'02 S3 Introduction

I just bought a '02 Triple and thought I would introduce myself. I picked up the bike this weekend and have a little better than 100 miles on it. Bought it from the priginal owner, 4900 miles, power commander and Black Widow underseat exhaust.

My previous experience was with a '02 Honda VFR800 (loved the V4, but no character anywhere else). Beyond that I am into vintage bikes. Currently I've got my '75 Honda CB400F in pieces, but it'll be back together this weekend.

So far I love the Triple, the motor is incredible and the bike is engaging to ride. I'm curious how engaging it will be to own (its my first non-Japanese thing... ever). I actually work for Honda as an engineer, so this should be a bit of a divergence for me. I'm going to have to look up this 0mph fix, since the speedo was non-functional during one ride. The mirrors were gone immediately, replaced with a single bar-end that provides better coverage without the Mickey Mouse looks.

- Matt

[dml955i]

Congrats on picking up a sweet ride! You'll find a lot of helpful people on this forum...

As for your speedo issue, this is a common occurance on 02-04 Speed Triples, Daytonas, and Sprints. The first place to look is to make sure your battery is fully juiced and the battery terminals are on tight - For some reason, if there's a dip in juice, the first thing that cuts out is the speedo. The bike will start and run just fine, but the speedo will read "0".

I was having the same issue with my '02 and realized that four years on a motorcycle battery was pushing it, so I dropped a new battery in and problem solved.

If that doesn't work - it may be the speedo sensor at the front wheel...

[TonUp]

Congratulations!

The 02 S3 is a great bike.



Ton Up!

[Catenaccio]

Enjoy the S3.

[cheapbastard]

My S3 was my 1st non-jap bike too! The 3 cylinder truly is a great motor!!! Welcome and congrats on your purchase and new found love! :-D

[durty]

Congrats on the purchase, you will be getting a LOTT of attention in town , good and bad , as far as the ride you will find that the traffic just dose not seem to move fast enough just keep an eye on the temp guage , just in case . Ride Safe

[Captain_Rat]

I'll reiterate what dml955i said about the speedo. I had the same issue and it drove me nuts for quite a while. I'd usually pull out of my driveway and the speedo would be dead. I'd drive it for a couple of miles, pull over, restart and 7 times out of 10 ithe speedo would come back to life.

I got a new battery and now religiously hook up a battery tender after every ride. I have not had the problem since.

Capt.

So there have been a couple problems so far, and they seem in line with what I've read about the bike. The speedo hasn't wigged out since I've been riding consistently, but I do think the battery is dying. Today I had a touchy hot restart, but I may have had the throttle cracked. I also noticed that both of my tailight bulbs are now dead (but brakelight filaments are ok). Probably I will buy a couple LED bulbs replacements and install them under the cover.

Regarding the temp guage... I heard these run hot. How hot is normal? How hot is too hot? Normal highway for me is 175-180, but today in traffic I saw 219. On the VFR I could switch off the water temp guage and if there was trouble it would blink. I wish I could do the same on the S3.

- Matt

[Captain_Rat]

219 F is normal, especially sitting in trafffic. The fan kicks on at 218 F. You shouldn't be concerned. I doubt there is any risk of any actual damage until you hit fairly well over 240 F. and it would take a lot to get the S3 that hot.

Capt.