I went green

[vf24renegade]

I finally did it! I found the Nomad I wanted. A 99 two tone green. After riding a Vstar 650 for three years....it's a SWEET ride! I am very pleased with my purchase even though I travelled over 1000 miles to get it.

I now have to adjust my riding style which is a pleasurable change. I do have one or two technical questions that I wonder if it's endemic to Nomads or I need to do some tuning. I fear it's the latter.
1. When I give it throttle, especially when starting out in 1st, the engine accelerates slowly then seems to catch and accelerates very quickly at which point it idles fairly fast. When I come to a stop, downshifting, the idle speed stays high until I come almost to a stop and the bike seems to force the engine to slow down to a normal idle speed.

2. At highway speeds, if I give it a lot of throttle it seems like the engine accelerates for a second or two with little acceleration of the bike then after those couple of seconds, the bike accelerates as I'd expect. I'm not complaining, I just want to know if it's normal.

Thanks, I love this bike!

[Cajunrider]

The second scenario sounds like the clutch spring may be getting weak causing slippage. Not sure about the first one other than maybe the throttle linkage is binding. Have a dealer run the VIN to see if the plastic oil gear (POG) has been replaced with an iron gear.

[wompus]

Welcome to... "The Few, The Proud, The Green"!

The first (98) Nomad ever built was a green one, and as time went by the rest of the colors followed... ;)


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[mrghost]

Wise choice no doubt & green is the fastest color do be sure & run the vin though because as mentioned above, if the pog hasn"t been changed, i`d sure consider doing so. one can b purchased from "Judge" he makes the hardened steel ones & it`s a couple hr easy task! you can pm me if you need to know how to reach him.

[AlabamaNomadRider]

Guys I do love the green on green and the green and silver bikes. Mine is black but when I bought I didn't have a lot of choice. Green wasn't offered on the 2008 so I went with black since that was what the dealer had. I bought in 2009 and I felt lucky to find a 2008 left. Just wanted to let you guys know I think your bikes are sharp.

vf24renegade welcome to the formum. Congratulations on your purchase. They are great bikes and you will continue to love it.

[audiogooroo]

Gotta love the green! Nice choice man!

[cnc]

Congrats, I also traded up to a Nomad from a v-star 650. Quite the difference. Neither of your concerns are normal on the Nomad.
As Cajunrider suggested I would start by checking the linkage for binding and the clutch for slippage.

[swcole]

Yes, green does look good, but I have to say red doesn't look bad either!

[vf24renegade]

Thanks for the warm welcome all. The owner told me before I boiught it that the POG was changed under warranty by the dealer. She does need some TLC and that may include looking at the throttle cable, etc. to find out my idle and acceleration problems. All in all I like the design and love the ride. I can't say enough how pleased I am with my purchase. My Vstar is red, so I won't say red's a bad color. Like hair or nail color, it depends on what it's on.

[macmac]

Carbed huh. There could be a lot of things to look over. I have never seen a carbed Nomad so take this with some grains of salt. On the other hand i know a lot of carbs on cars and bikes.

The first thing I would be sure of is that no vac leaks are present, that all vac lines and caps to seal of vacuum form something no longer in use are not cracked, loose or brittle.

If any air or exhaust mods were done check the jet numbers. Doing this with the greatest care to detail, so you can check float level MATTERS.

Also check the float setting, and inlet needle and seat.

Take great care to not tear the top cover diaprame and inspect it closely holding it between you and a light. From what you said I might not be surprised to discover a minute' pin hole in the diaphram. (min-Ute) not minute.

Then it just might be the cables are out of adjustment too. That's easy. Pop off what ever is over the throttle plates so you can see em and twist the grip. Does it open as fast as you turn the grip?

With the carb slider in hand is it clean? Does it slide straight with no chaffing the guide? Is the guide smooth? Is the main metering needle nice and wiggly, and not worn on the sides?

You must answer this one for me. Does this carb have a accell pump device? If so does it spurt fuel on demand. I could look this up, but i am so far behind what i gotta get done today I can't now.

[xncrman]

Congrats on the GREEN ! ;)

On the throttle issue, you might want to do the clutch spring mod. I didn't like the slipping of the clutch when I pulled the throttle and Judges washers and Meanstreak clutch spring did the trick. Check out the info on the Gadget page below.

http://www.gadgetjq.com/clutch_spring_replacement.htm

My "99" gets a whopping 39 mpg - 47 mpg after installing Reckless fairing along with my Hard Lowers. That's not a sales pitch, just wanted to let you know if your getting the 30 - 37 mpg that I initially got the bike, you can do a lot better. Happy Riding

[vf24renegade]

Thanks for the answers folks. The built in clutch slip sounds just like what I'm feeling.
As for the carb, I have to look in the manual....to be continued.

[billmac]

Mac is the expect around here for sure. I listen when he chimes in.

I agree that a Vacuum leak is probable cause. But it also could be restricted fuel from jets that got dirty from sitting around with stale gas. This is just me, but I would start with trying 2 ounces of Marvel Mystery Oil in the gas. Some prefer Seafoam to clean the fuel system.

I would not worry about the clutch spring until after you have ridden it for awhile. If the problem gets worse you can put on a barnett spring at a oil change. It is not a big job and is not expensive..

Not surprised to hear that your happy with the Nomad. The black ones are much better though. :)

[ndbigfish]

Congratulations and welcome. How many miles does the bike have? I have found that the things that need inspection and regular attention on a 99' are the POG, clutch spring and fuel system. After that comes the cam chain extenders, rocker cover gaskets and cam plugs.

I would start with a new fuel filter and a thorough cleaning of the carb. Scrub the intake and butterfly valve with carb cleaner and a toothbrush. Once these are taken care of I would run MMO through the fuel. The recommended rate is .4 oz per gallon; so 4.2 gallons would require 1.68 oz for a full tank. Personally I use MMO on every fuel stop.

Additionally, lubricating the throttle cables is a good idea after 11 years and unknown maintenance. I have had good experience with PJ1 cable lube.

I would follow billmac's advice on the clutch spring. My first stock spring was nearly gone at about 16,000. I used the Mean streak spring and Judge's washers.

Mac, there is an accelerator pump on the 99'.

[ringadingh]

It sounds like the carb could use a cleaning, at least run a tankfull of Seafoam through it, it may help a lot.
And Id be installing a new clutch spring as well, make sure you verify whether the pog has been replaced with a sog.