32 month boredom review

[ducatilover]

as title suggests, its been 32 months since i purchased the spada. :bash:
now for some reason i love the damn thing. over the last 32 months the spada has continued to let me learn how to ride better. i would reccomend it to anybody, but, the spares availability is hopeless:angry:
the bike handles ok. standard springs in the front are too soft, 15w fluid and some small spacers helped a little.
the bike goes well for a naked 250 twin. i have squeezed 34rwhp out after more time than i will admit on the dyno [i get that for free] it has maintained its vtwin tourque but gained 5rwhp with me screwing around. it does 100kmh and can pass, so thats the straight line covered.
stopping is this bikes biggest let down, i sourced some better pads and threw new piston seals [oil and dust seals] in the front and rear, then promptly filled it up with DOT 5.1 synthetic fluid [be carefull with that stuff, you can fuck the master cyl piston:sick:] so i got a reasonably shorter stopping distance and most of all a better feel and no more brake fade :wari:
comfort wise the bike is spot on, im only 5 foot 9. the seat it rather low, bars are at a very relaxed point imho they should be lower [mc19 clip ons will help] i have covered several long trips of 500km and over in a day happily.

reliability :shutup:
now this is where im sad, i have thrown two brake seal kits at her, both times kero bathing the bare caliper and cleaning everything.
two sets of fork seals, but the first were not fitted properly.
one fuel tap, the rubber diaphragm in the vacum pump perished. this ended up costing me $380 through econohonda [great guys ring them 07-884-8810]
then the carbs shat themselves, only $120 from buckets'n'bitz in wellington and an easy job to do thankfully.
valve clearances have been adjusted three times now to cure that noise that was a cam chain tensioner ratchet slipping, cannot get new tensioners and they are in the head, playing with them is not my idea of fun.
ate spark plugs before dyno tune.
new airfilter is $93
thermo swith for fan went bung, so i made a manual switch and mounted it on the dash.

the bike has done 45000ish km now, i have noticed it has been in a big drop. the colour codes dont match, ignition key, tank and seat lock are all different :shit:

anybody who owns a spada - buy a trx500fa oil filter, its the same.
never buy IRC RX01 rubber, it is shit.

hope somebody enjoys this review/ramble

:love: i love that puss rocket

[yungatart]

Only 100 k/ph...it should be good for 170.
Hope you have done the cam chains (there are 2 - and they are a bitch to do! DAMHIK) ... at 45000km they are needing done and if you don't it will get very expensive!
hXc loved his Spada, it was only sold to help finance his overseas trip.
It was extremely reliable tho, never once let him down. He thrashed the nuts off it for about 20000 ks before he sold it.
Rear suspension was defintely on its way out and would have been done if he had kept the bike. It had done 55000 k approx when it left him....as far as I know, it is still flying around.

[ducatilover]

Only 100 k/ph...it should be good for 170.
Hope you have done the cam chains (there are 2 - and they are a bitch to do! DAMHIK) ... at 45000km they are needing done and if you don't it will get very expensive!
hXc loved his Spada, it was only sold to help finance his overseas trip.
It was extremely reliable tho, never once let him down. He thrashed the nuts off it for about 20000 ks before he sold it.
Rear suspension was defintely on its way out and would have been done if he had kept the bike. It had done 55000 k approx when it left him....as far as I know, it is still flying around.

chains were easy to do:whistle: open a link on the old chain and fit the new one to it, turn the rear wheel whilst in 6th and feed it through until all the old chain is out, join new chains and reset the tensioner. took 2 hours:rockon:
im wondering if mine has had a new speedo unit fitted. its only done 45km and its been terrible

[yungatart]

Nah, not the chain..the Cam Chains...totally different animal!
It should be easy enough to find out if yours has had a new speedo...look at your rego papers..it has mileage when it changed hands, if there is a major discepancy, it will show up.

[ducatilover]

Nah, not the chain..the Cam Chains...totally different animal!
It should be easy enough to find out if yours has had a new speedo...look at your rego papers..it has mileage when it changed hands, if there is a major discepancy, it will show up.

i am talking about the cam chains:bleh:. i have magicly made it as a mechanic now :first: and i didnt find it to be a hard job at all. im the only nz owner of this spada :niceone: so it has no history

[imdying]

filled it up with DOT 5.1 synthetic fluid [be carefull with that stuff, you can fuck the master cyl piston:sick:]No, it won't do anything to the piston.


both times kero bathing the bare caliper and cleaning everything.But that will... Don't ever use kero on anything to do with your brakes. Meths is ok for scrubbing it with, but hot soapy water works fine and doesn't damage anything. Obviously don't use corrosive super soaps.

[ducatilover]

No, it won't do anything to the piston.



it can shrink the piston as i was lead to believe

[imdying]

That'd be a pretty neat trick :lol:

[ducatilover]

yes i suppose it would, so is there nothing to worry about when replacing a glycol based fluid with a synthetic? :baby: im only a baby mechanic :niceone:

[Sully60]

That'd be a pretty neat trick :lol:

Hell yeah, I'd say you'd get the attention of more than a few metalurgists with that one.

[ducatilover]

perhaps i had a brain fart and meant the seals in the master cylinder, fucked if i know. old age and sickness is stuffing me so lets now make that point redundant:Oi:

[Sully60]

perhaps i had a brain fart and meant the seals in the master cylinder, fucked if i know. old age and sickness is stuffing me so lets now make that point redundant:Oi:

Aww come 'ere:hug:

The first rule of KB is there is no KB, oh hang on that's fight club:doh:Seriously don't take it too seriously.

Just having a giggle dude. It sounds like the 32 months were far from from boring if you've done this much and learned so much about your bike.

[ducatilover]

Aww come 'ere:hug:

The first rule of KB is there is no KB, oh hang on that's fight club:doh:Seriously don't take it too seriously.

Just having a giggle dude. It sounds like the 32 months were far from from boring if you've done this much and learned so much about your bike.

:chase: im just grumpy because im sick:doh:
fight club was a good movie though....
im going to re-paint the frame black again if i feel ok tonight.
fucking stomach ulcer!:2guns::2guns::2guns::no:

[Sully60]

:chase: im just grumpy because im sick:doh:
fight club was a good movie though....
im going to re-paint the frame black again if i feel ok tonight.
fucking stomach ulcer!:2guns::2guns::2guns::no:

Sorry to hear about the illness so no bourbon or coffeee huh? I'm injured (only enough to keep me off my feet) at the mo so I kinda get where you're at.
So if the frame is going black what colour do you have planned for the wheels?

[ducatilover]

Sorry to hear about the illness so no bourbon or coffeee huh? I'm injured (only enough to keep me off my feet) at the mo so I kinda get where you're at.
So if the frame is going black what colour do you have planned for the wheels?

bugger mate!
black frame, standard gold wheels is my current like and black tank with classic gold decals. and when i can find it im throwing an mc19 or mc22 top fairing at her. black ofcourse :Punk:

[Mokadah]

I guess I'm shelling out $380... my fuel tap is going too, although I'm not sure it's the rubber seal. My bike has similarly dubious kilometres and a few battle scars, but it has been very reliable.

I suspect it was left sitting for some time in Japan, as the inside of the tank was rusted above a certain level quite low in the tank - which I assume was from the petrol left sitting in there. Fixed that up with a tank repair/liner kit and it has been great since. Just got myself some sport demons for christmas.

I think I still see HXC's blue spada around Napier every so often, and there's a red one here too.

[ducatilover]

I guess I'm shelling out $380... my fuel tap is going too, although I'm not sure it's the rubber seal. My bike has similarly dubious kilometres and a few battle scars, but it has been very reliable.

I suspect it was left sitting for some time in Japan, as the inside of the tank was rusted above a certain level quite low in the tank - which I assume was from the petrol left sitting in there. Fixed that up with a tank repair/liner kit and it has been great since. Just got myself some sport demons for christmas.

I think I still see HXC's blue spada around Napier every so often, and there's a red one here too.

what exactly is indicating that the fuel tap is shaged? you cant buy a new diaphragm either. :nono: what do you think of the demons?

[Mokadah]

what exactly is indicating that the fuel tap is shaged? you cant buy a new diaphragm either. :nono: what do you think of the demons?

The demons are nice, though I haven't really pushed them that hard yet and there hasn't been any rain to test them in lately :D

The main indication of the fuel tap shaggage was the petrol dripping off the bottom of it. It was coming from the riveted metal seam on the tap body, so I encased it in Araldite and it seems to have done the trick for a good 6 months now. On closer inspection it is still holding - the latest petrol leak is in fact coming from one of the carbs, which hopefully just needs a clean.

[ducatilover]

The demons are nice, though I haven't really pushed them that hard yet and there hasn't been any rain to test them in lately :D

The main indication of the fuel tap shaggage was the petrol dripping off the bottom of it. It was coming from the riveted metal seam on the tap body, so I encased it in Araldite and it seems to have done the trick for a good 6 months now. On closer inspection it is still holding - the latest petrol leak is in fact coming from one of the carbs, which hopefully just needs a clean.

if you take the tap off, check it with a straight edge, it may be warped [mine was and then dad machined it, and it shat the diaphragm]
hopefully that new leak is 'just' a perished or loose pipe or as you say, just needing a clean.
im getting a demon on the rear tommorow [hmm sounds a bit gay....] and in two weeks one will be on the front:Punk: