Bianco2564

Picked up the RGV wheels from the powder coaters.

1981... the year I met my Mrs and passed my bike test.

Took the wheels out the RGV getting ready for powder coating.

Cleaned up the rear caliper and carrier and gave them a coat of paint.

Need to order various fasteners to spruce it back up.

Sold the scooter today, guy came over with a trailer, paid me cash and took it away, no fuss.

Paid £750 for it 4 years ago, did 25000 miles on it and sold it for £600.

Bled the brakes on the Kawasaki.

Dragged the RGV out into the sunshine and after a few failed kicks pulled the plugs out.

Dried them off and it started a few kicks later filling the garden up with smoke, but sounded as crisp as ever.

Plan is to get it on the road this year, not ridden it since 2019

Pictured with the 250R.

Not selling the Silverwing to an ebay timewaster.

Writing was on the wall with the manner of his messages, so didn't hold out much hope anyway

Me, this morning, getting my kit on, Mrs B started talking about one of the grandkids who whacked his face last night and was going to be off school. Got a bit distracted but continued to get ready, got on the bike and set off.

Only got a short way up the road and thought my right foot seemed a bit draughty. 

Pulled over and found I hadn't zipped the boot up .

I don't very often go for a ride for the hell of it, family life doesn't really fit it with that.

I do though ride everyday to work and clock up almost 250 miles in 4 days. It is more of a faff than going in the car but once you get in a routine of getting the bike out the garage and my kit on, its worth the effort. Having a decent route to work also helps motivate me to use it, going down a boring motorway or dual carriageway would be less fun.

@Pie man, have to be honest Oxford products have never floated my boat, but these were cheap and thought will give them a go.

I bought a pair of these Oxford over trousers, used them for the first time yesterday, withstood a 30 min drenching ok.

Fitted nicely over my RST textile trousers, they have lost their rain proof ability.

Cost £20 from sportsbikeshop.

A lad at work, 20 years old on a 125cc, insurance is £1300

I considered one to replace Mrs Bs 120d however it made no financial sense.

Cheapest lease deal for an equivalent size car was £300 upwards and that was far in excess of what the BMW costs a month to run.

8 hours ago, husoi said:

Priceless to see the GTI's and M3/5 seeing you go like an arrow 

Not everyone in an Mcar has the need to race everyone all the time, despite lots of egging on. 

As said the older E30 & E36 were slower but from the E46 onwards all will hit 60 in sub 5 secs. Stats for your leaf-e+ with 215hp say 7.3 secs which is no slouch for a shopping car . No doubt it will launch well and catch the unsuspecting off guard but don't think for a minute you could out drag an M5 if it was trying.

Anyone else hear the sonic boom today?

We were shopping in Rugby and heard it.

Daughter in Daventry heard it too and said it shook the house.

Ordered a new tyre for the Kwak and a used rear wheel for the Silverwing.

A decent wheel with a nearly tyre came up on ebay at a reasonable price.

Washed the Kawasaki today; checked the oil level, brake fluid, coolant all ok; tyre pressures front 28psi, rear 11psi, cr@p...

Found this in the tyre.

On a positive note, the bike is running well,done 800 miles on it , last tankful returned 78mpg.

Would it be better to go for a geared bike rather than a twist and go scooter?

Sooner she gets used to clutch control and shifting gears the better.

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/bikes/content/top-5-50cc-bikeshttps://www.autotrader.co.uk/bikes/content/top-5-50cc-bikes

Aprilia 50 looks the biz

Got this with a Scottoiler kit, not using it on my bike.

Doesn't include the cylindrical reservoir thingy.

£25 plus postage or collection from Rugby or Banbury.

Bought a used Scottoiler off ebay and fitted that to the Kwak 250.

The kit wasn't complete and had to swipe the ally bracket and injector tube that point at the chain from the R1, its not going anywhere for a while. There is a convenient vacuum adaptor on the LH throttle body, had to find a suitably sized rubber elbow in the garage, the one supplied was the wrong diameter. Fired it up and set the flow rate, will see after riding to work tomorrow if its somewhere near.

What I bought came with a high capacity reservoir that sits behind the number plate, I'm not using it, so any use to anyone on here before I stick it back on ebay? It's on the for sale section.

Hello.

Have you looked at a blocked exhaust?

An engine needs fuel, ignition, compression and airflow to run.

Is that a bit of wire wrapped around the needle, rather than a circlip? 

I'd refer to the manual on what the main jet and circlip position should be.

Get the carb set up right and try again.

Have you got a good spark when the engine is cranking?  Leave the spark plug in the head to create the load on the starter, use a second plug resting on the engine and check for a fat blue spark. If not, you might have a voltage drop to the ignition system?

You say if the choke is on it won't start when bumping it, this is from cold?

1 hour ago, dshwasher said:

I think it might be worth mentioning that the bike, when it is being jump started, must have the choke off or it will not start. The bike will die straight away if I put the choke on while it is running and wont start off the starter again (maybe this is normal). 

Just to check, is the choke a lever you can adjust to various settings, or a lever/button that's either on or off?

If you don't need the choke when bump starting it from cold, might suggest its too rich, check all the carb settings; needle position, float level, idle screw setting.

Does it have reed valves? If so, are they ok, not gone weak and not sealing?

Air filter clean? Is it a std filter, not some aftermarket thing?

Is the exhaust system clean? 2 stroke exhausts are prone to filling with oily grunge.

How many miles has the bike done?

Bought one of these last week from the Sportsbikeshop in MK. 

https://www.sportsbikeshop.co.uk/motorcycle_parts/content_prod/552750

Tried on an example in the shop, seemed ok so had the size and style one I wanted sent through the post and it arrived on Monday.

Put it on Tuesday morning for the trip to work and was disappointed to find these design faults.

The cuffs are just too small to slide over my winter gloves (incidentally RST aswell) and zip up. I undid the Velcro straps and the zips would still only go halfway.

The other poor feature is the collar, with my neck tube on, I couldn't do the collar up, if I did manage it I think it would have choked me.

So took it back to SBS yesterday and took all my gear with me, tried on the Paragon which was fine ,the next up in the range and bought that instead. SBS didn't question me returning it and were very helpful.

Bit of a rookie error perhaps not fully trying out the jacket but I'd expect basic design flaws to not be present.

I've got one of these, got it off ebay about 4 years ago for £60, quite the bargain.

https://www.ukcamerastore.co.uk/acatalog/Celestron-Astromaster-114EQ--55555555555655.html

Bought it to try a get the grandkids interested in Astronomy.

We used it this week as #2 grandson had a school project on the night sky and were watching the moon on Monday.

Welcome to the world of two strokes.

They can be temperamental if not set up right with jetting,ignition, spark plugs exhausts etc.

Did the up 70cc kit people recommend what jet/needle or plug setting to run? Likewise with the exhaust, may need another change.

You say you moved a cooling pipe out the way, is that to clear the exhaust? This will need fixing before you run it up again once its fixed.

I'd go back to a good known running condition, i.e. take the technigas exhaust off ,get it going and run it in, make sure you use a good quality 2 stroke oil, I use Castrol Power. Be careful warming it up, you can get a cold seizure where the piston gets too hot before the barrel gets to temp and it nips up. When I ride my RGV, I religiously warm it up before setting off and the ride for around 10miles before opening it up.

Once it's all running sweet then consider the exhaust again.

I'd stick with autolube, pre mix is a PITA .