Africa Twin owners and wannabes thread

[whatastoner]

Did you remove the choke plungers totally or what did you do to them?
And which carb was running richer? On my 650 the front plugs get sootier than the rear.
Did you suffer from a flat spot around 5000rpm and the odd stutter at take off from idle?
Cheers
Mark

[buggsubique]

remobed the cables, left the plungers in under spring tension in the carbs and sealed off the choke bodies with silicone gasket.no flatspot at all.

[droid]

[buggsubique]

sorry had aa few too many beers when i wrote that half arsed reply...


Yeah there was definitly stutter after idle / on takeoff which is gone now. The best thing i reckon was that i was able to get both carbs in balance thru the whole rev range.

You need the plungers remain in under spring load to close the choke. If you remove them completely then the extra fuel will keep flooding it, which was what was happening to mine. So basically i just disconnected the.cables at the carb end. A bit fiddly but doable.

Edited: [was hung over as hell in bed so still gave a half arsed reply...lol. Hot & spicy goat curry for breakfast...superhuman strength now allowing me to post below:]

[droid]

[buggsubique]

Did you remove the choke plungers totally or what did you do to them?
And which carb was running richer? On my 650 the front plugs get sootier than the rear.
Did you suffer from a flat spot around 5000rpm and the odd stutter at take off from idle?
Cheers
Mark

See if you can find out the mainjet specs for your bike (only out of interest really). Mine is 118 on the front but 122 rear as stock, so the rear runs a bit richer to assist with cooling. Later models are different again and I think they may have evened out to 115 on both in later models. If the front is running rich it suggests something aint quite right but should be able to be corrected. My recommendation:

-Remove and inspect the chokes and clean &lube the cables. Many many riders have found this is the cause of rich running. The plunger ends are prone to capturing water off the choke cables and corroding. The split cable is also quite a tight spec so can end up with not enough freeplay causing the choke to be partially open, allowing fuel through.
-Remove the springs and plungers and seal the plastic choke headers with a dab in the outer end using gasket sealer, let cure and reinstall the plunger, spring and plastic on each carb.
-Tape off the end of the choke cables and stow in place.
-While tank is off might as well check the valve gaps - 30 min job.
-Set fuel mix on each carb back to spec.
-Make up a balancing tube and balance the carbs (PM me if you want any tips on this one)

Trial and error saw me faff around like a chump scratching my head to sort the bike out. THe above steps should solve the dramas on your steed within half a day shed time.

Jeff, How much of the above have you been through on your Africa? If you haven't done the choke, I would be real interested in seeing if that's the cause of rough running on yours.

Honestly, I'm over the moon with how well I got mine to run. Ironically I thought it was just the old bike factor when I got it in the low 80k mark as it was rich then...the problem the whole time was the choke.

[Underground]

I have blanked the chokes off.... but I really cant remember what I did, dont remember if I put springs in or not.
Might be time to revisit them.
Dommie's all in bits and I'm gagging for a ride so I think I'll wheel the AT out, gas her up and go scatter some gravel.

[buggsubique]

I have blanked the chokes off.... but I really cant remember what I did, dont remember if I put springs in or not.
Might be time to revisit them.
Dommie's all in bits and I'm gagging for a ride so I think I'll wheel the AT out, gas her up and go scatter some gravel.

definitely definitely check your chokes. Some guys resort to biro pen springs, others use epoxy. Just make sure they are plugged and sealed otherwise just makes it look like balancing or carb wear when its not.

[droid]

[whatastoner]

thanks for all that advice. Will have a look at the carbs once the tank is empty. Not taking the AT on the Dusty, saving it for the TT3000+ in Feb. So you reckon checking the valve clearances takes about 30 mins, I'll check them too.
Watch this space....
Mark

[Underground]

thanks for all that advice. Will have a look at the carbs once the tank is empty. Not taking the AT on the Dusty, saving it for the TT3000+ in Feb. So you reckon checking the valve clearances takes about 30 mins, I'll check them too.
Watch this space....
Mark

What's the TT3000 ?
is it something I should be doing??

[buggsubique]

What's the TT3000 ?
is it something I should be doing??

You could do the BU3500 in Jan...the DB1k is the main course, with a mains-sized entree before hand and a desert after...all the adventure you can eat...

[thepom]

Stoner.....what bike you taking on the dusty then?.......you are going yeah?

[Transalper]

I seen him riding about on a white single the other day. At least from behind it looked like him.

[whatastoner]

Oh yeah, I'll be at the dusty, but using a Yamaha ttr250 from 1993 I picked up for $2000. Fitted a 22l tank for an xr400, beautiful install. Even the seat doesn't crease up. Mind you the bike feels rather small compared to the Africa Twin. Underground, the TT2000 is a long distance rally around the South Island. 2000k in 48 hrs being the basic ride. But there are additional locations to visit to gain extra points. Hence the TT3000+. So if you fancy riding the Haka, Danseys at night, breakfast somewhere near Invercargill. Lunch Te Anau, dinner in Motueka, Sunrise Farewell spit. Breakfast in Nelson yah dah yah dah, check out the website www.tt2000.org.

Happy Thanksgiving one and all
Whatastoner

[Underground]

Thanks Whatastoner, breakfast lunch dinner breakfast lunch dinner.....it really is sounding like the sort of ride I should be doing.

[whatastoner]

To be totally correct, it would be dinner breakfast lunch dinner nap breakfast lunch panic dinner

[Eddieb]

It's amazing how many people like seeing an AT stuck in mud.

Every so often my video of Buggs stuck in the mud at Waiouru gets posted on a forum somewhere. On Nov 25th it was Moto-net.com, and got 1053 hits in one day.

http://www.moto-net.com/actualites-m...gadoue....html