Yo-Yo's Yamaha Sr400 - Misadventures Of A Bike Noob

[Yo-Yo]

Ola,

So this will be the placeholder for my New SR400 that I picked up today. Planning to be a kind of project journal/diary of my misadventures as a bike noob. I really should invest in some kind of go-pro camera with all the fancy suction cups.

The Bike: Yamaha SR400 fuel injected. Kick start only.

First Impressions: Very light bike, not terribly fast but that's fine for me while I'm learning. It's comparable in accelaration to a CB250 I've test ridden so that gives you an idea. HOWEVER, this bike is definitely not intended for highways. In top gear going 90km/hr the engine probably was sitting under 3700 rpm & there was a lot of vibration, I wouldn't call it harsh but a noticeable rumble.

The ride home was a mix of adrenalin and excitement even going at the speed limit. Today was my first time on the open road & what a blast I had getting to feel the way the bike handled & getting used to shifting & braking for turns & stops. Luckily traffic wasn't too heavy so was a nice intro for me.

Mishaps: Right in front of the dealer I tried kick starting 3 times & no success... I followed the right procedure: Compression lever in, rotate the kick start until the indicator window cleared to indicate optimum starting postion... KICK. after about 2 minutes of going through this process I realised I left the Kill switch engaged! FML. Finally I turned off the kill switch, went through the motions & voila. GREAT SUCCESS!

*Almost* dropped the bike making a turn... stopped at the intersection blinkers on right, car was approaching on the opposite direction indicating to turn left in the same direction I was going. The car was half commited to making the turn & I was ready to follow after until suddenly the driver decided to swerve back & head straight forward. I panicked & grabbed the front brake while the handle bars were half turned. Felt the bike start falling underneath me. Took all my strength keeping the bike upright. My left wrist is a little sore but otherwise okay. Lesson learned.

Other than that the rest of ride was quite enjoyable, reading traffic, making buffer zones & scanning for danger. You suddenly become hyper-aware of your surroundings when on a bike. I'm having lots of fun, wish I got into it sooner.

Thanks for reading!

[Yo-Yo]

Gives you an idea of the look I'm aiming for.

For now I've got on order a new header & exhaust + a piggyback ecu.

Should drop some weight from the stock exhaust & the chip will map a bit more aggressively. The company selling claim a 25% increase is peak HP & 5lb/ft increase in torque with a dyno printout on their site.

I'm looking forward to running my own tests & reviews soon

All the styling wank stuff like seats & handlebars I'll look into once these mods are sorted

[Daleo]

Awesome stuff, looking forward to seeing what kind of result you get from the EFI engine.

My mate accumulated all the parts for his build from all over Japan, I'm sure I could get some of the names of suppliers he use if you like?

Enjoy the ride.

[Yo-Yo]

Awesome stuff, looking forward to seeing what kind of result you get from the EFI engine.

My mate accumulated all the parts for his build from all over Japan, I'm sure I could get some of the names of suppliers he use if you like?

Enjoy the ride.

Yeah for sure Dale, Could always help.

Japanese economy is goin down the shitter at the moment so could mean better exchange rates

[Yo-Yo]

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Parts arrived today. Will have a go at wrapping the header on the weekend over a few beers.

Finding a bike dyno near my area & open on a weekend is proving to be like finding hen's teeth. Bit of a pain but will be worth it to get the baseline & comparative runs. Particularly interest in A/F ratios & torque spread with just the exhaust, then the chip & header combined after that.

New Mishaps:

- Accidentally bumped my kill switch while stopped at a set of lights in the morning, D'oh! At least I haven't stalled it yet (touch wood). Good thing is I can kick start it like a pro now

- On the ride home I was setting off at the lights exiting the M4 near my house, sharp left turn.

My fingers slipped off the clutch lever somehow as I was taking off which popped the clutch out in first. My bike jerked forward, front wheel & handlebars bouncing from left to right. By some luck I managed to right the bike & get my feet back on the pegs & missed the car on my right. The people in the cars around & behind me must have thought I was a massive goose. Soooo embarassing but I got out of it unscathed & the bike isn't hurt either.

upside: I'm starting to get the hang of low speed maneuvering/cornering.

Still find stop/start traffic a bit awkward but nothing I can't handle

[Yo-Yo]

Hmmmm, go to work X-mas party or tear down my bike... guess which option I took hahaha

Will have to scratch the baseline comparison runs on the dyno as I'll be waiting until I've succumbed to alzheimers before I can do all the power runs I want.

I'll just find a stock map floating somewhere on the web & compare it to that.

So Installing the power commander chip & new exhaust on the weekend

New seat, indicators & fenders on order

[MrFijiGold]

^ much awesomeness in that pic!

[Yo-Yo]

Ok, so installed the power commander chip. What a bloody pain in the ass. Hardly any room for my hands to work or get pliers in . Yamaha must employ a team of precision midgets to assemble their bikes cause it sure as hell compact.

Spade terminals, F'n SPADE terminals. Try fitting them when the bike frame is in the way

done

[Yo-Yo]

Yanked out the stock exhaust. Thought it would be a good time to do a weight comparison:

Stock exhaust:

New exhaust:

Trial fitted the exhaust. Will go down to bunnings & grab some proper straps to hold the wrap in place as the ones that came with the kit were junk

[XKLABA]

Oh I so want a 240

Needle pliers

http://www.google.com.au/imgres?imgurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.toolstop.co.uk%2Fcomponents%2Fcom_virtuemart%2Fshop_image%2Fproduct%2FAK8568.jpg&imgrefurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.toolstop.co.uk%2Fsealey-ak8568-needle-nose-pliers-set-3pc-280mm-p58767&h=943&w=1200&tbnid=mhKsgpUb-cBbSM%3A&zoom=1&docid=KFZOEKQpVf2WkM&hl=en&ei=HZZvVPKkCISX8QWXmYJA&tbm=isch&ved=0CCUQMygJMAk&iact=rc&uact=3&page=2&start=6&ndsp=9

Go to nepean spares and get some CV straps, actually I have a spare small one here I can't use your welcome to

I'm in St Clair

[Yo-Yo]

Hey Mick Didn't realise you're a neighbour haha I'm in ersko.

All good mate I already popped down to bunnings, one of my family friends works there so half there just to go catch up and have a quick chat

I have needle pliers but it was more how the pipes line up in the fuel tank & the stock wiring harness making things awkward.

[Yo-Yo]

Power upgrades are done. Butt Dyno notes a noticeable increase in pull throughout the rev range.

Exhaust is sexy & sounds like a proper thumper now, it burbles & pops on the odd occasion on downshifts which is quite to my liking. I'll post up video clips after I get a dyno run next saturday.

No new mishaps to report, seems I'm getting the hang of this . Only thing is someone has cut me off 1 or 2 times because they weren't looking, but that's to be expected I guess, always gotta stay sharp on the road for dangers.

On order:

[Yo-Yo]

Once that's all done I want to get a custom tank & side covers painted in a scheme I have planned.

After that Just enjoy the bike for what it is until I get my fulls

For my big boy bike I want to go something like a triumph bonneville:

OR

Yamaha Bolt - Harley knock off styling wise but much better engineered

[Yo-Yo]

some interesting sights at the bike tuner.

After the chip install my bike is running a little bit rich in the 1k-3k rev range. about 11:1 leaning out to 13-14:1 across the rest of the range. Definitely some room for improvement but I'll get it re-mapped after I get back from overseas.

[Yo-Yo]

Got caught up in a pretty heavy storm riding home. Winds kept pushing me side to side & I got absolutely soaked. Even so I can't remember the last time I had so much fun on the road. Was my first time riding in wet weather & was definitely a baptism of fire...or water?

Just wish I had a helmet cam to capture all the shennanigans I saw on the road. cars sliding around & almost rear-ending one another

[Yo-Yo]

parts arrived today.

Seat Installed

Indicator Comparison.

The new indicators kept blowing fuses. I made sure all the wires were connected properly (black to black, green to green etc) but no joy. I even tried higher amp fuses but still not working. I emailed the shop I bought it from & they said to try switch the wire colours over. I'm skeptical but will give it a go this weekend after I buy a few spare fuses. I'll try to find out the stock bulb wattage & wire in some resistors to see if that fixes the problem

I put the standard indicators back on for now & it's working fine.

I also got shorter front & rear fenders + custom tail light. I'll get the fenders powder-coated matte black once I get back from overseas.

Still tossing up whether to do the same to the wheels

[Yo-Yo]

well f**k me, switching the wire colours worked on the indicators, so instead of black to black/green to green swapped the colours around. In hindsight it was so simple but I'm so used to matching the wiring colours.

She's coming along quite nicely now, the blacked out chopped fenders will complete the look.

Only thing left after that is a custom fuel tank & I'm looking into different handle bars to lower the bars a bit. Don't think I'll go with clip-ons as that wouldn't be as comfy for the long highway drives I do to get to work but wouldn't mind a slightly lower position

[Yo-Yo]

Took a trip to jaycar to pick up some wires & bullet connectors I'll be needing to install my tail-light & license plate lights.

None of the shops I contacted to powdercoat my fenders have even bothered to reply so they must be on holidays by now I'll wait until the new year.

half tempted just to break out some sandpaper & buying some matte black rattle-cans DIY

Found out a factory yamaha replacement tank is $600, some places selling aftermarket aluminium tanks want $700-$900 & that's just the tank without welding custom fitting tabs etc.

+ it would be a direct fit, not messing about

I'd prefer not to molest the current tank so if I ever want to sell the bike I can easily put it back to standard & sell the aftermarket goodies individually.

[zebra]

Love the seat!

Have you tried Chris from Craved coatings?

Also

You never mentioned what power it made

[Yo-Yo]

Love the seat!

Have you tried Chris from Craved coatings?

Also

You never mentioned what power it made

Chris was the first one i tried, he might be busy this end of the year or maybe already on holidays so I'll wait until I'm back from overseas regardless.

I think it made 21 hp peak but the print-out is at home. I don't think the tuner will be able to squeeze out anymore after the mapping, mainly just fix up the A/F ratios a bit better along the rev range. I'm waiting till I'm back home & get some more of my cosmetic mods done before posting up a vid to youtube.