Ingah

+1. The amount these items are (over)priced at, i expect no less than perfection.

Check things like your tyre pressures, chain adjustment, wheel bearings, and that the front forks and rear suspension go up and down smoothly. Check those head bearings too. You should be giving the bike a thorough check before you try to improve/replace things. Forks check: Get on the bike, apply front brake hard, and then push the bars forwards a few times, hard (they'll sink down into the forks). Are they going down and coming back up smoothly (good), or notchy (bad, probably MOT fail)? Head bearings check: Pop the bike on centre stand. Get someone to put their weight down on the back, which will lift the front wheel slightly off the ground. Ensure that they keep their weight on it, otherwise it'll be very difficult to feel any play! Turn the wheel from side to side slowly (do it a few times to be sure) - if your head bearings are done then then you'll feel a small notch in the middle (most travelled bit) - almost like it's slipping into a comfty spot (in actuality it's a groove worn into place by constant rubbing). It could also feel notchy on the turn. If either of these are the case, they need attention (and are probably MOT fail) Obviously ideal/good is when it moves smoothly through the entire travel. As for improving ride quality of a bike: Progressive front fork springs will help, as will many aftermarket rear shocks.

That was the plan. Apart from there's nothing left sticking out, so i drilled into it with the vague intention of putting in some sort of thing to sort it out, but i'm not quite sure what i need to do this, so i then put the drill down lol. Still need to get both these pistons out though, i figure once they're out, i can relax a little.

Oh boy, now i've had it (and no one's open at this time of year and the post is delayed so i'll be waiting a while!) Have tried to strip the calipers. Used an old pad, a G-clamp and the brake lever to get the pistons out evenly. Got them both nearly out, then one popped out. And the system immediately lost pressure (assumedly because there was no longer a seal), i.e. the lever was doing nothing. And putting the piston back in didn't seem to do anything. To make it worse, while i was messing around i let the master cylinder run out of brake fluid, so now there's an unknown amount of air in the system too! So i tried to loosen the bleed valve to bleed the system so that i can use it to help me pump both pistons out again. And *snap*. Off comes the bleed valve screw, in half. This is a disaster. Have just ordered replacement from Wemoto. God knows when it'll arrive though! (maybe i'll be lucky and it'll arrive for friday, but i don't feel lucky ) Is anyone able to give me an alternative method/soothing words of encouragement, or perhaps if i'm really lucky has access to a compressor or something in South Wales (i'll come to you with my caliper, and happy to compensate! ) - i need to get these pistons out so i can get the calipers cleaned out and sealed again. And then hopefully this bleed valve will arrive and i won't have such a huge problem getting to work.

Absolutely, you don't have to claim. But you've still paid the extra premium! And personally, i'd aim right at the 3rd party themselves in that case with a court summons (not the insurer - them personally). If that doesn't get their arse on the phone to their insurer nothing will. I'm not quite sure what you're trying to say, apart from that nobody gives a crap if it isn't in their interest (cut-throat as it is there's no point offering no win no fee to a client when you're unlikely to be able to win your costs back - a la giving your time for free). So if you'd had comp, you could've claimed and taken the future insurance hit on the chin instead - which is what i've already said. I'd never even bother asking an insurance company to chase a 3rd party claim on a Third Party only policy, as that's not what they're for (nice of the ones that do it - but i would prefer to choose my own legal counsel). Although yes, i do appreciate that stinks. Legal cover - as far as i know - contains a clause that amounts to the same thing as the NW,NF people do - if the case doesn't have a "reasonable chance of success" (as judged by them) then they won't take on your case. For all intents and purposes you're paying money to be offered a NW,NF management firm (if they want to take it on) without even having the choice of who! (who will pay the insurance company a nice sum for it).

Indeed, which is why i'm usually TPO/TPFT (i.e. whichever's cheapest). The maths works out as thus: My CB500 probably has a write-off value of £800 (with the modifications it's got and the way that it's been extensively repaired etc, it's probably worth nearer £1.5K to me, but that will not be taken into account in the result of a claim). My excess offered is usually £300-£400 (this time around the initial quotes seem to be offering a laughable £800 excess). The difference between TPFT and comp is £100 right now (£143 vs £243 based on some quotes i had earlier). Noteably it's a smaller difference than last year, which is showing that my statistical risk of a fault accident is lowered. So we'll take the scenarios in turn. 1) I take TPFT/TPO. I don't crash or claim (most likely) - even if my bike is stolen. £100 saved. 2) I take comp. I crash/whatever. After much wrangling and arguing with the insurance, after 6 weeks or so (in the case of a theft claim this delay is perfectly normal), i'll get my bike valued at it's market value of £800. So i lose the other £700 its worth in my head. And the insurance company now owns whatever is left of my bike, which they may or may not sell back to me at a fair price. And they take their £400 excess off. Add this to the extra £100 i paid in extra premium (which as i've said i'll pay either way). So i'm getting a net profit of £300 (in comparison to being TPO or whatever). And i lose my bike (which i may or may not have lost depending on what happened if i was TPO) and/or have to take buying it back out of this £300. I also have to wait while insurers mess around, whereas if i'm not going through insurers i don't have to wait for anything. Doesn't seem so bad taken alone really. But it gets worse. I have 3 years NCB. I'll lose 2/3 of those years depending on the company, which i would estimate would add £200-£300 to my premium the following year, just in NCB. The insurers will also add a little bit (or a lot depending on the insurer) on top for having declared an accident. And it'll have to be declared/loss of NCB the year after. And the year after that. And after that. I'd be lucky if i only lose a grand or so over the following 5 years. Probably far more. All for my (possible) £300. Or less. It's more like a loan than a payout (a high interest one at that, which i can only get if i am unlucky!) I'm not sure i explained that 100%, but hopefully it illustrates the point clearly enough to anyone considering the TPO/TPFT/comp options. I'm fully aware that when you get older/your risk is lower, it can look more like this: £3K bike. Difference between TPFT and comp £30 premium. Excess £150. So in the event of a claim, you'll be £2.8K+ up! (you'll still get hit in following years, but it's probably not going to be so badly as the statistics are likely in your favour, and it'll take a lot to beat the £2.8K!)

TPO. So they rip me off the least. (My NCB and insurance history is far more valuable than my bikes)

Battery. Spark plug. Spark plug is probably the easiest check if it's nice and accessible.

Look at the cable etc first (is it snagging, stretched, poorly adjusted?). It's cheap/free and not much hassle to put that right. If not then it really is clutch time.

Hehe, exactly what i heard said about replacing the front brake pads in the first place

Had a feeling you might respond eab, cheers Took it apart again (i seem to spend my life taking parts of my CB apart repeatedly ) Noticed a few bits and bobs (including there not being any grease left on the pad pin, despite having put some on - must've been rubbed off when i put it through the hole) - but i thought the most important one by far was that one of the pistons (the one furthest from the hose) was coming out a tiny bit, then sticking into place whilst the other continued to come out. It was always at the same point. It wasn't like that before Only way to get this sticking piston to come further was to use the old pads and a G-clamp to prevent the freely moving piston from going anywhere, whilst squeezing the brake lever. Despite brake cleaner, a toothbrush, plenty of WD40 through the edge of the piston/caliper, and eventually (when i noticed that there were far more hard deposits on the seized piston than the other), a small flat bladed screwdriver, removing the deposits down to small patches, it's still sticking - possibly a little less stiff, but requires the other side holding down to move more. I've been told on another forum this means i probably have to strip the caliper. Which is a shame, because it means further time off-road whilst i await parts.

Right, i've actually done the job (including lots of brake cleaner and toothbrushing the pistons as i was pushing them in), then tried to go to work on the bike. And instead of working as expected the brake is binding so i couldn't go, which tells me i haven't done it right (or that the caliper has somehow seized now, as it was incredibly hard to retract the pistons - took much pressure with a G-clamp, but i'm conscious that the brake wasn't binding at all before i changed the pads...) I was struggling to work out the orientation of the pad spring, but aside from that i can't think what else i could've really done wrong. It seemed so simple. Haynes seemed to think it was only 2 spanners! (difficulty) This is a pain as i need the bike for work, and i don't have the parts required to strip the caliper (besides which, if i can't even do a simple pad change without incident, i'm half-afraid of opening up the caliper as there's much more i could mess up then). So anyone remember back to their 1st pad change and might be able to suggest to me what newbie mistake i could've made? Image of CB500R front brake caliper.

Considering that many of the 5* cheap helmets were around before the SHARP test results were released, i think if you're worried about that you should go with one of those that was released before the SHARP tests came out. For protection that is. I think it all comes back to trying it on and seeing what fits, maybe checking reviews for things like fogging and noise (not that it should matter, as you all wear ear plugs, right? ) - Then again - it's always been like that really. Personally, i'll try helmets from multiple shops on, and then once i've found the one helmet that fits me, i'll check the SHARP, but i don't feel i have much choice (Did once refuse to buy the girlfriend the helmet that fitted her and insisted we keep looking once though - it was a 1* CS-R1 so i thought, no chance!)

Hope he remembered to put the sump plug back in before pouring in the new oil. I'm not obviously talking from experience am i?

Hmm, if it's any help to the OP, i did immediately think of checking all the bearings (after all it's really quick and easy to give 'em a quick check and they are rather important either way ) You should replace the sprocket carrier bearing when you replace the rear wheel bearing. I imagine lots of people don't.

I've taken the front pads out of my CB to change them, having just fitted a new (or shall we say, "nearly new") disc. I noticed both when getting the pads out, and pushing them back in to help push the pistons back into the caliper (? - Just following my Haynes), that it's a very very tight fit. This was yesterday, then it got dark and i came in. Thinking about it though, the new pads are much thicker than the old pads (obviously), so how am i going to push these new pads in as the old ones barely fit in the gap? (at the very least, they were a real pain to remove - lots of yanking with grips). The Haynes does mention about removing brake fluid via the master cylinder resevoir, but it's not clear if this is what will make the gap wider, or not.

If you don't have muffs/guards (not necessary heated grips, but something to prevent the wind from hitting your hands - couriers have been known to use used milk cartons etc) you will get cold hands. Lots of layers is the key to staying warm, as well as being waterproof (waterproof oversuits are the generally most effective way of doing this).

Are you referring to the drain hole? BTW, you'd almost definitely need new plain plates too (and even if you could get away with it, it'd be unadvisable to skip them), not just friction plates.

Not as bad as cars. Friction plates and plain plates as a minimum (and usually that's all most people tend to do), although there of course is a good few clutch- related bits you can check too whilst you're in there, about £80 at worst for all the genuine plates for the CB500. Would take a few hours though.

The consensus tends to be that once the bike has been ridden with the clutch slipping for an extended period, the clutch is buggered.

Check the cable isn't snagging anything, and try to adjust it out so that it engages in the right place and isn't dragging at all. Worth getting someone to help you if unsure, as if you can't fix it like this, it's probably a clutch out and new friction and plain plates job.

Almax Series 3 (or perhaps Pragmasis 16mm), through the frame of the bike to a lamp post or something equally strong (no railings, too weak). Alarm of some sort (disc lock alarm is probably just fine for this bit) to help stop kids from trashing your bike when they realise they can't have it. And hopefully near enough so you can hear the chain being grinded at night and/or the alarm set off. Because if you can't then i can't guarantee it'll still be there in the morning.

+1. I believe they are called friction modifiers, and some car oils have them in. It does have it marked on the bottle (but it's not written as "friction modifier" - there's a special abbreviation or other). Most car oils are OK, but some will cause clutch slip (which will screw it up in no time) due to this friction modifier. Basically, if you don't know, don't risk it. I don't bother, i just shop around for cheaper motorcycle oil / eBay etc. At least then i don't have to concern myself with this. And 10W50 is NOT "better" than 10W40. It's simply thicker at higher temperatures. Which isn't going to do your engine a great deal of good if it means that you've got insufficient oil lubricating the top end as gravity's helping it stay at the bottom. Stick to the recommended grade and type, and ensure you change it more often instead of worrying about "better" oils.

One question for anyone that is able to understand the 3rd directive well enough to answer How would the current version of this directive affect a 21 year old car license holder / no motorcycle license person (i.e. the majority of people who haven't yet had any experience with bikes) who wanted to get a bike license and ride bikes? What would they have to do and how many/what hoops would they have to jump through?

You seem to misunderstand, a DAS is a taken on a 500cc machine (due to them being the cheapest ones that meet the power requirements - it can actually be taken on any motorcycle of above ~46.6BHP). You can't use your 125 for a DAS, and a DAS will give you a full, unrestricted license (21 years old + only). An "A2" restricted test (i.e. exactly the same test on a 125 - the one you seem to be thinking of), is the one that restricts you to 25kW/33.5BHP for 2 years. DAS is more expensive. But the appeal is obvious.