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TooOldForThis41

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Everything posted by TooOldForThis41

  1. I voted persevere, but on the two occasions the itch has been leaving a trail of spider's web I have pulled over very quickly. One time, on the duel carriageway part of the A5, it pulled my visor up so quickly I pulled it off!! Smooth !!
  2. Well this hasn't got off to a good start today. First of all, I've faffed so much that I haven't got much natural light left. I went out about 10 minutes ago and the first thing I did was take the top box off and put it down on the drive. I then set up a light so I could see what I needed to and decided I would trade natural light for heat, as it is not far from freezing. So, I reached up to close the garage door, gave a little pull on the cord, then noticed the top box would be outside. I therefore gave the door a little push to stop it closing, reached down to pick up the top box, then felt a clanging blow to the back of my head as the garage door closed itself! Just spent 5 minutes in the kitchen with the missus holding a bag of frozen peas on my head while my step-daughter made me a cup of tea. Will go back out when I've drank my tea...and be a bit more careful !!
  3. Just in the process of fitting these now. Or rather, I've done the top box bit and I'm going to wait until the weekend and natural light to do the next bit. When I ordered the kit I was impressed with the price. After half installing it I am annoyed with the instructions, baffled by the wires and distressed by the mess of wires inside my top box. The wires from the lights in the top box are brown, blue and black. There is no connection for what I assumed was a neutral so one set of wires are attached to nothing at present. From the top of the lid to the bottom of the box the wires are black and white and from the bottom of the box to the bike wiring the wires are blue and black!! Last moan, the unit would not fit through the hole in the bottom of the box. The only way I could do it after 45 minutes of trying various ways and angles was to cut the wires and reattach them with a junction box. djdids - thanks in advance for your instruction on the next bit. You should get a job with Givi !! One stupid question though, do you remove the back light from the bike or just attach the wires where they exit the back of the light unit? I am not fantastically handy so any help will be greatly appreciated !!
  4. I did the BikeSafe thing with West Mids Police about two months ago, and the policeman who introduced the day said that if it was held in the week, they would have to take illegal cans seriously, but as it was the weekend and none of the 'top brass' were around, they weren't really interested. Don't know how much that helps really, but the emphasis really is on the riding, not catching people out, so you you probably will be ok.
  5. Done about 180 miles now so they must be scrubbed in. They gave me plenty of confidence anyway. On the way to Bourton today, on a really tight but fast corner called Fish Hill or something, I had the bike cranked right over. There I was, thinking I was Rossi or something, and some b******* on an Aprilia overtakes me on the outside! Felt like kicking him off !! But didn't.
  6. Long 1:45 minute ride today to scrub the new tires in and it felt great. At first I had to train myself not to haul it into a corner with a big heave, as this wasn't necessary. Cornering was fluid and confidence inspiring and although you could feel a rough surface, there was none of the tramlining and the unsettling feeling that there was no grip. A benefit of this is I wasn't so concerned with the road surface that I was able to look ahead, which also helped greatly with cornering. So, all in all, a success. My bike is now great to ride and I've got a rideout to Bourton on the Water tomorrow to look forwards to.
  7. STOP PRESS: If you follow the instructions, you don't have to drink any Scottoil.
  8. is it safe to ingest? Also, what a fecking faff these things are. Going on YouTube for helpful advice, hopefully!
  9. It's reassuring to know other people have felt the same thing but I'm hoping it will be a lot better with the new tires. If it's not, I will experiment with tire pressures to see if I can improve it. I think 42psi in the rear is too much to be honest. It didn't follow every blip, it pattered over everything instead.
  10. My old tires are BT 021s. I think they are supposed to be ok, just mine are not !
  11. You'll love the 023's. I've got them on my gixxer and a few other have had good experience with them. viewtopic.php?f=78&t=44498&hilit=bridgestone+023 Some good reviews on there. Can't wait to get 'em fitted and get a bit more confidence with cornering.
  12. Thanks all. I'm chuffed to bits for two reasons. One, I can hopefully enjoy my new bike now without it freaking me out every so often. Two, I was right, there was something wrong. My buttcheeks still work after all these years !! Edit: Forgot to mention, they are replacing the 021s with 023s, which are the latest Bridgestone sports-touring tire, so even better !!
  13. Hopefully the handling problems will be sorted. Took it back to Cradley Kawasaki today and they took a look. The rear tire is a bit square but the front is really deformed. The bloke in the shop said this is caused by heavy braking going into corners. Not me done that then !! Anyway, long story short, two new tires for free, 5 weeks after I bought the bike. Anyone want a new bike in the Black Country, talk to Cradley Kawasaki. They're alright !!
  14. Your welcome Thank you for your help. Turns out I didn't need the diagram after all !!
  15. i've been into Cradley Kawasaki actually. They tracked down the part number and gave me another piece of rubber. (For Free!!) It turns out it is a vibration damper for the lower fairing. I searched the part number on the internet and found some diagrams. After 10-15 minutes head scratching I finally managed to work out which way around the diagram went. I unscrewed the fairing panel, looked underneath, and there was a little square patch where something used to be stuck !! Probably best not to mention the copious amounts of AFC 50 which surrounded it and probably degraded the glue or something. But...I fixed it !! I actually tried to do something on my bike and managed to do it !!! (Let's ignore the fact I caused it to fall off in the first place )
  16. a little piece of black plastic be? I've just took off the lower fairing of my ER6f to attempt to fit some crash bungs. In the end, I wasn't able to fit them as, regardless of the instructions, you needed to take off the whole fairing and I didn't fancy it. Also, I did not have a big enough allen key to fit the bolts and I did not fancy messing around with bolts which hold the engine to the frame, especially when I couldn't see any other way the engine was attached to the frame. On the plus side, I was able to apply ACF 50 to a load of bits I can't usually get to and then watch it smoke off when I ran the engine for a while. Always fun. But...back to the bit of plastic. Just as I was congratulating myself for getting the fairing back on the bike, I noticed a small rectangular piece of plastic under the bike. It must've come from somewhere on the bike. It was around 1.5 cm long, the same wide and about 1 cm tall. Anyone have any idea what it is, what it does and where it should go?
  17. Although I'm in my 40s, I, sadly maybe, like playing Call of Duty. My user name on the Playstation Network is TooOldForThis40, which serves a duel purpose. One, it is an excuse for being rubbish. Two, whenever I splat some spotty teen, he can look at my username and know an old man has done him !! I'm actually not that bad at Call of Duty so it's usually the latter.
  18. Maybe the Bridgestones don't suit the ER. But if this is the case, I'm surprised they are OE. They are not cheap tires are they? Back in the day, I didn't replace a tire until it looked like a slick. On saying that, there are many things I used to do on a bike which I don't particularly want to repeat now I am 'old and wise'!
  19. I'm planning to change them in the not too distant future but, as someone who has driven cars for the last 20 years, it is pretty painful to throw tires away with so much tread still visible. So long as they are quality tires it doesn't matter whether they are the same as I have on now, so I will look at Michelins. Cheers.
  20. Yeah, increasing the pressure by degrees sounds like a good idea. I will do that, but not tonight as I have opened a Father's Day beer !! I suppose I am just naive enough to think the manufacturer would've tried the tires before printing information in their handbook!
  21. I bought my ER6f about a month ago after 20 years without a bike. I have done 900 miles in my first month, so I have certainly got out and ridden the thing. I have used it for work a few times and for some long rideouts two up. At first, any handling problems I put down to me being nervous/inexperienced/useless but all these things are less true now. My biggest problem is the rear tire. If there is the slightest imperfection on the road, the tire will follow it in a sickening manner. Also, the rear of the bike does not feel in way assured over anything slightly loose on the road surface, to the point that I have to stick to the white line or gutter on B roads with their usual strip of crap down the middle. I got so fed up of this insecure feeling today, I went to a bike dealership to look at a replacement. The bloke in Streetbike in Halesowen was decent, and while he had a bit of a go at selling me a CBF 1000, he also had a look at my bike and suggested the tires were squared off. As I have been driving cars for 20 years, I looked at the tires which had reasonable tread and decided they were ok. Although I can now see what he means about them being squared off. Therefore I searched online for new tires for the ER6f, and before I found any, came across someone complaining about the same problem. He said his tires were at the manufacturers recommended settings but he did not find them reassuring in any way. So, he rang Bridgestone and asked them. They said they would recommend the tires being run at 36 and 42 psi rather than the handbook's 32 and 36. I have tried this today and in the short trial ride, it did feel much better. Instead of following bumps or lines it felt very bouncy but less unsettling. I was also much more able to avoid problems on the road surface as I was able to pick the inch of road I wanted to ride on rather than the four inches I could choose previously. So all good then? Well, I am a natural worrier and I was just wondering what the considered wisdom was of running tires at pressures not recommended by the manufacturers? Also, I have this thing at the back of my mind that overpressure tires will be a nightmare in the wet. Am I worrying about nothing? Many thanks for reading my neurotic ramblings!!
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