Guinnless

Less than 1000 miles of use and almost full tread depth. Collection or can post. £30 Steve

Your profile say you are 25 so just pass your test and get a bigger bike. You can do DAS at your age can't you? Your "mate" keeps pointing out that he's got a full licence cos he's on a learner bike. 125s are for learning on or a cheap city centre commute, on the open road they are about as much fun as piles.

Well I didn't know that. Did it get dropped because all cars come with power steering these days? Apart from slow speeds and parking I generally don't cross my hands. My Granada doesn't have power steering

According to which statute? It might be a requirement under the contract of insurance between you and your insurer, but it's not a statutory requirement. Only time you need to involve insurers in my view is when there's a potential claim situation. Otherwise it's none of their business. That was badly worded Bogof, it may not be a legal requirement but insurance company require you to report all incidents regardless of whether a claim was made or not. Do they though? Surely they are only interested in losses, changes to your licence status or modifications to your bike that affect performance or desirability. Mr Guinnless here : I've scuffed the righthand mirror Mr Guinnless here : I've scuffed the lefthand mirror Mr Guinnless here : I've scratched the fairing undoing a screw Mr Guinnless here : I've blown the fuse to the brakelights Mr Guinnless here : I've fixed the fuse to the brakelights Mr Guinnless here : I've screen has got a stonechip Mr Guinnless here : I've screen has got a second stonechip Mr Guinnless here : I've screen has got a third stonechip etc

If that was the case then people would be reporting "accidents" all the time with a view to claiming whiplash etc by picking out any registration and reporting them to your own insurance saying they hit you?? It's the other way around. If you try to claim off somebdy else who did hit you and they haven't reported it then you have a difficult job tryinging to get them to report it so you can claim the money. I'be been in that situation, I couln't get any money until he had reported it to his own insurance.

Insurance is there to make you road legal and protect third parties. Any additional cover (comp, TPFT etc) should be evaluated carefully. Any contact with your insurance company regarding damage of any sort will have a negative affect on your insurance history. Work out repair costs and excess BEFORE contacting your insurance.

Glad to hear that you've had a good run out The clutch probably just wants bleeding. Engine heat kills the fluid but easy to bleed and the lever will feel much better. What's up with the temp gauge? If you find it barely moves off the top of the cold mark unless you're in slow traffic then that's normal. Fan should kick in just above half-way.

At least now it's running and usable it makes it easier to sort out minor issues as you go.

Hope it turns out fine - at least you'll know soon enough. Did you check the oil level? Can't remember if you said the petrol was fresh or not?

It's quite normal to breathe crankcases into the airbox but the airbox shouldn't be full of oil. Some residue at service time is acceptable. As Stu has pointed out it could be because it's been overfilled - possibly because the sight glass for the oil level has been checked with the bike on the sidestand which would make it way too full. Well worth checking with the bike upright.

If the engine is oily then the cam cover could be leaking if somebody has had it off before and not renewed the gasket. I think you have the right plan to get it assessed properly by a competent outfit. They'll probably do a compression test and make sure that all the basics are OK. Check the light smoke from the righthand side is not the header tank pipe leaking. Mine rubbed through on the frame resulting in a trip home with the AA.

Mines a P7 but mechanically identical to yours. For less than a tenner per carb you can get a service kit that include new needle valves and seats plus all 'O' ring and seals. Two of my carbs were flooding badly - there was nothing obviously wrong with the existing components but the new parts fixed the issue. I also found that the main jets had been mixed up plus one of the Main needles had a chipped tip. A local carb specialist supplier had a brand new needle in stock for about 8 quid. Check that none of the diaphragms for the sliders are split. When putting the carb tops back on make sure the white plastic cap that the long spring goes over is not blocking the vent hole. You can rotate the white cap until the vent hole towards the top of the carbs is completely clear. Check the float heights carefully, Double or even treble check to make sure they are correct. I check both sides of the float and take the average as the plastic floats can distort a little. Carb cleaner blasted through all the small orifices will make sure they are clear. Don't forget to clean the tiny mesh filter in the base of each needle valve housing. Check the condition of all vacuum hoses. Don't rush it. Once complete you will be in a position where you know that the carbs are fine. If it's still not right then it must be something else. Once thing to check on refitting the carbs is make sure that you don't have the return cable too tight as it can cause binding on full right-lock but it only does this when you have fastened down the airbox base so check before you continue to re-assemble. I also did the valve clearances on mine which much improved low speed running and hot starting. If you like I have a spreadsheet that I created to do all the calculations. Basically you input the clearances and your existing shims. It then works out what shim value you need for each valve, how many you'll need to buy, how many you can reuse and how many you should have left of each value at the end. Best of luck.

In what way have you found ABS to be detrimental on a bike? I haven't got it on my bike but my car has it and apart from snow I've never found it to be an issue.

It's not Direct Access then is it? And you can't restrict by capacity either - Hmm I can't get the 883cc Harley Davidson cos the engine's too big so I'll have this lovely ex Barry Sheen little 500cc Suzuki RG500 instead.

Restrictions are difficult, if not impossible, to police so they'd be largely ignored anyway. Anybody been stopped for a random 33 bhp check yet?

You can register any vehicle for the road providing it meets the Construction and Use regs. The motorcycle equivalent would be a MotoGP bike really. If you've passed the test then that's it, you've passed. If you want a Hayabusa get one, if you'd feel happier on GS500 get that instead.

No, there are enough bloody restrictions. If you've passed the DAS then that's it.

Because you've missed the point. If you are having to do emergency stops and evasive manoeuvres frequently then you need to re-assess your riding/driving. Shock! Horror! Car stops at a roundabout. Ring the Daily Mail Possibly, but diving between two cars because you couldn't stop in time would deffo be fail! You need to check your visor as well as your mirrors

Really?? And what was dangerous about stopping? Not the same thing though is it? Sorry, but I don't believe guff in the Daily Mail. "> No one is saying it's OK to stop anywhere. You have no idea why they stopped. The engine could have cut out, the brakes stuck on, they could have had a heart attack. Approach RABs more slowly giving yourself time to get the view and make sure it's clear and then you can get on the gas.

Oi! My 22 year old car has ABS, the 34 year old doesn't though More or less agree. The pointless "it's 50 for reason" limits just mean I don't go that way any more. On the other hand I've been through areas with a 50 limit that should be a 40 e.g. Helmswell, North Lincolnshire - it's A road with a large housing estate and a busy access road adjoining, there's a camera there but I usually do 40 ish as it feels more appropriate(safer?) and you're soon back into the NSL anyway.

The other people are quite wrong or getting muddled up with Valve Seat Recession on old engines that are not suitable for unleaded fuel. That's fine. You need a garage you can trust though as it's an easy way to make money for nowt. I never use garages anyway so it'd just be a day's work if mine needed doing.

Hi Ingah, Valve clearances gradually increase over time not decrease. This is caused by wear on the working surfaces. On the ZX6R engine mentioned above the cams sit over the valves (hence Overhead Cam) and the eccentric lobes on the cam open and close the valves by operating on a "bucket". This bucket sits open side down resting on top of the valve stem and the top part of the bucket contains shims of varying thickness to adjust the clearance to the correct value. The clearance is there to provide a smooth take up of load as the cam lobe "opening ramp" comes into contact with the bucket, only a small factor of the clearance is there for heat related expansion. Providing the engine has been serviced with decent oil then the clearances will barely change. They certainly don't need checking every 8000 miles like the manufacturers claim but then they must assume that the rider runs on the rev limiter on a cold engine! I'd say after 36,000-50,000 miles it might be worth considering checking and adjusting. Excessive clearance will make itself know as a light tapping noise but won't cause any damage providing it's adjusted fairly soon. Use a quality semi-synthetic for road use and change every 3000 miles and you'll not see any significant wear on the engine. And don't nail it till it's warmed up either!

I'd be interested in how you believe the engine would "fail or go bang" ?

How many miles has it done? Unless it's done mega miles or is obviously noisy or running badly then I'd leave well alone. If you are really concerned then send it to a dealer but expect a big bill! Kawasaki specify every 8000[1] miles for valve clearance checks on my ZX-7R. Adjustment requires removal of the camshafts, changing the shim and replacing. Not for the faint hearted. Dunno if there's manual adjustment on the sixer, check with Haynes manual. [1] this is overkill for an engine that's been run on quality oil and has not been abused. IMHO.