Bill_on_a_bike

aaah if only, but there is no tacho, and so no tacho cable. Yesterday the speedo worked for a few minutes, then went back to over reading massively. I unscrewed the speedo cable from the back of the speedo, gave it a bit of a jiggle and screwed it back on. This now means I think the speedo is reading too slow. It's hard to judge because i'm only riding it round a car park, and he hasn't got the confidence to take it on the road yet. I'm almost inclined to get myself insured on this thing for the day, to take it for a good hard ride, clear it's gills out, and find all these things that are a little bit wrong. I can cope with them, but he's new he needs as smoother ride as he can get, so to speak.

I haven't actually seen him since, I haven't heard is arguments for it. I can understand being on a tight budget, believe me, but even a brand new £50 lid, that fits right ofcorse, would be miles better than that. I'm not saying buy the latest rossi rep. for £450 or anything, just, new atleast.

Was your helmet £5 from a car boot sale voodoo?

It's one of my better bets atm. He's trying to do the WHOLE bike thing on £10 a week pocket money from his parents for gods sake. He refuses point blank to get a job, and I've told him y'know, unless you're filthy rich you're going to need more income than that. I feel kinda proud that he's seen me get it together with the bike thing, and it's spurred him on to do the same. but I'd hate him to be half arsed about it and get hurt.

Mate of mine's trying to get in to biking, he's got himself a honda CG and he's insured and stuff. Today he bought himself a helmet from a boot sale for £5. How can I express to him enough what a bad idea this is?

That's no flooding! Sounds to me like it's just cold, you got the choke on? Engines will run rich when they're cold aswell. Nurse it with the throttle until it's running a bit better and take it for a run. Best way to warm an engine up is with gentle riding, not ragging it, but just riding gently.

That was it Didn't know the radio one though.. how would you utilise that? Only discovered it in my dads old volvo 480. There was a noise over the radio that increased with revs (as more sparks are sent and lost through the leads). Back in the day radio was transmitted on a "spark transmitter" which used sparks of electricity as a carrier wave, and this is basicly the same thing. The sparks send out an EM wave, and this is picked up and amplified by the radio. Using spark transmitters is illegal now, because they transmit on all frequencys at once. Why do I know this junk? anyway, I guess you'd just get an AM radio, tune it in to something, put it near the bike, listen for any disturbance and if that disturbance changes when you rev it, your HT leads are leaking.

Can test HT leads by running the bike in the dark and looking for arcs coming out of them to the frame/engine/other leads. sometimes if you take an AM radio near it, you'll hear a buzzing sound on all frequencies, which will increase when the bike revs. I think there are aerosols you can get to spray on dodgey HT leads, but it's only a temporary fix I think.

These generic trigger things seem to sprout nothing but problems. When it does this, does it sound like it's still firing atall? or just like the road is just turning the engine over?

Nah really haven't had a look at it properly yet, just wondered if it over reading indicated a specific problem or something. Well i'll have an investiage next time I'm round, need to get the front wheel off at some point anyway, the brakes need a good clean I think.

thing is dan, it's not over reading by like, 10mph or even 20, it's reading 90mph at about 10mph which is the end of the dial, and after that it's spun round the dial and is kinda sticky. I'm wondering if the speedo is the wrong one, and how genuine the milage is. Hard to check these things on a guys drive without riding it. Well done on becoming a mod.

Mate of mine's just bought a honda CG125, all's well except the speedo is reading absolutely miles above what's really happening, and by about 20 miles an hour it's gone completely round the dial and starting again. Is this more likely a problem with the speedo drive or the speedo itself? And how hard are these things to fix? cheers guys

I don't think you'd get insured on it would you? I'm not sure what the law is, there must be some "over 21s can ride a 500 under professional supervision" clause in the law somewhere. Not sure, would be interested to know.

I wouldn't mess with the actual poly. that protects her head, especially not with heat, polymers don't like heat (i'm revising for my chemistry A level). football idea's not a bad one, mine took a while to break in but it's better now.

On L plates, you can't ride more than 125cc, with no more than 14 (odd) bhp. I can go in to technicalities of 2-Stroke and 4-Stroke bikes differences if you like, But day to day, 2-Strokes rev higher and have a narrower power band. They are however usually faster. BUT they need a top end rebuild every, I dno, 10,000 miles? (you'd have to ask an expert) but this is expensive. They also tend to be less reliable. 2 Strokes also run on a mix of Petrol and " Stroke oil, which makes them a bit more expensive to run. They also stink of burning 2 stroke oil and sound dredful. CBR-125 is probably the fastest of the 125cc four strokes, along with the Yam. R125. but an RS125 will be quicker.

So, what do the vacume guages actually tell you? how fast that cylinder is running?

Tried putting an allen key in it and giving it a sharp tap with a hammer? And like voodoo said get an allen bit in a T-bar or a socket, get a bit more torque on it.

Mine did a simular thing and and carb clean sorted it.

ooooops lol! what was the solvent? for future reference?

I wash things out in ice cream tubs. People will warn that they'll dissolve in solvents but i've had carb cleaner, petrol, paraffin, all sorts in them and they've never melted.

If the £80 isn't a worry for you, and there is a chance you'll pass, take it. The short notice might mean you don't have enough time to get nervous.

same. i think head fit is the main thing with all this, as long as it's not some wierd and wonderful £20 del boy job, and it fits your head it should be ok. they're all approved safety wise anyway, they can't be that terrible.

big, ass, dick, ass ........I see

yeah you definately can get stickers for lids, you can get ones with "www.themotorbikeforum.co.uk" on if you really want. Not sure what type of glue it is or what, but it is possible.

I use ear plugs as often as I can, and much prefer riding with them in, especially on my screaming little 125. At £40 /pair, are they going to do THAT much better job than disposable foam jobs? Really?