TwoWheels
New member
I should have called this, "What's in your backpack and why?", but it's late and just wanted to rant for a second.
So this is a completely pointless story of a shady fix I had to do. Around the 800 mile mark, my shift arm broke. That's the little piece connecting the linkage to the spline rod. I was WAY away from home, and stuck in first gear, but if I had the bike off I had the ability to shift into second. Being the type of person who always prides himself on being prepared, I had a bunch of zipties in my backpack.
After liberally applying about 7 zipties (the most I could fit through the shift arm linkage), I left my friends house for my journey home. They lasted all of 300 ft. Limped it home in 2nd, with freeways, which sucked, but figured, Man, I'm smart... I'll fix this in a jiff when I'm home!
I tried MOAR zipties... couldn't get around the block without them breaking. I used safety wire (basically, just a small piece of wire that ceiling installers and the military use to hold things together)... .020" broke trying to shift into first. So I used .035". Broke again. Damn. Tried JB Weld...
After curing for two days, that broke in 3 minutes. Took it to the dealer, it's under warranty, and since it had nothing to do with the bajillion mods I've done, they said they'd give me a whole new linkage assembly under warranty. That was 3 weeks ago. Still haven't gotten the parts in. Either Yamaha or my dealer sucks at warranty shipping.
But, I didn't wait three weeks, I didn't even wait a day, I went to work, and borrowed 12" of bomb fusing wire (it's like .080" safety wire), and went to work...
It's sloppy, it's dumb, and it's a bad temp fix, but it's lasted me 400 miles so far and still kicking!!! Meanwhile, I've been waiting on the dealer to get my warranty parts in, I guess they figured I'd be letting it rot in the garage this whole time.
So this pointless story is just a rant because I can't install my new rearsets until the linkage arrives (have to keep it stock for the dealer), plus I'm bored, plus I wanted to post a pic of my new clutch lever...
It's just a basic easy pull clutch, but honestly, it's the best one I've ever had. It's an RSC, and since I use two fingers on the brake, I wanted a 1-2 finger clutch.
So long story short, if you have a broke shift arm, bomb fusing wire is a good fix. I picked up a roll and now keep about a foot of it in my backpack along with the zipties and the tool kit under the seat in case anything else brakes...
I'd LOVE it if my parts came in so I could install my new rearsets, but I'm still waiting... Monday they're getting a call...
So this is a completely pointless story of a shady fix I had to do. Around the 800 mile mark, my shift arm broke. That's the little piece connecting the linkage to the spline rod. I was WAY away from home, and stuck in first gear, but if I had the bike off I had the ability to shift into second. Being the type of person who always prides himself on being prepared, I had a bunch of zipties in my backpack.
After liberally applying about 7 zipties (the most I could fit through the shift arm linkage), I left my friends house for my journey home. They lasted all of 300 ft. Limped it home in 2nd, with freeways, which sucked, but figured, Man, I'm smart... I'll fix this in a jiff when I'm home!
I tried MOAR zipties... couldn't get around the block without them breaking. I used safety wire (basically, just a small piece of wire that ceiling installers and the military use to hold things together)... .020" broke trying to shift into first. So I used .035". Broke again. Damn. Tried JB Weld...
After curing for two days, that broke in 3 minutes. Took it to the dealer, it's under warranty, and since it had nothing to do with the bajillion mods I've done, they said they'd give me a whole new linkage assembly under warranty. That was 3 weeks ago. Still haven't gotten the parts in. Either Yamaha or my dealer sucks at warranty shipping.
But, I didn't wait three weeks, I didn't even wait a day, I went to work, and borrowed 12" of bomb fusing wire (it's like .080" safety wire), and went to work...
It's sloppy, it's dumb, and it's a bad temp fix, but it's lasted me 400 miles so far and still kicking!!! Meanwhile, I've been waiting on the dealer to get my warranty parts in, I guess they figured I'd be letting it rot in the garage this whole time.
So this pointless story is just a rant because I can't install my new rearsets until the linkage arrives (have to keep it stock for the dealer), plus I'm bored, plus I wanted to post a pic of my new clutch lever...
It's just a basic easy pull clutch, but honestly, it's the best one I've ever had. It's an RSC, and since I use two fingers on the brake, I wanted a 1-2 finger clutch.
So long story short, if you have a broke shift arm, bomb fusing wire is a good fix. I picked up a roll and now keep about a foot of it in my backpack along with the zipties and the tool kit under the seat in case anything else brakes...
I'd LOVE it if my parts came in so I could install my new rearsets, but I'm still waiting... Monday they're getting a call...
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