Mille Cams, Clutch slipping and Rear lights (not working)

[MattG#116]

Went for a ride out with my Dad yesterday, great ride through Midlands (I think.... lol) Few questions I have as a result of this ride -

Miile Cams (?) - the previous owner (who had the bike for only a few weeks before taking dislike) explained that the Owner previous to him had put the Mille Cams in the Falco. I dismissed the subject to be honest. However, riding yesterday I noticed just how hard the Falco pulls and how it just continues to pull. My Dad has the 2000 Hayabusa (full power) and at one point we stopped and he just could not work out why he could not outpace the Falco, straight-line acceleration that is. This got me thinking about these Cams that may/may not have been done.
1. Can the Mille Cams be fitted to Falco?
2. Could I find out without stripping Engine?
3. I have no Dyno readout etc. to say what power she is pushing out, having owned Blackbirds etc. and ridden 2x 'Busa's, this Falco is no Moped!!
4. I have noticed a definite increase in power, smoothness etc. since putting after market pipes on. I do not know what filter it has.
5. Almost 40k on clock.

Clutch Slipping - When the Falco is given full throttle (whish isn't really needed) in any gear the RPM will shoot up and although pulling hard seems as if the Clutch is slipping, either that or the back wheel is spinning up?? 1/2 or 3/4 throttle, no slip.
1. Is there anything I can try prior to getting new clutch plates etc.
2. Would bleeding help?

Rear Lights - Trivial one, but my rear lights have stopped working, when headlight or side lights on. Brake lights work fine. Obvious answer is the bulbs, but to me seems unlikely they would both blow the tail light at same time.
1. Common thing with Falco?
2. Being Italian, I thought I would ask before I go in there with a Multi-meter.
[/b]

[D-Rider]

Went for a ride out with my Dad yesterday, great ride through Midlands (I think.... lol) Few questions I have as a result of this ride -

Miile Cams (?) - the previous owner (who had the bike for only a few weeks before taking dislike) explained that the Owner previous to him had put the Mille Cams in the Falco. I dismissed the subject to be honest. However, riding yesterday I noticed just how hard the Falco pulls and how it just continues to pull. My Dad has the 2000 Hayabusa (full power) and at one point we stopped and he just could not work out why he could not outpace the Falco, straight-line acceleration that is. This got me thinking about these Cams that may/may not have been done.
1. Can the Mille Cams be fitted to Falco?

Yes
However, which year mille are you talking about? Falco cams are the same as the earliest Mille.

Falco pulls like a train anyway. In the real world there's not much to choose between them performance wise. Falco a bit better down the bottom end and the Mille at the top end (where it's not a great help on the road)

2. Could I find out without stripping Engine?

Probably not .... well the cam covers would have to come off and then you'd not be able to tell by just peering at them

3. I have no Dyno readout etc. to say what power she is pushing out, having owned Blackbirds etc. and ridden 2x 'Busa's, this Falco is no Moped!!

Indeed. Power will not give huge numbers, the fun is in the delivery

4. I have noticed a definite increase in power, smoothness etc. since putting after market pipes on. I do not know what filter it has.

They do like to be allowed to breath. Less restricted cans and airkit certainly help

5. Almost 40k on clock.

Run in then ..... should be plenty of miles left in it as long as it's been looked after properly

Clutch Slipping - When the Falco is given full throttle (whish isn't really needed) in any gear the RPM will shoot up and although pulling hard seems as if the Clutch is slipping, either that or the back wheel is spinning up?? 1/2 or 3/4 throttle, no slip.
1. Is there anything I can try prior to getting new clutch plates etc.
2. Would bleeding help?

I'm guessing it's a red or a black one - their clutches are not so robust. Don't use fully synthetic oil with them
If all else fails Aprilia has authorised 10W40 oil to be used .... and if that fails, some have done the trick of roughening the clutch steels

Rear Lights - Trivial one, but my rear lights have stopped working, when headlight or side lights on. Brake lights work fine. Obvious answer is the bulbs, but to me seems unlikely they would both blow the tail light at same time.
1. Common thing with Falco?
2. Being Italian, I thought I would ask before I go in there with a Multi-meter.
[/b]

Not a common problem. Just a case of checking bulbs and wiring (TBH there are few common problems)

[TwinkietheKid]

Clutch Slipping - When the Falco is given full throttle (whish isn't really needed) in any gear the RPM will shoot up and although pulling hard seems as if the Clutch is slipping, either that or the back wheel is spinning up?? 1/2 or 3/4 throttle, no slip.
1. Is there anything I can try prior to getting new clutch plates etc.
2. Would bleeding help?

Is there any free play with the clutch lever? If not, the clutch is being prevented from fully engaging perhaps?

[MattG#116]

Thanks for the replies. I will check it all out.

I just cant believe it took me this long to get a V-Twin!! Incredible bit of kit!

[fatboy]

As far as the clutch goes, mine is fine for genteel, frock wearing side saddle riding but will slip like fuck when ridden in hooligan mode.
I bought some EBC frictions hoping this would cure the problem.... NO, they dont fit and sit proud of the clutch basket so slip like fuck all the time, can be rectified by fitting one less friction and plain plate but that is 10% of the clutch gone.
I put the prilla plates back in, same story for more than a year !
A Falc in the right hands is quite good at surprising jap 4 pilots so good work that man

[blinkey501]

The mille and the falco are on par until around 5-6000 rpm.
The mille at those revs really comes alive.

[slickliner6]

My Dad has the 2000 Hayabusa (full power) and at one point we stopped and he just could not work out why he could not outpace the Falco, straight-line acceleration that is.
[/b]

He obviously wasnt trying pmsl.
Tell him the throttle will go a little further round.

[MattG#116]

My Dad has the 2000 Hayabusa (full power) and at one point we stopped and he just could not work out why he could not outpace the Falco, straight-line acceleration that is.
[/b]

He obviously wasnt trying pmsl.
Tell him the throttle will go a little further round.

Lol, I give him enough grief as it is. To be fair the Busa is a beast and whilst the Falco will keep with into the early 100's, the Busa then comes alive and keeps pulling at just about the same rate ...

[MattG#116]

As far as the clutch goes, mine is fine for genteel, frock wearing side saddle riding but will slip like fuck when ridden in hooligan mode.
I bought some EBC frictions hoping this would cure the problem.... NO, they dont fit and sit proud of the clutch basket so slip like fuck all the time, can be rectified by fitting one less friction and plain plate but that is 10% of the clutch gone.
I put the prilla plates back in, same story for more than a year !
A Falc in the right hands is quite good at surprising jap 4 pilots so good work that man

SO it seems like its a live with it situation or start fiddling?

[D-Rider]

As far as the clutch goes, mine is fine for genteel, frock wearing side saddle riding but will slip like fuck when ridden in hooligan mode.
I bought some EBC frictions hoping this would cure the problem.... NO, they dont fit and sit proud of the clutch basket so slip like fuck all the time, can be rectified by fitting one less friction and plain plate but that is 10% of the clutch gone.
I put the prilla plates back in, same story for more than a year !
A Falc in the right hands is quite good at surprising jap 4 pilots so good work that man

SO it seems like its a live with it situation or start fiddling?

It's a case of checking what oil you've got in there and if it's still happening with suitable engine oil, maybe roughen the clutch steels (have a search on the forum for those that have done this).
Also check the free play in the clutch actuation as Twinkie suggested.

[fatboy]

I've had the same problem running on both 15/50 and 10/40 semi synth, the steels dont appear to be warped when stacked on top of each other and viewed by eye, no air space between em (yes they were oil free ).
Griff opined that the steels rarely cause problems unless they are warped.
I looked at roughing the steels (AF1) but that seems to be a temporary fix, I have EBC heavy duty springs fitted, not checked the actuation free play, will do when I fit new slave cyl, when it stops raining

[dazyguk]

I cured my clutch slip with a roughen up of the friction plates and a change to semi synth. Only been a thousand miles so far but still no slip!

[fatboy]

I cured my clutch slip with a roughen up of the friction plates and a change to semi synth. Only been a thousand miles so far but still no slip!

Interesting !
Tell us more ....

[dazyguk]

Well I was getting slippage in the higher gears at high revs once she was nicely warmed up. I asked the shop I bought her from and they had used full synth to service her. So I dropped the oil and fitted a new filter and some semi synth Motul 5100 4T 15W-50 from opie. I also roughened up every friction plate with an orbital sander and added a washer to three of the springs.

Result has been zero slippage for a slightly heavier clutch and occasional rare difficulty in finding neutral BUT much bigger smiles all round! Worth a shot.

Mines a 2001 in red (now faded to a flip flop orange)

[fatboy]

Think the slippage was courtesy of the fully synth oil, the early ones dont seem to like it.Maybe the sander took off a bit of glaze from the frictions, dont think I will go down that path as Im not sure there is enough meat left on the frictions to risk it !