500rpm, so it's got good oil pressure and plenty of instant rattle-less response if a car decides it wants my space. Tune out any old cruiser V2 habits and use a few more revs in an appropriate gear ........ BB will appreciate it. (eg 2nd for 25mph zones, 3rd for 35-40mph, 4th for 45-50mph, 5th for 55mph and 6th for 60+mph).

1500rpm is the factory idle for my KTM 1290 Super Duke GT (a 1301cc V2),.....tho it is not what you'd expect a V2 to be and believe me it will not cruise around at 1500rpm, even in 1st gear!

I think that extra low 800 rpm cold idle is a 'problem', so read up on the Wax unit and consider getting it adjusted or repaired if it looks like it's the issue. Also, the idle often rises once all throttle bodies are balanced - tho that's a tricky job if you've never done one before........



PS I rode Harley D's Road King 1300's over 12k miles (in three trips in the mid-late 90's) when our tour group hired bikes from several rental businesses for three week self guided tours of the western half of the USA...... they were redlined at 5k rpm, had only 40hp, and weighed >400kgs....... they were so feeble we were prey to V10 engined RV's out on the open road...... but we had a great time on them and a FAB tour........ they didn't like to be lugged at very low revs, and mine seemed to like 4k + touching the red line...........