nikobe

......sounds like as good a plan as any!

For the last few years I've watched World SBK on the worldsbk website. There is a notice on there currently that says due to exclusive TV rights, the races will no longer be shown there. I remember a similar notice on the site last year, but my memory fails me and I can't remember whether it was possible to watch the live races on the worldsbk site last year or was it only repeats. If it was repeats then maybe they'll be available too this year. What I am trying to figure out is this......As I don't have Eurosport, where will I be able to watch the races in 2010? I don't mind waiting for repeats if they will be on the website. Anyone got any ideas?

I've been driving for 13 years and only riding bikes for 1 so my experience is wildly different. I've always loved driving and now also love riding bikes. I think each has its own unique sensory feelings that I love. I've never driven a really fast car, so I definitely think that the acceleration you feel on a bike is amazing. I also love the feeling of freedom on a bike and how you can feel your environment. I love the feeling of cornering in both cars and bikes for different reasons. Anyway, random analysis apart, these are my vehicles....no photos I'm afraid, the bike is my avatar though. Bike: 1998 Yamaha FZS600 Fazer in Black Car: 2009 BMW 120d SE also in black. I love both!

Thanks for the replies guys. It wasn't round the terminals, but round the edge of the "cap/cover" over the reservoir. Oh well, it wasn't much and hasn't happened again, so I'll just wipe it off again if it happens again. Hopefully my battery won't degrate too much. I've heard some people say that optimisers such as the oximiser might dry out the battery over time. Is this true?

My bike’s alarm drains the battery like nothing else when the bike is standing, so mostly I have the battery out of the bike or on the oximiser. Recently, due to the bad weather I haven’t been using the bike much. I had charged the battery after my last ride and then left it standing for a couple of months. The other day I went back to the battery to stick it in the bike and noticed something odd. The battery is one of those where the fluid needs to be added initially and then a plastic cover is secured over the top of the reservoir. What I noticed is around the edges of the cover, there was a build up of some kind of white solid substance that looked a bit like sea salt after evaporation of sea water. I wiped it off and checked the battery which was charged fine. Should I be worrying about this substance? Does it mean that my battery fluid is evaporating. Does the fluid ever need topping up? My previous battery was fully sealed so I have little experience of this kind. Any advice would be welcomed. Cheers N

Cheers guys, Some options to be looking at there! Good range of prices and styles too! I like the look of the TCX boots!

I’ve been riding in sturdy walking boots for a while, but I’m planning on getting myself some proper biking boots this weekend and wondered if anyone had any recommendations. I’ve had a quick search of the forum for similar threads but didn’t find anything that answers my questions. To try and narrow down the options I’ll provide a bit of info. I ride a Yamaha Fazer 600. My riding is a mixture of city riding and recreational riding out on the twisties and some motorway too. I wear textile gear, not leathers and as I am fairly new to bikes, I don’t push things too much, so I’m guessing I don’t need a race boot. Ideally I’m looking for a boot that will be suitable in all weathers (if that’s possible) and will still look ok to walk around in when I get to whatever my destination is. I don’t really know what my price range is. I don’t want to spend loads but also don’t want to compromise on the level of protection that the boots will give. Any recommendations would be great, cheers………..

Hi, I have been intending to adjust the clutch cable on my FZS600 Fazer because the freeplay adjuster at the lever was at its furthest out (minimum freeplay). Anyway, I removed the rubber cover and tried to loosen the nut that allows me to turn the cable adjustment screw but it is totally seized. Looks quite rusty! Any ideas how I can loosen it, so that I can make the necessary adjustments? Cheers N

Thanks guys. I'm going to have a play with free play adjustment tonight. It has quite a bit already though. I am at the end of adjustment at the lever end though, so I'll have a go at the other end to see if I can sort anything. I do know that the inline 4 engine in my fzs pulls best after about 7k revs but it still feels a bit odd. I reckon my best bet is to get someone who knows bikes to ride it or just take it in to a workshop and get it looked at.

Hi guys, This is my first post in the pitstop section (I think) and I’m hoping to get the benefit of your wisdom if possible. I bought a 1998 Yamaha Fazer 600 in April and its been great but I had a battery issue for a while and hadn’t ridden it for about a month until last weekend. I’ve been out on it a few times since and I think I might be experience some clutch slippage, but I can’t be certain. This is my first bike so I don’t have all that much experience or any point of reference to know for sure. Anyway, here are the symptoms. When pulling away from a stand still everything is fine. Acceleration is good in first and second, but in 3rd or above, if I’m sitting at about 4 or 5K revs and give it some throttle, it does accelerate well still but I just feel as if the revs are rising faster than the bike is accelerating, it’s a feeling more than anything else, based on the sound of the engine and the revs. Before I bought the bike, I was nearly put off buying it because the previous owner had described some clutch slippage issues, but he replaced the clutch plates and told me that in the end he’d put it down to an adjustment issue. Based on what I’ve described do you think my clutch is shot or that I need to do some adjustments or that I’m making something up in my head based on the fact that the previous owner had similar issues. Any thoughts would be gratefully received. I would just like to get an idea before I end up spending money taking it somewhere only to find there is nothing wrong. Thanks N

Has anyone else noticed that you can't watch the races on the wsbk website any more? I seems to be due to some licensing issue and there is a list of countries where it will not be shown. The UK is not on it but I still can't watch the race. Anyone know anything more? This has been thie first year I've been watching superbikes and I was really getting into it after the first 2 races but now it seems I won't be able to watch it as I don't have Eurosport.

halfords have a new range of paint chip repair kit for around £5. it comes with a steel pin to remove the rust and the paint pens have a needle tip to get the primer and the final paint colour into the chip mark. they even do a metalic paint version. i used it on my car bonet and it came up really well (with a bit of t-cut afterwards to remove the excess paint!) the hard part is choosing the right shade of paint! This sounds promising. Might go and check it out. Thanks.

Cheers, I thought that might be the solution. How about getting rid of the existing rust?

Right, well there are a couple of tiny rust spots on my tank caused by paint chips I think. They're tiny at the moment, but I don't want to let them grow out of control and destroy my tank. Are there any simple measures I can take to get rid of the rust and stop it from coming back? I've thought of using some rust remover gel that I have for maintaining my mountain bike, but I don't know if it could damage paint. I also want a cheap solution to covering the paint chips. Any ideas? Cheers.

Stupid me. It turns out that all I had to do was add the actual movie window to favourites as that has all the links to the races on it. Never mind!

I'm getting slightly irked by the world superbike website. I only followed motogp last year and this year I wanted to get into wsbk too and I think its great that I can catch the races on the website after they've run as it often isn't convenient for me to watch them live. The only issue is that its extremely difficult to open the race without finding out the result. I saved the page with the link to the races but even there, it has a headline saying who won. I can probably cover the screen when opening the page, but today I got dates wrong and thought the race was tomorrow, so I just went straight to the main page to find out the superpole results and there were the race results staring at me. Next time I'll be more careful, but I wish there was a way of getting to the race without running the risk of finding out the result first. There, rant over. I feel better now!

Hmmm, I can't tell because accordingto lidl my house doesn't exist or at least the post code doesn't!

Just done my selections. Don't know anything about BSB so a bit of a lottery in that respect. Quite looking forward to this!

Well, I took the CBT course yesterday with Eastside Riders in North London. My motorcycling history prior to the start of the course was this: Aged 14 (ish): Rode my friend’s little dirt bike in his field. A month or so ago: Had a very brief spin on my housemate’s Vespa, on our street, the day he picked it up. Last week: Rode pillion on a mate’s Kawasaki SV650. So not much really! I’m planning on going on to do my DAS, so I booked CBT on a geared bike to learn the ropes and get some practice in before the big one. When I arrived, the instructor made a little talk about how quite a few new riders doing CBT on geared bikes really struggle and that we had the option at that point to switch to twist and go scooters if we wanted to. I did wonder if I should change due to my relative lack of experience, but I really believed that I’d be ok and wanted the challenge and satisfaction of completing the course on manual, so I decided to stick with it. There were just three of us out of a group of 8 on geared bikes. To add to the experience, it caned it down with rain yesterday, but I expected it and took waterproofs, so it wasn’t so bad. So, onto the first set of car park manoeuvres. I didn’t have any problem with finding the biting point etc. and getting moving. Neither did the other 2 guys and we all progressed well through changing gears and riding a circuit and doing U turns etc. In fact the only thing that happened to me was that I locked up the rear on my first emergency stop. I really have to credit Marc and Marvin from Eastside for their excellent teaching. They both really know how to put you at ease yet commanding respect and they really know their stuff and are just great, patient teachers and general good guys! I loved the fact that they were complementary of good riding as well as firm and clear, but fair when things needed improvement. Its great to find that there are some fantastic trainers out there, given what has been said about some people’s experiences with instructors on this forum. They made the middle classroom section on highway code etc. a bit of fun but still covering the serious issues and then it was onto the road ride. I was a little bit apprehensive about going out on the road for the first time on a bike, but that soon evaporated away as we set off. I was at the back to start with, which I really liked because I was able to just watch what was going on in front and do my own thing. We then stopped on a quiet street to practice U turns and emergency stops, which all went fine. I was really pleased to find I had very few problems doing the U turn, even on my first time out, given what I’ve read and heard about them. I hope I can continue my good fortune with U turns! So, all in all, I feel it was a really successful day. I had a great time! I even think the experience was somewhat enhanced by it being horrible and wet! I feel quite proud of myself because Marc said that he thought I was a natural and that he would be happy to recommend that I am ready to take DAS right away. I’ve got to take the theory test now and then its onto DAS. I can’t wait!

Mr Rossi fell of in quali! Oops! Starting from 12th I think. That should make things interesting!

I'll go for.... 1. Rossi 2. Stoner 3.Hayden (cos he likes going left) and Lorenzo 4th.

I missed the race when it was on bbc 2 and was going to watch it on iplayer but it seems to be not available and then I accidentally saw a headline that gave it all away! Bit annoying that I missed the title deciding race, but oh well. Still looking forward to watching the rest of the season and quite excited about next season. Should be interesting with Hayden at Ducati and Dovizioso in the mix with Rossi, Stoner and maybe Pedrosa etc.

Really pleased for you Bill! I'm really pleased too as now it looks like I might be able to take the current test too! I wouldn't have minded taking the new one I don't think, but the price is more attractive on the current one.