Dominator SS owner's journey

12.2v so not the battery. Which reminds me of something else a little annoying - the lights are permanently wired on. The light switch has no effect, apparently that's the law here. Plus no easy access to the fuse box!

With 12.2 V my bike already has troubles to start. Do you have a charger? Charge the battery and try it again, can't hurt...
Additionally, if lights permanently on, already some volts are used for it.
Did the engine stop during running or couldn't you start it after a stop?

I stand corrected! Sorry Raphi. When I spoke to the factory re my problem I was told that there was a possibility of there being a poor earth. There are two I think on the loom. One is behind the cylinders and the other, you've guessed it. Under the seat hump. Both mine we fine but some models suffered from poor crimping and the lead came away in owners hands. Anyway, Ian sorry to hear of your problems but I'm sure it will be sorted soon

Is it fitted with a conventional battery or Lithium type?

Glen

on the commando (which is really the same bike different frame) the fuse off the battery vibrates loose so they implemented a zip tie. Perhaps this was missed on this build. Look at my MANUAL called CYLINDER HEAD TORQUE pages 2 and 3.

Fault has been found and rectified. Apparently caused by a poor connection to the fuel pump relay. Taking the opportunity to get some paint protection film applied to the shiny bits. Bike should be back with me tomorrow.

When you get it back you can give it a good shake down run.

Bike was returned Friday afternoon. CycleSpot were chuffed to bits with the job the paint protection film guy had done. Only thing was he'd forgotten to refit the rear tyre hugger. Something I noticed but no one else had... Wasn't fussed and told them to just courier it out. But good on them they sent one of their boys out to make the 60 mile round trip. Arrived at 7pm and even fitted it for me. In fact I came out well ahead when they bunged me an official Norton t-shirt for my trouble.

Removed the standard mirrors today and fitted some bar ends - much improved imho. The plate is doing my head in. Ordered a square plate but really struggling to find somewhere to fit it. No way will it fit under the tail unless horizontal. Tried side mounting to the swing arm but not convinced. Options are to suck it up with the stock location. Go back to a rectangular plate, which might just fit depending on max suspension travel. Or get a smaller 'show' plate made up.

Next up are the pipes, something similar to the megaphones but not stupidly loud.

I'm sure you can customize an L bracket under the cowl for that plate. Can its current bracket be spun upward and its mounting be bent downward a bit? You'll figure that out eventually. Glad you got your wicked bike back. Its a real stunner.

It really needed the bar ends! They db killer seemed to work perfect for the megaphones in the video and not too much money!

Hmm this is interesting. My Dominator SS went in for its first service a few days ago. Other than one problem with a loose relay the bike has run flawlessly, with no oil issues. Well that changed upon getting home after picking the bike up. Oil everywhere, origin is the air box. Oil level appears correct. The dealer is picking the bike up tomorrow. They did mention something about some new tech bulletins from the factory regarding this issue. Odd that it's only appeared now and more than a coincidence that it occurred immediately following the service. I'll let you all know the outcome once it's been sorted. Shot a short vid a minute after returning home.

[video]http://youtu.be/DwB47lqR34M[/video]

Having looked at Richards manuals regarding the oil in the airbox issue Norton has made a change to the plumbing. The tube from the airbox now terminates in a small bottle.



Neither the tube or nipple was blocked in any way.

You can see the oil pooled to the left and right of the drain in this photo.



The tube hanging underneath the bike is now a fuel tank vent hose as shown below.




What may be happening is the oil is pooling on the floor of the airbox and and dripping out via the air filter before it gets to the entry level of the nipple fitting inside the airbox.

Of course none of this is addressing the underlying issue of why the oil is there to begin with! This appears to be an issue that's been well documented for YEARS. Why the oil made its presence known immediately after its first service is unknown. Could it have been building up the entire time? Possible. But the timing is almost too coincidental. In anycase I'm hoping answers will be forthcoming this week! Reading a few other threads it would seem Norton have a fix of some description - although it doesn't appear to have been spotted in the wild yet. If mine gets the fix I'll try to find out exactly what it is.

What may be happening is the oil is pooling on the floor of the airbox and and dripping out via the air filter before it gets to the entry level of the nipple fitting inside the airbox.

Agreed. The way the drain nipple is attached you may never get any oil to the catch bottle ! On the commando the air box drain is at the lowest point and the air filter is at the top. There is a member or two on the UK NOC that have this oil in the air box kit fitted. It would be great to ask them to let you know how it is working out for them ? There are others over in UK that are still waiting for it as well. I hope everyone that wants /needs it can get it myself included. Tony

The thread is called OIL in Air Box by Stuart Peach

Thanks for that Tony, just read it. My bike was picked up a few minutes ago - I'll be emailing the dealer for specifics and will inquire regarding the fix part number mentioned in the thread on NOC.

Just noticed Simon posted here http://www.accessnorton.com/newsflash-961-oil-airbox-fix-t23590.html#p310386 that the factory was preparing to issue an offical fix - however that post was on the 1st of December last year. Perhaps it's now ready to go.

My personal guess is that they might have overfilled after changing the oil. In my eyes the oil at the bottom of the air box in your picture looks quite unused. The oil I find in my air box is black, but I might guess wrong... I have no clue if excessive oil would end in the air box, maybe Richard can tell.
Did you check the oil level after the service?
Raphi

Oil level was fine. Got a call yesterday from the service department. They mentioned a visit by the Australasian distributors technical head, the day after my bike was serviced. Apparently there are a number of tweaks and fixes coming through the pipeline. The oil in the airbox fix being one of them. Also mentioned a fix for the poor idle when cold. Unlikely I'll see my bike this week as the parts are still in Australia.

This has been an ongoing issue for quite some time with many 961’s. I have experimented with different oil levels in my CR and continue to have at least some oil dripping from my airbox drain from day 1. Of course if overfilled, the oil drain flow rate increases.
The new kit that Norton was preparing late last year was designed to blank off the valve cover breather, and provide a new manifold that connects from the crankcase breather to the airbox and does a better job of trapping fluid while channeling only the pressurized crankcase fumes into the airbox.
The problem seems to be in the valve cover breather itself. It doesn’t do a good job of separating the oil while relieving internal pressure.

A lot and nothing has happened over the past month or so...

The dealer had informed me at the time of the oil first appearing that there was a fix from Norton and it'd been ordered. Two weeks go by and I've had enough of waiting. So I decide to try and get something positive from the situation. I get CycleSpot to transport the bike to a specialist motorbike exhaust fabricator Custom Chambers to get a custom exhaust system fabricated. I don't like the stock system both for looks and noise and the megaphones are just stupidly loud and actually reduce ground clearance compared to the stock system - which is hilarious considering they're called a 'race system'. I ask Peter to fabricate a replica of the megaphones with enough baffling to sound good without pissing everyone off. I also want to retain the O2 sensors to help with part throttle fuelling - (the factory megaphones have no O2 sensor bungs) and improve the ground clearance. I think he did a fantastic job, a real pity I've had to end up with three systems to get one that ticks all the boxes!






O2 sensors nicely hidden from view.



The fabricator was not impressed with the factory megaphones hard mounting to the frame - he believes they will crack as the vibration work hardens the stainless steel. So for my system we incorporated rubber mounts to allow the pipes some movement to prevent metal fatigue.



The finished product - and yes that's my oil patch under the bike :roll:

Shot a quick vid - will need an external mic for onboard vid, the system sounds way better in real life, best described as a little louder than the short sports but considerably quieter than the factory megaphones.

[video]https://youtu.be/qxkpDdFbyFI[/video]

I haven't heard a peep from CycleSpot/Norton all this time, but my gaze is now very much turning in their direction... It's interesting to wait and watch from afar - very disappointed that the dealer has not made any effort to tell me what's going on. When the bike was initially returned to them I specifically asked the service department to keep me updated with ANY information. I was assured it would only be a couple of weeks. Over a month later and absolutely nothing, I've had better service buying an el cheapo Toyota.

However I'm absolutely loving the bike, it's like a second honeymoon with the new system. I bought the bike fully aware of the issues customers have had in the past. So I'm not really bothered the positives have massively outweighed the negatives in my personal experience.

Next is a trip to the dyno to compare the stock system with mine. I'm as interested in the part throttle AFR readings as full throttle runs. Will post the charts up when done.

More to follow...

That's a very nice exhaust system you got. Congrats!
Do you dare to say something about the price for it?
With my Commando 961 I had the same issues as vibrations and ground clearance as rust as well...
I voted for SBN pipes now.
Raphi, Switzerland