What a way to start the day. Had a spare, so it added a few minutes to my morning. Carefully cleaned the dust from around the plug, swapped, started and rode.
NBD, but what the fuck?
Lucky you had a spare. There’s assholes everywhere, unfortunately
The weird part is, the rest of the plug is missing from the connector… Maybe a homeless dude wanted it for breaking windows?
Bike’s got a stock exhaust, hopefully it’s not a pissed neighbor from having to warm her up for a couple of minutes in the morning.
Not that it in any way justifies vandalism, but a guy who lived around the corner from my gf decided to park his bike right across the street from her place for a year or so and him starting up and idling like that, just outside the window, at around 6am every day…
…well…like I said, it doesn’t justify vandalism at all, but I can at least see why someone may feel that way.
It’s a 2 cylinder that idles pretty quiet… who’d be brave enough to get in a fist fight over a little noise at 7am or so?
E: guys, it’s a quiet put-put-put, I’m not revving or anything while cold as that does exactly the damage I’m trying to protect the engine from.
You’ve clearly never been chronically woken up by a sound you already didn’t want to hear while awake.
All it takes is one bad night and the average person loses their shit.
Concur.
Two examples because life is funny like that:
I moved into an apartment years ago where it was partially below ground. Didn’t think anything of it. And then the first morning I slept there I was startled awake by a car’s horn and then engine as it was being remote started directly in my face. Or at least, that’s what it felt like. The window was at headlight height, and the car was parked right up to the window. It was hell. Nothing could have prepared me for that. So incredibly loud and bright. Thankfully it was a temporary apartment, but lemme tell you I was highly motivated to get out of there within a few months.
In the second case years later it was a beep. Just a constant high-frequency beep that would not end. Non-stop every hour for months. Apparently my neighbor’s RV was parked at a business’s back lot behind my house. Well, the battery was dying so the obvious move is to beep non-stop until the battery is fully dead. Months. A few weeks into this insanity I reported it to the police and they drove out and argued with me about how they couldn’t hear it and that finally it wasn’t loud enough to constitute a nuisance. I can hear it during the day, and I can sure as shit hear it in my bedroom 150ft away. Doesn’t have to be loud to me incredibly annoying. White noise would barely mask it. I wanted to burn that RV to the ground.
Noise can be such a thing.
I grew up in NYC, so no, noise doesn’t bother me in spite of having lived next to several hospitals. I doubt it’s a neighbor at this point.
I’m not tryna insinuate anything. Just describing a possibility ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
There’s no way around idling the bike in the morning for a couple of minutes? Seems weird to me. Pulling the choke and going easy the first couple of miles/km is the way to go, or am I wrong here?
Yeah, it’s a thing. I’m not a motorcycle person and don’t know exactly why but my dad always had to do it before driving to work when I was a kid
Honestly, that sounds like a mechanical issue that needs addressing. I haven’t had a bike for a while now, but my late 80’s GS 500 would always start up fine with a little (or a little more) choke, no matter the temperatures. I’d fire her up, slip into my gloves and be on my way.
I’m riding an early 80s GS, so you know how quiet these little fellas are. Like the other person said, it’s important to at least get the cylinder walls a little warm and expanded.
I notice the idle is a bit slower (read: resistant) at start between my mornings in soCal vs here in Seattle. All the more reason to run with coke for a few minutes.
Also, I’m doing this at 7 or 730, that’s not that early, right??
If you’re permanently in SoCal, you might want to adjust your carburetor a bit leaner (I think - it’s been a while since I had a carbureted bike). That said, an 80s two-cylinder isn’t going to be that loud with stock exhaust, even with the choke. Certainly, quieter and less annoying than a leaf-blower or a Harley-rider revving unnecessarily in their driveway.
Opposite, went from socal up north. She definitely likes the cooler, denser air.
Just gotta keep her covered overnight, not much else my broke ass can do.
It’s to give it time for everything to get to a similar temp and have oil flowing starting it then putting a load on it right away is really not good
Bike’s got a stock exhaust, hopefully it’s not a pissed neighbor from having to warm her up for a couple of minutes in the morning.
Stock exhaust on a two-banger being a problem? Unlikely, if it was built this century. Thanks for not being one of those attention-seeking bikers that give the rest of us a bad name.
ETA: I see it’s an 80s GS. Shouldn’t be very loud.
Yeah most likely taken for the ceramic. The ceramic at the top of a spark plug is commonly used to break into cars, as a small piece can shatter a window easily.
The rumor I’ve heard is that if they break just right you can smoke certain substances out of them. No idea if it’s actually true.
I’ve also heard people use them to break car windows. Same principle as a glass breaker, but you can hide it more easily, and if the cops find it you can always lie that you’re going to a shop to buy a replacement.
That’s it. I have a friend that worked in a bike shop, they called it a ‘Crack Attack’. His shop specialized in airhead BMW repairs, the spark plugs are easily accessible on those. Usually some of the cooling fins ended up broken.
That’s sad. Good think you swapped the sparkplug before running the bike, it could have damaged the coil to run without releasing the spark energy. Envious and malevolent people are a plague to bikers. I spoted one guy that added dirt in gas tanks, ages ago when gas caps did non always have a key lock, needless to say I had him confronted to the bike owner and all three we had a very, very bad time…
