mackemforever

A few months ago I was planning on buying myself a new bike and getting back into riding after a couple of years out, bought myself some new boots and gloves to replace my tatty old ones and then very soon after realised that I was much more broke than I thought I was and so the plan to buy a bike has been shelved for the forseable future. That means that I now have a pair of boots and gloves that are completely unused sitting around in my flat gathering dust and now it's about time I finally got around to trying to sell them. Boots: Alpinestars Roam 2 - Size 45 - RRP £150 - My price £100 Pic 1 Pic 2 Gloves: Buffalo Bay - Size XL - RRP £35 - My price £20 Pic If you're interested just drop me a PM and we can sort out payment and postage. Thanks.

Can I just throw a curveball in here? Honda Varadero 125. Much less sporty looking than either of the two you've mentioned, but if you like the fact that the Hyosung has the size of a 600 then the Varadero falls into the same boat, it may have a little engine but it's built like a big bike, so it's nice and comfortable to ride especially when compared to something small and cramped like the CBR125. It's a much more upright riding position than your two choices as well but for a first bike I'd say that's a good thing, because of it's size and riding position you have great visibility and feels really nice as a learner. Plus you've got the Honda build quality and reliability, and even with my 6'3" frame on it I could still hit 70mph without a problem.

Not the same problem, but my Mod 1 was a complete drama. Attempt 1) Turn up at the test centre, realise I've forgotten the paper part of my driving license, get turned away. Attempt 2) My bike had an alarm/immobiliser fitted and I only had 1 fob for it. Anyway, the night before my test I forgot to take it out of my pocket before my trousers went in the washing machine, and so when I pulled them on the next day I found the remote in there, pretty much completely dead. The battery was knackered, the remote itself was on it's last legs, and because I had no spare battery I managed to cobble together a few pieces of wire and a AAA battery, stripped the electrics out of the remote case, and somehow managed to rig it so it would turn the immobiliser off. Well I got to the test centre, and on autopilot I took the key out of the ignition. 10 seconds later the immobiliser arms itself, but I didn't panic as I thought I would be able to turn it off without a problem, as I'd figured it out at home before I left. Go inside, run through the usual pre-test stuff, then walk out to the bike and pull the remains of the alarm fob out of my pocket. At this point the examiner started laughing at me! Well obviously the fob wouldn't work, and so I couldn't turn the immobiliser off and start the bike. So the examiner told me that he was allowed to give 15 minutes for technical problems and started a timer, saying that if the bike wasn't started within exactly 15 minutes I had failed. It took me 14 minutes and 53 seconds to get the immobiliser off and the bike running! Somehow after all of that I managed to calm myself down enough to pass the test without any problems, but jesus christ was it close!

I try and warn other bikers but not car drivers. However, up at Lancaster Uni there was a road between the Uni & town where the cops often had a mobile camera set up just around a bend, so from one direction you couldn't see it till it was too late. I did exploit this one two occasions, both time I had a car load of chavs sat at the lights a little bit before this bend, revving their car, looking for a race. Both times I pulled away from them at the lights very quickly, but stopped at 40mph (speed limit), chav races past to prove their superiority, rounds bend, gets caught speeding.

You'd be surprised. Last month I washed my textile trousers for the first time in about 6 months, and at the same time cleaned & polished my bike. The result of that was that I had no grip at all on the tank with my knees and my trousers were sliding around all over my seat. My ride to work involves a nice little stretch of road with a few long, sweeping bends where I normally get close to getting my knee down. That day though because of the complete lack of grip with every part of my bike I took one bend as normal but half way around slid sideways off the seat and ended up with my knee down without meaning to!

Went for the "bag of oil over the end and leave until oil drips through" method and it does seem to have made a hell of a difference, gone from jerky as hell to silky smooth.

In the last few weeks my clutch cable has become increasingly sticky feeling and it's now just about impossible to get anything near smooth operation on it, so I'm going to have to do the job that I've been putting off for a while and oil my clutch cable. Just wanted to get an opinion about what is the best lubricant to use, both in terms of how good it is and value for money. Thanks.

Just a quick question for you lovely people. At the moment my battery is a bit dodgy, it is losing charge quicker than I would like when the bike is sat in my garage and I don't have the money to replace it right now, so I am connecting it to a trickle charger every time I have the bike parked up at home. The only problem is that this is a pain in the ass to do, it means I've got to take off my side panels & seat every time I get home. So, what I was considering doing was taking a couple of lengths of electrical cable, stripping a short length at each end, and securing one end of each to the battery terminals, then capping the other end and securing them where they are accessible, so that I can simply remove the caps and connect the charger to the cables rather than having to mess around taking my seat off. Just wanted to ask if anybody here had done something similar and if this sounds like a bad idea or not! Thanks.

I might be being thick here but what is this and where can I find out more information about it?

Got 3 points on my license. Was caught doing 49 in a 40. The most annoying thing was that it was the first time in about 3 months I had used the car instead on the bike, and I kept on drifting over the speed limit because I was so used to judging my speed by the noise of the engine and the feel of the wind, neither of which you have in a car.

And find all the (expensive) faults that were nicely hidden away out and sight and mind? I'd almost prefer not to know Well luckily I've pretty much stripped my bike right back to the frame anyway in order to try and find what was damaged and there were no nasties hidden away that I didn't know about (yet anyway!).

Doesn't actually matter. I've found a garage near me that is selling a 1999 SV650 frame for about £70, not from a Cat C or D write off, complete with log book, so I'm buying that and swapping everything over to that frame. In my opinion it is easier than getting my frame straightened.

I've been doing a bit of searching on this and have managed to find a few places that can do frame repairs, however they are all bloody miles from where I am, and so just thought I would check on here to see if anybody knows of somewhere that can do frame repairs that is a bit move convenient. So, anybody know if there is anywhere near Bristol that can do them, or near the M5/M6, so Manchester, Stoke, Birmingham. Thanks very much if you can help.

If I'm going on the motorway or out for a proper ride then I will wear one, however if I'm just bumbling around town or using my bike to head into Uni then I won't bother because I don't want to have to either wear a back protector all day or find somewhere to stash it.

As I said, I will buy something like that when I next get paid, but that wno't be for a few weeks.

I'm currently trying to do some work on the front suspension on my old 125 however I don't really have the right kind of bike lift to get it off the ground so I can take the suspension apart. I was just wondering if anybody knew of any decent methods for getting the front of the bike off the ground so I can work on it. I don't have a center stand, so I can't put it on that and weigh down the back end. I'm trying to find somebody with a bike lift I can borrow, however in the mean time I thought I would ask if there was any other decent way to do what I need to. I have a couple of car jacks here so I was thinking that I might be able to have one on either side of the bike, put something across the top of both, under the bike, and make sure it is on a solid part of the frame, and then raise both jacks. Anybody think this is OK or would there be too much risk of it all collapsing? Thanks.

Just thought I would put a message up on here in the hope that somebody can help me. I'm needing to do some work on the front suspension on my old 125 so I can sell it but I don't have any way of jacking the front end up so I can work on it. I am looking into buying something like this once I next get paid however that isn't for another few weeks. So, I was just wondering if anybody in or near to Bristol had something along this lines that I could borrow for a couple of days so I can get this bike repaired and sold. Please let me know if you can help me out. Thanks.

Looking great so far, hell of a lot of work you've put in and it should look great at the end. What are you planning on doing with it after you've finished? Keep it to ride or sell on?

Are you sure its not a lock to hold the seat on? Whack the key in, turn the lock and lift up the seat at the same time.

Ah, the joys of the D409. My first helmet. Let me put it this way, 5 months after I bought it I upgraded to a better helmet, I still hadn't managed to get the visor off!

I personally have an Osprey rucksack. This one to be precise. It wasn't cheatp, cost about £70, although that was a couple of years ago so it might be a bit cheaper now. Its light, tough, very comfortable, holds a hell of a lot of stuff if you pack it right, and generally pretty good all around. The only problem with it is that it isn't 100% waterproof, it will keep your stuff dry in rain but if it gets very heavy then it will let some water through. As for the problem of having loads of straps, it does have a crapload of straps on but you never need to adjust any of them, just set it all up so it fits you properly and leave it alone. All I ever do when I get on the bike is do the waist strap up, just a single clip, and off you go. Not cheap but it will last you for years. Mines been used weekly for long hikes for the last 2 years, has gone to Advanced Base Camp on Mount Everest and is used virtually every time I go on the bike in all weather and is still in perfect condition.

Ok, I just thought I should check about the linking as I know the Varadero 1000 has linked brakes.

Its a 52 plate Varadero 125. I've had a google but can't find anything about it. I would have a close look at the bike to see if its got 2 brake fluid resevoirs but the bike is in Bristol and I'm in Lancaster right now!

Ta very much for that. One question though, I made an error in my first post, I've only removed the front brake calliper, would I only need to bleed the front brake or are both brakes linked into one system?

My Varadero 125 was fitted with a Datatool system 3 when I bought it. They don't sell the system 3 anymore but you might be able to track one down on ebay or go for one of their newer versions, but it was a great little alarm. It was bloody loud, sensitive enough to go off if somebody actually moved your bike but not soo touchy that it would go off because of something like the wind, was bloody loud when it went off and it never once went off when it shouldn't have except for the couple of times when I got on the bike without turning it off! The only time it ever went wrong was when I forgot to take the remote out of my trousers when I put them in the washing machine!