illvibetip

thanks folks - ill hit the shops in the morning and shop 'bout see if I can get any of the suggestions.

dont the heated gloves sap your electrics?

if its around 0 degrees outside - whats best to have on your hands (eg leathers)? cheers

haha - thats pretty much what i was thinking - on all accounts

i cant bloody believe this!!!! in the past ive heard of people doing sloppy jobs (hence the fact that i thought id check myself before shelling out on an engine re-build) but i didnt think there was a buiscuit this big... He covered the air filter in petrol! Ive changed the air filter and it works fine! But theres a lot of black smoke bellowing out so I think hes put too much in (again). I showed him the specs before he changed the oil but hes obviously not paid any attention to them. thanks very much for your replies. and walney, that link was spot on - lots of great stuff on there! Im off to find an alternative use for my long screwdriver at the repair shop bye

yes its the cam chain tensioner (diagram). At walney frankie - Thanks very much for the information that should be enough for me to take it from there. at Ian :- I said thanks in the original post. As I have had an answer now, I will say thanks again. I live in a different time zone so I havent had a chance to check this thread/comment until now. Although it may look as though Im being ungrateful - I was asleep and got up in the middle of the night to check it last time. That being said however, if you can please refer me to the sticky on ' when exactly to say thanks etiquette' I'll do it right proper nice next time. Thanks

'pouring air in' was a figure of speech. ffs... the bike is a hyosung 250cc comet, four stroke DOHC (air and oil cooled) V2 cylinder. technical advice please

wtf?

I had a problem with the engine last week, I took the bike out and when I got back (and removed my headphones) realised there was a sound coming from the cylinders like a tin with screws in it being shaken. This worried me so I nursed it to the bike repair shop. I asked him to change the battery and oil too while he was on (as it hasnt been starting/turning over too well recently). I also had the exhasut mounted properly (though I dont think that is really relevant). He said the noise was something to do with the idle?? and went about replacing 'it' (this thing he replaced I dont know the name of. Its at the back, base of the rear cylinder, juts out, is about 3, by 2.5 by 2.5 cms and oval shaped - sorry i checked my specs/internet and cant find what it is). I comes back today and he obviously been having sex with my bike cos its f........... when i go into the shop he pouring air into the top of the engine/air filter area with the tank off cos that seems the only way to get it to run! He said he cleaned the carbs, changed the oil, changed the battery - twice and the thing that was broke/rattling. Hes saying its going to cost me big bucks now to finish the job which will involve dismantling the engine completely. I can just about turn it over - but only in neutral. I can almost get it ticking but i need to pull the throttle right back to maximum and hold it. But, it just splutters for about a minute and dies. If i put it in 1st, it dies straight away. I have no reason to doubt this guy but id like to start checking my bike to see if there is anything I can do myself first. It could be any one of 100 things as far as I know, maybe he just put too much oil in ( I wish...). where can I start? thanks

perfect, thanks

well, yes, I did. But I will have corrected it out of instinct. I know its the only way to get round a corner but Im wanting to know if its better just to keep going with what 'feels right' or get it drummed into my head that 'oh theres a car coming toward me - push left' rather than just doing it instinctively. Ive been riding for 2 years and never had an accident - even on really shitty roads. is it just overcomplicating things? (if it isnt broken etc.)

so I was out riding the twisting mountain roads yesterday and thinking about an 'emergency countersteering' video I had watched the other day. I cant beileve I never realised that I was 'countersteering' all this time I was riding! I always thought I was turning using my knees/tank/ass or whatever - certainly not my handlebars...! you would assume this was common sense but since I never formally learned how to ride, I always did everything on instinct. anyway, this got me thinking about what I was doing and I almost felt as if I was beginning to 'overcomplicate' things on the corners (ie -which way to push/how much/thinking too much) and what should I do in an emergency. But in the past I may have pushed the wrong way (and probably did) so, I could definatley see the advantages of being aware of what I was doing. So - question (at last...): is countersteering considered an 'advanced riding technique'? Regrdless, do people go out and practice this (when cornering etc.) in case of emergency or whatever? (please bear in mind i never took my test so i have little idea about riding theory). cheers

blip??????

yeah, into my 3rd year (teaching) now in asia. Koreas a great place as home base for travelling around asia. actually rice wine costs about 50p so thats usually what I pay for my service too! Teachings ok, but i could never afford to do half the shit i do here back in the uk. I can pick up a 650cc bike 700 quid and run it for nothing! and the roads out here are great. monsoons a bit shitty sometimes though... actually, sometimes i get my girlfriend to translate for me but its usually easier to explain in my broken korean than it is to explain to her hehe. what about you? you teaching too?

thanks for the tips, I wouldnt have thought about 'easing it in' ahem... if that hadnt been pointed out. I tried it both ways last night (sorry about that) when the rain let off for 5 effing mins and its just a bit more tricky going down but easlily do-able. On my bike if i let the throttle off tooo much (the same as I usually would) it doesnt work so it works like a 'quick shift'. I can definately see the advantages of this! (good idea for one handed riding too techno). Ive read other comments on other sites and they seem to give the impression that so long as you dont hammer it in, it doesnt do any real damage (this is mostly on the track). Though some people think this is cos they are always repairing the bikes. one guy reccons in a year he didnt see any difference on wear whether he used the clutch or not (a mechanic). I also read the clutch should mostly be used for moving out of first and putting the bike in neutral (ie cutting out the engine). anyways, lots of possiblilities here! oh, and thanks for the comments everyone.

(ricco 1) im in south korea. yeah the language barrier is the big thing really. Im lucky here though cos a lot of things mechanical are english like oil (oil-uh). Is it the same in indonesia? they seem pretty helpful folk on the whole though. usually here they just help you out if they like you - its a cultural difference you cant just offer them money, this is not england. I usually build up a rapour by giving them rice wine or watermelons if they do a bit extra work for me, so next time theyll do it again! genius... Otherwise, if you take youre bike in and ask them to fix it, theyll either tell you theres nothing wrong with it and refuse to fix it, or fix it and then fix a whole load of other things that dont need fixing and tell you they were broken (actually, now that I think about it, it isnt a whole lot different to when I used to get my car fixed in England...). hence the fact that my original post was asking how I go about fixing things myself (j4ff).

are there any advantages? any tips to do it more seemlessly/better? Is there much difference between shifting up and down (in terms of wear?). Im new to all this and have no intention of making a habit of it, I just want to know what my possibilities are and what people think, as the jury seems to be out on this subject.

thanks

ive checked and done most of that already this week/weekend. Ill check the bolts and nuts tomorrow when i check for chain stretch. So how difficult is it to change the break fluid? If i do that will it be a pain trying to get air out and is there a possiblity i could knack the breaks? what about clutch/break cables - they get some hammer (especially the clutch cable cos my clutch is useless going into neutral). How often do they need to be changed?

sorry, what i meant was 'Ive' had the bike 5 months. Its a 2002 model. cheers still, ill change the filter. I have a spare in the house somewhere.

I live in asia and the guys at the bike shops dont seem to make any money off of repairs except the profit they make from selling the parts. So, they dont make any money from fixing your bike. The problem with this is, they dont really do a 'service' because they wont make any money off it. Ive had my bike for 5 months and Im doubting it has ever had its standard 4000k service checks and its impossible to find someone who will do them for me (usually I just get the oil break pads changed rather than checking them every few months for example). I dont really know what Im doing with mechanical or anything at all technical but Im thinking its time to learn (for obvious reasons). Question - (a bit convaluted...). How difficult is it to change the break fluid? and could I learn to do it myself with the bike service manual (which I downloaded with the help of a thread from this site by the way - top stuff!). Is it very difficult to clean the carburetors and would/could I potentially frick the bike by playing around with them (dismantling the required parts)?. Is there anything else I should be periodically doing to service the bike? (like I say, every now and again I just buy new bits to save the hastle...) oh, and one more thing. I went on holiday last week and some kind citizen decided to push all 180kgs of my bike over and leave it lying on the ground for 4 days. Is there anything I should be checking for (I cant see anything obvious but Im going to check the steering today)?. I took the tank off and checked the air filter and it wreeks of petrol. Is that normal? should I change it or will it help the filtration? what about battery acid/break fluid leaks? any answers to any of the questions will be gratefully recieved. Thanks!

thanks for replies. well it doesnt sound as if its anything to worry about in that case. Its not a performance bike, I just use it for sight seeing so Ill not play with it just yet (for risk of making it worse). cheers

bloody ell' that was quick! Its a hyosung comet 250cc (korean). It has the standard exhaust that came with the bike still or at least the same model. whats an aftermarket exhaust btw? cheers

so Im new to this so excuse my ignorance hehe. As Im riding downhill and coming to a stop/turn soon, sometimes i just let the bike ride in gear and Im not accelarating - but the engine/gravity is slightly pushing against the clutch (im sorry i dont know if thats right) giving it higher revs but slowing the bike a bit). any way, as Im doing this, I would expect the engine to be a continuous HHHHHMMMMmmmm sound (getting lower) as it slows to a stop. But it doesnt. It sounds like a fire fight in palestine (thats literally how it sounds) pap hmmmm pap papapapap pap hmmmmm pap pap ( ahem...). Is it suppossed to sound like this? I asked someone and he said 'the mix' is wrong. Hes sometimes wrong about these things, so I thought Id ask someone who knows or at least for a second opinion. why is it making that sound and what can I do about it?

hey-up, how do the principles of braking and cornering change (if they do) when you are going down a steep hill with tight corners? Ill be honest, im not excited about accelerating out of the corners downhill so i would like to know if its necessary or not... etc. thanks in advance