Advice required on Vigor 650 mannerisms

[Ken Wales]

Right, this is first bike I've had on the road for over 20 years, I bought it at the back end of last year off Ebay, I've never had such a big single (last bike was a Bonnie) so I'm not sure what to expect from it. It's like learning to ride all over again.

I took it for the MOT and it passed with just an advisory for a slack drive chain, Coming back from the testers travelling up hill but restricted by traffic I tried to cruise in top gear below 2500 RPM but it didn't like it (very jerky) and I had to change down. Is that normal and I've got to keep the revs higher.

Also it's been commented the the engine is a little rattly, TBH it sounds fine to me and pulls like a train, but could this be a worn cam or chain.

Any advise or comments/tips on handling these machines welcome.

Thanks, Ken.

[Rubberchicken]

Yep, especially in higher gears the engine is happier above 3000 rpm. They're a lot more fun that way too.

Slack drive chain, well, opinions vary. On the NX it had to be fairly slack, the Vigor is a bit more of a roadbike so it'll be a bit less slack, but it definitely shouldn't be tight either or you'll start damaging stuff as it tightens further when the suspension sags.

About the rattle, have you checked the valves? They can be a bit rattly as there's a lot of stuff going on in thise RFVC heads, including an automatic decompressor that's sometimes a bit clattery. That said, how many miles has it done? I've swapped my cam chain at 40.000 miles.

And finally, the One Big Thing to pay lots of attention to: Oil. Change interval is 2000 miles, and especially when the bike is new to you it pays to do regular checks as they can consume a bit and it's good to get to know its drinking habits. You wouldn't be the first one who does the first oil check after "a few thousand miles" only to find it's run dry...

[Mervinh]

yep deffo do not like anything under 2500 in top, noise as RC says check the valves , Shame you are in bolton we could meet up and compare noises , and do keep the oil checked and changed ,

[Ken Wales]

Thanks for the advice, I changed the oil and filter as soon as I got it, It looked as if it hadn't been changed for a while, also put in a new airfilter and plug, didn't clean out that gauze filter in the engine, I'll do that next time. Found one exhaust was set to .7 so reset all to .4 already. The bike is showing 16k on the clock but I don't know if this is genuine.

I'm going to tax it tomorrow, and I think it's just a case of getting use to it, let the fun begin .

Cheers, Ken.

[Rubberchicken]

.4 what?

IIRC exhaust should be set to 0.12 mm. Inlet 0.10 mm.

Careful with the right hand exhaust valve, the auto decompressor can be a bit tricky and make it appear there's either no or lots of play, I don't quite remember which one.

[Ken Wales]

That could be why it's rattly

Just checked the disc and I knew there was a 4 somewhere 0.10 mm or 4thou (0.004) in old money.

[Rubberchicken]

Yes that'll do it.

[BIGJIM]

Ken, you can compare it to my 30000 mile SLR if you want, the engine is quite sweet so sounds right. Let me know if you do, I'm only in Winstanley and am off work Thur,Fri,Sat,Sun this week

Cheers

[Windmill John]

The only time a Vigor should be below 3000 rpm is when it's in your garage parked for the night
I, like you, tend to run bikes at lower revs, but the newer ones just don't like it.
With standard gearing, it is awful around 30mph in town.
I went one or two teeth less on the rear sprocket, cannot remember which. This made town riding much better and A road cruising better too.
Don't get rid of it, cracking little bike. Looks smaller than its power.
If it still rattling when above 3k, then look for faults.
Strangely a lot more stable a bike with two up. Great fun and twitchy when on by yourself

[Mervinh]

Oh and they spit oil from the rear shock all over the place, or mine has the little sod, last week on the A39 it turned into a kangaroo, i had a secondhand SLR one in the shed in nice order, fitted that all was fine , bike handling marvelously, pushed it out of the shed yesterday morning, as it went over the step at the front it bounced once and pissed the oil from the shock all over the floor, New Hagon on order from RPM now