Tinkicker

When the missus and I went touring, we used to use book binding film to temporarily protect the vfr paintwork from throwover rubbing. Cheap to buy and easy to remove with boiling water.

Just found an old pic of one of my bikes. Sold it to take up boating instead. Obviously taken for the ebay ad.

Good and bad, but mostly good thanks to this forum. Today was the shakedown ride for the VFR. Again, my usual 30 mile route. Stopped a few times to sniff suspiciously for leaking fuel as it was the first time the new carb o rings were being used in anger. Nothing, no smell of leaking fuel. Great. Bike was a delight to ride. The new Michelins. Well was surprised to find they appeared to slow down the steering quite a bit. When tipping into corners, it was a bit like falling off a cliff with the previous bridgestones. Of course new tyres so I was not pushing them, not that I ever push them these days. Very low speed work with feet up seemed far more sure footed and confidence inspiring too. I think I made the correct choice.. 25 miles in and I stop at the petrol station and fill her to the brim with Esso 99 supreme, once again checking for drips under the bike. Nothing. I ride the remaining five miles towards home. Just before reaching the outskirts of the village, I thought that I should take a quick pic to document the ride for this forum and pulled over, ran over the road while leaving the bike idling. Waited for some cyclists to pass and took my pic. Returned to the bike and saw fuel literally running down the rear footrest hanger onto the floor. What the hell. Only thing above that footrest hanger is the fuel pump. I surmised I must have tugged on and disturbed one of the delivery hoses when I took the carbs off and it had just started to leak at the fuel pump hose barb. Damn. At least it is literally only a 60 second ride home. Arrived home, pulled the seat and loosened the seat cowl to get a view of the pump. The connections were dry, so where is the leak? Pulled the pump out and voila! Fuel was leaking out of the drain hole on the points cover. Only one thing would cause that, the diaphragm must have split. The damn thing is only 3 years old.. At least it failed or was discovered to have failed less than a half mile from home, not 70 miles away in Scarborough. Failed pump. Could have been far worse so I am not too perturbed. Edit: Ordered one with a 5 year warranty for £25 all in. Will fit it next weekend. I remember when you were forced to buy OEM from Honda. We had 3x Deauville instructor bikes and their pumps also seemed to split diaphragms around the 3 year mark / 20,000 miles. I also remember they were £220 in the early 2000s. Eek. Appears to be the same pump as the deauville.

If you had not stated you were at Shardlow, I would have sworn blind that the last three pics were pics of Naburn. A far cry from the heavily industrial Goole Boathouse Marina, an old timber pond on Goole Docks. Many of the smaller boats arrived there from Naburn too, as the less well heeled, but enthusiastic boaters were forced out by the ever increasing fees after the original owner and builder sold it to a building material supplier chain. The focus seemed to change from the enthusiastic boater to well heeled, distance owners who rarely if ever visited, and the caravan club with new clubhouse, shower blocks and the hardstandings where boats were taken out for maintenance turned into caravan pitches. I heard from a few of those that arrived at Goole a couple of years after us that apparently, quite a few boats chocked up on the hardstandings long term while being gradually overhauled had notice that their annual contracts would be refused at renewal time and had to be scrapped as older, scruffy boats perched on oil drums while being repaired long term were now frowned upon. Of course the fact that they were sitting on proposed caravan pitches had nothing to do with it. A nightmare scenario for the owners as what the hell do you do with an elderly, comparatively low value fibreglass boat that is unseaworthy and too large to tow away on a trailer? I guess cutting it up and throwing the pieces in a series of skips is the only thing you can do. Anything else involves heavy haulage to a different location or very expensive marina fees for the disposal. At least ours at just a shade under 22ft had a trailer. Taken winter 2010. Many empty berths as the enthusiastic boaters are forced out by ever rising fees and slowly being filled with million pound boats whose owners were never seen. The once busy, friendly pontoons were desolate. We spent entire weekends where we only saw maybe two people. The beginning of the end for us at Naburn. We hung on another couple of years. Big money always destroys everything it dreams of... Goole Marina... Not Naburn, but also not run by bandits... At that time. Times change. Heavily industrial and in the final analysis, not worth £500 per night. I will never own a boat in the UK ever again.

The other definition of a boat is a hole created in the water that you attempt to fill with money.

Today I burped the oil pump, although truth be told, as expected, I only got a tiny air bubble out. It would have probably passed through the pump and into the motor without incident. But for the sake of four screws and the bleed screw it was not worth it. Consider yourself burped.. Then I took her out for her first post recommisioning shakedown ride. She behaved flawlessly over the 30 or so miles and would loft the front end in first with a snap of the throttle (even with my hopeless, inexpert attempt.. if only I had the fluid skills and reactions I used to have) and even with the road friendly gearing in which first is probably closer to second on stock gearing. Again, in top, she is obviously overgeared but far less of a busy bee at highway speeds. 50mph equates to 5000rpm. Hottest cyl head temp I saw was 164C on the 135 main jet. She would probably do a little better with the stock 130, albeit with higher temps, but for the sake of my piston I am happy as she is. IIRC she was hitting around 175/180 on the stock jetting. I am happy that I can hold full throttle in a headwind and be still in the very safe zone. The few mph it costs at the topend is worth the sacrifice for the good of the motor. I am no longer a speed demon. Big blue paying his respects to the 892 brave aircrew who lost their lives flying bombing missions over enemy occupied territory from RAF Snaith during WW2. She rolled over 2300 miles on the oddometer as we turned in the gate and the trip meter showed 105 trouble free miles since the complete engine rebuild.

As you say, marina fees are getting well out of hand. In 2007 we dipped our 22ft binliner into the waters of the river ouse at naburn marina York. Cost was around £850 plus the vat. By 2012, it had gone up to over £2k plus the vat. Meanwhile, they were busily building new shower blocks and parking for caravans and we were paying for it. The smaller boats as noted, were well attended on a weekend, the larger ones, your 40ft Princesses and Fairline Targas nope, never saw anyone on them, yet they were kept valeted and kept well by the marina staff. I suspect they were corporate tax avoidence devices, under the guise of " hospitallity". Naburn, although a delightfully picturesque marina got far too expensive and the less expensive boats started moving out as did we, we ended up in the very industrial " timber yard" on the Aire and Calder, where the fees started at £800 per year. Then the newer, bigger boats started arriving... And the mooring fees starting rising faster and faster, and the winter lift out, hull insurance, river licence, and the annual maintenance... By 2015 we had had enough, it was costing us over the year, the equivalent of £500 per night for every night we spent on Moonie. She had to go.. I admit, I shed a tear when I walked away from her. My heart grieved, but my head danced.. Still miss it sometimes. I do not miss the 4 mpg that I was getting from that chevy V6 motor at 6kts however...

Oil tank for the 175 duly arrived and fitted. An amazing reproduction of a long out of production and unobtainable part.

Still recall my green VFR750 bought brand new in 1997. It is on SORN and has no MOT history. Last change of logbook was in 2012. I look on ebay at least twice a week for it turning up, but apart from one exciting prospect that ultimately turned into a false find, nothing.

Finally got the vfr taxed and ready for the season.

And we come to the devil bike. How would she fare? What part have I not attended to in the past? If there are any, I can expect the worst. Never mind, time to get her road ready. First job was remove the left sidepanel to ensure that the oil pump check valve had held the oil in the oil tank, and not allowed it to fill the crankcase over winter... Oil tank appeared full. Great. Check valve is not leaking and is doing a good job since I rebuilt the pump. Boo. The oil tank had inexplicably parted company with the hinge over the winter. I had noted some very fine stress cracks in the hinge flange before, but they did not appear to be spreading. But of course, this was the item I had not replaced previously... I went on ebay to buy a remanufactered tank on ebay and found the supplier sold out ( it may be that my public service announcement on a dedicated yamaha enduro forum last week, pointing out this supplier may have been a shot to the foot - me and my big mouth). I have sent the supplier a message to see if he plans on making more. Is this the only part left that had not been replaced? Why it has failed after not been moved for 6 months is a bit perplexing. I shook my head and soldiered on. Fill with fuel, fuel tap on, allow carb to fill for 30 seconds or so and 4 kicks later, away she went. I warmed her up, changed the dead battery in the cylinder head temp meter and ran her carb dry again. I was going to give her a run today, but not with the insecure oil tank. Devil bike 0 Alkylate fuel treatment - sucess. That is 3 out of 3 sucesses and the way I will store my bikes over winter from now on. As for the other problems, that is just playing the vintage bike wack a mole game. Every part that fails and relaced is one less failure in the future. I think apart from the frame, the entire bike is brand new. Looking lovely in the spring sunshine and I must admit, she sounds as good as she looks. That comprehensive engine rebuild was money well spent.

Join the club. I have permanent jet engines roaring and whining away in my ears....

Another disappointed Oxford Boss Alarmed Disc Lock here. After 12 months of being sat on the bike in a dry shed, the alarm unit failed. New batteries did nothing. A quick look on google showed it was a common problem. Had no trouble with the lock itself mind you.

Up and about early. We put our clocks forward last night, so it is not a big shock come Monday morning. 20 mins work and she is done. Just needs taxing on Tuesday. I intend to put the big blue back on the road tomorrow. Of course, she is mot and tax exempt but I will do a full mot inspection on her before she ventures out on the road. Just a five minute job. Another ready for the upcoming season..

As with all my restorations, it is pretty much a brand new bike. Although the base engine has not been touched. A complete waste of time, every breaker knows that offering up a vfr engine meets with zero demand....

New o rings arrived. Fitted them and put the carbs back together. This time, since it was not a complete rebuild, I split them so I would not have to alter any adjustments. A far more fiddly way to do it, but if it meant saving my fingers from getting burned while rebalancing the carbs, so much the better. Thankfully Honda put everything on indexing spigots so everything would go together in exactly the same relationship as before. Otherwise burned fingers time.. Would my hope to avoid the dreaded balancing be true, or be thrown on the scrapheap? Only time would tell. Carbs fitted, tank on loosely, spin engine over till pump stopped clacking, then choke on and away we go. Run for a couple of minutes, look under bike for drips. Nothing. Remove tank and check the fuel manifold tubes.. Dry as a bone . Yey! Good for another 25 years.. Fitted airbox, put everything else back together and warmed her up. Checked idle speed. Smack on 1000 rpm as before and she idled as nice as before, so no burned fingers. It keeps raining and to put the side panels on requires the panels to be at eye level, and I need the bike outside to fit them, but thats only a 10 minute job for tomorrow. So instead of an expensive job requiring £60 for an extremely expensive set of Honda O rings, It cost me £3.37 in o rings ( with 6 spares) and three hours of my time. Happy with that. Till next spring and more gnashing of teeth as some other elderly part decides to croak... The joys of the vintage bike owner. Waiting for fairing panels and tax, then she is road ready. [

No autolube. That came in 77 complete with power restriction and pedal delete. The bent bars in front of the engine were an optional accessory in 76. Not sure if 77 went from rotary disc valve induction to Reed valve induction too.

New for 1976. Front hydraulic disc brake. Bigger forks, different carb and choke setup. And the all important yellow tank and sidepanels with the black Kenny Roberts speedblocks. NWY923P.

Yamaha FS1DX. Sold for £150.

Indeed it is.

School is what it is... A preparation of what is to follow. They say you cannot put an old head on young shoulders. But.............. If they did, the teenage pregnancy statistics would have spiked... I thought the girls were taking the piss, and I was far more interested in the products of Yamaha to bother studying any aspect of these crudely conceived " introductions". If not, the word would have soon gotten around that sit on my knee in a pretend piss taking way to embarrass the quiet lad would quickly lead to breasts being fondled. They started it.. Not moi. If I could go back now, but still be myself as today. School would have been far more fun.. And far less challenging. School is far easier than the reality of working for a living.

Be nice to have a look around the old place and bring back some hot memories and provide and answer some burning questions regarding my nostalgic view of those days.. Moved away from the area over 20 years ago and feeling nostalgic, put Birkdale High School into google.... Hells bells... I feel the need to assert that my 3rd year chemistry experiments are not to blame..

Carbs off and one split away to get to the offending seals. Honda wants you to buy two "gasket kit B" at over £20 each to get the required number of seals " which is why I never bothered last year. I thought they were a special size. It is seemingly top secret info as to the size of the o rings. Plenty want to rebuild your carbs with new o rings, but never tell you the size. So I removed a good seal and measured it. Bog standard 8 x 2mm o ring. On inspecting the leaky one, no idea why it leaked, it is pliable, clean and undamaged, with very little or no distortion. Plenty of "squeeze" left in it, but clearly not enough. I measured the outside diameter on the T tube at 11.5mm. So assuming a new 8 x2 o ring will give 12mm outer diameter, the old one has deformed by 0.5mm. I have ordered a pack of 10 viton o rings for £3.32. There you have it. 8 x 2mm. The cat is out of the bag and no longer a secret. BTW. To measure an o ring pick it up squarely with calipers on the inside diameter, let the calipers close, watching the scale closely until the o ring starts to slip and drop off under its own weight. That is your inside measurement. Then measure the cross section at 90 degrees to the loaded plane. If the o ring is deformed, the measurement will be a little " over" example 2.25mm. O rings are sized by 0.5mm increments so if 2.25mm, it has been squashed outwards slightly, so assume when new, it was 2mm. You can usually see if it has been deformed.

Got the long awaited phone call yesterday. My new tyres are ready for collection. Collected them this morning, all good. Fitted the right way around ect. Bloke in bike shop spoke to the importer and it transpires that bike tyres are flying out of the warehouse door as fast as they come in. They can't keep up with demand.... So much for biking in the doldrums. A very nice pair indeed. Refitted the wheels, took the bike outside and put a gallon of fresh fuel in. Will my scheme of emptying the tank and carbs and not touching the bike again all winter pay off without resorting to dismantling the carbs and cleaning them out again? Whir, gave it a few presses of the button to allow the carbs to fill and away she went nice as ninepence... Great. Wait! What is that drip under the bike? Aw bollocks its fuel, one of the floats must be stuck. bast*rd thing, I put all new needles and seats in last spring. Gave what looked like the offending carb a tap with the screwdriver. Drip, drip. Crap. Off with the airbox lid and filter, deffo not the carbs overflowing. Can't be the float bowls leaking because the gaskets were also replaced last spring and the bike behaved impecably. No leals whatsoever. That only leaves one thing... Shiiite. Of course, with my great luck only the most difficult job on the entire bike, entailing removing and splitting the carbs yet again. Remove airbox, stack horns and top plate to get a better look. Yup. One of the fuel manifold O rings has dried out over winter and I need to split the carbs yet again to replace them. I could scream... I should have replaced them last year, but they felt fine. Kicking myself... Wet brown pipe marks the spot.... AAAARGH! Mightily pissed off with old bikes at the moment... Its never an easy job that plagues them.

Just a suggestion apparently. Note to myself... Avoid London like the plague. Horrible place.