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Haven't done anything in the bike for some time due to a ripped tendon in my shoulder. Felt better this week so thought I'd start with something easy and would fit done indicators I got off eBay. Ended up taking bloody ages and having to dismantle half the bike. Anyway, happy with the result and the shoulder still works. Front indicators work as running lights when not indicating... Rear indicators act as extra brake lights when not indicating... Cheers Mark

That's just PLA I'm playing with at the moment. I've got some PETG that I'll start to play with soon to make other bike bits from. To be honest, I got this to stop myself from going completely spare. I wanted to spend the winter restoring the zxr but ripped a tendon in my shoulder before Christmas and can do sod all requiring any strength. Trying to get the shoulder all sorted for the first track day.

Ha, I know, it's properly nuts. Not that expensive but does require a lot of mucking about with computers. It's about as close to a proper CNC machine as I'll get I guess... which isn't very close. Loads of the models you can download have letters/numbers on them and they frequently look pretty gash so I'm keeping my stuff plain. This is the printer doing its stuff...

I've blatantly pinched this idea from the advrider forum I'm on but have recently got a 3d printer and am planning to make the odd bit for the bikes. Show what you've made or ask questions if you're interested. I've only had mine for a couple of weeks but will do my best. I bought a Creality Ender 3 pro from Ebay for £194. You can buy them from China if you're prepared to wait but this one took a couple of days to arrive. It took a few hours to build and set up but that's mainly because I'd done so much reading on them I knew I wanted to replace the firmware and so on. Essentially it's a stock machine with a glass bed being controlled by a Raspberry Pi running Octoprint and Klipper. Anyway, to start with I wanted a simple project rather than just download yoda models. I decided to make frame plugs for my KTM 1190 Adventure. The more cynical will rightly point out that I've spent 200 to make an inferior version of a thing I can buy for a tenth of that which is true but if you like making stuff this is fun. I designed it in Blender to start with... This is version 2. The first one had a solid cylinder as the plug and it fitted well but slightly loose. I then cut that cylinder and added bumps to the outside near the end with the idea that the bits would spring in a bit and hold themselves. I sliced the piece using Cura and then printed at 100mm/s to produce this... And this is it fitted to the bike... It fits really well so I printed another for the other side. It's a steep learning curve but there's so much information online if you spend time finding it. This part is printed in PLA but will make some from PTEG at some point so see what that's like as it's supposed to be more robust. The next project will be some ram mount type mirrors as they're so expensive to buy it's not even funny... and it's fun to make stuff. Cheers, Mark

I've never worried about it or had a problem but if you think you will you can get heat proof sleeving on eBay or Amazon for the bit of wire that runs close to the heat source.

There's a problem I've seen reported on a number of Hondas and existed on a Blackbird I used to have that's worth checking as it can give really weird symptoms. On the loom there's a common earth block that connects together all (many?) of the ground leads together routing them to the frame. They tend to look like this and are generally wrapped in the loom tape somewhere... They way they work is that all the ground (negative) wires go in to this block including the line to the chassis and then a common rail is inserted in to the back of the connector. Over time this can corrode and cause all sorts of weird issues. On my bike this manifested itself as the bike cutting out when hot and then refusing to start for a few minutes but other people have reported other problems. The solution is to find the block, cut it off and then join all the wires together somehow. I did this by soldering ring connectors on all the wires and then joining them together with a nut and bolt finally wrapping it all in self-amalg tape back in to the loom. After I did this I didn't have another problem. I'm not saying that this is your problem but it's a relatively easy thing to eliminate so it's not affecting any other tests you do.

The ohm one measures resistance, the one you're looking for is the A for amps (or current). Start with a big number range and go down. I imagine you'd be looking at 50mA for a normal bike, maybe up to 100mA. If you see 1 amp or more you should investigate further. Just to reiterate though, definitely don't do this with the bike running. If you look at this meter... ...the current ranges start at 10 (10 amps), 200m (200 milli-amps), 20m and 2000u (2000 micro-amps). You'd start at 10 amps which on that meter would require you to take the red lead, unplug from the meter and to plug it in to the empty socket near the 10Amax label at the bottom. If you get 0.05 to 0.10 you're probably ok. If your meter looks differently to that either check in the manual or post a picture up and we'll try and make sense of it.

How do you measure parasitic drain? It's the first time I have heard it With the engine off disconnect the neg lead from the battery. Switch your multimeter to current (highest setting first if it's not autoranging) and connect between neg lead and neg terminal. You can then see how much current is being drawn with the bike turned off. You then start pulling fuses until the number drops and that's your culprit. The only thing you need to find out is what is an acceptable (normal) level of current with it off. Another good test that's been useful on cars for me, not bikes yet is to measure the voltage drop on the earth to chassis connection. If you go to turn the bike over but it's really sluggish, lights dip etc, but the battery checks out fine every other way it's possible that you've got a bad earth lead or bad earth connection. To find out, switch the multimeter to volts, set it to 12v range and place the probes as either end of the earth lead. Then try and start the bike. If your lead is good then the voltage drop should be close to zero but I've had them read 1-2v which is definitely going to affect starting. You then replace the earth lead or remake the chassis connection if you've taken that in to account.

2 year old battery could be dead if it's ever been let run down. If it's been cold where you are that would definitely cause issues for a failing battery. You could charge it up and see if it does it again is the first and easiest step. Or if you wanted to take a more investigative approach then charge it up and let it rest for an hour or so and measure the voltage. If it's below 12.5v it's probably not great, if it's below 12v it's knackered. If the battery is good then measure the parasitic drain on the battery to see if anything is draining it.

Sorry, I meant if mine is still there. Looks like there's a tree growing through it. Mine is an 86 that's been road registered at some point. I bought it on ebay for 500 many years ago. Before riding it I noticed there was an oil leak from the bottom and found a hole that had been fixed with epoxy. I took it apart with the aim to get it all sorted but never have. The gearbox and bottom end are rebuilt but the nikasil liner is scored so I need to get it redone or sleeved. I've got the new piston and bearings somewhere safe along with the gearbox and rest of the engine (not in the garden). I'll get round to it one day

Will be following this with interest. Assuming it's still there, mine lives at the bottom of the garden and needs a pretty heavy restoration. Found it, one careful owner...

Ah, sorry, if this is not ok please let me know and I'll take it down. My motivation was to help out Nick at Love life and offer an opportunity for discounts for the guys on here. I can see that this might not be in the spirit of things though so please let me know if this isn't cool. Spare gas canisters for me if I start doing more off-roading is handy but not worth annoying you lot for Thanks, Mark

I've just been sent the following link from the company I bought mine from. If you use it you get £50 off a vest or jacket and [full disclosure] I get £15. If it's of any use feel free but you may get a better deal if you're a member of TVAM or another advanced training school. http://lovelifeandride.refr.cc/markhibbins Cheers, Mark

The two things I always remove from a new bike is the alarm and the chain oiler. They may be better now but it used to be the case that the amount of oil you got varied depending on the temperature so you either you ended up with a dry chain or oil all over the wheel if you ride in all weathers.

I use engine or gear oil (whatever is lying about) applied with a paint brush and then the excess rubbed off with a rag. Has always worked for me.

All insurance is a waste of money unless it's either legally required or you couldn't readily lay your hands on the cash to rectify the situation. What I mean by that is that the price of any insurance is set such that on average you would pay more for the insurance than if you paid for the consequences out of your pocket. If that wasn't the case there wouldn't be any profit in it. It's like gambling in that respect... you think you'll potentially be better off but over time you won't be. I've had two punctures in nearly 30 years... it wouldn't work out in my favour. I wouldn't pay for this specifically as in order to qualify you'll have to buy a replacement tyre from the same source which means you're going to have to get recovered home and wait for the tyre or take it somewhere to get it repaired. Damaging the tyre in an accident isn't cover and neither is fitting cost. I think that you'd be better off carrying a repair kit.

They've got quite a few in Reading. Handy for the commute when the traffic is busy but would rather not use them if it isn't as you have to be very careful of cars turning left across the lanes.

None taken

Just ignore him then.

Undo the changes you made, disconnect the battery for an hour or so and see if the problem persists. Given the coincidence in timing you should discount it however unlikely.

Mucked about with various heath robinson method of lifting bikes over the years I saw this and had to save for it. Anything that has wheels on effectively doubles the size of your garage and I definitely need that. The zxr is being lifted using the swing arm removal adaptor as the engine has to come out and then the swing arm. I've got normal adaptors for the zxr, the fireblade and the 1190. Will make many things so much easier.

Just put this together this afternoon and put the project zxr750 on it. Very easy to build and really easy to use. Means you can lift the bike up to work on it, place it where you like while doing so and wheel it in to the corner when you're done for the day. Very pleased with it. Will do a proper review when I've had more use out of it. Cheers Mark

To be fair though, the only thing you're obliged to wear is a helmet and you can get approved half or open face helmets. It could be a lot more restrictive.

As I understood it it's the heat that gets rid of the stuff on/in a new tyre. I tend to fit new tyres and then just go and get them hot by accelerating, braking or if it's cold out I'll just get on the motorway and do a few miles at speed to get them nice and hot.

I think you'll have to put the same gear on for an electric bike. If you really don't want to use your other bikes then get a 50cc aprilia scoot or similar for £500. It'll sip fuel and cost you nothing to run.