Since modifying the plastic rotor/coil cover and getting that installed Friday night, I put about 250km on Vorona (the new '06 Raven) this weekend. I rode about 90 km on Saturday, mostly around town, and did another 160 today on a local toy run. Now its sitting at 420km on the odometer and she'll be ready for her 500km service & checkup soon.

I also had a chance to break in the Swedish motorcycle suit this morning. It was about 45 degrees this morning. Nice N' toasty! Although it took me 20 minutes to get tha pants & jacket on and all of those buttons buttoned. I can say this with a relative degree of certainty, the Swedish army motorcyclists either never have to pee or wear a diaper or catheter! Sheesh! It took me 10 minutes to take a whizz! As the weather warmed up to about 65 degrees, the pants got ditched and the top of the jacket was left open. Well worth the $60.

Just a few thoughts and observations on the new rig:

The plastic coil/rotor cover seemed to do the trick for now. No stalling like before.

The carbs and/or valves will definitely need adjusting at the 500 km service. When starting it cold, one cylinder wants to sputter and backfire a bit when rolling on the throttle until she gets warm. She is accelerating a bit quicker, but during the first 1/3 of the throttle she is still kinda sluggish. But once I reach the mid-range she comes to life a bit better. SHe seems a little sputtery at times when taking off, so I give it a little more throttle than usual and that seems to help.

The J-pipes on the exhaust are getting gold almost to the point where they meet the mufflers. Starting to get almost a cherry brown color near the heads.

The rear and sidecar brakes hopefully have burned in, as they really need an adjustment.

I think the motor is finally loosened up a bit as some of the stretches on todays ride where on the highway and she seems comfortabel cruising at 50 to 55 mph. Although I didn't push those speeds for too long. I pulled the hack windshield off before the ride today which might have helped somewhat.

While riding Saturday, I noticed a "hum-hum-hum" noise coming from the front disk brake at slow speeds or when making a slow tight right turn. I called Holopaw Gene and he says this is just the brake shoes setting in or maybe a high spot on the rotor and is not too abnormal. He tells me that this is a common occurance on the disc brakes and that IMWA was switching to a "floating disc" to cure this problem for '07. I wonder if the floating disc setup can be atapted to '06 and earlier rigs. FWIW, after the good long run today the noise seems to have subsided.

I think I'm gonna hafta have Gene look at the hack alingment at the 500km service. At 45-50mph, the rig handles like a wheelbarrow fulla bowling balls. I really had to muscle the bars to keep the rig straight at times and tight right handers need a lot of work. After the ride today, my arms were tired from fighting the rig. My buddy Chris who was riding behind me was telling me that there where times while riding that the hack wheel seemed to leave the ground just a tad. Maybe that has something to do with it, there where a few times that the rig would pull one way and I would have to steer it straig only to have it start pulling the other way slightly.

The transmission that shifted quiet at first is starting to make that wonderful Russian "kar-runch" between shifts that we are all so fond of! :lol: Getting it in and out of reverse is becoming a little more difficult though.

I did take it on Saturday over to my folks place. They live in a semi-rural area with a lot of dirt roads. I actually tried 2WD for the first time. Definitely different. In 2WD she wants to pull to the left, so I gotta steer to teh right. It was funs finding some loose dirt and shooting a dual rooster-tail! B)

Once I got home from the ride today, I decided to take Valentina (the 650 Tourist) for a ride so I could comapre the differences.

- At 50mph on the new 750 the wind in your ears is louder than the engine noise. On the 650 at 50mph, engine noise is all you can hear. The new 750 is much quieter, although I need to replace the front gears on the 650.

- The 750 Raven 2WD feels like it sits higher and the handlebars are lower. After riding the 750 all day and then riding the 650 for a bit it makes a difference. I feel like I am sitting "in" the 650 and sitting "on top" of the 750.

- The 650 tracks pretty straight. I can slide it down the road without having to fight it and ride with only one hand on the bars. I hope that after adjusting the Raven, it will track as easily.

- The 750 cruises at 55mph with plenty of throttle left. The 650 at 55mph its pretty much at max throttle. The shift points are different. Ya gotta wind the 750 up a bit more than the 650.

- The 650 with the K-68 carbs is a lot more responsive to the throttle. When I twist it, she wants to get up and go. The 750 wants to take its time to build up speed.

- The disc brake on the 750 has me a little spoiled, but the 650 drum with beefier cable does the job almost as good. I can stop with the disc brake using two fingers, the 650 drim needs a whole fist full of brake.

All in all, so far I would give the Raven an 8 on a scale of 1 to 10. Hopefully with some adjustments and tweaking at the 500km service, and more break-in time, she'll be closer to a "10". FWIW, I give the 650 Tourist a "9", but then again, I've been tweaking that rig for two years.

Might need a clutch adjustment. I know mine is due for one whenever reverse starts getting obstinate to engage.

Glad you got the cutting out taken care of for now John.

Sounds as though she is starting to growing on you. As you know she will only get better.

The clutch adjustment is something I had to do as well to fix the reverse issue.
I don't think that the front brake noise can be fixed without the floating brake thing. The brake pads are so close to the disk that any sideload on the front wheel makes them rub the disc. I'll adjust the bearings anyway next weekend (have to work on a front shock as well - that's another story) but there is really no detectable play of my front wheel. I doubt that I can make a difference wth the current setup.
Glad to hear that you are having fun!

Peter

2006 GU

John,

Don't know if this will be of any use or not, but I reset the lean-out on my GU from about 5* out to ~2* IN. It tracks much better now, and I don't have that falling over sensation I would get at ~50 mph, or the sore shoulders from pushing the bars right to keep it straight.

Being horizontally enhanced it really needed to reverse the lean to allow for the uneven weight distribution.

Now only if they made that suit in a triple-extra-fat I could stay toasty warm for under $200 too >:(

John! i'm glad you are riding you new toy. when i received my g-up, i did change the lean but never changed the toe in. the lean to the left was starting to give me a back ache. really, i hope you enjoy tour new ride. i'm still keeping tabs on your ignition deal, tho.

My first thought was that I might have had a loose front wheel bearing. I jacked the frontt wheel up and tried to rock the wheel to see if it was loose. Seemed tight to me.

Well I'm no small fry at 6'-2" and 260 lb. Maybe that might help me too...

It definitely needs some adjustment. I am really feeling it in my arms today from the ride yesterday.

The leanout is also likely to be the problem. I sat on the rig I eventually purchased and asked the dealer to decrease the leanout a tad before I picked it up (It just felt wrong and I thought it was because of my weight). Now I got a slight tendency to wander off to the right with a load in the hack (not so much as to be a bother), but most of my driving is on my own on roads with minimal crown and in these conditions it tracks perfectly.

Overweight Peter

Edit: seems to be a common issue and I'm too slow typing

The lean on my rig is very slight - I have no problem at all keeping straight - on power it is trying to go right, so pulling is needed, but up to speed it tracks very straight - one hand riding is easy, zero hand riding does not go off track for a couple of seconds. Under 10 mph it is easy to ride no hands when slowing down. It could not do that before the almost 0 degree lean out.. I don't know the actual angle but it is very slight.

I have probably tweaked my lean out/ toe in about 3-4 times since I got my bike. It seems to a compromise depending on road/crown/passenger etc. but I now can drive one hand effortlessly
and use very little muscle to make the rig go where I want most of the time. I also have a lot less lean out than the bike came with, and a little more toe in.

Hey John, I found some wheels that may look good on the Vorona. You would have to ditch the disc brake though.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Ural-19-tuning-Felge_W...oQQcmdZViewItem

What a beauty.. :lol:

Peter

Ewwww! :surprise: Not for me, thanks anyway.

I like the stainless spokes on the black hubs and rims. It's really a nice look.