dex

The two slotted collars control the spring preload (the amount by which the spring is compressed with no load on it) That is used to control Sag. Sag is the amount the suspension compresses with just the weight of the bike (static sag) or with the weight of the bike and the rider (rider sag) put bike on it's wheels, lift rear of bike so that rear shock is fully extended, measure vertically up from the centre of rear hub to a point on the tail of the bike. Then allow the weight of bike to compress shock, and re-measure the distance. *About* 20mm difference between the two numbers is a good starting point. Once you've got that, leave those adjusters alone. Then you want to play with damping - look all over shock (top and bottom) and see if you have one or two adjusters, they are normally small flat blade screws, often a brass colour. If you have one it control compression and rebound, if you have two then they control one each. *CAREFUL* - there is often a large flat blade screw at the bottom of a shock that is used to dismantle the shock - leave that one alone! Compression Damping - controls the rate at which the suspension compresses - hard means slower, soft means faster. Rebound Damping - controls the rate at which the suspension extends after compression - again hard damping=slower rebound. Most "kicked out of seat" issues are either due to rock hard compression damping or overly hard rear spring (you'll feel one short big thump when you first hit a bump) or down to insufficient rebound damping (you'll feel more of a Booooinnng" as you get launched upwards.) So is your problem a bang, or a boooooiiiiing?

Money is no Object and you're riding around on some dog sh1t Hongdou GY125? Seriously? Trade it in for an MV Agusta F4 CC - I believe there's a few on sale at the moment with £25k off list price - so they're only £50k now. That will shut you mates up.

Pretty much what he said ^ The easiest way to learn it is to accelerate fairly smoothly in a gear, apply *light* upward pressure on the gear lever then roll off and on the throttle quickly - just off the throttle enough that you stop accelerating but not enough to start engine braking. If you've done it right then the gear lever will feel like it moves of it's own accord and you'll be in the next gear. Start with very gentle pressure on the lever - as you can damage the box by trying to "force" it in if you're too rough. If you find the gearchange is a very jerky affair then you're probably rolling off the throttle too much, getting engine braking and then the acceleration. If you are needing a lot of force on the gear lever then you're not rolling off the throttle enough. To start - practice riding along accelerating, then giving the throttle a small roll-off and back on. Get used to how much to roll off to stop accelerating but not get into engine braking - it's that "coasting" bit between acceleration and noticeable engine braking that is when the whole transmission is unloaded and the upshift can be done. I found that once you get used to it you can do part throttle clutchless up-shifts with a pillion on and it feels seamless to them (no more head banging!) Obviously a lot depends on the bike - as 12bhp bike has a lot more margin for error with throttle finesse than a 120bhp bike, and a well-adjusted chain and decent oil in the engine/box will both make your life a whole lot easier.

What he said, weise do some very good kit for the money.

Think you're missing the point there Nat agreed Either that - or she's hinting that she wants a bit on the side...

If any of the forum's biker lawyers want to get in touch by PM then I can pass their details on to my lass for her to contact - without the Personal Injury element I imagine it may be tricky to find someone who wants the case?

i've got a couple of snaps of an FZ1 with dog blood and guts on it (although bright sun + camera phone = poor photos) she wasn't keen on me taking a photo of her in her blood and gut covered jacket, jeans, boots, gloves and lid though... I think dogs are great, I like it when people from work go abroad on holiday as it means I can dog sit. I really feel for the guy as the last image he has of his dog is bits spread round the road. Sadly, if what he said is accurate, his other half owes him quite an apology for not controlling the dog.

So yesterday my lass rode into a dog at speed. Or rather, she rode through a dog. (She's unhurt, just upset for the dog and a little shaken) She was overtaking on the A4, when a greyhound ran out from the verge. The collision was unavoidable and she and the dog impacted pretty hard. She managed to keep the bike upright (no idea how) but the dog did a fair bit of damage to the bike. They got in contact with the owner (from the phone number on the dog's collar) who drove round to the accident site and said his wife had been walking the dog. In the half hour or so he was there the wife never appeared. My lass went to the police station with her docs last night to report the accident, and is awaiting a reference number from the collisions team over the next few days. We've got photos of the damage to the bike (before washing dog off it) and then photos after we washed the gore off. Her lid was contaminated with bits of dog, and her leather jacket and jeans were properly covered. The jacket is being sent off for specialist cleaning, jeans have gone in the wash and she's bought a replacement helmet (she didn't have a spare and needs it to ride to work). I understand Highway Code puts a responsibility on dog owners to keep dogs under control near a road, and so we have the basis for a claim against the dog owner for the damage to the bike and sorting the kit out, just wondered if anyone had any experience/advice/suggestions? (I know this sounds really cold, she is really upset by it and we're both thoroughly p1ssed off at the person walking the dog for not keeping the dog under control. Poor Doggie.)

Two Cages for me - the sensible shopping car is a 1994 VW Golf, Diesel, Estate. It's rather dull. But oh so practical and economical. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v68/dexteruk/Hosting/DSC_0184.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v68/dexteruk/Hosting/DSC_0185.jpg And for when I'm feeling decidedly Impractical, Un-Economical and a long way from dull there's my fun car: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v68/dexteruk/Firenza/DSC_0214.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v68/dexteruk/Firenza/DSC_0216.jpg

No it's not. It's not even a little bit like saying that. 70mph in built up area - likely to cause increased risk to others. No gloves/boots/jacket - increased risk to rider. Completely different. As I understand it Akey is saying that where someone's personal choices don't affect others, but may be unwise, they may benefit from education rather than legislation.

It's true - I'm smoking like a chimney right now just to try and help you maniacs who won't wear the right riding gear!

I'm guessing you guys mean Pistenklause? Great place - steak on a stone (raw steak, served on hot stone, cook it yourself!) is fantastic, and the Konig Ludwig weiss beer goes down very well... Stay at the Burgstube - http://www.burgstube.com - Martin (the owner) rides a Gixxer, quicky! A lot of the european bike mags stay there when doing tests, a couple of the staff at the Burgstube tend to record faster lap times than the journos, and even the factory test riders - so their Bike 'Ring knowledge is impeccable. IIRC one of the lads who works there holds the production bike lap record - so you know they know their stuff. If you tell him you were speak to Andy Betson he *might* even let you have a lil discount (maybe lol)

Wow - I'm seriously impressed with your commitment - good on ya gal!

If you can find contact to send the unit to or to get in touch with about returning the control can you post it up please? Mine have just started doing exactly the same thing - even engine running 14.4v at the battery

I find that quite easy to deal with - I never get involved in *giving* that sort of thing, and so I make it clear to people to expect my violent over-reaction when it comes to my *receiving* I'm all for consensual "initiations/rites of passage" - as an Armourer I've drunk plenty of pints of piss and spent no small amount of time naked, but i've also chucked toys out of my pram as well

Nope, I'll be doing it on my brand new Generic Trigger X If you're willing to spend the cash on looking flash, but not being safe... Then I hope you don't have to find out how un-cool it is getting crippled when you hit the road.

HJC FS-10 Carbon HJC HQ-1 Lordship Carbon Bell M4R Carbon Schuberth Carbon

My advice, if you're getting your first bike jacket, is to get a textile one. They deal with cold and wet far better than leather - it's nice to have a decent leather jacket to wear in the summer- but a vented leather in the cold and rain is really no fun. It's a nice looking jacket though (If you can handle the ladies zip)

As the guys said - stop thinking about changing clutches and don't worry Bike is fine - they all do it. You'll notice once the bike warms up, oil thins, wheel slows down or stops turning. It's the same theory that makes viscous coupling/ torque converters work.

I suspect you're right - he probably wasn't trying. However it might be safe to assume that if he'd paid to take the porsche down a runway for a top speed run that he would have been trying.

I would think it's a perfectly fair statement myself. In the situation I described (two non-professional riders riding their own bikes) the 636 was going faster than the 750. I've not claimed it's a better/faster bike - but I've told you that on the day it went quicker.

As with everything - there's a million variables.... I'm just over 5'10 - but the 636 is a very roomy bike, so I could get tucked in absolutely flat, elbows in, head right down. The 636 is (or was in '06) the most aerodynamic (CdA) production bike that Kawasaki ever made - so it's going to get the best out of the power it has. The 750s left me initially - but past 160 indicated I was clawing them back in. As for the actual speed/indicated speed debate - I intend on clocking the bike on satnav at some point to get an idea of the speedo accuracy, but it's a digi speedo run off the gearbox so I'd expect a reasonable level of accuract. I've run the gearing/tyre size/revs through a couple of different gearing calculators - they all showed an actual speed of over 180. But I don't believe them any more than I believe the speedo - I'm not convinced that ~130bhp would give me that much top end. Ultimately the top speed of the bike is pretty much academic - I've done it, redline in top, flat out - so I don't feel the need to try it on the road. For me that's enough. As for why Kawasaki made a 636... Same reason Triumph made a 675 - because they can! Modern bikes have so much more grunt than 10 years ago that the 750 class is becoming obsolete (IMO) My 636 is a stack faster, lighter and better handling than a mate's 7R (1998) and both are far quicker than anyone could ever properly use on the road safely. When Kwak made the 636 they built it as a road bike, no-one would ever race them (as they wouldn't qualify for sub 600cc classes) so they were made to be good on the road. Suits me - that's where I ride.

2006 Kawasaki ZX6R (636cc) 186 Indicated on Speedo - Pulling 15,500rpm in top gear (redline) Realistically? Probably around 170 Genuine. It was a week after I bought the bike. But it was on a closed runway - on an organised 1/4 mile and runway day. Last mile of the runway is slightly downhill - which helped the bike pull up to the redline in top. On the runway at the same time were a few other modern 600s, a 7R and a recent (05 maybe) Gixxer 750. The 636 was leaving/catching all of them (staggered start) It was quite awesome as an experience, never felt the need to go that quick on the road on the bike - but given the environment felt fantastic to have the bike flat out.

cheers for the hints - I did Oakham to Stamford (a road I already knew but had never done on the bike) Did 6003 from and to kettering on the way up and back and made it up to MFN for the mon and wed meets Plenty of riding and you guys are right - awesome roads. The 606 up to nottingham was great fun

ok so I'm off up to Oakham sunday afternoon, staying until friday morning. I'm in work in the daytime - where should I go for my evenings out? cheers in advance!