Fozzie

Did the electrics progressively fail and dim? If so thats your rec/reg The engine warning light might be there to say there is a fault. If you have an injection system therein maybe the problem But if it just cut out, no dimming of the lights, battery still works and holds a good voltage then you need to open your manual and have a read of what it could mean

If it has to desulfate the battery then yes the battery was the problem... Sulfation destroys a battery's ability to hold charge. Desulfation is the curing factor here as it makes the battery more able to charge. Though a battery for your bike from Halfords is about £30 from memory. If you have a trade number all the better.

If you powder coat, to soften the blow think of how much money you save on not having to paint it yourself, subtract that from the cost of powdercoating and walaa Its what I do to convince myself to spend a lot of money on something You not going matte black anymore? I had my YZF-R125 in matte black and satin black. The mix of the two colours surprisingly worked. But matte will only look grubby and ratty if made to look that way. I think if you do more to the bike once you have it matte you will avoid trouble but its up to you! Im the lazy sort who buys matte black filler primer and just uses that

You could try to match the red of the frame and have them powder coated. It doesnt cost that much apparently. I want to give it a go with my next bike as the outcome for some is amazing!

Are you painting the wheels as well? You'll have people asking what it is all the time with that scheme I reckon We had that with the old GPX as it was just black with an ace cafe sticker, rose a lot of questions which always feels good

Matte black with the red frame will look nice What about throwing some small monster decals on there... Dunno why I just think they look cool on Kawasaki's

If you have some fluid lying about i find it easy just to start bleeding through as the moment you get pressure the piston starts pushing out until it pops out as does the fluid! I like projects so I will be watching your progress

I sort of echo what people have said When you come up to a roundabout look to see if its clear but keep your attention on what the guy ahead of you is doing. I have almost kept going before only to find a car in front of me Just alter how you handle roundabouts and you'll be fine. You got off accident free and its a experience you learn from as it shit scares ya

Should we have a forum bet? How long will the CB500 last before it breaks down. Its good to hear you are running the newer one. The other one did seem a bit forever doomed didnt it

Hi all, I have been helping Jin get her ZXR250 going again as it has been sat in the garage for a while. Here is the story. It was bought and ran quite well, other than conking out due to running out of fuel once it was alright but very loud and screamed up the rev range. Here is where the history of its problems stem from. I find one day after it hasn't been run for a few days the bike will turn over but it is very weak. It must be the battery I decide so I charge it and it works. It was running a month or 2 ago when I decided to pull it apart and clean the carbs and air filter and give it some fresh juice. I left it in that state and came back to it another couple of weeks later. But absolutely nothing, I hooked up the charger to the bike and flicked the ignition key but it was a dead stick. The lights on the dash barely came on and then the bike would just click rapidly on the starter button. So time for a new battery. The new battery has been fitted and the dash lights up as it should, I also fixed an oil leak and filled it with new oil before I did it. But the bike now when I push the starter doesn't do a single thing. It makes a single loud click from the battery area but then refuses to do any more. I think the starter solenoid has gone or the relay, I will be checking out the fuses when I can but I wanted some feedback off you guys as its a 1989 bike as pictured below. So it's not from my era of bikes that I usually work on. http://www.motorcyclespecs.co.za/Gallery/Kawasaki%20ZXR250R%2089.jpg Thanks

I take it you are trying to remove the cam chain then, perhaps its tight as it is only its tight point... A chain will go through a tight point and slack point on a drive chain so I assume it could be the same case here, in which case you need to crank the engine round a bit and try again.

I've noticed in so many of these threads there is a great deal of problems coming from people who have simply missed some scheduled for service, have made a modification and something has gone wrong and so on. My Dad taught this to me, things to check before you resort to pulling bits apart and poking around. And I thought I'd share... The Service Manual It's good to resort to your bikes service manual, or even a Haynes manual, which displays more info than you need in a clear manner easy to understand. Before resorting to the Haynes manual that talks (EAB) you need to first check your service manual. You get back from a ride and theres an odd vibration coming from the engine after 30 minutes of riding, and it happens repeatedly. That is the clue something has happened and needs adjusting or fixing. But before coming on the forum and saying "Hi I have a yamaha blah blah with this vibration problem" always just have a quick read of your manual. If its a Haynes all the better. Check what mileage the bike is at and then cross check it with things that need servicing at that mileage or nearby, or even things that have previously been missed. Once the bike is up to date with its servicing you can go from there as it rules out quite a lot. Made Any Modifications Recently? Has an issue cropped up on the bike after you recently made a modification. Anything at all. We had a Fazer1000, with a new 12 volt adapter placed on the battery, which due to its simple location under the seat managed to block the airbox and limit revs to 5000rpm or so. Small things can make a big difference so if you did anything at all to modify the bike just set it back to the way it was before and see if that cures it. If it does then you know and you can simply then ask what you need to do so that you can properly modify the bike without causing any adverse effects. How Well You Know Your Bike It has been said already that it's hard to diagnose a bike over the internet. Be happy you get a useful reply at all with vague information. But consider how accurately we can get your problems solved if you tell us everything. If you have a problem I want to know the bike model, age, mileage, service history, and any repair history. Referring to the case before it was a YZF-R125 that had a vibration problem after 30 minutes of riding when it was warm. He just told me that it was that bike and vibrated... So it could be fuelling issue, perhaps there is an electrical issue... It stumps you... Then I asked more pressing details and got, YZF-R125, 2 years old, 9000 miles, Oil and filter changes every 2000 miles and no repairs needed. Checked against the service manual and it was due a valve clearance at 4000 miles. It got the valve clearance and hey presto. No more vibration. So to sum up, please have a read and digest whats here. There are things you can do yourself before asking for help that may save you the time and effort of going through and getting your hands dirty with things that dont require it. You could even make your bike worse if you get something wrong! So, stop, be logical and if you can't fix it then, feel free to to post here BUT give as much detail as possible so that a valid and good responce can be given to your problems.

What bike is it? Also a close up picture would be nice

It's not very good for the balance of your tyre and whoever changes it will hate you as it apparently makes a mess of the machine that pulls off the tyre! If it feels ok then keep using it but I would suggest getting a new tyre if you can. I would also tell the bloke who changes your tyre that its in there so he knows about the mess it will be on his machine.

I have similar issues to you with the CAD work here in my office... They give me a set of A3 drawings to check through so it matches the LER, a head sheet which is basically should have the codes for all parts of the drawing. If it doesnt match the LER the drawing is wrong. So I edit it. If I find a lot of things the drawing says different to the LER on I query and get told "the LER is right, just follow that". It then gets issued and comes back and turns out the things i wanted to query had some other importance and I get told "why didnt you query?". f**k it... On the upside because I tried to query, blame is easily passed on

Aside from a new front end what do you need to do to it? I take it the carbs need a good clean etc, all the usual stuff with a bike being stood for that long. It looks like a beaut though What condition was it in when you got it? Mileage etc

When does the clutch bite? If you pop it into first and the revs drop it might be dragging. So details on how far you let the lever out before it bites would help As if you let it out a few mm and its going then you just need to adjust the clutch cable done using the adjusters at the lever and at the engine. Use youtube if you dont know how to adjust a clutch, its literally a 2 minute job.

The jets in the 2 carbs were not the same on my vara! I can't remember which carb it was but one of them had a slightly smaller main jet than the other. If they are the same size there is your problem I would say. I rejetted mine to get some more power out of it a long time ago and came across this fact.

My CBR600F had one. I didnt think it would draw as much power as a set of injectors was all

He was on one of those banked slip ways they use very well hidden by trees on my left side, saw him and rolled off but like I said he knew I was speeding. I could argue that modern vehicles can stop quicker, now thinking time has remained the same so we need to work out the average in which a vehicle can stop from the thinking time. An obvious problem with that is some people have cars from 20 years ago on the road, which don't have ABS and cant brake as well. But I dont want upped speed limits, I would use the system suggested, dont change the limits but allow an officer to use his discretion. We all speed and its very easy (especially for them) to determine if it was dangerous or not. If not dangerous but still a bit excessive (let them decide this) then a fine. If it was at a speed determined to be reckless then points will apply.

German made motorcross bike? MZ made the engine themselves (not a chinese replica) and makes 14.6BHP as much as the YZF. Its thought they are quite reliable but they are extremely rare and spares are hard to come by! They are also quite expensive But thats about it, if you look at the Suzuki DR125 in the main page its basically that with almost 4BHP more so it should be able to hold 65mph as a cruising speed.

I intend on buying a non-faired bandit or hornet for winter so I have winter transport to ride the ice... But what am I? I dont like riding in the rain though if I need to go somewhere I simply get on with it. The bike is my only transport. I dont particularly like riding in the rain but I have to if i want to get anywhere, does that mean i am a fair weather rider or not? As if im caught out i just change styles and keep going, i dont like to walk in the rain and i still enjoy the fact im on a bike so im confused

I agree with this, it would be a better system, on top of this I would still add the officer use common sense when deciding if to issue a fine or a fine and points. It would smooth things out quite a bit.

Im not studying the sides of the road, Im looking forward with a check of my mirrors every now and then so I know whats in front of me and behind me to make good decisions Though if you must know it was on the banked bend on the M6 toll to be precise, I came round and he was there and I saw him realising it was too late and pointless to brake so I rolled off and went by and saw him pull out behind me. I then had a good idea he was going to pull me over.

So relaxing speeding offences when an officer determines that the level of danger is reduced might be the better idea. Ill give an example, on the M6 at 3am I was heading back to Northampton on my CBR600. I admit openly I was doing 85-90mph and I got pulled over. The officer asked me if I knew what speed I was doing, so I apologised and admitted I knew I was speeding, but felt it was ok to do so with no one ahead of me and no one behind me on an open motorway with only myself to blame if i get it wrong. He acknowledged my reason and said the law is the law BUT as it appeared I was not being reckless and i was no threat to anyone I got told to go on my way but slow down. So I did as he said and off I went. I appreciated this level of understanding and would love it to take hold. So if I get pulled over like that again in the same circumstances an officer can say "you were speeding, that breaks the law but given the circumstances today you will only get the fine". Let common sense prevail