iangaryprice

Apparently Mate there's no balance marks on Michelin motorcycle tyres, so no worries Just had it confirmed at local tyre shop today, Michelin stopped putting the marks on a few years ago.

I had a good look at the tyre again tonight no sign or red or yellow spot. Its got 2 coloured rings all around the tyre in the centre. Its only been up to 60mph so far but seems OK. Need better weather and the tyre chance to bed in a bit. Looks like it should be OK, had a look at my mates Pan-Euro and that's got 60g on it.

Although worn chain is the most likely cause of the tight spots, its worth checking the sprockets are running true. If you put new sprockets on rotate them while watching the tips of the teeth are all the same height. The accurate way is to use a dial gauge indicator, but closing on eye and using a feature to align your line of sight with will work.

This seems to be standard practice at a lot of garages now. The MOT is computerised, they are supposed to do it step by step as the prompts on screen tell them. Most will start he MOT go to the vehicle and do the tests, return to the Computer and enter the results. Once they have logged as an item as a fail, it stays on record, The test is also timed there is a minimum time they can spend doing it. What did it fail on? Was it something that should have been checked/fixed on the service? I don't think having a fail show on the MOT is anything to worry about. The failure rate is pretty high anyway. Not many vehicles have a clean all pass MOT history. Bulbs and Tyres are the main reasons.

I had heard about putting the mark opposite the valve but I couldn’t find any marks yellow or red. So I didn't position it on any particular place. Maybe its marked in a different way on Michelins? I'll have another look at it later. Although its on now anyway.

If a gasket is to be fitted there I would expect to see a small step about the thickness of a gasket. Put he two halves together and see if there is a gap. If there is a gap you need a gasket. If no gap just jointing compound on all the faces that mate together. Was there one there when you too it apart?

Are you talking about the 2 engine cases that split to get the crank out. These don't have a gasket, they just use sealing compound. During manufacture the cases are bolted together and then the final machining is done. They they unbolt them to build the engine. They have to be accurate, putting a gasket in between would lose the accuracy. The manual for your bike should tell you which compound to use. There are several different types - colour coded!

I have jut fitted a new Michelin Pilot 2 to my GSX600F this afternoon. All back on and working fine, quick test ride and its no longer white lining. Just one thing - I needed 45g of weights to get it balanced correctly. Seems to be quite a lot, Previous tyre had 15g and the front has 10g. Tyre size is 150/70-17. Its running nice and true.

When you try starting it does the plug get wet (with petrol) it should.

Check the fuel in the tank. If it s been standing along time there might be water in the fuel. Drain some fuel off into clean glass jar or bottle and have a look at it. Water will show up as little balls at he bottom (water is more dense then petrol so it siks).

Their Germans - they don't listen!

As above you need to torque safety critical bolts. Brake discs usually have "stud/thread lock" on them. be careful how much you use, too much and you will struggle to get the bolts out next time. The bolts need to be degreased for the thread lock to work. Also make sure the back surface of the disc and the wheel are absolutely clean. If there is any dirt or other debrison there the disc will not run true and you will get vibration when braking.

I would do this in 2 stages. 1. Get it working the easiest way first, connect 1-red to Green (left indicator) 1-red to Brown (right indicator) Connect the black to an earth point. Once you have got it working like this then you can move onto stage 2. 2. If it s working OK with the black earthed, then disconnect it and re-connect it to the yellow wire for the brake light. It will use the brake bulb to get its earth when the brake is off. When the brake is on the yellow wire will be +12v this will silence the alarm since its no longer earthed. When you say you have tested to look for the "flashing" signal form the indicators an didn't see the pulses. What tester were you using? Its best to use a low power test light with a bulb about 2w. LED testers and multi-meters can give misleading results. Where on the bike are you intending to put it. Under the seat might be a good place, should be able to get at the 3 wires you need.

Experienced key cutters can cut a lot of keys just form looking at them. My neighbour has a key cutting market stall, I needed a spare key for my Mondeo. He looked at my key on evening, said its a "xyyw" made a quick note of the number, the following day he cut a new key brought it round and it worked perfectly. He has done the same fora front door key as well! It's a bit worrying that someone could just look at your keys, go away make a key, and have access to your car/house/bike.

The dealer is the registered keeper. May have been used as a demo bike, or loan bike. ER500 were popular training school bikes so chances are that's what the dealer used it for.

Hopefully you have got it sorted. bad earths can cause all sorts of problems, in your case blowing bulbs. The bulbs seem to have been failing due to too high a voltage (15V - should be about 14.4max) The lack of the earth connection was probably preventing the voltage regulator working correctly.

I get a bit worried when people use words like "going to town" and "give it a good scrub". Carbs are intricate assemblies with jets that are precision parts. The carb cleaner above is ideal. They are usually a strong solvent like acetone. (brake cleaner is similar but a slightly different solvent). The inside of th ecarb often looks realtivly clean, th ecleaner will remove any sludge, varnish and water. Take care with carbs. Clean the outside before dismantling them. Try to remove the float bowl with e card the right way up - tricky but it prevents dirt form the float bowl falling into the jets. Plus you will see how much dirt is in the float bowl. Remove the jets and clean them with the cleaner. Check all the small holes are clear, look through them to a light (not too bright). Don't be tempted to use wire to remove any blockages, use something plastic like a bristle form a brush, the jets are usually brass and easily damaged. Check the float is not leaking, shake it to see if it has petrol inside. Check the float valve seat for excessive wear, if worn you will need to replace it,

Draining the carbs used to be important with 2-strokes with premix oil. The petrol would evaporate form the carbs leaving behind the oil which would gum up the smaller jets. Its generally not a problem with 2-strokes with oil injection and 4-strokes. For batteries, they don't like to be left discharged, so either 1. Fully charge the battery and leave it disconnected. 2. Regularly recharge it. Oil Its best to leave oil in, it contains anti oxidants and other additives that will help protect the engine.