RantMachine

All done, cheers again. And god dammit, Chris! Thanks to that comment, all I could think about the whole time I was doing it was needing a piss I went a bit before I started and haven't drunk much today, too... Must be like the whole thing with getting an itchy nose as soon as you get oil on your hands

All useful stuff, cheers everyone

And yes, I fully intend to dispose of the old one responsibly - will bring it to Halfords with me when I go to get the oil filter, I checked on their website and they drain & recycle them.

Great suggestions all round, particularly sticking the acid into the old battery! I would say "dunno why I didn't think of that" but I'd be giving myself too much credit Fingers crossed my syringe won't melt, but will let you know if it needs replacing...

I can say this with confidence: If you spend the same amount of money on a new Chinese bike or an old BMW, it's a lot cheaper and easier to keep the Chinese bike running

Happy birthday Bob! Hope you're celebrating in style ... ...

Me again! Although it's for the other GS sat in the driveway this time, not mine Crystal bought a new battery for hers in anticipation of us getting it up and running for when she does her UK licence. However, after her somewhat crappy CBT experience the schedule has slipped somewhat. I'm trying to do the bike up as a surprise, but I've encountered a problem very very early on In short, we filled the battery ready to stick it in the bike and then it sat on a shelf for a few weeks. I've gone to stick it on the maintenance charger while she's away, but it looks like we overfilled it a little - there's about 10mm between the minimum and maximum level markers, and it's 5mm above the max marker. Nowt went wrong with the initial charge, but I know better than to ignore the markings and charge it then shove it in the bike. So what to do about it? As it was a new battery rather than topping up an old one, I'm guessing that I don't have to worry about the acid being too diluted, so it should just be a case of taking some out? And if this is the cases, how best to do it? I've got some spare large syringes that I didn't end up needing when I did my forks a couple of months ago, will they work or will they melt? And how to properly dispose of the acid that comes out? I was going to just feed it to the neighbour's cat before sticking it in the tumble drier, but I hear that sort of thing is frowned upon...

You can't just will pain and anger away, but accepting that without them you wouldn't be where you are now makes them easier to live with; it's possible to be at peace with yourself even when you aren't at peace with the world.

Given the quality of most of the other work done by that garage, I would not be surprised

http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k96/spastic_potato/WorstMan_zpstisbky0f.jpg (Original credit goes to Chris Allison, Toonhole.com)

My Richa Drift boots are utterly knackered, and stopped being waterproof quite some time ago. My new Richa boots are already looking pretty tatty But then, I walk all over the place in mine and grovel on the floor in them while working on the bike, and I'm generally a bit careless, so they never last that well. Plus boots in the larger sizes always seem a bit crap, they never fit properly all the way round so one weak spot or another proves to be the undoing long before the rest of the boot gives up the ghost.

!UPDATE TIME! Problem 2 is solved. Took the plastics off and attacked the battery with a multimeter. First thing we noticed... battery seems perfectly healthy. In its prime, one could even say. Second thing we noticed... the clock comes back to life when we connect the multimeter to the battery terminals. Guess that'll be a loose connection then I imagine that would explain the odd sound I noticed on the ride up to Connington, like something was resonating whenever I hovered around 4500rpm - it was, and as the noise has now gone it seems fair to assume that the "it" in question was the bolt on the negative terminal Problem 1 is still present and I can't do much about troubleshooting it because I forgot that I loaned my jack to someone. Will have to look at the weekend. Had a quick test of the steering head bearing by sitting on the pillion seat the tip the bike back on its stand - certainly no notchy feeling anywhere, but seems to turn to the left a lot more readily than the right. I've noticed that the high mudguard wobbles up and down as the bike shakes, so I'm definitely not imagining it. Mainly just glad to have it home, though - can work at my own speed now

I read various people on the F650 forum saying that if the battery is utterly utterly buggered then it won't even push start as there's no power to the FI pump. Guess maybe the fact that the tank is below injector doesn't help, gravity is not on its side

Just a little FYI though, Moo started out on a Kymco Zing (later owned to death by Petrolhead) and saw all the fun of my Lexmoto first hand, so she's speaking from personal experience rather than prejudice. My feelings are known on Chinese/Taiwanese bikes, so will keep quiet apart from that. In the meanwhile, please enjoy this photo of a FIVE YEAR OLD CBF125 taken at the Connington bike meet last night: Note that the exhaust is now held on by willpower alone as the bit it should attach to has snapped off the engine.

Toying with the idea of just getting Start Rescue to recover it to my house so that I can work on it at my own leisure

Yeah, I'm certainly thinking battery as my first port of call. But if I have to buy a bus ticket and spend an hour traveling there and back, I figure I might as well check for any and every possible issue while I'm there. Although taking all the ruddy plastics off to get to the battery takes long enough as it is, I'm sure I don't need to spend even more time fussing over it

Should've been a bit less vague; I understand the function of an earth, just not where to find it or if each of the electrical systems would have an earth (such as one for the lights, one for the starter, etc etc) or if there's just one big one for the whole circuit. So now I will check the connection to the battery first and foremost, but also hunt around the starter motor. As a thought though; if it was a dodgy earth on anything other than the starter motor, wouldn't the bike have cut out while I was riding rather than after I came to a stop? Especially if it wasn't connected properly at the battery. Unless it jarred loose when I came to a stop... but then, I'm fairly certain I pulled up at his house and left the engine running until he caught up so that my lights would all be on and he'd see me in time to avoid my bike when turning into the drive, so it was still chugging along happily after coming to a stop. Aaaargh too much thinking for work time

At least all the experience Glorian has gained will continue to be relevant to any future bikes he owned, the Bandit being a very very generic bike and all. On the other hand, I'm getting very familiar with fixing up a bike that has absolutely bugger all in common with any other bike on the market... unless I buy another F650 as my next bike (hint: NOPE) I'll have to start learning all over again!

Anyone my sort of age may remember the timeless TV classic that was "Prometheus and Bob". I feel very much like Bob in this thread.

You wake up the next morning with a hangover and a Chinese bike?

Next idiot question: If it is indeed an earthing problem, how would I identify where the problem is occurring? I know absolutely piss all about electrical stuff

I'm very familiar with Motorworks, but for some reason it didn't even occur to me to look on there for a battery They've got a sealed battery available for only £10 more than the Yuasa on I was looking at on Amazon, that'll do nicely

Good times! Managed to find a battery on Amazon marketplace, stupidly difficult to hunt down one of the buggers anywhere else and apparently the only sealed batteries for my bike are available only in the States (and necessitate modifications to the battery tray). Could always send a cheeky email to my other half and ask if she can bring one back with her

And to clarify, because it's always best to assume the worst with my bike... What would be buggered for this to be the case?

Great stuff guys, really appreciate all the minds coming together on this The old garage doesn't have lighting so I have to work quickly before the sun sets, so having a clear idea of what I'm checking certainly makes things easier Once I've stuck a new battery in, what's the best way of checking the alternator/reg/rec? My multimeter skills are shamefully lacking (I can usually achieve what I need to eventually but I'm never too sure), but I can always youtube it For any normal and rationally designed bike, yes. But BMW invented their own tool specially for this job and bike that they don't sell to consumers or independent garages, only BMW dealers. Yaaaay BMW! But yeah, I'll have to see what I can bodge. bast*rds do the same thing with the master cylinder rebuild kits but luckily there are aftermarket ones available to the everyday consumer. Take that BMW. Wheel bearings were done last June, so about 10k ago. Will still check them to be safe. God only knows when the head bearings were last touched