Buccaneer SRT250 Classic or Cafe Purchase

[Buccaneer]

SSR/Italject Buccaneer 250i
Owner's Manual Corrections and Recommendations

The SSR Buccaneer 250i has a useful owner's manual that can be downloaded here: http://www.ssrmotorsports.com/store/ownersmanual/street/Buccaneer_Owner's_Manual.pdf.

However I have found a number of errors or omissions that I offer corrections for below. None of my recommendations should have any effect on warranty claims, I believe. Explanatory notes follow the recommendations. I may amend this document as needed, in which case I will note the changes.

I have written up these notes to help Charles and any other new purchasers of the Buccaneer. Previously they were mostly hand-written annotations for my own use.


1. Speedometer (p. 4)

Manual: No mention is made of the trip meter, or of changing between mph and kph.

Correction: trip meter and mph/kph settings are made with the single button on the back of the speedometer.

a. To switch between the odometer and the trip meter, give a short press to the button.

b. To reset the trip meter to zero, give a long press to the button when the trip meter is displayed.

c. To toggle the speedometer between miles per hour and kilometers per hour, give a long press to the button when the regular odometer is displayed.

2. Oil Change and Oil Level Check (p. 14)

Manual: Periodic cleaning of the oil strainer is described, calling the strainer a "filter," but the actual oil filter is not mentioned.

Recommendation: Replace the oil filter (not the strainer) at 200 miles, at 600 miles, and thereafter every 2400 miles (or twelve months). Use Yamaha Oil Filter number 5JX-13440-00-00. Torque the three screws to 7Nm. Clean the oil strainer (called the "filter" in the manual) at every oil change, according to the recommendations on p. 12 (namely, at 200, 400, 600, and thereafter every 1200 miles).

3. Spark Plug (p. 15)

Manual: "Do not over torque the spark plugs." No spark plug type given.

Recommendation: Spark plug torque 13Nm. [Edit: Use NGK CR6HSA spark plugs.]

4. Valve Clearance Adjustment (p. 12 for schedule only)

Manual: Adjustment is required at 600 miles, 2600 miles, 5000 miles, and 7600 miles, but no instructions are provided.

Recommendation: Follow the Buccaneer schedule above, using the procedure shown on the Valve Clearance Adjustment page in the Attached Images at the bottom of this post.

5. Tires (p. 18)

Manual: 36 psi front and rear.

Recommendation:

Weights
GVWR: 706 lbs.
Wet weight: 334 lbs.
Maximum load: 372 lbs.

Cold tire pressure Front Rear
Up to 200 lb. Load: 26 28
200 lb. to Max Load: 28 32
High Speed Riding: 28 32

(There is also a nicer-formatted version in the Attached Images section at the bottom of this post.)

Front/Rear Turn Signal Bulb Replacement (p. 24)

Manual: Instructions are given for replacing the incandescent turn signal bulbs.

Correction: The installed turn signals are LED, and the bulbs are not replaceable.

NOTES

1. Speedometer. Instructions were found from ebay listings of the same unit as a generic instrument, and confirmed to work by me.

2. Oil Filter. The Buccaneer's motor has both an oil filter and an oil strainer, just as in the Virago XV250. The oil filter, not mentioned in the owner's manual, is beneath the obvious round cover on the right side of the crankcase. The Buccaneer's filter turns out to be a perforated stainless steel filter of the same configuration as the fiber filter originally fitted to the Virago 250. Apparently the owner is not expected to check or clean this filter at all. Instead, the owner is given instructions for cleaning the strainer at the bottom of the engine, which is called a filter in the manual.

During my break-in period and afterwards I cleaned the strainer at the recommended intervals, and also cleaned the stainless filter. I invariably observed more metallic swarf at the filter, and almost none at the strainer. (The amount of swarf tapered off quickly in succeeding oil changes.) I also investigated the merits of stainless filters, and found that my cleaning method was probably not good enough. (I had wiped the surface off with a solvent.) I found no evidence that stainless filters do a better job of filtering than the fiber kind, so I reverted to the fiber filter specified for the Virago instead.

The strainer cleaning and oil change recommendations I made are those in the Buccaneer manual. My oil filter replacement interval is every other oil change, that is, every 2400 miles after break-in. (The torque recommendation is from the Virago manual.) The original Virago specification is much more lenient: oil changes at roughly 3500 mile intervals, and oil filter replacement at almost 7500 miles. The Virago manual does not seem to specify an interval for cleaning the oil strainer.

I regard the use of the perforated stainless steel strainer with suspicion, and worry that the author of the owner's manual may have recommended cleaning the strainer because he/she confused it with the usual filter. My recommendation completely satisfies the owner's manual requirement, I believe, and adds a replacement schedule for the fiber Yamaha filter.

3. Spark plug torque recommendation from Virago manual. [My motorcycle was delivered with NGK CR6HSA plugs, so I presume this is the correct type. Also, the Virago used the similar NGK C6HSA.]

4. Valve Clearance Adjustment. My page in the Attached Images section is based on pages 3-5 through 3-7 in the Yamaha Virago Service Manual. The recommendation of 0.08mm for intake and exhaust comes from the Buccaneer owner's manual (p. 25), while the intake settings of 0.08 - 0.12 mm and exhaust 0.10 - 0.14 mm come from the Virago manual. The steering stem of the Buccaneer has yet another set of recommendations: 0.07-0.12mm intake and exhaust, which I did not include on my page. Take your pick!

5. Tires. The owner's manual specifies 36 psi front and rear, but those are the maximum allowable pressures for the tires themselves, and are not suitable recommendations for the motorcycle. (For example, the rear tire alone is rated for a load of 661 lbs. at 36 psi, while the motorcycle's rear axle is rated much lower.) I followed 1980's Yamaha formatting to make up a recommended tire pressure table, as follows.

The Buccaneer has a plate at the steering head listing the Gross Axle Weight Ratings (GAWR) as 265 lb. front and 441 lb. rear, giving a Gross Vehicle Weight Rating (GVWR) of 706 lbs., which I recorded in my table. I then weighed the motorcycle (front and rear, with bathroom scales), to get 334 lbs. wet weight (i.e., with a full tank, etc.). Subtracting the wet weight from the GVWR gave a maximum load of 372 lbs. Both those figures went into the table.

I then examined the Yamaha Virago XV250 Service Manual and found the relevant specifications are very similar to the Buccaneer. First, the tires: the rear is the same, at 130/90-15, while the front is a slightly smaller cross section on a one-inch larger rim (3.00S-18 vs. 100/80-17). Second, the Virago's wet weight is 324 lbs., and the maximum load is 437 lbs., for an implied GVWR of 761 lbs., which is 55 lbs. more than the Buccaneer's. Top speed and performance are similar. I decided that the Virago 250 tire pressure specs were suitable for the Buccaneer, and copied them into my table, except for the lower-load front tire value, which I increased to 26 from 25 lbs., to be cautious since the tires are not the same. I retained the identical high-load and high-speed ratings from the Virago, noting that high speed is not really an issue with either bike. In short, my table is identical to the Virago one, except for the increase of 1 lb. of pressure just mentioned.

A standard method of determining appropriate tire pressures is to choose a cold setting that produces a 10% increase in pressure when the tire is up to temperature. This would also be appropriate, but I think the Virago recommendations should be good.

[ChopperCharles]

That's great info, thanks. I'm ordering me some oil filters now! Do you have a partnumber for the plug? I want to go ahead and put an NGK plug in there right away. No telling what kind of plug it comes with.

Charles.

[ChopperCharles]

FYI, that's crosses to a Hi-Flo HF145 filter or K&N KN-145 filter.



Charle.s

[Buccaneer]

Originally Posted by ChopperCharles

That's great info, thanks. I'm ordering me some oil filters now! Do you have a partnumber for the plug? I want to go ahead and put an NGK plug in there right away. No telling what kind of plug it comes with.

Charles.

NGK CR6HSA is what it comes with. The C6HSA (non-resistor) is what the Virago had.

My impression is that this bike is NOT filled with poor-quality components. I already noted the Japan-built relays (relays have been a disaster on Moto Guzzis in the past, for comparison) and the solid copper washers. I don't see anything sub-par as a rule.

The perforated stainless steel filter is probably more expensive than the traditional paper kind, and was used, I bet, to save riders who don't bother to change filters. I believe I saw a reference to them being installed in recent Yamaha dirt bikes, but I've lost track of any source for that. I just couldn't find evidence that they were actually better than paper filters, religiously changed. (EDIT: And I found references to specialized cleaning procedures for them that I don't want to pursue.)

I think the SSR owner's manual doesn't do the bike justice in some ways. The bike itself seems good.

By the way, the spark plugs are only recommended for inspection, not replacement, at 600, 2600, 5000, and 7600 miles. Mine are looking fine at 2400.

Buccaneer

[Buccaneer]

Originally Posted by ChopperCharles

FYI, that's crosses to a Hi-Flo HF145 filter or K&N KN-145 filter.

Charle.s

I've read a lot of bad stuff about K&N filters on my Moto Guzzi board. Yamaha OEM filters are supposed be top quality. I've put them into my category of things that are cheap compared with the money they might save down the road, so I prefer and recommend them. I think they are usually seven bucks or so.

Buccaneer

[ChopperCharles]

K&N air filters get a bad rep. If they're not maintained and oiled, you'll get a lot of junk in the motor. Same with any cotton filter, including all pod filters. Their oil filters, as far as I know, are top notch. Different technology there. That said, I usually run Hi-Flo filters in my bikes, mostly because I can buy 5 or 10 at a time for not a lot of money, and then just use them as I need them.

Charles.

[ChopperCharles]

It's good to know this bike doesn't have any corners cut. I am dying to take possession. It's paid for, I just need to get a ride out to the dealership (45min away) on a day when it's not super cold.

OH, that's another question. What's the stator output? Enough to run a 50 watt heated vest? How is the headlight? I see it's only 35 watts... is it H4? Why so low wattage? Because of low stator output, or plastic headlight reflector that would overheat with a 55/60 bulb? Is the headlight circuit AC from the stator or DC from the battery?

Charles.

[Buccaneer]

Well here I think there could be a problem of watts.

I have mounted small Kuryakyn Silver Bullet driving lamps on either side of my headlamp, angled out a bit to look for deer at night and warn drivers at other times. [EDIT: I forgot to mention I am running 35W bulbs in each, making the total load with the headlamp 105W.] This is more than the alternator can support at lower rpm, as I found with a voltmeter. Probably not too surprising. I still make good use of them intermittently or at higher speeds.

The headlamp shell and the headlamp rim are both steel, and the reflector appears to be metal, not plastic. The bulb is an H4, I believe. Though there are a bunch of wires behind the reflector I think the unit could stand a higher watt bulb without trouble. If I hadn't wanted to illuminate the road edge I would have gone that way. But as things are now I don't have extra power to upgrade the headlamp.

The headlight itself seems surprisingly good for its modest 35 watts. The reflector is a complex, multi-parabolic design and throws a good pattern down the road. But it really is lacking in brightness in the final analysis.

As for the alternator, there is no specification of output wattage that I can find. On the other hand, ads for aftermarket alternators and stators say that one model fits both the Virago and the clones. This seems to mean the OEM Yamaha part would fit the Buccaneer. If so -- and my examination of ads and pictures suggests it is -- the situation might be improved by fitting the Yamaha OEM system, which claims 14V and 25A at 5000 rpm, working out to 350W, if taken at face value.

Hard to say whether the latter would improve things, but I suspect the clones are running an inferior stator/rotor combination that fits the OEM mounts but doesn't come up to par.

I have to pick up my wife now, but I recall the headlight is DC from the battery. There is an AC alternator with rectification for charging.

Buccaneer

[ChopperCharles]

Often some bikes will have a separate leg in the stator that just powers the headlight with un-rectified AC voltage. This is very common in older dual sport bikes as a way to have a headlight even when there's no battery installed, but it is common for scooters and some Chinese bikes as well.

My plan for the headlight is an Evitek F2 LED H4 bulb. Uses about 30 watts and has a light pattern and strength similar to an OSRAM Nightbreaker bulb. I have them in several bikes and they're wonderful headlights.

Now one thing that initially worried me about the stator replacement is that the literature on SSR's website indicates ignition is CDI. Usually that means a special stator with special windings. However, looking at the wiring diagram in the manual you posted, I see that the coils are connected to the ECU, and are computer controlled. There's a single hall sensor labeled "trigger". The coils are provided with 12V from Relay 3 on the red/white wire, and the ECU closes the ground to trigger the coil. Standard, everyday, transistor-controlled ignition.

That's good. The stator is completely separate from the ignition system, and thus can be replaced easily. Replacement high-output stators are $110 on eBay. OEM Yamaha stators under $150.

I know that CSC had to ask Zongshen to put high-output stators in all their bikes. Likely SSR did not care about that, to keep costs down, and the reason for the 35 watt bulb is because the stator simply can't support a larger wattage.

At any rate, this is all great info you've given me so far, and I'm going to add as much as I can to this thread.

Charles.

[ChopperCharles]

Also a thought: The stator may be under-sized, but the permanent magnets on the rotor may also be smaller or weaker. I'm not sure how much that would effect it, if at all. And if I'm upsizing the stator, will I also need to upsize the voltage regulator? Lots of questions which can only be answered by experimentation! I'm stoked!

Charles.

[Buccaneer]

Originally Posted by ChopperCharles

Also a thought: The stator may be under-sized, but the permanent magnets on the rotor may also be smaller or weaker. I'm not sure how much that would effect it, if at all. And if I'm upsizing the stator, will I also need to upsize the voltage regulator? Lots of questions which can only be answered by experimentation! I'm stoked!

Charles.

I'll be eager to learn your results.

The specs for the A.C. alternator from the XV250 manual are shown in the Attached Image below.

I believe the usual carbon pile tester could be used on the (AC) output terminals of the alternator to compare with the curve shown at different rpms. If you have a carbon pile tester like the $49.95 Harbor Freight or better, you should be able to directly test the Buccaneer's output and any replacement stator/rotor combo. (Right?)

Barring that, you need a good baseline for comparison. I hope you will produce definitive results. Good luck.

Buccaneer

[Buccaneer]

Originally Posted by ChopperCharles

Well, there's apparently liquid bar snake as well. That might work nicely. Fills the entire handlebar with a very dense liquid, that hardens into a dense rubber-like compound. That might be the ticket for the SSR. I hate to add a lot of weight though... I'll see how bad the vibration is next week....

Charles.

I looked around a bit and found two posts on a single page at ADVRider that have empirical information relevant to the choice between bar snakes and bar end weights.

Here are excepts:

1) "I put a set of bar end weights from LoadedAgain on my 640 Adventure and they made a BIG difference. Afterwards, I also installed a Liquid Bar Snake, but I did not notice any appreciable difference. Perhaps if I had not already installed the bar end weights, the Bar Snake alone would have been noticeable."

2) "I've got two other bikes, both handlebars filled with lead shot. It helps a little. Handguards help a good bit. Fasstco handlebar inserts are only a slight improvement. But adding these heavy bar ends in combination with handguards really did the trick.

"I suspected it would be the best approach for two reasons. First, bar end weights are what almost every bike manufacturer uses to reduce vibes (that and rubber mounted handlebars) Second, the theory explained here tells why handlebar inserts are not as effective as traditional bar ends: [dead link here]"

Also in my reading I realized I had forgotten the usual way to install bar weights when I made sure they were tight against the ends of the handlebars. The usual practice is to make the rubber insert the only contact with the handlebars. So I'll have to experiment with that when it warms up here in Wisconsin.

If I find improvement by leaving a gap between the handlebar end and the weight, I'll report it.

Buccaneer

[ChopperCharles]

My plan was to hook up a bunch of devices with known wattage until the dc voltage started to drop. Just 55 watt halogens in parallel until voltage is no longer charging the battery. Will test at idle and at 5000rpm. This will test the difference in watts available for use, and is really what matters. How much more will an upgraded stator give?

I’m also betting the stock stator has a lot fewer turns of wire and probably a smaller core as well. Weighing both the original and replacement prob won’t give much empirical data but I’ll do it anyways.

Charles.

[Buccaneer]

Originally Posted by ChopperCharles

My plan was to hook up a bunch of devices with known wattage until the dc voltage started to drop. Just 55 watt halogens in parallel until voltage is no longer charging the battery. Will test at idle and at 5000rpm. This will test the difference in watts available for use, and is really what matters. How much more will an upgraded stator give?

Good idea! You should need around seven bulbs for the Yamaha unit test.

I’m also betting the stock stator has a lot fewer turns of wire and probably a smaller core as well. Weighing both the original and replacement prob won’t give much empirical data but I’ll do it anyways.
Charles.

Ditto.

I'd still like to see that curve plotted as in the Yamaha manual, but maybe I'll have to buy my own carbon pile tester for that.

Buccaneer

[ChopperCharles]

Did you have any problems getting insurance for the SSR? State Farm couldn't find the make in their system, it said "Invalid Manufacturer", and the agent said she'd have to call tech support and then call me back. Getting a little worried.

- Edit, nevermind. She called back and said she just had to override the computer and put everything in the comments section. I have full coverage insurance with state farm. WOOT! $65 for 6 months. Being 41 has its benefits...

Charles.