m312

The one down side differs from other opinions on this thread, in that I found attaching the bluetooth bracket to the helmet a bit of a faff, but that might be my helmet design. I found the screws to tighten it up work ok up to a point, but they start to push the mount off the helmet if overtightened, as my helmet tapers to the bottom edge. Overall though, I have found it excellent.

 

You could use the stick on pad. That would solve the bracket problem.

I really didn't trust the sticky pad.....!

All good tips, and its great to maximise visibility, but Get it wrong whilst you're on the wrong side of the road and you'll be in big trouble!!

In fact I bet if the police saw you riding down the wrong side of the road they would pull you for a chat..

And the excuse "I saw the police doing it on YouTube" probably won't wash..

I did wonder at how the following rider could possibly see the road ahead clearly when his mate was directly in front of him also on the wrong side of the road! The road positioning makes perfect sense on a quiet open road like the one they were on, but not many roads near me are like that!

Hmmm, I'm a bit late on this one.....

I bought a Scala Rider Solo recently, mainly because I need to listen to Sat Nav, and take phone calls if necessary, although I try to avoid that! Trial telephone calls to and from home proved to be excellent clarity and easy to do via my Iphone4 using voice control.

The one down side differs from other opinions on this thread, in that I found attaching the bluetooth bracket to the helmet a bit of a faff, but that might be my helmet design. I found the screws to tighten it up work ok up to a point, but they start to push the mount off the helmet if overtightened, as my helmet tapers to the bottom edge. Overall though, I have found it excellent.

Hi,

I have been sent this by the chairman of the Blood Bikers group I am a member of, and I found it an interesting 13 minutes of viewing. Maybe not for everybody though.

I use Doktor Power general powder cleaner - add water and use the scourer that comes with it. Some rust spots you have to spend a lot of time, that's more than 5 minutes! - just to remove one small spot. it does work though. Probably like most chrome cleaners, there's no quick fix, or leave it soaking and spray with water and it's magically gone products, it's just good old hard work, I've found. I usually spend an hour or two doing my chrome once or twice a year.

Hi l was talking to a guy the other day who's a very keen cyclist. We were talking about the modern led lights and just how good they are.

He went on to tell me that the police are now nicking cyclist who run with the very bright LED cycle lights. Apparently you can get fined and 3 points on your licence should you get pulled. "Dammed if you do dammed if you don't comes to mind"

If I was cycling and was pulled for this - I'd have no ID on me, and would probably forget my name and where I lived...on second thoughts that probably wouldn't get me anywhere (having watched some Police! Camera! Action! type programmes) That said, often those super-bright LEDs are badly adjusted, pointing directly into oncoming drivers eyes, or so it seems.

Did you increase the wire size from the battery -ve to the frame/engine? That's quite a common upgrade too. Need to do that on the Speedie & Sprint.....helps to preserve the sprag clutch.....

Nope - that has never occurred to me. I'll put it on the list of jobs to do!

Hi totally agree with rest and 10. something volts across a cross the headlight terminals is big loss of power to the headlight.

This web page you might find useful, all the information you need and wiring diagrams are in here, l know it for cars and shows a pair of lights but all the rules apply to the bikes.

Personally would go down the relay route, it saves the high current loads going through the handle bar switches and gives you the opportunity of installing larger cables direct to the headlight via the relays.

Best of luck

Thanks to all. I've spent the weekend doing the upgrade. I bought all the cable, relays, fuses, and connectors at an automotive electrical factors, all in at £22. I had looked at all the web links supplied before I took the plunge, so I was confident I could do it, but it was a feeling of relief when I turned the lights on and it all worked! I'm now only losing between 0.5 and 1 volts at the headlamp, so the increase in brightness is significant. That said, I still have a question.

The earth/ground wire in the original set up remains in the same position. I presume it goes back to the frame somewhere, but I haven't traced it yet. I ran new 4mm cables back from each relay direct to the battery to provide the best route, but I'm now wondering if I disconnect the original black earth wire and connect it to the new earth cable, will I be causing any other issues?

Might not be relevant to your case, Lumor, but I've just had to have a valve replaced. Same problem as you -slow pressure loss. I couldn't understand it until I was putting air in at home with a foot pump and the pressure just wasn't going up. When I pulled the pump adapter off, the top half of the valve came with it!

I'm guessing that the valve shaft(?) was slowly breaking and leaking air. I blame this on the petrol station tyre inflators which are a tight fit due to the angle they fit onto the wheel. I must have been distorting the valve each time I did it. I've bought a 90 degree valve adapter now to prevent this happening again.

As I say, might not be relevant but worth considering.

As Tango says really I would be looking for 13v with bike running

I will do a write up for you with how to sort out a loom if you like

I really would appreciate that if you have the time.

I'm away all next week so I won't be able to do anything until after that anyway.

10.5v at the headlamp - 13.8v at the battery - so improving the wiring can only help... What is the realistic maximum voltage to be expected? I assume there will be some voltage drop?

bit a wiring here and there and hey presto 13v at battery and the same at the headlight with really bright lights

A bit modest there, Stu! Rewiring a bike isn't something I take lightly, as I'm a bit of a novice at it. Is it just a case of tracing the wiring back bit by bit and upgrading the core size of each wire? Or changing relays? Any advice or help would be much appreciated.

I think what the OP is referring to with rewiring the headlamp is to get the correct voltage to the headlamp......reducing the voltage drop through the existing wiring Chris. A 12v 55w bulb will only produce 55w if there is 12v across it......so, if the wiring and connectors in the lighting circuit drop the voltage to 11v the output of the bulb will be correspondingly lower.....

Thanks Tango, succinctly put. That's what I was aiming at. I found out the hard way that 12v suffers from voltage drop over distance if the cable used is not suitable. I wired up some 12v lights at my shop a few years ago and had dim lamps, had to go back and buy some heavier duty cable and rewire it all!!

If the Philips Xtreme Vision don't do the trick I'll be surprised, but if not then I'll look at upgrading the wiring.

@ Chris, good advice. I will check the voltage at the lamp connectors before I change anything.

can buy higher wattage bulb. if it's 35watt I used a 55watt bulb for over a year in my xr 125.

The lamp (bulb) in my headlight is 55w/60w, so I can only really keep to this wattage to a Philips Extreme Vision or Osram Night Breaker....and possibly upgrade the wiring to give a higher voltage.

It could also be that the existing lamp is past its best - it does have some blackening on the glass so I guess even a straight halogen replacement would improve the light output.

Work in progress!

Use your common sense if you have any?!

These look like there worth a try.The beauty of these lights is that there on in an instant, variable brightness and draw little current so loading up of the bikes electric's.

As Stu say HID's requires a special lamp holder - reflector or they dazzle and become illegal

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Cree-Motorcycle ... cle+lights

Look good,but as the info says "Not DOT approved. For off road use only." Hmmm

Hi

I have done a few trips in the dark on unlit country roads recently, and it's not a happy experience due to the poor brightness of the headlamp even on main beam. It passed it's MOT recently so I know it's lined up correctly. The beam doesn't exactly light up the road, and I found myself doing about 30 in a 60 zone, just because I couldn't see far enough ahead for corners etc. Being a single headlamp I guess there's not much scope to improve this except maybe for a brighter lamp.....

Anyway, does anyone have any ideas? I have wondered about upgrading to Xenon, or fitting extra lamps, etc etc. I'm a novice at bike wiring but willing to give it a go.

Update

I have had a go, and it's loads better now. I got rid of the major scratches, and it's polished up quite nicely. I'm not 100% happy with it - mainly because I want it perfect and it isn't. There are too many areas where my inexperience has not produced a good enough result, but overall I'm very glad I did it.

I started on an out of the way area, using wet and dry 800 grade, then went on to 1200 grade, then 1500 grade. At this point it did look very cloudy, but I was expecting this. I then used rubbing compound to do the first step of polishing. At this point I found that I had to rinse and repeat about three or four times to achieve an acceptable finish. The final step was a polish with Turtle Wax, at which point I was mighty relieved as the shine came back properly. This also leaves it with a nice smooth feel which repels water very well.

I'm wishing I'd taken before during and after photo's, but at least I now know I can do it again if needed.

Just thought I'd let people know who were interested, and thanks to those who commented. I would point out to anyone who has a scratched screen, that I am a complete novice at this, and my DIY skills are not advanced. If you're in doubt, have a go as I didn't find it that hard, just time consuming.

I've copied the description from the page.

 

Everything you need to polish and keep plastics clean, remove scratches from plastics, bond or glue plastic pieces together. Lenzsaver headlight lens cleaner now available!

Novus Plastic Polish #1 or Brillianize Polish are Plexiglass Cleaners and plastic polishes for daily maintenance of your Plexiglass items - a MUST have for every home or office.

Novus Plastic Polish #2 is a plastics scratch remover and plexiglass scratch remover. It is for scratch maintenance of your Plexiglas items - this will reduce or eliminate most scuff-type abrasions on the surface and even help restore convertible windows and scuffs on your car finish. Not for polycarbonate.

Novus #3 has a higher abrasive solution for removing or reducing the toughest scratches on acrylic plastics. It must be followed with Novus #2 to restore the best luster. May be used on convertible windows as well. Not for use on Lexan polycarbonate.

Note: scratches so deep that your fingernail gets stuck may be too deep for Novus to restore. Check out the Buffing Wheels in our Tools area.

Thanks Deso - I noticed that myself when I looked at the page.

Anyone have ideas for a polycarbonate screen?!

I've decided to start using the windscreen my bike originally came with, as I'm doing more motorway miles at the moment. It seems to have developed a few large scratches while in storage which I would like to polish out. The screen manufacturer has confirmed it is a polycarbonate screen, which I understand is coated to protect it from scratches and moisture entering the material.

I've been doing a bit of googling and people quote a wide variety of ideas, some I think are plain crazy and others may have merit.

I think I'm going to try a couple of suggestions in the lower corners of the screen until I'm happy, but I wondered if anyone on here has experience of polishing polycarb screens, and has any useful tips or advice before I start?

Any help gratefully received!

I assumed that to do the job properly, all the old paint, good and bad, would have to be blasted off, meaning engine out strip down etc.

I think you're saying that I just have to remove the loose and flaking paint, and then paint straight over what's left?

I probably appear thick, but I'm just inexperienced......

Hi,

This is an area I am very unfamiliar with. I have noticed the rocker covers black paint gradually deteriorating over the last year or two, and have been planning to get them chromed. I can manage that - remove them, send them off, get them back and replace using new chromed bolts. Easy.

http://imageshack.us/scaled/medium/541/l1fo.jpg

Now though, the engine cooling fins are losing their paint covering, mostly at the front where the rain and wind do most of the blatting, and I am now becoming displeased with their appearance.

http://imageshack.us/scaled/medium/28/9ydx.jpg

The area where the clutch and gearbox meet the drive shaft is also becoming tatty in places

http://imageshack.us/scaled/medium/855/13g0.jpg

My questions are, assuming I can remove the engine with help, is it a big expensive job to have these repainted, and also am I being too nitpicky?

Any help would be gratefully appreciated.

Thanks

Mark