DJP

I would avoid putting paraffin on an O Ring chain - it can eat the O Rings. As for oil, yes it can be very effective. The main purpose of lubing an O Ring / X Ring chain is to prevent corrosion and keep the seals from drying out. Oil is ideal for that. The downside of oil is that it gets flung off (motorcycle chains are subject to more load and move faster than cycle ones), gets washed off in the rain and can end up where you don't want it (like on the rear tyre) hence the popularity of sticky spray lubes. Not that it matters much: In over 30 years I've only replaced one chain. Modern chains last tens of thousands of miles with the occasional blast of spray lube. So it's probably not worth over thinking this.

Never used wax. I use PJ1 in winter and ordinary engine oil, applied with an old paint brush, the rest of the year.

That^^. Except it was 125cc in my day. I passed my test on a CB100N in 1987, twice round the block! (Then I bought a 350 VPVS...) Car wise, it was a driving school Micra followed by my Dad's FSO Polonez. Nowt but the best for me!

Are they the one in Lillie Road, Fulham? If so, they lost my service book (and I bought the bike new). Took months of dicking around to get them to supply a replacement.

That's been my experience with stop n go. I'm not a fan. These days I use sticky strings - not the easiest things to use but they make for a very strong repair.

So it's a one year old, modern fuel injected 4 stroke. Unless it's been messed with it should start. I doubt it's a failed park plug (more likely on a 2 stroke). I'd suspect bad fuel, the battery perhaps not being as good as it seems or (more likely) corrosion/damp in a connection somewhere. I'd look at spraying the sidestand and clutch switches and any other exposed connectors with WD40. Then maybe try a different battery and then maybe try a fuel restorer or new fuel in the tank.

A ¾ length touring jacket which can be zipped to any RST trousers. My every day commuting jacket, now owned for a few years. I think I paid about £120 for it. The Good: Warm, waterproof, zip-out thermal liner. Armour on back, shoulders & elbows. Adjuster straps on upper arm, lower arm, wrist and waist. Plenty of pockets inside and out. Seems to be holding up well. No “Bads” just a minor gripe: Uses velcro instead of press studs on the pocket flaps so the cuff adjuster likes to velcro itself to the pocket when trying to get stuff out. Overall: I can't really fault it. A good winter jacket for the money.

I bought these for commuting hence the choice of textiles. They're a bit cheap 'n cheerful but I went with RST because they do trousers with a long leg fitting. Also RST stuff all uses the same connection zip so that you can mix & match any RST jacket with any RST trousers. Cost for the pair was about £200. Blade Textile Jacket A sports style short jacket which zips to the matching trousers. The Good: Nice fit and feels protective with extensive armour on the shoulders, back & elbows. The zip out liner makes the jacket warm in winter and cool in the summer. Has vents in the back for extra air flow in hot weather and adjuster straps on upper arm, lower arm, wrist and waist. The Bad: The jacket barely overlaps the trousers at the front with the result that rain water quickly finds its way in though the gap. Zip tabs are small and difficult to find with cold or gloved hands. Overall: A decent jacket for the money more suited to summer use. Blade Textile Trousers The Good: Warm with zip out thermal liner fitted. Comes with knee protectors and ankle zips for easy fitting over boots. The Bad: Not waterproof. Even worn with a longer jacket (which sorts the overlap issue) rain still seeps in through the seams. Not too bad in a short shower but a prolonged downpour will quickly result in a damp crotch. Not good. In the rain I’ve taken to wearing them with cheapo waterproof over-trousers on top which works but kind of defeats the point of textiles. Too warm in summer, even without the lining, and quickly become sweaty and smelly. They also don’t include hip armour as standard although this is available as an optional extra. Overall: A decently warm winter trouser let down by poor waterproofing. Blade Leather Trousers I bought these for summer use after finding the textile version too sweaty. The Good: Reasonable quality with knee sliders included. Leather over impact areas with fabric stretch panels on the back of the knee. Fixed liner, non-sweaty in summer. The Bad: Don’t include hip armour as standard although this is available as an optional extra. Overall: Decent leather jeans that work well with the Blade jacket for summer use.

I've never got on with Pinlocks. I find that they never quite fit properly so that you still get condensation but it takes longer to clear. Either that or they cause glare at night. My current lid came with one as standard, after the first few weeks it was relegated to the drawer.

Gerbing cordless gloves. Piggin dear but the best solution I've tried.

It’s cos when you slacken the axle nut the sides of the swing arm spring apart slightly (have a close look next time and you’ll see what I mean) and that allows the wheel to move forward slightly, slackening the chain. Of course, when you tighten the axle nut up again it has the reverse effect, pulls the wheel backwards and makes the chain even tighter. Ultimately, you just have to allow for it when you adjust the chain but you can minimise the effect by slackening off the axle nut just enough to allow the adjusters to move.

I think that the main point of lubing an O Ring Chain is to keep the seals supple and to prevent corrosion. After all, if the plates go rusty they'll soon tear up the seals.

I wouldn't say that at all. I've run O Ring chains through about 30 years worth of winters mostly without issue. The only failure that I've ever had was down to using dry lube. On my last 1250 the chain did 6 winters and 30,000 miles and was still in good nick when I sold the bike. It's all a matter of proper lubrication and adjustment.

The only chain failure I've ever had is when I used Wurth Dry Chain lube. I had a Bandit 600 which, for the first two years, was a fair weather bike and at 7,000 miles the chain was in perfect nick. Then I changed work locations and started commuting on it. As soon as they salted the roads the chain went orange and seized half of it's links within days. Seems to me that Dry Lube offers next to no corrosion protection. All of my chains before or since have been lubed with either engine oil or PJ1. And all of them have lasted 20,000+ miles quite easily.

I’ve got Spada Enforcers and the Gerbing XR12 Hybrid gloves. The Spadas are a decent enough glove but I’d consider them to be more of a spring/autumn glove than a proper winter one. They’re good most of the time but they don’t pass the 30 minutes at zero degrees test. The Gerbings are the mutts nuts for proper winter riding. I went for the full-on kit, not cheap but an absolute “Guaranteed for life” Godsend. For my half hour commute I use them in battery mode (and recharge every few days). For longer journeys I plug them into the bike. Brilliant.

My old Bandit 600 used to do it. It felt like a misfire as one or more cylinders would cut out due to no fuel getting through. I used to prevent it by putting Silkolene Pro FST in the fuel (from memory, at about 200ml per tank).

Heard to diagnose at a distance, but if it's rattling and backfiring it could be slipped timing due to a knackered (or wrongly tensioned) cam chain. I'm not familiar with your bike but if it was mine I'd pop the valve cover off and have a poke about.

Me too. What you have here is a 43 year old structural component with a (possible) stress crack in it. You can always buy another fork (when you have the cash) but you can't buy another you.

Allowing 21 years olds to ride unrestricted bikes (rather than at 24). And rightly so. Hell, you can drive an HGV at 21! 24 is well into adulthood. So you can vote, get married, have kids, join the army, gain a PhD and drive any car you want etc. etc. but not ride a reasonably powerful motorcycle. A nonsense. It is also a (very) legally dubious age limit.

I smoked from my teens and into my 20s but when I hit 30 I gave up just like that. Cold Turkey, grin and bear it malarkey. I didn't smoke anything at all for over 10 years but now enjoy the occasional pipe or cigar. Nothing but nothing would ever make me want to pick up a cigarette again – I can't even stand the smell of them these days.

Back in 2007 I bought a brand new Bandit 1250. At the time, it was a new model, a thorough redesign of the original 1200 with more torque, six gears, a stiffer frame and revised suspension giving a sportier ride than before. Having owned and liked the Bandit 600 it seemed a natural progression. Sadly, after 7 years of almost daily use my first Bandit started to look a bit rough around the edges and it was time for a change. I spent several years on an MT07, a good little bike, but I came to the conclusion that I prefer bigger engines with more cylinders. Trouble is, bikes like that now seem to fall into a few distinct categories: Full-on sports bikes, which are too uncomfortable for me, Adventure bikes which are nice but which I find too wide for efficient progress in London traffic and Retro bikes which are either ridiculously tiny, ridiculously slow or both. Only the Yamaha XSR900 appeared to buck the trend but even that didn't quite hit the mark. So after test riding a number of newer, flashier models I bought a brand new, relaunched for 2016, Bandit 1250. Of course revisiting an old flame is always fraught: Maybe the memory will turn out better than the reality, so I figured that I’d try to do an objective mini-review. At 6'1” the Bandit fits me perfectly. Even with the seat in the default, lower position, my knees fit neatly into the tank recesses. And if I close my eyes and reach out, the handlebars are exactly where I expect to find them. The instruments are simple and clear, the mirrors actually work and the switchgear is appropriately sized for gloved hands. All very natural and familiar. On the downside, the hydraulic clutch is heavier than the modern breed of slip-assist jobbies but on the upside the gear-change is superior to pretty much everything else that I’ve ridden: Every change is an ultra precise click and even selecting first on a cold engine simply results in a more positive click rather than the usual clunk-and-lurch of most other bikes. This has always surprised me: Motorcycle gearboxes are all substantially the same, yet only Suzuki seem able to manage this trick. And the engine is a seriously smooth motor with perfect fuelling and shed loads of creamy torque from just off idle. Happy to run down to a walking pace with no signs of any fuel-injection stutters, yet equally happy to power on to 140+ mph. Max power chimes in at 7,000rpm but it's hardly relevant: This engine's best enjoyed short-shifting between 3,000 and 5,000rpm and surfing that tidal wave of torque. The chassis is pretty much unchanged from 2007. The forks are conventional 43mm units, adjustable for preload only, and the rear shock is adjustable for preload and damping. A machine of this size and heft is never going to be the last word in agility, and the suspension is built for comfort rather than cornering prowess. When pushing on, the bike needs to be muscled into the bends but it's stable at all speeds and a surprisingly good handler. Only the OE Sportmax tyres let the side down, they grip OK but they try to follow every irregularity in the road surface. The 2016 fairing has been slightly modified, allegedly to improve airflow over the rider and passenger, and it appears to have worked. On my original Bandit 1250, I'd resolved to change the screen before I'd even got home, whereas on this I've yet to notice any such shortcomings. And the seat is comfortable for over 100 miles which ain't bad considering that some of the bikes I test rode induced bum death after 20 minutes. So I conclude that the Bandit remains relevant: Too many modern bikes suffer from poor fuelling, fiddly switchgear, uncomfortable seats and mirrors that show little more than your elbows. These things may sound like minor gripes but for a daily driver they can soon become major irritations. The Bandit may not be cutting edge but it just works. Not all of us want to play at being Valentino Rossi or even Charley & Ewan. Some of us just want bikes that can do a bit of everything, and do it well, in the real world. And the Bandit 1250 does that in spades.

I test rode one of these a few weeks ago. I've been riding for 30 years and I've ridden pretty much every kind of bike, but these days comfort comes high on my list of wants. I'm not interested in sports bikes or cruisers but beyond that pretty much anything goes. So I got interested in the Yamaha XSR900 because it ticks the boxes for me. Now to be honest I've never been a fan of the styling. Indeed, the first time I saw one I thought it was possibly the ugliest motorcycle I'd ever seen. But I figured that you can't see it when you're on it. So a test ride was arranged. Off the bat let's accept that pretty much all modern bikes within my remit do the fast thing, so I'm more interested in how they do the other stuff: The lane-splitting, the filtering, the slow shit. Because I ride in the real world and I wanna know if I can roll-off the throttle for a red light and then roll-on again when it goes green without doing the herky-jerky. I wanna know if it can pull away cleanly without flat-spots or hesitation. Because for me it doesn't matter how good a bike is elsewhere, if the off/on throttle transition sucks then it's off to Room 101. So I spent a fair bit of time pissing about in slow moving traffic: I pulled away with the absolute minimum of revs. I ran down to a walking pace and then sped up again. I deliberately selected too high a gear. And the XSR just sucked it up with nary a twitch. This is one seriously refined motor: The fuelling is spot-on and the slipper clutch beautifully light and progressive. Shame the gearbox is typically Yamaha, but then you can't have everything. Riding position: Good for me. Although, make no bones, this is a tall bike and I'm a tall guy. I liked it but it's a long way down. Short-arses look elsewhere. The seat, I don't like so much: The proverbial thinly padded plank which also liked to slide my nuts into the tank. Numb bum began to set in after 20 minutes. Doesn't help that the suspension is firm, which isn't a criticism per se but it's definitely set up on the sporty side. “Taut” is the word. And, while we're on the subject, handling is very good and the brakes are excellent. And what about that trendy instrument panel, it's way cool, no? Well, actually no. The speedo's clear, as is the gear indicator. The rev-counter, I could get used to, and the rest is a mess: Tiny figures & symbols laid out haphazardly. A product of form over function. Me no like. Still, I'm sure most people will get used to it in time. Also the XSR900 is afflicted with the same teeny-tiny switchgear that Yamaha fit to most of their current range. I suffered the same set-up for three years on my MT07 and lost count of the number of times I hit the horn at the same time as the indicators. Not recommended. And onto performance. Well there's a lot of hooey on the web telling you that this is a fast bike and not for the beginner. But in truth it doesn't instantly try to rip your arms off and low down it's a pussycat. Initially, I found myself thinking “Where's the fast bike?” Seriously, my MT07 felt quicker off the line. But spin the XSR beyond 7000rpm and it shows it's other side, the pussycat roars and the world goes into reverse. I read somewhere that the XSR is faster than the original Fireblade and I can well believe it. And the sound of a triple at full chat is like nothing else... And then you slow down and the XSR900 pretends that the whole thing never happened. So yeah it's fast but it’s not likely to catch anyone out. And if you’re really scared, there’s always B mode. So will I be buying one? Well, no. Because while I'm struggling to say much bad about the XSR900, it's a "Nearly" bike for me: The riding position wasn't as good on the road as it felt in the shop. And while the engine is fantastic, the clunky gearchange, torturous seat and fussy switchgear mar the experience. Overall nice enough bike, just not for me.

In the case of Halfords, it's probably the exact same stuff since Halfords "Motorcycle" oil has no motorcycle specific (ie JASO MA) classification. Which makes me a tad suspicious! Personally, I use Motul 5100. It's as good as any and comes in 5 litre containers - so I can get 3 changes out of 2 tubs of oil, which makes it cheap too.