linuxrob

get to the gt550 and gt750 facebook groups. plenty jinfo and sale prices. we have just restored a 750 only major prob was rust in tank.

best thing is prob the n e bikers group on facebook. will try to get to thw wesrgate road reg sat thing next year

good luck and welcome from Rob in Darlington

have you thought of a NON-Acid car wheel cleaner? I use bilt-hamber Autowheel on the car and on the F wheel to remove stubborn brake dust. Bike gets a regular clean first with Bilt Hamber auto foam now called Touchless before a shampoo. The dedicated wheel cleaner is call Bilt hamber Korossol iron and fallout remover (autowheel is a mix or Korosol and their excellent de-greaser Surfex HD, don't use hot ,use and rinse ASAP. My bandit 6 -pots get ph neutral hot soap and water via stiff brushes of all sizes every 1000-1500 miles or so. pistons pumped out as far as i dare and then dried with air line. very small amount of Red Rubber Grease around the pistons before pushing back and they stay free and ALL come out more or less together. i change my fluid every 2 years and pads when only 2/3 worn to stop pistons coming out too far. in 65000 miles i have had zero issues with these brakes, the dust seals get the most muck, some leave them out, not me just keep them clean. pics and a link to my u-tube video of cleaning made in 2021 regards rob B

when i do mine on the bandit, every 50 miles i use 2 feelers and try not to over tighten the lock nuts just snug them down, also those cam cover bolts are soooo easy to strip, good video, this is me doing mine at around 55000 miles, also splashed out on the Suzuki tool instead if pliers, very cheap it is too.

Tomorrow I am off to the Whitby regatta on the 1980 Z500. Will be parking up nr the VJMC N Yorks stand on the green behind Whitby Pavilion. If you`ve not been before just follow the brown tourist signs for Whitby Pavilion. Lots to see and chat about. As usual at this event there will be a concours competition with members and the public voting on best in show. Sunday the VJMC s N york stand will be at Hornsea Bikefest which is held in Hall Garth Park just off the High St in Hornsea that runs from 10-5pm. I can not attend unfortunatly but there will be plenty to see and do.

Getting the 1980 Z500 ready for a 120 mile round trip to Stamford Bridge (Nr York) bike night at the old station Church road. If you are nr and at a loose end between 6pm and 8 pm get along, loads of bikes and good food and chat. Pics later when i get back before of to work. Looking forward to Whitby regatta Saturday's meeting up top. earlier meeting

Please God, no more cafe racers

Took advantage of the good weather and tidied up the rear footrests and side stand on the daily workhorse GS125. rubbed down the side stand, primed and painted, replated the spring and bolt. This made the frame section nr it look out of place so cleaned , rubbed down and painted that. Now the rear footrests were really letting the side down Brackets wire wheeled and painted, other bits cleaned blasted and plated. all in all a nice job, see how they survive this winter. Having to do bits at a time as i use the bike every day. Next the front engine mount.

Modded the Bandit always on low beam using a relay and switch while doing the hl repair/mod. PDF for you. Rob B Bandit headlight repair.pdf

Air gap is the best way, i use a syringe and a tube the right length down the fork and suck out oil till right level.

More info please, make model bike and pipe, any other mods????

About 20 odd years ago at around 69000 miles I fitted a spare set of carbs, which had done around 20000 miles to the Z. I was having an issue where the bike would stumble a bit just off idle and slow speed running. This I found to be the emulsion tubes getting oval due to the needles. The needles were fine but had worn the brass of the emulsion tubes to a point were the hole was slightly oval shaped and causing a rich mixture as the slides started to open. You can see the ovaling more on the 3rd from left which is the worst one. Apparently MK1 1200 Bandits do this too and a repair kit is readily available. The MK2 1200 Bandit I have has done over 61000 miles now and does not seam to have this problem (Yet) They have different carbs to the MK1. These Z500 spare carbs with unworn emulsion tubes have done approximately 11000 miles since then and until last year have worked faultless. I removed the plugs at the end of the riding year 2021 to pop some oil down the bores for winter storage and noticed No3 plug was a lot blacker than the rest, No3 must be either running rich or flooding a bit. The float heights were checked using the clear tubing method and were perfectly in spec, so, investigation was required. My MPG was down to 60 - 65 to the gallon and I put that down to the age of engine parts and the modern E5 fuel. Before the start of the 2022 riding season I removed the carbs and gave them a good inspection. All looked well until I noticed the “O”rings round the base of the emulsion tubes were a bit hard. I ordered some 5mm I.D. X 2mm cross section area Vitron "O" rings from a UK supplier and when fitting them No 3’s tube “O” ring was very hard and snapped on removal. Possibly a combination of ethanol in the fuel and the fact that I drain the carbs and tank fully at the end of the years riding, this draining may not be a good idea as the seals may have dried out too much even though I pop some GT85 in after draining. The other “O” rings of concern are the air screw adjuster’s these are 3mm I.D. X 1.5mm Cross section. They are still very pliable as they are not subject to any fuel. These are the spark plugs after 300miles running with the new “O” rings. The fuel used has been exclusively Shell V-Power E5 and speeds of around 55 – 60 mph on A roads. Air screws are still set to STD. 1 and 1/8th from fully in and ignition timing also STD. The bike is now averaging approx 75 MPG which is only 5 MPG lower than it did 35 years ago with std Unleaded fuel and a lot less miles on the clock. Engine response is excellent and smooth. Next time the Bandit carbs are off I will fit new emulsion tube "O" rings and see what happens.

Have use JT sprockets and iether DID or JT's own chains and have found them good quality and well priced. Use Gear oil exclusively now on all my chains, have a small bottle with gear oil and brake cleaner mixed 75 - 25 to get it thin to penetrate the rollers and keep the seals lubed.

Back protectors too. I would not take a 12K bike on a track day, get a SH SV650 or Triumph 675 and make it track safe (good brakes, good tyres, crash protection) and get a trailer then there is not restriction to circuits. Check out Jammie Whitthams track days. It will cost you a fortune no matter which route you take. All the best Rob

Careful replacing brake fluid with ABS, some models can catch you out. If you want to do the work yourself please get a quality service manual that covers your exact model. It will all be in there and a guide to the tools you may need or can use. Hopefully you find it fun and satisfying as i do. rob

There is already a good solution to this problem. The Shindengen SH775 Series (genuine ones not eBay rip offs) regulator rectifier. Most OEM reg/Rec are Shunt units this means they "shunt" the excess energy to ground (-VE), heating the winding and the Reg/rec as the stator is working flat out all the time even if bat is fully charged and not much load on the system. A series Reg/Rec switches the current off and on depending on the load. This is the case for all permanent magnet alternators as opposed to alternators which have a field winding, this field coil is used to vary the amount of excitation controlling the output of the alternator. I believe that either the Vstrom 650 uses a series r/r as standard. I would expect a longer than 3 year warranty. These SH775's are widely available for most bikes using 3 phase alt with perm magnets (3 yellow wires) here is a pdf from a GS forum Shindengen SH775 a Series Regulator.pdf

Took the Z500 to the Head of Steam Classic meet (mainly cars) and was joined by quite a few fellow VJMC members from N Yorks section and Glenn on his RD500 Hope for good weather next week for a similar show at the Northallerton rugby club, Whoo!!

If it is switching the white wire it should be OK. Make sure you give it a good connection.

if it is a kill switch then it will not handle the power the light is drawing. 12v switch rated at 10A is what you need so it will not get hot. rob

NO NO. STOP. Just put the switch in line of the WHITE wire Regards Rob

Yes the white wire is the power feed to the low beam. if you do not want to mount a relay go on eBay and find a 12V switch that can handle 10A you low beam will draw approx 4.5A so it will handle it without getting hot. can you post a pic of the switch you have used and the method of mounting so i can advise better please? rob b

use a relay to run power to the headlight. Use the wires that do high and low to energise the two relays and run bigger wire to the bulbs from bat or live side of starter relay via an inline 10A fuse. refer to the pic in post repeated here for wiring. The relays will have to be mounted out of the weather. any more i can help with ?? Rob B

Had a great 150 mile day out Thursday down to the Strawberry fields cafe on the Z500. Back home via NY500 cafe and Helmsley. Bit of a bad weekend. Saturday. After coming home from work had a short snooze, we fancied an Ice Cream in Leyburn. Took the Bandit. Pulled up at traffic lights in Richmond, idle a bit low me thinks, set off, ON 3 Cylinders. Thought vacuum pipe blown off but no No2 pipe not warm much and found the idle adjuster screw had fallen out, no where to be found on top of crankcases. Steady 4th gear 50 mph trip home. This has happened 10 years ago to No4 but found it and popped it back in. Always made sure i put the spring back in and grease the threads but will have to rethink this when i get a new one this week. Can fit it with the carbs on but 2 years since they were cleaned so they are coming off tomorrow and will check the other 3 screws. Have some pattern ones with my carb service kit but have no groove (not sure if this makes any odds) and tapper slightly different so will use a genuine part with the pattern spring washer and "o" ring from the kit. Sunday Another run for the Z500 this time to the Pocklington bike meet at the Mile cafe. Got as far as a few mile south of Thirsk and felt a little wobble, slowed drown and got worse, Puncture in back wheel, 200 miles since the new tyres and inner tubes. Bugger. Found a small tack in the middle of the tyre see pics. Glad i have recovery. 3 hours later got back home. Job for Tuesday me thinks. Nr passed the 81000 miles too ( does on the back of the recovery truck count?)

Did you clean the tap filter screen and swill out the tank when you rebuilt the tap, also check cap vent and it is possible to put the plug leads on wrong cylinders, double check and the vacuum hose blanks on the carbs after you balanced the carbs and the one on no4 for the tap.