Fiddlesticks

Always worth asking - it might help someone else too Welcome in, anyway

Hi, welcome to the forum. Nice bikes, the ZZRs. Post a pic or 2 when you get one.

I'd give it a while see if you get used to it. If not, have a look at the lever, it's likely to be adjustable. Loosen off the clamp bolt, pull lever off the splines move round one or two notches and re-tighten.

Bonjour, Bienvenue. C'est difficile a louer une moto ici. Il y a quelques endroits près de Londres -recherchez "motorcycle rentals".

The Explorer is all back together, after a fashion. Did a test ride this evening and although the temporary bolts and washers holding the mudguard on look a bit wrong, they'll do until the real ones arrive. At least I don't have to steal Mrs. Fiddlesticks' Volvo in the morning. A scruffy bike beats a tidy car any day of the week.

Bit more of a frustrating day today. Both tyres and check the front brakes. In theory, nothing too tricky, but first had to assemble the new tyre changer. Then learn how to use it. It's one of those free standing gizmos, which leads to endless hilarity as it simply spins around as you try to rotate the arm. Got the rear done, then double checked the manual to remind me of the work flow for the front. "First remove the mudguard". Easy for you to say. Every bolt I touched turned to mush. Cue much wailing and gnashing of teeth. Got there in the end. But my lack of skill with the ConStands needs to be addressed. Now browsing Triumph part lists for new mudguard bolts. Maybe Wickes have something in stock. Shouldn't take too long to fit, but a bit annoying that it wasn't all done by close of play. That's life, I guess.

Have a good one.

Have had a bit of an issue with the Explorer recently, in that the shaft drive oil seal has been leaking. Managed to clear a bit of time this weekend to get it sorted. First job which I did last night - get the bike on the turntable so that it can be worked on with the other bikes in the garage, and left overnight. This is a precision bit of manoeuvring with the added jeopardy of a rather shiny Triumph Thunderbird to crash into should it all go sideways. To do this I had to remove the top box and sliding carriage to make the bike a bit shorter. Once in place, remove the rear wheel, exhaust, rear calipers and speed sensor, rear hugger, torque arms, coolant tank cover, front left footpeg hanger and gear linkage, and the rubber boot that goes between the swingarm and the gearbox housing. Next, support the rear diff, undo the left and right pivot pins and gently pull the rear diff, complete with shaft, back through the swingarm and out. Now I was able to see the offending oil seal and the mess it had left behind. As pointed out by someone a few weeks ago, it looks as if it had previously been attacked with a screwdriver. It was also mentioned that I'd probably need an expensive tool to remove it. Here's what I came up with: After a quick trip to Screwfix (what kind of mechanic only has one pair of mole grips??) it became clear that the bike was not going to relinquish its oil seal willingly. It was wobbling around on the centre stand, (the Thunderbird looking nervous at this point) but no amount of tugging would budge it. Time to break out the big guns. Work smarter, not harder. A ratchet strap yeilded a few spectacular rips of screw through rubber, and bent nails being launched into the air. After about 45mins of this foolishness, I began to think it was time to put everything back together, admit defeat, and take the bike in to the shop for a trained professional to do the job in five seconds flat. But then I noticed the seal was almost out! One last pull, and excalibur was released from the stone. I'm a genius. More surprised than anything, I greased up the new one and found that the nossle of the bike dryer made the perfect drift when coupled with a long bit of wood poked through the swingarm. Now to put everything back together, the only issue being I don't have the tool to torque up the castle ring locking nut. Two hits with a hammer and drift is 100Nm... Right? I checked the rear pads and was surprised to see uneven wear. Houston, do we have a problem? I cleaned up the retaining pins on the bench grinder with the wire wheel attachment, and pumped out the pistons a bit to clean them with a toothbrush. A quick blast with the brake cleaner and put new pads in, copperslip in all the right places. I'll have to keep an eye on it. Here's something strange. One of the caliper bolts is a 15, the other one is a 14. One is longer than the other. Trial and error proved both ways round saw the long bolt hitting the brake disc and jamming the wheel. What the...? I'm a moron. Forgot to refit the rear hugger. I must have had the back end off this bike six times and every single time I make the same mistake! So far so good. The rear tyre has done roughly 9000 miles, and is still legal, but it does have a bacon strip in it after picking up a screw recently. As I'm doing the front tomorrow, I'll replace this as well. Looking forward to playing with my new tyre changer. Chinese takeaway calls. No more work today.

That must give so much satisfaction. Congratulations on a lovely job.

My 0.02¢ Firstly - commiserations! Hopefully you'll get it passed soon. Stalling in itself isn't an issue. I did it on my MOD2 and instantly started the bike back up and carried on. Not recovering from a stall quickly and well would be a problem. (Plus doing all safety checks before setting off). I'd be concerned about the school, rather than the examiner. (Was it the same examiner all six times?) You generally are entered in for your MOD2 by a riding school, who should only put you forward once you have done all the training and are test ready. It sounds like a different school has suggested further lessons, which is expensive, but I think good advice. Otherwise you'll just be going round in circles not fixing any riding issues. You can also opt for a different test centre, if you choose. My feeling is that it will be much the same though. The standard of riding required is quite high in the UK. The examiners work to a script, and very specific score sheet. They're civil, but never over-friendly.

Print out its photo and attach it to the nearest lamp post.

Hi

Buy the bike a year before you want to ride it. That'll knock a bit off the quote.

Some people have way too much imagination

It was my first time, you'd be amazed how quick you pick it up. You can even go as a complete non-rider and they start you off in a field, before moving you on to the rough stuff.

https://mickextanceexperience.com/ultimate-off-road-day/ Never being one to turn down an opportunity, I recently took the last spot on a Mick Extance experience day with eleven other headcases from the biker gang* to which I had recently been inducted. “Off-roading?” “January?” “Wales?” “Ah, go on then, you only live once.” It probably didn’t help that Friday night was a five-course Chinese New Year banquet, Saturday was a day on the bike, culminating in a plate of chips which may or may not have been the straw that broke the camel’s back. Sunday morning then. Up at six for an hour and a half drive down to Oswestry after an eventful night praying to the porcelain gods. So here we were, in a converted schoolhouse full of enduro bikes, Pan Americas and Stark Vargs with knobbly tyres watching the obligatory safety video. It was to be a day of wheel spinning, muck spraying, high-octane tomfoolery and anti-social behaviour thinly disguised as self-improvement. Cover the clutch, see. Most important. A list pinned to the wall had my name against a number. The same number in the changing room had all the gear I would need for the day in my size. For a moment, I forgot about the questionnaire I’d filled out a few weeks prior. And the waiver. I don’t remember the exact wording, but it was along the lines of “Don’t come running to us if you break both your legs riding one of our bikes”. Fair enough? I guess so. We were bundled into a muddy minibus and driven up a hill to base camp where the bikes were waiting. After a bit of a demo and in-person safety briefing (“cover the clutch, very important…”), we got to choose our steed for the morning session. Being a bit of a traditionalist, I went with the Beta 350. My first time on an Enduro bike. Mirrors? Speedo? Gear position indicator? Rev counter? Indicators? Neutral light? Not required. From here on in, there would be only fire roads, mud and rock trails and gnarly obstacles to overcome. Such fripperies held no place in this world. There was ice on the ground in patches, but after the first half hour, we were all burning enough calories that we didn’t notice the cold. Riding these trails is physically demanding. I took to standing on the pegs, hands over the bars, not being too rigid with the steering input, allowing the bike to find its way between the rocks, ruts and roots. The knobblies proved themselves time and again and confidence grew with each sketchy bounce and swerve. Suddenly, I hit a big rock and was thrown backwards on the bike. My throttle hand gave an involuntary twist, and the bike lurched dangerously forward, creating an unwelcome feedback loop which could only be rectified by… “COVER. YOUR. CLUTCH” Some people learn by reading. Some by listening. The rest of us need to make the dumb mistake at least once before we get it through our thick heads. At least the waiver didn’t come into play. From then on, it all seemed to click. Speed was more a function of slipping the clutch in second gear than any real use of the throttle. Steep obstacles were best approached in second rather than first, as first would just run out too quickly. Momentum was your friend. If you judged it right, you’d get to the top of the hill with not too much speed to spare and cut the power to the rear wheel to prevent accidentally launching yourself into the trees beyond. Braking was another area which differed from road riding. On the road, you would normally rely primarily on the front brake, with perhaps only 10 or 20 percent rear to add a bit of balance and stability. Out here, on loose, slippy ground, the rear brake was your friend. This took some mastering, particularly as much of the time we were riding stood up for the sake of better balance. This was an area where the Stark electric bikes held an advantage. Not being encumbered by such an outmoded contraption as a clutch allowed both brakes to be operated by hand. Combined with the instant torque and responsiveness of the Varg’s 80-horsepower motor and long battery life, it made a good case for itself in this kind of setting. Was it lunchtime already? Back to the hut for a brew and a sandwich. Given the weather, our instructors had opted to stay on one side of the valley for the day, but the whole venue spans 1500 acres of private forestry. Evidence of recent storms in the form of landslips and uprooted trees dotted the landscape. After a half-time debrief, and a bit of fettling and trail repairs on a few of the bikes, we headed back to some of the more challenging trails. Steep descents gave way to puddles a hundred yards long and as deep as your rear tyre. We bounced down staircases of slippery rocks two feet high into deep muddy ruts, too narrow for the bike and both feet to fit. Through forest trails, sketched precariously into the side of the remote mountain. And then… the big one. We all lined up at the bottom of a climb so ridiculous, so outrageous in its sheer impossibility. In the middle of this steep quagmire of doom, there was a step up at least as high as the top of the bike’s front wheel. “There are two ways up,” said Pete, our instructor. “Easy or hard?” Surely a trick question? After everything we’d gone through, everything we’d learned, how could we walk away without giving it a try? “There is no TRY, only DO,” said Pete, like a very tall Yoda. “You have to attack this one. Don’t dip the clutch. Give it everything.” One by one, we bounced up to the formidable obstacle, only for it to throw us sideways or back down the hill. Eventually, though, everyone made it up to the group at the top. I made it on the second attempt, falling to the left immediately above it. My first spill of the day, but I’d bested the Giant, and I was happy. So that was us. A group for whom the word bedraggled was surely invented. We had conquered the vast wastes of the backyard of Dakar Legend Mick Extance and come away victorious. Older, wiser, and certainly wetter than we had arrived, but victorious nonetheless. I hear there are plans afoot to return and some talk of learning to powerslide a Harley Davidson. For now, though, I shall simply enjoy the comfort of my Tiger Explorer and never again complain about wet roads, potholes or the odd spot of gravel. *Wirral Advanced Motorcyclists. Kind of like the Hells Angels but with a more hardcore criminal ethos. Pictures taken by members of the group.

Hi Andy

Hi, welcome

I was at the Tap in Eastham yesterday and they had flyers for this online space. Looks kinda interesting... https://www.bikershangout.co.uk/

Hi all. Just got home from a day's off roading at the Mick Extance Experience in Oswestry. I am dead. Edit: Obligatory picture :

Oh, that old thing.. Just threw it on.

West Midlands #2 - Blists Hill Victorian Town West Midlands #3 - Chameleon Cafe Bar @Manley Mere (closed till March 1st) West Midlands #7 - Joe Porter Motorcycles West Midlands #8 - Lakemore Farm Park West Midlands #10 - Mill Meece Pumping Station

I ordered the XtrActive ones. An extra 20 squids but they're supposed to work behind car windscreens so I'll let you know.

Just ordered some prescription transitions sunglasses. Until they arrive the drop down sun visor will have to do.

Mmmm. Delicious