It's bothering me.. (another useless post)

sschering

The vacuum petcock on my XS has become unreliable so I've been riding with it set to prime for the last 3 days..

Now it's bothering me.. Did I set it back to run when I got to work??
Now I gota go outside and look..

Update: NO I left it open.. I guess the needle valves are in good shape since it didn't flood.

jimmythetrucker · Full Member Joined: Mar 12, 2008 Posts: 1283

And that, my friend, should let you know just what a ridiculous idea these vacuum petcocks really are.

I mean the whole purpose of the thing was supposed to eliminate the need for the rider to worry about turning the petcocks off and on. You've just shown us how it does no such thing. What the vacuum petcock does most often is leak and flood your engine and foul your plugs and leave you stranded in a dance-hall parking lot 45 miles from home.
At two o'clock in the morning.
In the rain.
Drunk.

Some fun, huh? Get rid of the things. Get a manual petcock and learn to shut the fuel off when you park the bike. It's easy to remember after you forget once or twice and leave yourself stranded in a dance-hall parking lot 45 miles from home.
At two o'clock in the morning.
In the rain.
Drunk. . . . Razz

gordo

That's why I got the regular type from Mike's. No leak's,run's good, and I have a reserve so when I start to stumble at about 120 mile's or so, I got enough to get to a station, usually enough to go another 40 mile's, give or take.

Barbara

Hi Guys,

Jimmy pretty much called it. Get regular taps.....and/or grow up on Brit bikes with leaky petcocks and Amal Monoblocs and Concentrics.....and the old-style float needles.

You learn to park on a long hill at the dance hall, so when you come out at closing, you can coast long enough to clear the plugs......

In the rain.

Drunk.

(That's a good one....) Laughing

xs1961

LOL Babs, I remember those poxy Amals & cheapo taps well .. Rolling Eyes

Agree with the comments on the vacuumn
taps - I dont like em at all .. Big old bulky things , too many parts to go wrong & pipes sticking out all over the place..
Ive got a new tank here that will only take the vacuum type (mounting holes are spaced differently from manuals) so Im going to sell it for that reason..

jimmythetrucker · Full Member Joined: Mar 12, 2008 Posts: 1283

Barbara -- You know a few years ago they were circulating one of those e-mail jokes -- how each one of several famous people would answer the question: "Why did the chicken cross the road?"

The answer they ascribed to Ernest Hemingway was: "To die. Alone. In the rain."

Saw a big, shiny black Guzzi today. Lotsa chrome. Had 4500 miles on the ticker. The hack it was tied to looked every bit as good as the Guz. It was parked at the diner where me and my friend had lunch. I didn't have a camera, so you missed it.

650skull · Support Staff Joined: Jul 19, 2007 Posts: 1186

Here is a mod to make the vacuum petcocks into a manualWeb Page Name

xsleo

Mike's sells a regular petcock the fits the mounts of a vaccum petcock don't he?

jimmythetrucker · Full Member Joined: Mar 12, 2008 Posts: 1283

Yes, Leo. Mike sells a petcock like that. I bought one and installed it on my '81. It works perfectly. Direct replacement.

jimmythetrucker · Full Member Joined: Mar 12, 2008 Posts: 1283

jayel -- that one about the ice cream truck is OLD, OLD, OLD. Heard it in all the truckstops thirty years ago. Boooooo!

OOOps! I posted this in the wrong thread. Excuuuse me!

xs1961

The manual fuel tap youre on about - does it do away with the vacuum pipe? If so Ill buy a couple & keep the tank ..

jimmythetrucker · Full Member Joined: Mar 12, 2008 Posts: 1283

There are no vacuum pipes on the manual petcocks. If you go with manual petcocks on your stock manifolds, you'll have to plug the vacuum barbs on the manifolds.

gordo

Yes, xs1961, they do not use the vacuum line at all.

650skull · Support Staff Joined: Jul 19, 2007 Posts: 1186

Gordo's right xs1961.

Hey jimmy the trucker, if you read the post's i put up you would realize we arn't talking about the manual petcocks, please stop you are confusing the situation and you have already explained very well your opinion on the vacuum petcocks

boneshaker

After almost 6 months of ownership I had it Mad

,with the petcocks from hell.I took the vacumn lines off. And got 2 sets of barb caps/plugs from Mikes , for $2.00 or something like that. And plugged the barbs on the carbs and the manifolds. Now 6 months later it still works swell prime for run and off for well....... off. When my ship comes in or the bailout for elderly motorcycles goes thru LOL Rolling Eyes

I'll get that new tank with new manual petcocks from Mikes

jimmythetrucker · Full Member Joined: Mar 12, 2008 Posts: 1283

Hey 650skull, if you read the "forums" page, it says this forum is "a place for general conversation about whatever you want."

And I thik if you read the last few posts, from xsleo right on down, you would realize that we ARE talking about the manual petcocks. So please shut up. You are confusing the situation and you've already explained to everyone on the boards that you don't like me.

And if this is a forum for general conversation about whatever I want, it seems to me that my opinion on the relevance of stylostatistics to life in the real world would not be out of place here.

650skull · Support Staff Joined: Jul 19, 2007 Posts: 1186

You are right Jimmythetrucker, i apologize for making that statement. It was late i was tired from working on the vault and interpreted xs1961's question as to the post i put up about the conversions............. I saw your post deflating a joke on another thread and this one, before you edited them, and i burred up. ................I will address your criticism towards me from Razor's GM thread while i am writing. This is separate to my apology............ On the 9th when i asked you to write a book.................. If RUSSO thinks i am abusing the power ( although i am wondering what that power is?) then by all means i'll go. Two members and I are compiling a library of information for people who do not have the knowledge to do the task they are attempting, hopefully that information we compile, will help people get a good handle on where they are at, so when the questions are asked then they will not be confused by basic answers..............If you have a complaint, against this so called power i am wheeling, then call life line.........If you would like to do the job then say so .................... any of the information that is posted in the vault can be scrutinized by any one person and if is wrong then the vault keepers would love to know. This information is to be factual, with the normal disclaimer that the information supplied should be verified by the user as i will not be held responsible for any errors that arise from the information i post.
I apologize for any errors i have committed against you JTT............................I guess you will be asking for the same from the the other 6 or 7 or 8 people you have ticked off in the last week

Jake68 · 650Rider Supporter Joined: Mar 23, 2007 Posts: 841

Mike sells an inexpensive non vacuum petcock.
Blank off one side and use one petcock with two outputs Smile

jimmythetrucker · Full Member Joined: Mar 12, 2008 Posts: 1283

650skull -- My argument with your behavior is this: Your posts all carry a big, "VAULT KEEPER" "Support Staff" avatar. You're an official of the site. As an official, you have to be impartial. You have the right to monitor threads and correct off-topic posts, stop flame wars, etc. But you misrepresent the site when you intervene in personal quarrels on behalf of one or the other participant. If you're going to take sides, you're out of line. You gave up your right to take sides when you became an official.

For example -- If xsjoan is calling me names and I'm calling her names right back, your reaction ought to be to tell us BOTH to STFU -- no matter which of us you like, or which you disagree with. All I ask is that when you act, you act impartially. You should never forget the old saw that says: "It takes two to tango."

If you'll do that, I don't want or need your apology ever because I'll have no problem with you if you act in that way. xsjoan shouldn't either, if she's honest. She and I both know when we're out of line.

If, on the other hand, you're going to take sides (as you have done in the past), feelings will harden on both ends of the rope and things will only get worse.

The upshot is that I don't mind being policed if the police work is done impartially. If you can manage that, then you and I will have no problem.

650skull · Support Staff Joined: Jul 19, 2007 Posts: 1186

No,NO, NO, jimmy, I have no control over the content that any one writes on here, you may think i have but the reality is we have been given moderator access only so as to be able to modify the threads if/when they are moved into the vault. I have not been asked, or have i asked to be a moderator and i was asked to respect that privilege when accessing the posts as a Vault keeper only

In your second paragraph you say i should be impartial and not take sides. I did that and told you both to stop behaving like school boys, man up and stop ........then you both just carried on.

It is not about sides from my point of view i have been annoyed with you, (and if you can't understand why then i cannot explain it to you), You have not even addressed or acknowledged my apology and you are still baiting another member. It is a comment designed to illicit a response and that is what you do to annoy me.......And that is my problem

jimmythetrucker · Full Member Joined: Mar 12, 2008 Posts: 1283

650skull -- But I DID ACKNOWLEDGE YOUR APOLOGY. I said that if you act even-handedly I don't want or need any apology from you. That is an acknowledgement. It isn't thanks. I didn't thank you because I didn't ask you for an apology. I won't thank you now because I still don't want your apology. I only want you to act even handedly.

Yes, YES, YES, skull, you have control over content. Look at the FORUMS page. Virtually every forum lists Russo and Vault Keepers as moderators. You wanna tell me you haven't SEEN that and didn't KNOW it? You wanna tell me it doesn't mean what it says?

If it doesn't mean what it says, then I apologize to you for mis-stating the case. But still, given what it says, I feel I was justified in making the mistake.

The other thing, about intervening in arguments on one side or the other -- I stand by that. As an official of the site (moderator or other position), you forfeit the right to take sides in quarrels. If you don't give it up, you just dirty the name of the site and create hard feelings.

yamaman

Jim & any others concerned - As vault keepers, we need to be able to disect threads & shift them from their dormant position into the vault. This requires us to have "moderators" access to the site. There is perhaps another way this could be set up, without calling us moderators, I don't know. Russo set it up this way, and you can ask him why if your still concerned!

Our brief as Vault Keepers is to manage The Vault to the best of our abilities & with the best intentions. Our purpose is NOT to moderate any persons posts/comments/views. We have neither asked to, nor been asked to do, anything outside the Vault Keepers discription.

Should you or anyone suspect that any Vault Keeper is operating outside of these boundries, please contact either myself or Russo and bring it to our attention. I assure you that any complaints will be fully investigated, and any problems rectified!

650skull has contributed a large amount of his time so far in creating The Vault, Weekendrider has been doing a fair bit of work in the background, and I also have spent a fair amount of time on The Vault! The reason we are involved in The Vault is a common urge to assist others on this site to have access to the most releavant information available.

Given your rather limited knowledge on all things motorcycle Jim, I suggest that you read a bit of what's in The Vault. Perhaps that might even one day bring you to thank Skull for his contribution!

I should also point out that we recieve nothing (nor expect anything) whatsoever in way of renumeration. The position of Vault Keeper is entirely honorary!

You of all people Jim, do not have the right to request anybodys silence!
All members of this site have the same rights! Just as all members of this site have a duty to behave in a reasonable manner.

If taking on the position of Vault Keeper takes away my right to call you an a&%*hole Jim, I quit now, because you realy are an a*#@*hole

Cheers

yamaman

Sorry about your thread being taken over sschering, hows the petcock situation?

650skull · Support Staff Joined: Jul 19, 2007 Posts: 1186

You are an argumentative trouble maker who contributes nothing and demeans people in the guise of a warped sense of humor. You will come back with a hole lot of rubbish and i will not continue this conversation any more. I have turned my back and am walking away.

Good luck with your bike and i hope the vault is of some use for you to get your bike back on the road

What Happened to 650rider.com?

Yamaha xs650