Mr Fro

Spot on - love the analysis!

Hmm, cake... Where are you at?

So what is "getting involved"? Team members and cash?

Listened to the Amateur Transplants earlier - the London Underground song always makes me chuckle!

Well I fitted them to my tank yesterday - piece of piss. The only pfaffage was cutting a 25mm hole in the cap thingy. Took me about 15 mins all in.

Thanks for the info - I've been coveting the S20 for the ZX6r. Got to wear out the old ones first though.

Don't quite know where to start on this... I'm reading it that you get ~18V at the battery when on charge on the datatool harness but not on the other one. If you have a quality charger e.g. optimate then it is perfectly normal for the voltage to go as high as 20V during the varification stage. You might want to read the instructions for your charger if this is the case... Usually it only goes this high for long periods when de-sulphating the battery or if it's dead flat. If your alarm is shagged or if there is a high resistance section in your loom e.g. corrosion then this can cause the charger to enter the aforementioned mode. Many chargers recommend disconnecting alarms/immoblisers when charging anyhow. Long story short, get a multimeter and check the whole loom section by section then do a draw test on the alarm system to see what current it's taking. Also, why do you charge it every week? Unless you're average journey is 10 feet you really shouldn't need it. Definitely check the condition of your battery and do a load test. Cheers, Fro

Did "that song" pop in to anyone else's head when they read this or was it just me? Well I've jumped on the HID bandwagon too - just for the car to start with as a test bed. It will be interesting what everyone thinks of them... I'm wondering if they will flicker a bit at idle/low revs on the 125 - when a halogen would normally be a bit dim.

So you previously said your new battery arrived - you should just be able to put the acid in the battery and stick it on the bike (obviously check the instructions!). When you've got it running put the volt meter in a low range DC mode - anything capable of reading 20V+ and hold the electrodes on the battery terminals. The reading should be 13V to 15V. Also, give it a bit of a rev and let us know what sort of readings you get!

What Tango said! I don't know how you came to the conclusion that it's only running 1/2 compression, can you elaborate on that one please? If you run it with a dead battery then there's a good chance that you're not getting enough of a spark which will lead to rough running so let us know what happens once you bung the new one on. It does sound electrical or maybe the valves but without doing some diagnostics on it, it's really difficult to find out anything further - if you have a voltmeter handy then there are a few tests you can do to check the electrical system. The fact that you rode it home fine on day one makes me think it's just a dud battery so it's worth checking the charging system once you've got the new one on. Also, I wouldn't worry about the state of your plugs just yet, it takes a good few miles to get any colour on them unless you're running outrageously rich! On that note, have you checked the fuel filter? It could be that it's bunged up with crud but that wouldn't explain the backfiring... Finally, where are you? Cheers, Fro

If in doubt, go OEM. I use EBC HH pads all round on my bikes because they're super grippy straight out of the box at a reasonable price.

It's just a pisser that muffs and handguards don't really fit with the sportsbike look (well, none that I've seen anyway) and/or they foul the fairing and could cause steering issues or chafe. A set of those with heated grips would certainly take the edge off the winter mysery.

Jeez, you don't hang around do you!

Not for me thanks bud, I'd have to leave at 5ish and spend ~100 miles on the motorway just to get there.

Hey bud, I think you must be confusing amps with Watts. Higher wattage bulbs won't cause them to fail - if they're too high a wattage the worst that will happen will be a blown fuse or a fried relay. I'd say check the wiring section by section and you'll probably be able to track down the fault which may well be one of your cables earthing out or if you've done some DIY on it then you may have plumbed something else in to it. For this you'll want a meter that can read voltage, ampage and resistance. Something like this: http://www.maplin.co.uk/domestic-multimeter-37279 The connectors will either be spades or bullets and there's any number of "how-to" things on auto electrics on that there internet. Silly question but did you check the voltage of the bulbs? If they're 6 volt then that will make them go double quick. Cheers and good luck! Fro

I used autoglym glass polish on my goldwing screen - to be fair, it was an '86 bike with a mega cloudy screen so it was a shot to nothing but it came up really well - I could see through it and everything! Even in the dark with headlight glare it was good. I topped it off with mer polish and it was grand. No idea if it was polycarbonate though, I didn't check before I got down to business. Also, what is it with the US bods and their pledge? Are they criminally lazy or something...?

Do yourself a favour by removing the mirror first too otherwise it'll be flapping about like a good 'un and could be a pain in the botty. Good luck with it and let is know how it goes!

Interesting conundrum. I don't think you'll get around it without either changing out the front or being very careful about your rear selection. For me, I'd change the front as, like said previously, it'll have a greater effect on gearing with minimal adjustment but it is more of a pain as you'll end up changing more stuff over. Kinda depends how often you want to transition from lane to road I guess. Personally, I already have a smaller front/bigger rear than stock and wouldn't mind going a step further on both - makes it super snappy round and about and I just have to live with it buzzing away on the motorway whenever I have to use them. Not Ideal as it eats fuel but I try and avoid motorways anyhow as they are deathly tedious.

You do know you can throw most of those pipes, valves and general shit in the bin...

So what made no.3 difficult to get to? The ram air think? Crap luck about the shagged plug but it sounds like you dud the right thing.

Yep, same here. Always really chuffed with the stock and prices!

Pic 5 made me chuckle! As for Sunday, I'm out I'm afraid - my girlie just got her cast off and has an aching desire to drive me about in her car all weekend... I'll pop along to a meet one of these days. Promise!

Cheers for the raceteck tip - an automatic calculator thingy sounds way better than figuring it out on paper! I didn't realise 5.1 sucked in water that quickly - definitely worth changing out regularly.

Yep, all I did was replaced the seals and fluid. I got the bike pretty cheap and don't want to spend huge amounds of cash on it as it's just a toy so springs are a good idea but a whole new front end is probably out of the picture unless I can get one for a modest sum. having said that, it would be nice to have a bit more adjustment on them! For the brake fluid, I'll be changing it out at the pre-season service anyway so it won't be in there all that long.

Hey Moo, I've never had much luck with waterproof overs - no matter what brand or what I paid for them, the seams always leaked and cold, soggy nuts aren't that enjoyable. Now I realise that you won't experience that exact problem but are you set on using leathers? A good dollop of Fabsil on textiles did the trick for me.