Chrissb6

Hi, Top tip , dont heat up the seized bolt, heat up the metal around the seized bolt, heating up the bolt makes the bolt expand making it even tighter in the thread, also heating up the bolt make the metal of the bolt go soft rendering it useless. you need to make a differential in tempreture between the bolt and the engine casing. Its the bolt that you need to shrink - keep cool and the casing heat up - expand to allow its removal. Try using a small blow torch with a fine flame around the area of metal securing the bolt, you don't have to go mad and get it all red hot, A squirt and soak of anti siezure oil will also help before you start. Works for me, was shown this way years ago. Best of luck

Hi, You don't say how old your Bonni is? You might want to check if the nuts & bolts are metric or the old imperial sizes before you go out and buy a service kit.

Hi, The amount of charge put into a battery is controlled by the bikes voltage regulator. So time is not the factor, the condition of the battery governs how much charge the alternator puts out. A battery that kept in a poor state of charge can and will put unnessasary strain on the charging circuit and componants you could end up with a knackerd alternator or voltage regulator, also doing this puts an excessive voltage - charge into the flat battery which ends up boiling it dry - shortning the batterys life. So, as said, if your running a alarm that you know is a drain on the battery its best to connect the bike up to an optimate charger. Long term they well pay for themselves.

Check that all the head bolts - nuts are all pulled down and all torqued properly, might be that a head bolt or nut has come loose. Failing that, it a new gasget, sooty deposits outside the engine will come from a leaking gasget as the fuel air mixture will have gone to poo.

Hope it all works out, you can get a lot of bike for your money if you shop around, l run a 20yrs old zx10 done 36,000 miles would jump on it anytime to go anyware, has never let me down

Hi ya, 2 strokes can be a bit of a pain staring from cold, normally an on - off switch or plunger only for the choke control. If the motor is cold, use the choke and kick start the bike with no throttle control, let the motor warm up, after a moment or two, let the choke off and warm the motor up blipping up the throttle a couple of times to clear the engine - exhaust. A warm engine requires only part throttle opening to start it. Hope this helps

Don't worry about the age or milage, look more towards how its been kept and look after. Have you ever been to a vintage rally? I've seen 1 yr old bikes that look like sheds, and i've seen 20yr old bikes with 80,000 miles looking brand new. Service records and looks go a long way. Best of luck with your choice.

We green lane, its a big ask to get a tyre that will work on on tarmac and dirt. If your riding on green lanes and muddy fields, knobbleys are the only way to be honest.

Up date, we talked this one over on a pint of beer last night, my mate who is a top spanner man suggest, you double check the radcap and seal before going any further. There's a strong chance of this leaking and not holding pressure, end result boiling over into the bottle. Another test is to fill up to within an a couple of inches of the top of the rad cap run up the motor without the radcap on. the water should rises up slowly as the motor heats up but not pump water out all over the place. Should this happen then your possibly looking at the head gasget or worse a leak in the casing - liners. this can be caused by the lack of useing the wrong amount of anti freez - inhibitor. fingers crossed for ya

Ok! well the only way you can make volume is to add fluid so, as some have already said, you really need to check the state of your oil. If the oil is milky then its odds on that the head gasget gone. but before you strip the top half of the engine down, check the water pump. There are seals in there that might be leaking and letting oil in the coolant system.

Hi, your right if you are going to drain the system, but on filling the system you will have this screw closed. You then fill up the system to the required level and then open this screw to vent the pipe work and the pump, you need to see coolant come out of here, then you close the screw. Check again your coolant levels. You will then know that, there's no air in the hoses to the water pump and that the pump is full and ready to run. Any air in the rest of the system will then be pump't out to the expansion bottle once you start the motor. Run it for a little while, then stop and check your levels again. This should be all you need to do. Hope this helps

Hi, there should be a small bleed bolt down at he water pump, find this and bleed the air out of the pump. If the pump is air locked you will have no chance to pump out any air locks in the rest of the system. start the motor and run it for a short while stop and check the coolant levels now and again. If this over flowing continues, it might be that the pump is duff or you could be looking at a leaking head gasget

Hi, I would not try and run it again until you have stripped it down and taken a look. There is a possibility that, you might have a broken piston ring, a piece of this could drop in to the crankcase and make the job a hole lot more expensive. If the barrel is nickleseal coated l would of thought you would be looking at a replacement barrel piston and rings, would also suggest fitting new little ends for peace of mind. I use to know of a small machine shop in Notts that use to machine the barrels out and insert a steel liner should you find you cannot find a replacement at the right price, note: if you barrel is scratch or scored you have no chance at all of cleaning it up it will have to be replace or machined. Dont cut corners, it just not worth the time and agro

Hi, finding no water in the system your probably looking at a piston seizure, bottom ends cranks etc, normally let go through lack of oil. Anyway to strip the motor down you have to start at the top so the head - barrel and piston is you first port of call. Take a close look at the piston - rings and the bore of the barral for any signs of damage. you can then inspect the crank for excessive movement of damage. Hopefully you get away with a top half rebuild. Note on completion, double check your cooling system for the cause of the problem in the first place best of luck

If you want one just for a bit of D.I.Y then go for a cheap one, most will do all thats needed to sort the bike prob's out. If you got the experiance to use a high spec one your probably in the trade anyway.

Agree, sounds like a tight chain, check to see if the chain has streched in one spot. After ajusting a drive chain turn the rear wheel and check the ajustment to see if there is a tight spots, if you find it excessive then the chain is probably shot. Also check your spockets to see if there hooked at the tips or worn down on the drive side. A creaky chain is so dangerous.

Well, l had to take my Bimota in for a service after draining down and and covering it up for the winter, on filling it up with fresh fuel ready for its first outing it ran like a 3 legged horse. On stripping the carbs float chambers, you would on though it had been wintered in salt water. The guy in the workshop later told me, draining the system is the worst thing you can do,. Better to start it up now and again and run the engime up to tempreture until the fan cuts in, this get all the moisture out of the engine oil and runs fresh fuel through the system. Been doing this ever since with no prob's. I'm with Colin on this one, just keep the battery on charge and the bike well locked up

Jumping straight onto a 600 or 636 kwak or duke is a big ask, have you found out about insurance for these bikes being that your a first timer? You might be in for a shock!. Would suggest a good second hand bike myself, sods law say's, you will have a miss hap, all part of the learning curve l'm affraid, we've all been there truth be known.

Hi, sound like the gasget is shot. The problem is, if the exhaust gasget leaks due to a bolt or other coming loose. Escaping hot gases will jet micro groves into the gasget making it useless. Note: "a exhaust gasget can only be compressed and used once". Problem you will now have is that, to remove this leaking gasget you will have to disconnect the other pipes to gain access, so more than one gasget will be required. Depending on how the exhaust is built, in may come off in 2 pieces so only 2 replacement gasgets will be required. Its not a big job or expensive. Note: on completion make sure all the bolts or nuts are torqued up to the required specification for to avoid a repeat of the problem. Best of luck

Hi ya, you dont need a torque wrench to undo nuts or bolts. A good socket set with a power bar your best bet to carry out this task. Torque wrenches are used to make sure nuts and bolts are tightened to there correct specification, as you probably found out you can overtighten, the danger of this is that you can stretch bolts to a point of snapping or strip threads, or on the other hand, run around with them loose.

Hi, will the engine rev past 7k out of gear? if not, then its got to be restricted via the C.D.I - ingnitor unit. You should be able to get a uk spec replacement easy, must be loads in the breakers. Note this engine is just getting onto the cam at this speed, after this the fun starts Hope you get it sorted. ps, drop me a line if you have'nt sorted it, i've got some very good kawasaki contacts

Hi, You would be better useing a H.I.D setup as the control circuit only uses on average 35 watts of power per lamp, so if you want, you could have a pair of H.I.D lamps on for the same power consumption of one 65watt halogen lamp "its a no brainer".

Hi, on a follow up i've just open the link you posted for the wireing diagram of the lighting circuit. Be careful, that wireing diagram is for a car, no way would a bike power supply carry that load without you running into problems Have a look through this site it might help. http://www.electrosport.com/street/hid-lighting.php From a custom point of view you can fit a pair of lamps then put h.i.d bulbs inside. The only problem you have there is, that night becomes day!! have fun sorting it all out

Hi There, for me there's only one way to go now and that's the H.I.D route. They have come down a bunch in price now. best thing ever fitted to my bike from a safty point of view nobody can say they did'nt see you and are awesome to ride with. What you got to be so careful with especialy with the bikes electric's is the damage you can do to both the wireing loom and alternater.You can easerly over load these circuits with tungsten lamps. H.I.D lamps in general only consume 35watts and give a light output way above any tungsten lamps whith out melting the light fitting as its a arc lamp. You got to carefull what colour light you want, they go from around 2,000 kelvin yellow upto 10,000 which comes out purple. 6000 to 7500 is what most people fit. If you need any more info or help drop me a line. I would not personnaly go down the route of loading up the bikes electric's with extra light fittings.

I think we'll try and make this one. Will be in the car as the kids would not want to miss out.