Mississippi Bullfrog

What bike? If it's a carb and it's running rich then it will flood on idle and take a while to restart.

I wouldn't use superglue as if it flows into the mechanism it will lock it up solid. Also superglue is actually a 2-pack, it needs moisture to activate it so it's not brilliant on plastic unless you buy a specific type. I'd use a contact adhesive such as UHU. It's strong enough to hold, thick enough not to flow, won't go hard/brittle, is waterproof enough. Just use the slightest smear. You don't want it to squeeze out and spread when you press the parts together.

Bidfood Foods wagon using an entrance to reverse into in order to turn round. He was backing into the entrance with the front half his wagon still blocking the left hand side of the road. Since the road was clear I moved to the right to give him room to manoeuvre. But having reversed as far as he wanted then - still looking backwards - he started to move forwards and to the right so placing his wagon directly across my path. When he looked up and saw me I expected him to at least stop to allow me to complete my pass in front of him. But no - he was in a big truck so he just kept on coming right at me. In the end he forced me off the road to avoid a collision. Nasty piece of work.

I bought a Frank Thomas hi-viz over vest from J&S. It wasn't expensive and it's the comfiest I've ever had. £24.99

There is carb cleaner and there is carb cleaner and then there is the stuff they make for cleaning powerboat engines. I don't know why but it is like carb cleaner on steriods and does a much better job. Look for Quicksilver Power Tune - expensive but it will clean hardened deposits better than anything else. Johnsons and Evinrude do similar sprays. With carbs be meticulous about cleanliness and prise things apart gently. They are made of quite soft metal and over the years gaskets stick the bits together so getting them to bits can need some patience.

You can reset the service light but engine faults seem more tricky.

Anything with fuel injection will have some form of electronic module / ECU to monitor fuelling, no matter what engine size. Some 125s simply refer to it as the FI light rather than ECU - on Suzuki 125s you can interrogate the FI module using a simple switch device (or a paperclip bridging the FI data port connections) and watch the FI light flash the relevant codes. The MT 125 has a more sophisticated engine management system - the instrument panel will give specific details of low battery, oil change due, service intervals etc. So it's using a more complex ECU system. The usual things it will monitor are air flow, fuel trim, exhaust gases, air temperature, voltage levels, throttle settings, vacuum, whether the ash tray is full. It is annoying when they fit a system that doesn't tell you anything other than that the is (or has been) a problem. But it's like most things these days - they are designed to bring you back to spend more money in the future. I'll bet the dealer will charge simply to connect the diagnostic kit (which will have cost them a silly amount to buy) but it means you're increasingly stuck with main dealer servicing. I use OBDII and manufacturer specific diagnostics on cars but since I run an older carb bike I don't have anything that work on bikes. My hunch is they don't use the same generic system as cars - though even then generic OBDII kits aren't always compatible with all cars. I've done a lot of work on Vauxhalls and even high end workshop diagnostic machines can struggle to read codes on some of them.

I don't know the specifics for your bike but in general ECU engine management systems will store faulty code(s) when the engine management light is illuminated. Some systems will reset if you disconnect the battery for a while, many won't as the ECU has the capacity to retain codes whilst disconnected from the battery. Your has a specific low voltage warning message but ECU systems aren't foolproof. I'd try disconnecting the battery for say 10 minutes and see if that clears the code from the ECU. If it does all well and good, if not it will need diagnostic kit to turn the light off. Many systems will store a code for a problem that is not current - so the light stays on even though the problem has been fixed. It's annoying but it makes the customer go to the dealer and frankly that's how many products work these days. Try disconnecting the battery first - you only need to remove the earth lead which is the always the one you disconnect first and reconnect last.

Hang on, I am a forum member but I don’t have hoodie or a patch. I didn’t know they were obligatory to wear. So what happens if I meet a TMBF biker gang and they see I’m not patched up or wearing the right hoodie? I haven’t even got any hoodie of any club or colour or logo. I’ve got a T-shirt for a Vauxhall Viva though. And I’m a fully paid up member of the Dennis the Menace fan club. Should I stop riding the bike until I purchase said hoodie and patch? Or can I do what we used to do with tax discs and write “It’s in the post” across my back?

Only intermittently though.

Van man driving through Chester busy texting on his phone. All over the road at 25mph so when it was clear I decided to overtake him. At which point he woke up and floored it. But he never stood chance. I got past him just as we entered the 20mph zone where I did of course stick meticulously to the speed limit for quite a long way.

Does the clutch need adjusting? If it's dragging slightly then going into 1st can be an issue.

If the left carb is flooding then it sounds like the float needle isn't working. Check the float itself hasn't filled with fuel.

Can you explain this bit for me? Is that not an issue regardless of the voltage the battery is being charged from? I'm not questioning you, I just don't understand . When you hit the starter button the energy needed to fire the engine comes from the battery. Once the engine is running the electrical supply for the bike comes from the alternator. The battery acts to smooth the current flow - so for example if you've ever ridden with a nearly dead battery you can sometimes see the lights brighten and dim slightly with engine speed. That's because the power is coming from the alternator without the battery being able to smooth it out. (Which is pretty irrelevant to be honest but hey ho.) As well as providing the electrical energy needed to run the bike, lights, heated grips etc the alternator also has to recharge the battery to replace the starting charge. The alternator puts out around 14v (usually 14.4v) which is why the voltage across the battery with the engine running is 14v. That 14volts remains a constant. What varies is that the alternator will repond to load rather than actually charge. eg on a car the alternator will do more work as you switch on more electrical gadgets. If you switch on the heated screens at idle you'll often hear the engine rpm drop slightly as the alternator responds to the new load. It's the load that varies, not the voltage. So within the first 10 minutes or so the alternator will replace the starting charge drawn from the battery - it will then read the battery voltage as having risen to what's sometimes referred to as the floating voltage, just under 14v. At that stage it will stop charging the battery. So it can keep a healthy battery topped up, but it won't fully charge a flat battery. In fact alternator manufacturers often put a warning on the box telling people to trickle charge the battery before they fit a new alternator. Fitting a new alternator to a vehicle where the battery has been allowed to go flat can kill the new alternator pretty quickly. (eg https://www.optimabatteries.com/en-us/experience/2012/08/fact-alternators-are-not-designed-charge-dead-batteries) So the rule of thumb is that the onboard charging system can keep a healthy battery topped up, but it won't recharge a discharged battery. Hence a regular routine of trickle charging protects both the battery and the charging system.

Are you sure it’s the fuel cock rather than the float needles. Bikes that have been laid up for a long time often suffer float needle issues. Old fuel sets into a hard varnish, the best thing I’ve found for shifting it is for powerboat engines. Quicksilver Powertune, Johnson’s and Evinrude make similar products. The stalling with no throttle may be the carbs needing really sorting or as simple as the idle adjustment is out. Oil leak...no way of telling without photos. You’ll need new tyres of course. Thoroughly check the suspension, brakes, all bushes and bearings, hydraulic lines and fluid. A nice project and an ideal way to learn.

I tell you what MB, my zx6r battery has just given up the ghost and it's about a year old. I'm going to try your method and if it works we'll crown you king of batteries. If it doesn't then we won't. Nope - just call me that tight fisted old git who is too mean to spend money on batteries.

There's a variety of answers depending on the state of the battery and the type of charger used. I still check batteries using the old fashioned measurement of the specific gravity of the electrolyte. The latest sealed types of battery prevent this of course but all my batteries are older ones anyway (the one on my bench this morning is 26 years old). Measuring the SG really tells you where a battery is up to in a state of charge capacity. The on board charging system is designed to keep a battery that is fully charged at that capacity, and it does it very well so you can ride for ages and never need to re-charge the battery off the bike. Since it starts every time you assume the battery is at max capacity - but if you measure the SG of many batteries that work perfectly well they are not at full capacity. Over time they drop a bit but it never causes an issue. It is only when you leave the lights or grips on an flatten it that you get an issue. The charging system will put some charge in but the system is designed to top up a fully charged battery - not fully re-charge a flat one. The regulator design is such that the charge level tails off before the battery is at max capacity. The classic situation is the car left at the airport during a holiday. It won't start when the owner flies back so they get a jump start off the AA. Then they drive 150 miles home and think the battery is fully charged - next morning the car won't start so they buy a new battery. What annoys me is how many breakdown guys jump start cars and never tell the owner that they need to trickle charge the battery. (This literally happened to one of neighbours last week by the way - he now owns a nice shiny new charger.) Note that the old dynamo systems will fully recharge a flat battery which is why the habit was formed of going for a long run to recharge a flat battery. (And which some breakdown guys still think it true.) A trickle charger will keep supplying a charging current up to the max capacity of the battery. It's not an extra voltage kick - it just keeps charging past the point where the onboard system stops supplying a charge current. The bloke who taught me said think of it like this - your onboard system is designed to replace the starting charge, not fully charge the battery. You also mention really flat batteries - onboard systems and many trickle chargers won't touch a battery that has dropped charge to the point where the overall voltage goes below something like 11 - 11.5v. When that happens you need to raise the voltage by supplying a tiny 'priming' charge - ie in milliamps. Your 'intelligent' chargers will recognise this and lower the input to around 500Ma until the battery reaches 12v again. Then you can start the bulk charge. A much cheaper alternative is a simple plug in gell cell charger. I use a 400Ma unit to resurrect batteries people throw away because they won't take a charge off their usual trickle charger. I get a lot of elderly people who don't drive over the winter. Come spring the car won't start. A family member or a mobile mechanic comes out - tries to charge the battery which won't take a charge - so they buy a new battery. I use the 400Ma charger on the battery and a few hours later it's connected to the bulk charger and gives years of service afterwards.

It could be the seal between the tyre bead and the wheel. Look for bubbles around the rim.

Ride as you feel safe. I'm happy to let idiots past when it is safe for them to overtake but that is different from being bullied into the side. One of the skills of learning to ride is to hold your lane and ride in such a manner as other road users know you are confident of your space. When I learnt to ride (on the back of a dinosaur) they called it dominating your lane. It's not about being aggressive, but it is about being assertive. As a novice rider you will be giving signs to other road users that you lack confidence and then the same idiots who will crowd a learner driver will do the same to you. It's is fine to give them room to pass when it is safe to do so but don't get into habit of riding near the kerb or you'll create a space cars will try to pass you when it isn't safe. You are right to be cautious on roundabouts in the wet as there is so much diesel spilt on them that in the rain it's like riding on black ice. One of the joys of being on two wheels is when said idiot passes you you only have to wait for the next traffic queue to filter past them again.

What speed is this at? I had a combination of aftermarket screen and top box that caused a weave at higher speeds that felt like the back wheel was all over the place. Check the tyre pressures, front and rear, and also the wear pattern on the tyres. Road riding can cause a tyre to develop edges which throw the handling out. Make sure it's aligned right as well.

I don't tend to keep bikes long enough to ever need a new battery - 7-8 years usually. Cars I buy a year old and run into the ground - usually get about 20 years out of them. Never had to replace a battery before 15 years old.

Buy a decent bike charger. All modern engine charging systems are designed to maintain a battery at full charge but they won't fully charge a battery that is below full capacity. You'd probably never notice as the battery would start the bike fine even at half capacity. Most people are fine with that and assume the battery is fully charged. But it will last longer if you give it a periodic trickle charge to bring it back to full capacity. I always do this all my batteries. My car is 19 years old and is still on the original battery so it can't be doing it any harm. The other option is to buy a cheap low amp charger for help cells. I have a 400Ma one I use to raise the voltage on very dead battery. It won't charge quickly but they're great for smaller batteries.

If someone’s sense of self-esteem and worth is so fragile that they’re threatened by someone else wearing a piece of fabric they need to get some therapy, not bully other folks around.

I bought a pair of Red Route jeans, hip and knee armour, very comfy. In fact I'll probably be living in them for the rest of this week as I'm using the bike to get to various meetings and appointments.

It was so very kind of you to provide him with a relaxing bit of in car aerobics whilst he was unable to make progress.