Owner's manual, '01 FC501

I just yesterday bought an 01 FC501. It did not come with any documents. I would like to pick up an owner's manual and/or maybe a service/parts manual. Can someone point me in the right direction?

I have about 12,000 questions concerning this bike, but I'm gonna search around on here for a while to try and answer most of them myself. If I get stuck, I'll be back.

Does anyone have any advice or 'what to watch out for' words for a new 501 owner?

Where can I pick up a new pair of carb boots and a new air filter? Oops, there I go assking questions before I researched the topic myself. Oh well, I'll stop now.

Thanks in advance for any and all help.

C-C

LeFrog said:

For the carb boots: http://www.vancouverdrifters.org/husa.txt

I think you have 11,998 questions left?

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Yeah... I've been reading and thinking. I can't find any real information that references the FC501 from 2001 specifically. I see all sorts of information about all sorts of bikes. I guess it's there, and they're all pretty similar, so I guess I can muddle through.

The clutch bleeding thing is new to me, as I've never before owned a bike with a hyd. clutch. It seems to me that the procedure referenced in the owner's manual (open the bleeder and pump in fluid through the bottom end) wouldn't really purge the fluid in the slave cylinder. I'm thinking I might (1) crack the bleeder and pump all the fluid out via the clutch lever, then refill through the resevoir and bleed it conventionally, hoping to fill the system without air that way, but I'm not sure. I could (2) use the system in the owner's manual, but it reads to me as being counter-intuitive. I'll just have to do it and learn from trial and error.

I guess I'll have to physically count the links in the chain before I order a new one, as I'm not sure after reading the parts manual if I have a 112, 114 or 116 link chain.

Can I order a silencer w/ a spark arrester? Most places around here won't let you ride without one. I'm not sure: can a person buy one and install it into the loud end of the exhaust, or do I need a pipe specifically set up for one?

Could I fab a carb boot from a section of radiator hose with the same ID as the OD of the carb/manifold?

Who makes re-usable air filters for it? It's got an old nasty one on there now, I need a fresh one.

My petcocks only have two positions, on and off. There doesn't seem to be a setting for reserve on either one. Does that seem right?

What US octane rating equates to a 98 RON octane? I assume US 93 octane will run OK, as the compression reads 11.8:1; that's high, but not crazy high, really.

I can't wait to ride the friggin' thing, really.

LeFrog said:

Twin Air makes the best "Twinkies".

To bleed the clutch: save and buy baby oil (scented or not, does not matter). I bought the Magura kit and it came with different adapters to bolt on the slave cylinder (plus some expensive clutch oil, aka "blood") and now use the baby oil. But you can make do with any plastic syringe ("flavor injector" type or anything you can find at the auto part store) and a piece of tank hose as long as it is tight.

Basically you install the syringe, THEN remove the cover from the master cylinder, pull the clutch, remove all the old oil, push new oil (keep pulling the clutch), wait for all the bubbles to come out from the top. You need to make sure there is no air.

Then you put the master cylinder cover back on, remove the syringe, retighten the bottom bolt where you put the syringe, and that's it. Do not be afraid to spill oil from the top by overfilling. Baby oil is cheap and better make a bit of a mess than have a clutch that does not engage properly.

Yes you can put a spark arrestor on. Sandskipper put one. You will need to drill and put some pop rivets. You can also repack at that moment if you want. It cannot hurt.

What's wrong with the rubber manifolds? Do they have a gash? If not, better have older manifolds than newer ones: they make it easier to remove and reinstall your carburetor.

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If I put the syringe onto the bleeder screw before emptying the system, won't I be filling the syringe up with old fluid?

I've got a Mity Vac for my brakes... I figure I could just pump all the fluid out from the top to the bottom using the clutch lever (or suck it all out with the Mity Vac), then re-fill from the bottom up by reversing the Mity Vac. This should be about the same thing as what you're describing I think. I know with brakes I get fewer air bubbles when I fill from the bottom.

I truly won't know until I try it, but as I read and look at the shop manual pictures, it looks... daunting. I'm not sure I understand it, because I still feel it looks counter-intuitive, but I'm thinking about it like a brake system, I've never applied brake bleeding concepts to a clutch system. Oh well.

Twin Air - gotcha, I'll look for one.

I'll seek out some muffler packing and a spark arrester too.

Wow... been forever since I've had the chance to get over here.

Anyway, we rode the bikes last weekend, and this bike is strong. It's quite possibly the strongest (and scariest) bike I've ever ridden, and I roadrace sportbikes. I would spin constantly up thru 4 gears on hard-pack dirt roads until the limiting factor was air resistance of my gear. I can't see how with a set of slicks on a motard set-up that the top speed wouldn't be in the high 120s low 130s.

But it runs hot -- it boils over pretty easily. I didn't have my remote temp sensor, but I'm dying to shoot the radiator when it's up to temp to see the engine temperature. I have to figure out what's doing that.

Maybe it's related to the jetting in some way. It lean pops on decel... a lot. Not like a pop here or pop there, more like automatic weapon fire. It was warm on the day we rode (low 90s), with humidity pretty up there, too. I don't know... I wanna check out the plug color to see if I'm close or not. I'd rather run fat and replace plugs than too lean and replace head gaskets and cylinders.

That and the idle speed seems way, way too high. I can handle the idle speed thing (but would like a tach or at least a clip on deal to tell me the engine revs) by ear when it's warm. I can't tell what that'll do to the engine starting when it's warm, though.

The engine was coated in a fine mist of oil all over the front exterior -- behind the radiator. I could not discern the source of the misting, as I didn't notice it until the end of the ride, and by that time the whole block was pretty well coated from intake to crank case. It may be the header pipe not being bolted to the exhaust port, but just held on with two exhaust springs. A little smoke blow-by sneaking out and coating the case? I'll have to scrub it down and talc the **** out of the case to find the leak. I hope it's not a warped head, allowing water/oil transfer. But I pulled the oil fill and the crank oil seemed dirty but oil free. No milky color swirled together or foam or anything.

The clutch seems fine - I just had to get used to it. I'd like it to actuate a little later in the stroke, instead of pulling away as soon as it leaves the grip. That'll make it hard in the tight stuff in the woods, but I won't be trying that environment out until I get the heat thing taken care of; no slow speed stuff until we get the heat build up problem in the past.

There must be a water pump on these bikes? Maybe it's a water flow/impeller problem?

Oh well, it's a lot of fun, but seems pretty high-maintenance so far. Maybe it's residual from poor maintenance by the previous owner. Once I get it all straight it'll be easy from then on out.

LeFrog said:

It boils over really easily in the summer, which is why an oil recovery device is recommended, which can be as simple as a soda bottle under the rear fender, with a hose running all the way from the front.

Overheating in the American summer is a common issue with the Bergs.

There are many many threads on the subject. Use the search engine.

People use different solutions to fix this issue, such as riding faster (!), using different coolants, such as the Evans, and adding a fan.

Also be careful not to get burned with the headers. Hot hot hot!

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Oil... recovery? Where the hell is it sneaking out from? I've heard of crank vents and the requisite tubes/catch cans, but I didn't notice a crank vent on this bike, nor a fitting for a recovery can.

What would I power a fan with? I assume there's a tech bulletin on here some where from a user who's installed one? I feel that would be a great option for me and I'd love to stick a pair of 5" square electric pull fans on the backside of the radiator. That'd be a great solution I think.

-HJK

LeFrog said:

COOLANT recovery :roll:

See my gallery for an example.

My bike already has an "oil recovery" device, it's called a skid plate :twisted:

The fan, you connect it to the battery, with of course a switch to activate it. You can even add a heat-trigger switch. Easier to put the fans in the front of the radiators, behind BOSS rad guards.

See Berger's gallery for an example.

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Hey, don't roll your eyes at me!!! You wrote oil recovery the first time, not me! :crazy:

Yeah, I guess I got an order to fill at the hardware store for some clear tubing, and a water bottle zip tie'd to the rear frame somewhere. Maybe a big water bottle for all I know.

My bike has no battery, which is why I wondered what to wire the fans to. All this is new to me.

First I'll flush and fill it with water/water wetter, see if that helps. It'd be nice if it had a freeze plug. That's too much to ask I guess.

Despite any of this, all I wanna do is go ride the thing again!

Recently I swapped the old coolant (which appeared to be straight glycol or maybe a 70/30 glycol/water mix) to water and water wetter. We went riding again, and apparently that took care of the boiling over problem. At operating temperature I shot the radiator with an infra-temp gauge and it read in the mid-high 180s at the top of the radiator and mid 170s at the bottom of the radiator. The engine cases were in the high 230s! The header was off the chain, it pegged the gauge so I have no idea how hot they were.

I just noticed both fork seals are shot - badly weeping.

The seal where the jug bolts onto the engine case is weeping bad too, after it gets hot. That I believe is where the engine is getting coated with oil. Looks like a winter-time tear down is in order. Will replacement of that seal be really crazy involved? It looked like the water pump assembly has to come off to do it, and I didn't know if there'll be a lot involved with a base gasket swap or not.

Other than that, I still have to get an air cleaner, spark arrester and work on getting the clutch to actuate later in the stroke than right off the bar, that's annoying.

Still a wicked strong bike. Tons of fun for my fat arse.





-CC

Well, that's something. 8O I didn't know that, and apparently the seller didn't either. Oh well, it's still a fun bike that has all the issues previously described. But I will look for '00 stuff now instead of '01. Thanks for the point. :thumb:

-CC