Raptor

Collected it on the trailer Sat evening. Only had a little trundle on
it up the lane when I got home, due to a lack of petrol, MOT, tax &
insurance. It's a bit frisky!

Stuck it on the ramp yesterday & started ripping it apart to check for
any issues. Didn't take me long to decide I should take it back &
demand a refund - then buy it again for 500 quid more than I paid. It's
bloody amazing for a 10 year old, 1600 quid bike, & in way better
condition than the others I looked at, which were at least a grand more.

It was sold as having no service history, yet the (somewhat hard to
navigate) service book has stamps at 874, 5230 & 7414 miles, & there's
a Branson's invoice for another at 14968 miles. First thing I checked
after the SV woes was the brake pins, all of which are copper greased &
can be turned easily by hand - phew! The oil & air filters look brand
new, & the oil's still got a hint of yellow to it.

The only issue I found was a slightly charred electrical cable where it
had been badly routed, but the wires inside were fine so not a problem.
It's got flat bars fitted which will have to go, & the rear pads are
getting low, but other than that it needs nothing. Well chuffed I am.

Of course there's a big difference between what it needs & what it'll
get, so I've started on the shopping list: TRE, BMC, Power Commander,
small screen, possibly different sprockets (I don't think 150mph on a
naked bike is really necessary), R&G bungs, & possibly a hydraulic
clutch conversion.

If anyone's owned a TL1000, feel free to chip in with any
engine-related pearls of wisdom.

 

Krusty wrote:

I haven't owned a TL, but a friend is well clued up on Raptors and
V-Raptors. Her advice is keep an eye on the radiator because they
spring leaks - just about every one she knows of has done this. They
are repairable and it might be an idea to join the Raptor forum and
seek their advice if t happens.

She reckons they are otherwise dead reliable... but let's wait and see,
eh?

 

I wonder if it has a self retracting sidestand

 

Aye, already spotted that one during pre-purchase research. A modified
top mount is on the list of things to fettle.

I've spent many a happy hour trawling through the archives already.
Which lead me to check the TPS this evening, & it was way off. Now
sorted & TBs balanced.

Indeed. Ordered most of the bits I want today so should get those
fitted by the weekend, just in time for the weather to improve if the
forecast is to be believed (yeah right).

 

No. Or have I been whooshed?

 

I thought about one of these when I bought the Aprilia, but I got the
impression that the Aprilia handled better.

My TL1000R engine was generally great. Bought the bike at around 30K
miles and sold it at just over 40K miles.

The only issue I had was the clutch: the slipper mechanism's a bit
weird (off load it's in slip mode and needs forward drive to lock up
properly) but that was easily cured with a new set of plates. When
worn, they are known to suddenly slip under power at speed and the
lockup again. Mine did once or twice. However, the main symptom I
found was when pulling away from stationary: if the bike pulls away
smoothly, then lurches forward after the clutch is almost completely
released then it's the plates. I doubt you'd have that problem for a
while. You can put washers under the clutch springs to help, (it's a
common mod), but I suspect that rather degrades the degree of slip if,
unlike me, you think slipper clutches on road bikes are worth the
extra clutch wear.

The TL motor's got a lot of top-end for a Vee (you run out of revs
before you run out of grunt) and it delivers the power nicely. Oh,
there is a glitch if you crack the throttle at err, something like
6-7K (I think this is when the secondary injectors kick in) but I
rarely found it a problem. There is a mod that fixes this.

I did have a worrying intermittent faint ticking from the top end from
early on, but after asking around I came to the conclusion it was
either just backlash in the cam drive train - they do have
anti-backlash gears but they age - or maybe the auto decompressor was
rattling slightly.

Obviously I don't know what the access is like on your bike, but valve
clearances weren't too hard to do: as the camshafts themselves are
part gear and part chain driven; they just lift out when the caps are
undone.

If only that bike hadn't handled like it was on rails I'd have kept
it.

 

On 12/07/2010 21:48, Pip Luscher wrote:

huh?

 

Great if you like riding trains.

 

<snip stuff about TL-R engines>

I'll remember that if I ever decide to do an engine swap. I should've
mentioned the Raptor's got the TLS engine (so no slipper clutch &
single injectors).

 

Ah. I thought the TL-S had a slipper clutch too, but as the engine's
been used in a variety of bikes, wouldn't be surprised if there's a
variant without it.

 

Oh. I'd always taken that expression to mean a Good Thing.

 

I was being flippant. Changing line takes a bitf effort; they just
feel heavy. No real vices though, unless you reduce the extremely
heavy stock steering damper.