Hello Foxxy,
now I read all your questions and have time to answer them :
- about the crashbars : they look ugly and don´t "work" properly in case of a crash. Nearly all of us here have fitted their bikes with crashpads. With them you avoid the very costly dents in the fuel tank, should your bike fall over.. The best ones, by the way, are made by a member here ("Eddie".. just send him a PN) he even fits them with a cushioning insert do avoid damage to the frame.
If you want to avoid scatches to the cases you should fit the engine with the so called "Sandro-Deckel". It replaces the small plastic/chrome-cover on the left side of the engine, is made of aluminum, looks good too and resists even longer slides on the left side (just ask "Moppedwolf"..he tested it the hard way
) You can get it from the "Admin"!
- now to the engine upgrades :first you should replace the airbox-cover with one that flows more air...you can use one from the TDM or the aluminum-one included in the "Topham-Kit" (look at my Album) K&N Airfilters are sometimes recommended but in the Bulldog they have no advantage at all! The standard filter will do fine! The carbs have small plastic inserts in their covers that prevent the slides from being pulled up all the way. They are just clipped into the cover and can be removed by hand. By doing this you increase airflow to the engine which means - as you already noticed - that you would have to rejet the carbs...that´s not a big thing, but you should know what you are doing
You get the best performance with jet-size 132 (included in the Topham-Kit or you can get them directly from Mikuni-UK) the needle-clip shoud be put in the second or third groove from the top. (a tip : when removing the float-bowl use a
new screwdriver and be careful not to strip the small screws...replace them if possible with better-quality ones) When reinstalling the carbs be careful not to damage the rubber-ducts and to make sure, that the cable of the carb-heating ist properly connected...if not, you´ll have starting problems.
After putting everything together again, synchronise the carbs and adjust the CO-s c r e w so, that you have 4,5%CO +/- 0,5% with
disconnected AIS !! Make sure that CO is measured at the proper point at the manifolds and
not at the back of the silencers!! (again look at my album) And, very important, adjust your idle to 1.100 +/- 50 rpm not less!
All this applies to pre-05 models without catalysts.
The benefits of all this is an increase of around 7hp but better still and much more important an increase in torque to over 100Nm
The engine runs much smoother too and the vibrations between 3.000 und 4.000 rpm are nearly eliminated
And better still : these improvements do not in any way interfere with the Bulldogs reliability and near bulletproof-ness. (Tell the guys at Yamaha-UK to stop b u l l s h i t t i n g you...sorry) My bike, model 02, modified at "Krauses" in Dortmund right off the bat, has now 59.000k´s on the clock and has never needed a valve-adjustment yet!! I inspect it every 10.000k´s but up to now...nothing! And don´t believe that i carry or push my bike around...when visiting my daughter in Hamburg - 400 k´s from here - I´ve already had the Bulldog on the Autobahn at full tilt - touching the rev-limiter in fifth - for two hours without letting off. I know it wasn´t made for that..
..but I just wanted to find out, what it would do. I only let go of the throttle at a gas-station and guess what...it ticked over just like that..
- about the suspension : what the Bulldog really needs most of all are better fork-springs! The standard ones are way too soft and can cause serious damage to the front exhaust header, the whole bike and you when it touches or rather crashes into the ground in right-handers
The best way to avoid this ist to slip in a pair of "Wilbers" progressive wound springs (
http://www.wilbers.de" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; ) with their 10 weight suspension fluid. And if you want to top it all off, slip in their adjustable rear shock, specially made for the Bulldog. This really gives you an unparalleled ride quality..and no, I´m not employed by them and I don´t get any comission
Last but not least : one of the best tyres for the Bulldog ist the Michelin PilotRoad2 Sticks like glue even in the wet and is good for nearly 10.000k´s
Should you still have any questions...fell free to ask
greets
Axman
.