Just A Versys

Riding on foreign soils is a must for an avid rider. I have done a fair bit of riding to Thailand and would say i have enjoyed every bit of it.

These were some of the prep done before heading for the long adventurous touring to Mae Hong Son. Mae Hong Son is famous for the 1864 corners situated at the northern part of Thailand.

The followings are some of the necessity bike preparation for a long tour:

1. Windshield
2. Hand guard
3. 12V cigarette ligter socket
4. GPS holder
5. Crash guard
6. Radiator guard
   
7. Mud guard Extender 
8. Rear huggers
9. Side Panniers
10. Topbox
11. Spot Lights
12. LED tail lights/blinkers
13. Big foot
14. Lamp guard
15. Bridgestone Battlax BT-23 or T030 tires

Yamaha FZ150i

I've not been posting pictures of my ride for quite some time. To get back on track, here are some of the recent mods i have made. I had a 12 Volts socket installed and also gotten a GPS holder for my ride. The tap-off for it's wiring were from the small bulb of the front lamp. Installed with a 1 amp fuse, it shall give the protection needed to avoid any short circuitry propagating to the rest of the wiring harness. Cost of the socket RM 50 and the GPS holder with the water resistance casing was RM 70. A recommendation for those avid riders who loves to get themselves on solo rides on trails foreign to them. :p    

Yamaha FZ150i Recommended Upgrades

Happy new year to everyone and hope that this year would bring wealth and best of health to all.

Previously on my posting were some suggestions that i've made with regards to improving the performance of your machine.

Yes.. I have tried some of them out and have come out with a fair conclusion. Several items that i would recommend are as follows:

1. Air Filter
2. ECU
3. Hi-Cam
4. Exhaust
5. Sprocket

Air-filter: By reducing the restriction to the amount of air entering the combustion chamber, one is able to allow a higher ratio of air to fuel thus increasing the horse-power.

ECU: At this point of time, the upgraded ECU that i have came from Hong Leong Yamaha - Moric Racing ECU. It has a fuel cut at approximately 13,000 rpm. It out performs the standard ECU anytime

Hi-Cam: Beware of the racing cams out in the market. Some merely does anything. In-fact by reverting back to the original cam did give me a better top-end. This is because of the higher profile of the cam which disturbs the opening and closing of the valves. Being a single cam engine, the cam adjustment is restricted as both the intake and exhaust profile is on the same shaft. Therefore, advancing the cam opening of the intake would also advance the opening of the exhaust vice-versa.

Exhaust: NoB-1 exhaust did give a sporty look on the bike but sadly didn't do much for the top-end. The original exhaust however do require modification internally to improve the bike's performance. It has several plates in the muffler which zig-zags the flow in it. What i would suggest is to remove the plates and insert a cone funnel narrowing the flow from the inlet of the muffler. The sound coming out of the modified exhaust is still bearable compared to the after market ones.

And finally, the sprocket suitable for a good balance of pick-up and top end would be 15-41. I could not reduce the size further than that. I guess it is due to my 6' height which creates quite an amount of drag while riding. Top speed achievable with this configuration is approximately 150km/h. Bare in mind, the racing ECU i had on my bike does not limit the rpm to 10,500.

Hope the information i have shared would shed some light on those modders out there..

Cheer!

Yamaha FZ150i

After waiting for ages for a new full fairing replacement of the jurassically old TZM of mine, i decided to settle down for the so called sports naked FZ150i in late March this year. After running in the bike for a good 3000km, i decided to improve this very slow machine. Believe me, a Yamaha LC135 could smoke this fella and have it for breakfast. Huhu.. So, wat's new? Erm.. let's see.. i decided to start off with a change of oil to Castrol Fully Synthetic after the first 1500km. The sluggish performance of it was drastically improved with just the change of the engine oil. It was giving that rough growling while cruising at approx 110km/h and the Castrol Power1 Racing 4T dampened the engine noise that was felt earlier.

Later at around 2000km, i came across a friend who advised me on the change of CO using a Fuel Injection Diagnostic (FID) Tool and realized the original preset was -5. I change the value to 15 as advised by the mechanic who is a friend of mine that was familiar with the bike. The engine did give a better mid to high range response but still felt that something was not right with the setting.

Around 3200km, the fuel pump gave problem and that gave me a trip back to Hong Leong Yamaha for a warranty claim. It was replaced free of charged but the incident almost cost me missing my graduation rehearsal that day when my bike didn't wanna start after a ride to work. My CO value was changed to ZERO after the replacement of the fuel pump. The mechanic said that it was wrong to set the CO to 15 because it would give me an increase in fuel consumption and i believe he was right. The bike was consuming more fuel than it should but it did give me a chance to hit 140km/h on a straight windless day back home from Sepang sometimes and i didn't mind the increase actually. :p

The visit to the workshop at almost the interval of an oil change made me stick with the same Castrol Fully Synthetic oil which cost RM38 per litre. The oil filter was an additional RM12. One prominent distinction from the previous oil change was the colour of the drained oil. It was black with some fine sediment of asbestos suggesting that the clutch was either burnt or slipping. I suspected that it could have been due to my insisting of achieving higher top speeds. Huhu.. This LNM bike wasn't able to exceed speeds of 130km/h on a straight road against other LC135.

On an occasion, I was pretty frustrated that the LC135 was able to easily overtake me and yet wiggle infront of me while i struggle to catch up with it. I bet you guys would be feeling the same way i did if you were on a much higher cc bike that was being beaten by a kapchai. I had it with that incident, it made me upgrade the exhaust and i decided to install an air/fuel controller. And so, the bill got up but the changes it did pay-off.. Hehe.. Now i could eat some LC135 for breakfast.

By the way, LNM is the nickname i have given this machine of mine. Sounds like the cigarette brand but it is not. Leave me a note if you wanna know what it stands for.. I have left some general info of this so-called 1st Malaysian built Fuel Injection bike below for your appreciation.

Technical Specifications:

Overall length x width x height : 2,000 x 705 x 1,035 mm
Seat Height : 770 mm
Wheel base : 1,282 mm
Minimum Ground Clearance : 167 mm
Dry weight/ Curb weight : 114 kg
Fuel tank capacity : 12 litres
Clutch type : Wet, multiple-disc
Transmission : constant mesh 5-speed
Cooling System : Liquid
Brake front / rear : Single disc brake / Drum Brake

Performance:

Top speed : 130km/h
Average cruising speed : 110km/h
Fuel consumption : 35~40 km/litre

Price: RM 8200

Items recommended doing for power improvement:

1. Air/Fuel Controller (RM280)
2. Exhaust system (RM280)
3. Fork brace (RM90)
4. Sprocket (tried to reduce the rear sprocket size to 41 and 40, so far the original 15-42 is the best pairing set)
5. Hi-Cam
6. Oversize Block and Piston
7. ECU

Generally, the FZ150i is a great bike for mid range distance travelling with great savings on fuel. The bike's handling is fair and a little floaty into corners approaching the apex. I have more confidence handling TZM at higher speeds into similar cornering. Beware.. Leaning too much and the double stand would graze the ground too. In terms of looks, the current 2010 version without the round lamps do look better and hopefully Hong Leong Yamaha would consider coming out with the full fairing version YZF-R15 someday. Some of the upgrades above are merely suggestions to improve it's performance and i have yet to try them out. I shall keep everyone posted on it as i gradually upgrade.

Until we meet again, do ride safe and responsibly.

Mitsubishi Cordia 1.8 GSR Turbo

This is my Mitsubishi Cordia. It's from the 80's era. Not many knows about it these days. Many misinterpret it's looks for a Levin AE86. My dad sent it to a workshop a couple of months ago for a top overhaul and i can't believe what that apek actually critised me of doing. He said that i have fitted the wrong engine into it. He actually advised my dad into replacing the engine with the more reliable toyota 4A-GE. Now, that is what i call stupidity. For heaven's sake, it's a Mitsubishi, why the hell does it need a Toyota's powerplant?? To that apek i would say, "aiya.. uncle, u didn't go school high enough la.. this is not a Toyota patt lok (86) arh.." This is the story of "The Cordia" that i have kept for the past 8 years. It was brought buy my dad from my late uncle Larry for my brother to commute to class and back. After two years in his hands i took over. why? bcos he got his so called super-duper Gen-2. waaah laau eeh.. if u think i am going to praise the gen-2, sorry la.. it's a P.O.S (piece of s**t). Believe me, the owner himself disposed it after using it for 2 years and actually is satisfied to settled for an older '97 civic EG-9 for now.

Coming back to the Cordia, it originally came with an older 1600cc SOHC (4G32). Dun play play arh.. this normal aspirated (NA) engine from 1983 was giving out slightly more than 70hp & could easily reach a top speed of 200km/h. By the way, this engine is so practical that u could still find it in the Mitsubishi Delica that are moving goods and people around.

You might ask, if it is so good, then why change the engine?? Aha.. here comes the story,

i was going around to get a replacement power-steering hose one day when i couldn't believe my eyes.. Between the stack of half-cuts was a chopped-up Mitsubishi Cordia 1.8 GSR Turbo 4WD. Sudirman was the supervisor incharged at the chopshop and he didn't wanna sell me just the hose eventually convincing me to take the whole chopped car from his yard. What more could i say, i took it including the newer looking rear lights, doors and everything that was for a Cordia. Being so trilled with it, i called up my cousins Andre and Adrian to get over to check it out. Hmm.. hunting for a replacement hose and eventually buying a whole half-cut, now that is ridiculous but not for a petrolhead like me. :p

More info on Mitsubishi Cordia next time around.