XmisterIS

Have you tried pushing a bike with a flat tyre??!!

I haven't got an optimate, but I do have a diesel car ... will that be fine to jump-start it with? Or will it blow it to buggery? (2 litre diesel).

I had an "adventure" yesterday - back tyre got a flat on on the motorway. Completely shredded. I'm not really that bothered because it was knackered anyway and due for an MOT and tyre change a week Monday anyway! So I'll be bikeless for a week, never mind. Anyway, where I'd left it with the hazards on for so long waiting for the AA to arrive (two hours ), the battery is now pretty much flat. I know that it can ruin a battery if it gets to the point where there is no juice at all in it, but this one still has enough juice to power the dashboard and produce a feeble glow from the headlamp. Will it be good as new if I jump-start it off the car? I then plan to put tyreweld into the rear tyre and ride it (carefully!) to the bike workshop which is about 2 miles down the road. Unfortunately, they don't have facilities to come and collect bikes and to get it transported there would be an extra cost. That being said, tyreweld is about £6 from Halfords and being so close it may cost a tenner to get the bike transported a couple of miles only, in which case I'll do that and save myself the hassle for the sake of a few pounds. My main question in this rambling post, however, is will the battery still be a good'un when I get it charged up?

Thanks for the advice. I have never gone through the process of riding on new tyres before, except when I bought the bike, but then I'd only just passed my test so I was riding like an old granny anyway!

My SV developed a clunk on braking, apparently it was something loose in the headstock, the mechanic tightened it up and now it doesn't clunk anymore. So it could be the same problem.

When I get my MOT done in June, I'll be getting new tyres put on because the one's I've got on at the moment are eeking out the last few fractions of a millimetre before they're illegal! (well, the back is anyway). AS for scrubbing in, I thought to bring a bit of finishing grade sandpaper with me and just work it across the whole width of the tyre before riding off. Is this a good way to instantly scrub the tyres in? BTW I'm getting Michelin Pilot Road 2's.

that does help, thanks! Does that mean that unless it has "ct" in the name it's not dual compound?

The time has come for me to replace the tyres that came with the bike and I am looking at getting some Michelins. I've seen variously the ones I think I want referred to as "Road Pilot 3", "Road 3ct", "Pilot 3ct" or "Road Pilot 3ct". Are these all just one and the same tyre but people want to confuse me by calling it four different names?!

One thing to watch out for on bigger ride-outs when you're on a dual carriageway or a motorway, passing an exit, is complete tw@ts in cars cutting into the group dangerously close to riders to get to the exit.

Yes, I was mindful of what RM said, but I find that I have to push on the right peg, not the left! I must be back-to-front ...

1) The reserve tap is to be opened when you come to a spluttering halt. 2) The family member with a car and a jerry can is there for when you come to a spluttering halt after you've opened the reserve tap. Source: Experience. (A person should only ever get to point 2 once, unless they're really stupid!)

I've figured it out! This evening, on the way home through the twisties, I decided to experiment with different techniques ... and I have it cracked! Strangely, it's a completely different technique to the one that gets me round left-handers. With left handers, I let my arms do all the work of steering. With right handers, I've discovered that if I grip the tank with my knees, push down hard on the right-hand peg and let the front wheel turn where it wants to (to the right), I suddenly find myself getting the correct line through the turn! So - left handers I steer with my arms, right handers I steer more with my legs and bodyweight. Why it works, I don't know, but it just does ... I was well satisfied with the result.

It's funny, I actually like motorway driving because it's easy and you can listen to music and/or the radio and have a relaxed chat with the passenger (assuming you have one!). Motorway biking, however, is as boring as all hell!

A few tips that I've picked up from driving experience, also from my instructor when I was training for test, also from riding experience! (the third one there is always the harshest way to learn!): 1) Read the road ahead, adjust your speed appropriate to the hazards that you can see or may emerge. Learn to spot emerging hazards! The appropriate speed is the one that gives you enough time and space to take evasive action in a controlled fashion. 2) When filtering past high-sided vehicles, do so with extreme caution ... your view of what is in front of a vehicle is completely blocked - there could be a car pulling out, or a pedestrian about to walk out without looking, or a cyclist about to come flying out into the road without looking. 3) Car drivers are not actually out to deliberately kill us, they just don't look for us! If you draw their attention to you, then 99.9% of them will take care round you. The odd 0.1% are psychopaths who will try to run you down. But they'd do that anyway, no matter how you were travelling, so just give them a wide berth! 4) Almost without exception, don't filter down the left-hand side of the road, near the kerb. This is because, you don't know if a driver is about to pull left, drivers can't see you on the left nearly as well as on the right, you can't be seen by traffic emerging from the left, people pulling out from parked on the left are going to struggle to see you, and people stepping off the pavement are not going to expect a bike hurtling down the inside of the traffic! My instructor would say, "never pass on the left, that's the dead man's road". 5) When filtering near a junction, look well ahead for traffic pulling out from a side road, or anyone about to turn right/left across your path. For me the golden rule is that if a car has stopped to let someone out, never ever ever proceed - wait for the manoeuvre to be completed before proceeding, or you risk cutting across the front of a very confused driver. He/she will be confused because he is not sure if he should pull out - he/she sees two vehicles - the car that has stopped and you on your bike. Next time you encounter that situation, take a look at the driver's face. Usually, they look anxious and a little confused! More often than not, you will get a wave of thanks if you hang back with the car that has stopped to let them out. 6) If there is traffic waiting to join a roundabout and you're on the roundabout, slow down to the speed that a car would take the roundabout at - the drivers waiting to enter the roundabout won't expect you to be moving faster than that - we all know it's easy to take a roundabout without slowing down, but it's definitely not safe if there's other traffic around. There's other tips, but that little lot serves me well for urban riding.

Practice, practice, practice ... it's always good fun! I love the satisfaction of getting a bend *just* right ... I know I'll crack those right-handers! I hadn't considered the whole left-handed/right-handed thing, it does make sense; I'll try the compensation thing, and consciously working on left-hand control. I know there's a "metal block" component though, because I can take big (empty!) roundabouts at a fair lick of speed quite comfortably.

My main concern on motorways is finding things to do so that I'm not bored to death!

As my riding gets more proficient, I notice that I can take left-hand bends very nicely, and I can get a good position near the white line that lets me take the bend with good speed and visibility. Right-hand bends, however, seem to pose a problem! I seem to shy away from the kerb and end up going round a lot slower than I could if I had good position. I've even tried consciously getting the bike into position before I enter the bend, but I seem to rapidly move away from the kerb and into a poor position and then slowing down! I think it's just an irrational fear of hitting the kerb - even though I know I'm not going to. Anyone else had that problem? Any suggestions?

TBH, I think learner legal 125s are much of a muchness! I had a varadero XL125 as a learner, I think it had as many BHP as you're allowed with L-plates, and it would just (and i mean *just*) get to an indicated speed of between 70 and 75 if I laid flat on the tank, with a tailwind. The engine didn't sound happy though! I rode it all the way down the M27 and A27 from Porstmouth to near Dorchester to p/x it for the SV - the journey out was terrifying, but the journey back was one big ear-to-ear grin!

there must indeed! But I'm damned if I can find it. I fitted it once, it was blowy, so pulled it out and fitted it again, this time with absolutely shed loads of silicon sealant. A bit better, but still a tiny bit blowy.

I've just fitted a Beowulf can ... it sounds fantastic! But one thing I've noticed is that the joint that goes into the can itself is ever so slightly blowy. Not sure why, I've slipped the link pipe right back into the exhaust as far as it will go (a good 3") and I've liberally smeared the whole lot with high temp silicon sealant, then done the jubilee clip up as tight as buggery. The slight blowyness is not coming from the can itself, rather it is coming from the edge of the joint with the pipe. Any ideas? EDIT: I just had a thought - I could carefully wrap some of that self-sealing aluminium tape round the joint and then put the clip back on. It shouldn't need that though, not with the link pipe properly seated and a shed load of silicon sealant!

It's flippin' miles! Thanks anyway for offering.

Yep, I will do that ... it should sell for a few squids on ebay. Alternatively, is there anyone here who lives in or near Fareham who knows what they're doing (that's the important bit!) and would be happy to lend a hand and show me how to do it? I have a socket set, torque wrench, various other bits and bobs (all the gear, no idea!) and I'm happy to pay or provide alternative services by way of payment (depending on your attractiveness and gender) ... (I am joking about the second one ... XmrsIS would beat me to death ...)

Thanks, that makes it all a little clearer ... I'm thinking of just taking it round to my local bike mechanic and asking him to do it ... ! I am good at quite a few things and very good at a select few things, but taking bikes to bits is not one of them!

My bike is restricted to 33bhp by a throttle limiter and washers (I think) in the airbox (not sure what or where that is). I think I can mange the throttle limiter, It looks like a bit of metal that is bolted onto the whatsit-gubbin at the business end of the throttle cable. I've got the fitting instructions and was told that I'd just need to reverse them to de-restrict the bike. The trouble is that the instructions don't come with clear pictures (just little fuzzy photos) and they are clearly intended for people with more technical knowledge than me, because they are full of jargon! I half-understand them and looking at the Haynes manual I know how to do point 1 only (see below): 1. Demount both small side fairings, the driver's seat and the tank. (I can do that, courtesy of Haynes!) 2. Demount the airbox and push the calibrated restriction into the intake of the airbox. (Nope, you've lost me) 3. Loosen the hose clamp of the intake rubber and pull the throttle valve body out of the intake rubber. (Now I'm completely clueless!) 4. Mount the delivered throttle limitator with the original screw on the throttle cable holder. (Is "limitator" a real word??? This sentence may as well be written in ancient greek for all I understand it!) 5. Mount the vehicle again in reverse order. A little help?!

Cheers for that, I pretty much followed your advice this morning, (got the paraffin from B&Q), apart from havent rode it, too windy! Also I didnt have time to get to the front sprocket to clean it as have to remove the gear change linkage to get my sprocket cover off, and having not done that before, did not want to mess anything up without reading the old haynes first. Anyhow thanks again, looks much better now without the horrible yellow muck. Seriously?? The sprocket cover on my bike is an absolute sod to get on and off, but it can just about be wiggled round the gear change linkage. AFAIK, they're designed so you can get them off without having to take things to bits!