jafman

Well for the next couple of weeks i will have to do the shopping on the bike, car is nearly running on fumes and only have enough for food till next payday so can't afford to spare any for fuel, life is so demanding sometimes as i will need to make a couple of trips or go every other day

 

Once a week is what it's supposed to be

https://www.visordown.com/news/general/welsh-police-urge-bikers-check-tyres-after-incident

 

that will depend on how much i can fit in the panniers, and in the advice is as infrequently as possible and twice a week is my minimum in any case

Lucky you ( or perhaps not?) I dont even have panniers and I have to shop for 5 in my house and 2 parents to old and vulnerable to do their own. I am shopping every day.|

tragic really...

I am very lucky that I have to commute to work every day as I am now working 4 full days and 3 half days. (local council)

glorious weather lately.

sometimes I take a 'wrong turn' on the way home and a 25 minute journey takes an hour. silly me eh...

1) Never buy through the comparison site: Your details don't always transfer properly onto the actual insurers website (and you don't want to find that the details are wrong after you've paid).

2) It's often cheaper to go direct to the insurer anyway.

For example, this year I ran my details through the “Bike Insurer” comparison site, and the best quote was £165.00 with Express Insurance. Seemed reasonable.

I then went direct to Express's own web site and the quote dropped to £135.00!

Far better than my existing insurer who came back with a renewal of £280.00 which takes the pee considering that most of my quotes were well under £200.00.

My quotes on go compare and money supermarket were just over £2000 for fully comp on a 125.

direct with bikesure Fully comp inc breakdown cover £233.

Short answer: Do the full license.

Long answer: Doooooooo theeeeeeee fuuuuuul Liceeeeeense.

Only reason I say that is once its done its final and having more options in life is almost always a good thing.

Cost wise I am doing mine this year for full category. Theory cost £23 to book and I am going to have only 4 hours training. 2 for mod 1 and 2 for mod 2.

Total cost will be under £250.

DO IT!

First thing to check is the connections in the wiring. Damp in there would cause intermittent problems, and it has been wet recently. Spray with WD40.

Thank you. first thing I did was get a hairdryer and give the cluster a cold blow. then squirted DW40 into the connections and left to dry out a bit before putting back together. nothing changed.

probably needs replacing. I cant see anything obvious anywhere. I do have a little condensation in the clock unit itself though I wonder if the issue is further up. I might take the clock unit apart and do the same with wd40 and a cold blow.

cheers.

elegance and power defined.

I am a little envious!

enjoy.

My speedomoter stopped working a few weeks back. then it started working again, then it stopped, then it started again. Now it stopped again.

It appears to be an electronic sender so wires from a unit on the front wheel to the cluster in the clocks.

does anyone know why an electronic device like this might fail intermitently like this? I'm guessing there must be some mechanical aspect to the unit for it to send a signal down the wire but the unit itself is not something I can take a apart. is it a case of just replacing the sender (£23) or is there something I can try to fix it?

either way the front wheel need to come off.

thoughts? thank you.

@jafman I think you will be okay using lubricants, i can't see the chinese manufacturers using high end products like teflon coated cables

That was my logic too. The exhaust is made of tofu or something similar. cheers.

Graphite,silicone and PTFE lubricants are also an option for brake and clutch cables, some have a straw that fits in the nozzle for tight hard to reach areas just a few squirts and away you go

 

thank you , will take a nosey at those.

 

Further to my advice re not lubricating teflon lined cables, here's a quote from Venhill (manufacturer of replacement cables and hoses) :-

" ..... Lubrication will not improve performance or feel. By lubricating you run the risk of clogging the cable and allowing dirt to stick to the surfaces ....."

I am somewhat a of a blank canvass here regarding bike engineering. I cannot understand if this post is relevant to mine or not, please clarify.

Graphite,silicone and PTFE lubricants are also an option for brake and clutch cables, some have a straw that fits in the nozzle for tight hard to reach areas just a few squirts and away you go

thank you , will take a nosey at those.

Don't know if it applies to your bike but, if the choke, throttle or clutch cables are teflon lined as is common these days, they should not be oiled.

Thats a whole new concept to me. i am going to hope that given my bike was made with noodles and arrowroot it wont have them. fingers crossed.

I use muc off wet lube (smells like purple grape juice) and I have to put it on twice a week as I commute. i clean the chain eevry week as well.

Today I took off my rusting (chunks flaking off) exhaust and scrubbed it to death with wire brush and sand paper. I then spray painted it with BBQ paint. it looks great again, for how long who knows.

I replaced the throttle grip as a small piece of plastic had snapped off making the throttle slack.

I lubed the choke,throttle and clutch cable with 3 in 1 oil ( is that OK stuff to use and also is there a better wasy to get it in than sitting there half drip by half drip for 6 years?)

I added some weighted bar ends to help with the finger numbing vibration ( they help a bit)

I cleaned my chain, re-tensioned it and lubed it. (muc off smells so good)

I removed and cleaned (compressed air) the air filter, its a paper box cylinder type thingy.

I replaced some corroded bolts on the headlight fairing with new ones also new exhaust manifold nuts.

I fitted an immobilizer/alarm.( 9 pin plug and play) works great, also has a remote start feature but not sure about bothering with that. £16. bargain?

added some carb cleaner and topped up the fuel.

checked the spark plug, all fine.

I used diet coke and some fine wet and dry to clean off some rust spots on the forks, i then used some autosol polish and finally lithium grease to protect them.

I took the bike for a test run and noticed I had not put a nut on a bolt that held the rear part of the exhaust to the frame so the bolt went awol. had to visit the hardware shop to get a new one. You plonker!

looks almost good as new despite the dirt and the photo being taken on a turnip.

Congratulations on passing your mod 2!

Hi does bike sure cover classic bikes as well or do they only do modern stuff

 

They cover all bikes and even multi bike policies

I know this is not entirely on topic but could not think where to post, I took out a policy today and made sure the forum was referenced. ended up being a little cheaper than last years.

thank you.

I just wanted to share how easy this forum made things.

How do you forum chappies mods/admins etc know that the discount works or that you are getting full dividends for forum users using the special number. Not questiong the legitimacy just curious as to how transparent the whole thing is from them to you.

I currenlty use bikesure and am willing to canel my auto renewal and go through another quote through that number as it will only take 10 mins and we might both gain. I am just struggling to see how there is any reason they are not just giving you the finger.

 

We have had bike sure on board for many years and it's just based on trust

We have done very well in the past and it has kept the forum going!

We have normally get a run down every 3 months of who has taken a policy and in the beginning we used to get members tell us if they took a policy so we can keep a check on it

We have had one or two slip through the net in the past due to the way the old system worked but we always got them paid

Sounds reasonable I shall do that then and fire up a new quote through the dedicated line, Cheers.

How do you forum chappies mods/admins etc know that the discount works or that you are getting full dividends for forum users using the special number. Not questiong the legitimacy just curious as to how transparent the whole thing is from them to you.

I currenlty use bikesure and am willing to canel my auto renewal and go through another quote through that number as it will only take 10 mins and we might both gain. I am just struggling to see how there is any reason they are not just giving you the finger.

I love riding in Scotland and I try to get up there at least once a year . Unfortunately I live at Junction 3 of the M6 so it's a whole days ride just to get north of Glasgow .

 

That bike reminds of the CB 400 super four I had a few hours on last year, It looks honda but is it. What is it? looks reliable and fun! (top pic)

 

That is my trusty little ER5 . I've done most of the NC500 on that . Once you get into the Highlands , speed is not an issue . This is my favourite picture . And here's a link to my journey.https://www.themotorbikeforum.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=93&t=67384&p=1044672&hilit=Scotland#p1044620

excellent thank you.

I love riding in Scotland and I try to get up there at least once a year . Unfortunately I live at Junction 3 of the M6 so it's a whole days ride just to get north of Glasgow .

That bike reminds of the CB 400 super four I had a few hours on last year, It looks honda but is it. What is it? looks reliable and fun! (top pic)

Seems this section of the forum could do with a shake up.

Are there any riders in SW scotland ( dumfries- Ayre) that fancy a ride however long or in any direction if so shout !

It should be noted that allthough having lived in Scotland for some time I am English (just in case your ringtone on your phone is 'Bannockburn'

cant see any images. could be me but its probably you.

What are peoples thoughts? Are they affordabe yet? Anyone got one?

I Presently only commute 2 miles (30 & 40 mph road 1/2 with grasss verges only) to work on 24 hour shift patern.

I will not walk becase some of it has no pavement,

I will not cycle because of some of the idiots that race down the road and I would turn up at work horrible sweaty/ wet...

Presently I take the car which seems stupid, it does not even get warm. Its not worth putting bike gear on for 1.5 miles.

It started me looking at electric pushbkes... but they can only do 15mph and are not actually that cheap...

Raleigh Array Crossbar Electric Bike - 15mph - £1,275 Charge Time 7 Hours Range To 60 Miles

I had even pondered covered mobility scooter but they are slow and stupid price and probably not safe V comuters.

Abilize Kondor Cabin £5499.00 - 8mph

As far as I can see the best affordable options are:

Super Soco TC 1500W - 45mph - £2,999 Charge Time 6 Hours Range Up To 50 Miles

Super Soco TC Max - 58mph - £4,249 Charge Time 8 Hours Range Up To 60 Miles

They recon 1p a mile compared with about 10p a mile for Motorbike....

Will be curious about peoples comments and ideas....

I was cycling 60 miles a week all year round last year and for the 3 years prior. i did consider some kind of electric thingy but the cost just seemed too high. Then I looked on amazon and saw bike conversion kits for £350. you just swap your back wheel out and attach all the gubbins ( about 2 hours if you take your time) and you are good to go. good for 30 mph maybe a smidge more. but they are not strictly EAPC so your sitting in that area of law whereby you are potentially looking at points on your license, for me that was never an issue because the route I took was just a few miles each way on a country lane, the local police officer easily bought with pheasant and rabbit.

if you do get a kit and go legal with it you have to fill a form in and register it as a build or a re-build (not sure which) then probably pay £20 tax. not sure on MOT or insurance etc.

cyclists on road bikes near me hit 40+mph fairly often on 2 sections on the hills they wear budgie smuglers....

I owned an MT07 for three years and it's a perfectly good bike for the OP's purpose.

Review here:

http://deejayp999.atwebpages.com/yamahamt07.html

And for the record I'm 6'1" and 14 stone.

I read your article with great gusto.

I know this might expose me for the newbie I am but you say the frame uses the engine as a stressed member. the last time I heard the term stressed member was shortly after my mrs removed her contraception implant and she ravaged me like a terrier on a rat for 3 days straight. Can you explain the significance of that in simple terms?

looking on the brake pipe unions it seems later models have perhaps rectified that to some extent..

your febuary 2015 accident sounds like a very lucky escape in all fairness.

No comment on the garage prices other than I was qouted what ammounts to about £45 per hour for a few bits and bobs + the parts. pffff

you mention wheelies. is that something that can happen without use of the clutch say in 2nd gear? not that I intend on doing such wreckless things just from a theoretical standpoint?

stalling issues and suspension seems to be something improved with recent models. no doubt the price point still effects these things. That said your parting remarks are a little disconcerting if I am honest. That said I am currently riding a lexmoto that is essentially rust and plastic mounted on rubber.

really appreciate the link. thank you.

These were the bellends who were right behind Brexit and said it would give them great opportunities!

https://www.theneweuropean.co.uk/top-stories/norton-motorcycles-goes-into-administration-1-6496163

That worked out well didn't it?

They have been struggling for almost 2 decades, Another way to look at this is that being in the Union provided the nails for the coffin, perhaps and only perhaps if we had left sooner the writing would not be on the wall?