XmisterIS

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!

That's me chain knackered then!

Yep, just get a toothbrush (or, better still, a small wire brush) and a big tub of parafin from B&Q - use it to thoroughly clean the entire drive train then rub it down well with an old towel. Make sure you get right in under and round the front sprocket - that bloody wax gets EVERYWHERE! It is a menace. Then get Wuerth High Performance Dry Chain Lube - and use nothing else! That's my advice, anyway.

My personal thoughts are: 1) I wouldn't bother unless you are building something totally custom ... IMHO, I don't understand people who reconstruct a stock bike from parts ... why not just buy the whole thing? (unless it's very very rare). 2) I wouldn't trust myself to build a whole bike! One little thing goes wrong in one very important bit because you haven't got it quite right ... and they're scraping you off the road ...

I've got the Stebel Magnum. I took it to bits, liberally covered all the connecting edges with exterior sealant (the brown stuff from B&Q), bolted it all back together, and mounted it facing forwards underneath the headlamp. I've never had a problem with it yet, even though it faces into the rain.

The muppet lovely person who owned my bike before me had used chain wax (and lots of it). I recommend you take off the sprocket cover (and prepare yourself!). The wax get flung off into the cavity round the front sprocket and creates an unholy mess. On my bike the entire space was solid with a mixture of chain wax and grit ... God only knows how many cans of chain wax the previous owner had used - the bike only had 3500 miles on the clock!!! I used parafin and a toothbrush to slowly dissolve away all the wax and get it out of all the nooks and crannies. Then I dried it off, sprayed up the sprocket with Wuerth, put the sprocket cover back on and sprayed up the chain with Wuerth too. Eighteen months and 7000 miles later I took off the sproket cover ... and inside it was pretty much as clean as when I'd cleaned it out the first time. Wuerth is the dog's nads!

I returned home today in the rain ... to find my nearside rear indicator filled with water I've taken the orange lens off to let it dry out and I'll use silicone sealant to put it back together again; but I'm not sure how effective that will be - the water could be running down the wires and into it that way. I don't want to seal round the wires because they'll be stuck in there forever! Has anyone else had that problem and if so, which indicators have you found that are good and waterproof?

Having only ever had sub-£150 helmets, I've always wondered if more expensive = quieter ...

I'm bursting to sh*t. I'm touching cloth. I can feel the turtle's head. It's hanging out! EDIT: Oops! I've just seen the rules for posting, my bad, extreme shame, spanking, etc, etc ...

1) Up on rear paddock stand, parafin and a toothbrush to get the gunk off the chain and sprocket (5 mins) 2) pressure-wash on low-power mist all over chain and sprocket (5 mins). 3) pressure-wash on med-power jet all over the rest and once-over with an old towel (5 mins). 4) Leave to dry somewhere sunny (1 hour + cup of tea). 5) spray up chain with wuerth high-performance dry chain lube (1 min). (I won't use anything else - it sticks like glue, doesn't attract much dirt because it has virtually no stickiness when dry and my chain is now 10K miles old and shows no signs of wearing out yet!) 6) Take down off paddock stand. Leave for 15 min for lube to dry. total time of actual work = approx 15 mins. Simples

pressure washer except for delicate bits.

I prefer dry weather (obviously!) and I try to avoid very foul weather because it rots the bike ... but I will put up with a bit of rain at rush hour if it means not sitting in a traffic jam for 2 and 1/2 hours!

Because. because what? Because of the wonderful wizard of Oz.

Because.

1 foot is only half a pair of socks I asked for that ...

Apparently there's a variety of bamboo that can grow 1 foot in a day! That's got to be at least a pair of socks!

Yeah, I was thinking of going for Oxford, their stuff is pretty good - functional, robust, doesn't cost the Earth and you can have any colour you like so long as it's black.

I had the same problem (all I could see was my shoulders), and I ended up just getting a pair of mirror arm extenders for £10 off EBay. Just search on EBay for either "mirror extenders" or "mirror arm extenders". All you do is unscrew your existing mirrors from their arms, screw the extenders into the ends of the existing arms, and screw the mirrors back on again. Simples Personally I prefer the staight extenders rather than the ones with a kink in them because the straight ones bring the mirrors up as well as out. They make a lot of difference for motorway riding in particular.

Excellent. 'tis easy when you know how. I may pop into Hein Gericke next time I'm in Porstmouth!

I have an SV650 K7 (naked). It has not luggage rail or grab rail and so when I want to carry things I need either to wear a backpack or do a heath-robinson job using bungees over the pillion seat and under the tail of the bike. See pic: http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2598/378 ... 1a9c_b.jpg I am a bit of a noob when it comes to tailpacks; do I need a luggage rail/grab rail to attach the tailpack to? Are they generic or specific to each bike? Seeing as I have no luggage or grab rail, will I be able to fit the straps under the pillion seat "cover" thing (whatever it's called!) that you see where the pillion seat should go on my bike? Sorry if these seem like silly questions, but I've never bought bike luggage before!