Mr Fro

I dunno what Stu uses but I've got something like this although I use just the shaft and cones on my BeeGee stand. It's a piece of piss to use - if you get one try and get lead weights as steel ones are huge, ugly and shite. It works fine and I've tested wheels balanced on it to over 160 mph.

That's about right. I use levers which isn't so bad - it really depends on the tyres though. Thin walled track tyres such as super corsas slip straight on but road tyres like the PR4 are a bast*rd because they're so thick on the side walls. I've seen the cable tie method before and it looks like a very hard way to do it. The guy in the vid cut a lot out - I wonder how long it was uncut! I keep meaning to make up a tyre changer... One of these days!

I've just had a quick look at wemoto and they seem to have just about everything you could (reasonably) need for a rebuild. I tend to start at the top and work my way down, flipping the engine once I've got the top off. You will need a manual or spec sheet for things such as tolerances.

Be careful hanging on to the hire bike - I was knocked off my bike (many moons ago) and although the driver was legal and insured he did a flit and was never seen again so it took ages to settle the claim. I had a hire car for around 9 months at the insistence of my insurance company even though I didn't really want or need it. Needless to say, when the claim was resolved, his insurance company demanded proof of my "need" for the car or they would refuse to pay the quite substantial bill and charge me directly. Naturally I sorted it out but just be aware that the insurance company is just champing at the bit to give you the shaft!

True... but I live in Bury St Edmunds and servicemen need to be careful round these parts as they've been known to disappear without trace.

Next thing you know you'll be saying we don't like cos or tan either when really we're nice as pi.

No, no, no. We clearly have a misunderstanding... What I meant was: Are you going to buy me one so I can review it for you?

likely a second bike for hooning around .. so not a problem.. you should try one. You buying?

Does it really matter? You'll only change your mind again in 10 minutes.

The hook line should be something like: "Guaranteed to make your neck ache"

Say whaaaaat? Wasn't [mention]linuxrob[/mention] doing stuff with anodising and ting?

I'll probably do that when the family are ready. We're wary about approaching specialist forums or even his old modelling mates about it - we've had a few that tried to rip is off almost as soon as the lid was shut.

Lucky for you I put the leg work for you then Bob. All part of the service.

Wrong! Although you have to buy the two finger multi pack to get the foil wrapping. So really it's win-win!

I can have a rummage through my stock and see what I've got... For mild steel you'll be looking at around £25 for materials and then around £50 to machine them plus p&p.

Have we got some RC people on here then? My late father-in-law had a huge collection of RC stuff - planes (prop & jet), boats and cars/buggies/monster trucks with zillions of parts. There's a couple of Blazing Blazers too - one still in it's box! I could probably use some advice on what to do with it all - values, best places to sell them etc...

In these modern days of CAD, stress analysis etc, it is easily possible to design engine components (or indeed any component) to be ideally suited for their function and combine performance with longevity. OR to design the cheapest components they can possibly get by with. I strongly suspect that value engineering (i.e. being able to churn out components by the skip load at minimal cost) is key in their selection of oil. After all, if a camshaft fails after 6 years on a bike, who's to say that the owner didn't use the exact spec of oil?

Like!

Why?

I thought that no matter what, Trumptopia would always outshine us but the constant bickery bollocks going on lately just makes us all look like a bunch of spuds.

You're right there matey! Shame it's all wasted on all the leaches that suck the NHS dry and bugger all makes it to the wards.

Nothing wrong with MZ/CZ, they're brilliant when you've got naff all money. They aren't fast and they don't handle but they do just keep plodding on. The CZ twins weren't that vibey but I had an ETZ301 which shook like a jack hammer. Like you said Bob, you just can't help smiling. They get bonus points from me for never rusting - mine were always coated with a healthy layer of two stroke oil! I wouldn't mind another one for comedy value but like you said, the weird beards have taken over and they're now collectable so are just too much money for what they are.

Rule 1: Never trust what a previous owner says. Unless you did it, it didn't happen! If you're handy then you can make pretty much anything fit. If you measure the engine side of the carb then you should be able to match it to something.

Mother-in-law still does a bit of nursing and she has to pay to park. Also, at Bury St Eds, all staff must either find alternative transport or park elsewhere 1 week out of 3 (or something like that) on a rota system so all the back roads round and about are clogged with hospital staff cars. But yeah, charging for parking is ridiculous. You're not going there to mince about and have a coffee after all and my arse are the fees ploughed back in to critical staff and facilities. [/grumble, grumble etc]