Piggy

Hehe, Itchybum!

Hey ho! Anybody here into home brewing or wine making or distilling? I'm into wines but always willing to experiment. Not so much into beer making but Ive done a few ciders and some experiments with fractioning. I do a cracking pear and ginger wine

Do you remember those sidewinder thingies that allowed you to ride a 250 with L plates?

Hiya Folks. Just wondering, what is the worst bike you've ever owned and what is the best? And a brief reason why. No need for a dissertation, just a sentence or two...

Also, if you drop a 125 in the ice its physically possible to pick the bugger up again while its sliding all over the road.

I don't think size has much to do with it, its just that different bikes handle better in different conditions. Rain never bothered me too much (I live in Wales) but you really feel the difference between bikes in a strong wind. I think maybe balance and centre of gravity are more considered in the design of bigger bikes but I've had 125s that handled really well in shit weather. Ive also binned one in the rain crossing road markings with a handful of front brake

Try PlusGas, its really good stuff. Squirt a bit more on a couple of times a day while its just sitting there. If its really chewed up get a dremel or something on it and grind the gnarly bits off then tap a smaller socket onto it. It will come out one way or another

Did my test on a GS500, cbt on an SR125. First bike I ever tried to ride was a C90 but really learned on various 50cc junk, Fizzies etc. First road legal proper bike was a CB125T

Cool! Did it break his arm?

Isn't this the motorcycle shoe equivalent of 'Don't go near those Swans, they'll break your arm!"? Does anybody know or know of somebody who's actually lost a toe through a freak bendy toecap incident? Personally, I find that they make changing gear feel weird

Ah, ok. Its a GSX! Do the HT leads unscrew from the coil? (Theyre sealed on the GSF). If they come off, try cleaning the corrosion off the contact thingies and maybe chop 1/2" off the end of the leads before you refit them to get a nice clean contact.

Sounds like it could be coils. They rot at the sealed joint to the ht lead and cut out intermittently. The obvious test it to swap the coils round but it sounds like both of yours are dodgy. Do you know anyone who could lend you some to test? You can get cheapy aftermarket ones on ebay for about £40 if that's any help

Ssshhh! We don't talk about those. You're ruining the illusion of self-righteous frugality!

Right so... I've had the XBR roughly 12 years. Initial cost was £35 (van hire to rescue it). Since then, its probably had about £600 spent on it in consumables, plus new cdi, cam chain + guides, stainless brake pistons, chain + sprocks and a few minor bits and bobs. Total probably around £1500. Told you I was a tight-fisted farkle.

Thanks Mike. I may take you up on that at some point.

I don't drive a car so I dunno, but surely drivers are taught to allow for bikes filtering aren't they? I was taught about it when I did my bike training. I get the feeling many drivers are pretty vague about it though. There's not much in the highway code either.

Thanks Fastbob. I'll give that a go

Yup, what he said. The first couple of hits are the trickiest because there's nor much to get your drift behind. After that, you can move the spacer to one side a bit and it'll knock right out. Be patient and keep moving your drift around. Use your old bearings to drift the new ones in. I have an XBR too. I really like it. Had it about 12 years now. I've had other bikes in that time but I keep going back to it. The rear wheels are a problem. They rot from the inside and warp the brake drum so you get pulsing. Mine's just started doing it. I reckon I might have my work cut out sourcing a decent wheel. Are yours spoked or boomerang comstar?

Oooooh Matron! Cheers for that, folks. I was kind of hoping they'd get a positive review. I'd read the later model was a great improvement. I'm probably going to be looking for something new later this year so I'm just weighing up my options. I'm a big fan of singles but I'm not sure whether I want something with a bit more grunt. I really dont know what I want.

Did anybody here ever have a Fizzy back in the day? The gears on mine were 4-down. Dunno if they were all like that. Really confusing, great little bike though. Probably worth about 50 grand now. My mate had one with pedals

Hey Folks. I was browsing the threads here and I saw mention of someone owning a Himalayan. Interesting looking bike, I was wondering what the build quality was like. Corrosion resistance, reliability etc. I had a look over a Bullet 500 a good while back and it was fairly awful but RE seem to have upped their game in the last few years. I'm not saying I'm going to rush out and buy one but I do sort of like them. Any opinions?

These engines do actually have both for some reason. Maybe they had a glut of leftover dipsticks at the factory

I mostly use rain

What's green and spongey? A green sponge I'll get my coat....