Tinkicker

Squires cafe one evening. Not my favourite spot, since it moved after the old milk bar closed. Too smooth, plastic and pre packaged for my taste, I like to be able to smell the old 1950s rockers brillcreme oozing from the woodwork. Whats the word I am seeking? Contemporary? Slick? Anyways, I was invited on a ride out to Squires with a couple of instructors one Wednesday evening and was wandering across the car park for a coffee when we spotted a familar looking late 40s or so bald head and face. It was clad in one piece leathers complete with sliders everywhere you could fit a slider, and stood next to a new fireblade. We approached from slightly behind and listened. He was having it large with a bunch of younger guys about getting the kneee down and the best technique ect. We listened for a minute or so until the lads attentions were looking more our way and thought he would notice us stood there pretty quickly. Andy, one of the DAS instructors stepped forward... "Hiya Steve, congrats on passing your test last week, it was pretty touch and go, but you made it in the end. Sorry I couldn't finish your course, I was in Spain. I knew you would be in good hands with Brian. Brian stepped forward, hand outstretched. " Hiya Steve, we got there in the end eh"? I swear if you put a newspaper within six inches of his face, it would have ignited with the heat coming from it. Typical BMBH type that got into biking as a fashion statement in the late 90s.

Pilot jet blocked.

Don't get me started.... I have a 22 honda civic. Biggest pile of poo I bought in years. Havng had a civic and an accord previously, I thought I was in for a treat. Nope, cobbled together modern garbage. It far too wide for the country lanes around here, you cannot reach the passenger door handle from the drivers seat unless you are leaned right over at full stretch. Stupid wide. It has automatic headlamps and an auto main beam that waits for you to start around a left hand bend and it suddenly goes onto main beam, blnding the poor sod on the other side of the road going into his right hand bend. I switch it off as soon as I start the car. What is wrong with using the switch? Our Fiesta also has auto lights, but never blinds anyone, it is very conservative of approaching traffic. Auto start/ stop. Another menace that the idiots at the EU stipulated that will get someone killed. I bet 99% of people switch it off everytime they start the car. Nearly me once in the (auto) fiesta. Forgot to switch it off and stopped at a junction. Quite busy traffic needing a quick departure. Engine stopped and I did not notice. A gap appeared, floored go go pedal and by the time the engine started, the main pressure built up in the transmission and converter and enough for the brain to decide which clutch pack to select and engage, it was far too late. Of course on a manual car, you put your foot on the clutch again if something is awry. Nope, by the time I realised what had happened, the brains in engine and transmission reached an agreement and the soddin car took off like a scalded cat into the road. I found myself looking up a truck drivers flared nostrils... And civic again. Adaptive cruise control. Useful in 30mph zones, you do not have to keep glancing at the speedo. You are approaching a parked car and a car approaching on the other side of the road. You do the mental thing and judge the car will be well past the parked vehicle before you need to start pulling out. BANG! Brakes come on sharply and all manner of flashing lights on the dash lest you have fallen asleep at the wheel. Or road calming chicanes. You pull onto the other side of the road to pass one and there is a car parked 30 yards away on the side of the road. Bang. Nose pushed into steering wheel and admonishing amber lights giving you a rollocking on the dash. Civic again. Driving along and get the urge to scratch your backside. You get five seconds before getting a rollocking from the dash telling you to put both your hands on the steering wheel. Automatic wipers.. Wonder how many wiper blades have been torn to shreds on an icy morning by that "feature". Civic. To retract the door mirrors you would think you just lock the car. You do in the fiesta. Press lock on the fob and the door mirrors fold in. Oh no. On the civic you have to press the lock button twice and hold it down for a few seconds. A bit dozy one rainy morning and one of the lads at work asked why all my windows were down... Apparently if you press and hold the unlock button, it helpfully puts all your windows down. Civic. Wet belt system cambelt. 130,000 mile / 6 year service means engine and transmission removing from the car to change the fecking thing as the designers helpfully put the belt at the rear of the engine. £2000+ service bill. Not that I worry about that. As soon as the pcp agreement is finished, they can have the pile of crap back. Im not keeping it. Never ever thought I would ever find a ford fiesta to be an infinately better car in all respects than a honda civic.

The handlebar switch has a start position and run position. If you start it and forget to put the switch to run, it will do as you describe. So you forgot to move the switch or the switch has gone faulty. If not, look to other issues like a blocked exhaust.

Tiday I took both the little yeller and the 175 for their shakedown rides. Went very well, if a little cold for my taste and with visor fogging up. Apart from that, both rides went well. Humming a tune and on a high, I went to the shed to start up the VFR. Life never cuts me a break, and yup.. No startee. She would fire on one cylinder and usually after a six week layup, the other three would make a leisurly appearance. Today, nope. One cylinder would fire on the starter and another would try and keep failing to reliably light off, so I needed to keep running the starter. She normally idles on two until the rest chimes in. Nothing from the other two at all. The six week layup in the extremely damp weather we have had has I think, turned the ethanol in the carbs to water and fouled the plugs. So it is tank and bodywork off to get at the plugs and carbs. May as well leave it unattended till springtime now. Just removed the battery to keep it charged. Soddin modern fuels... More eco nonsense to put up with. Still, onwards and upwards. Started up the house standby generator and ran it for 20 mins. When I stopped it, there was fuel on the floor and it was from the end of the case where the fuel tap and pump live.... Another job. Welcome to my life. I have two sucessess and pay for it with two failures of previously reliable machines.

Since I had my riding gear on for testing the 175 and the gates to fort knox unlocked, I thought it time to take little yeller out for a spin. Started her and let her warm up for five minutes just idling before setting out. She did not want to take throttle and was bogging down. Four stroking really badly and not wanting more than half throttle. I thought the carburation was way off. However it seemed to clear a little in second. 100 yards further it had cleared completely. I think it was just fuel that had condensed and pooled in the cold crancases while I was warming it up. So what do I think of little yeller? What a peach of a bike. Lovely motor that pulls strongly, is dead smooth and is an absolute hoot to ride. After a mile and warmed through I took her up to 45mph and she did it easily, revving out cleanly. I have no doubt she would easily do 50 - 55mph, but being realistic, 40 to 45 is really the max you would want to be doing. She sounds very busy at 40mph. 55mph would be at 9 or 10000 rpm. I have too much mechanical sympathy for that. The brakes need bedding in, the front in particular is a bit weak, but apart from that, no problems. I absolutely love it. It must be comical viewing though. I am not exactly a small bloke, ex bodybuilder and that bike is absolutely tiny. Little more than a kids bike with road gear on it. A drum sat on a pea springs to mind... Another one back where it belongs. The difference in size between the 175 and the 100 is easily seen here. Both bikes were parked up and photographed in exactly the same place.

Road test time. Took her out on a run arround the village perimeter. Probably around three miles. She pulls fairly strongly through the gears and behaved impeccably. She feels different somehow, more refined. Perhaps now the carb has been put back to stock settings and with genuine parts, the carburation is right. Although I have not taken her above 5000rpm yet, I can still detect that vibration through the pegs at 5000rpm, but I had a notion as to what it could be over the winter. I think it is the chain running over the new nylon chain tensioner block. It has not yet worn enough to allow the chain rollers to glide across it and I am feeling the edges of the sideplates hitting the edge and sliding over the block. The tensioner arm is bolted to the same frame crossmember that the pegs are fastened to.... Back where she belongs.. On a very chilly day. My nose has not stopped running yet..

It is the end. It is fully built up and running fine. Torn between selling it on or keeping it. It was a dream that became an absolute nightmare. But that is my life in a nutshell. I never have an easy run. If I sell it, someone gets a 40 year old bike that is better than new. If I keep it, no doubt it will continue to give me "challenges".

Has to be the weirdest and most pointless use of a motorcycle ever.

To purloin a phrase from Motley Crue.. Kickstart my Heart. Carb on, exhaust on, wiring connected, fuel tank plopped on. Fuel feed connected. Autolube pump bled. Ignition on. Kick. Kick ring a ding ding. Ran it long enough to set idle and check autolube pump was stroking. It was. Pulled back the pulley to observe max pump stroke output. Looked like it should from what I remembered from last time I checked this un and the 100 output. Since I never disturbed the pump or any adjustments, and it is stroking, I will call that ok. I have no premixed fuel to run it long enough to measure output and I do not want to idle it for a few minutes with just the build lube inside. Injection pipe refitted and let it warm up for five minutes. Sounds good and has six in the box. Just need to fit the carb vent pipework, button down the tank, refit the oil pump cover and generator cover, and she is pretty much ready for a gentle road test. Piston rings have already been heat cycled and bedded in. It was pretty smoky in there as the build oil was burned off.

Makes you wonder what in hells kitchen makes such dog haters suddenly appear on a thread about responsible dogs..... Its almost like it was planned... Oh.. Is that it. Trolls.

How do you know there is no voltage going to the coil?

Number one thing about restorations or paint in general. Paint is not there to look pretty. It is there to protect the underlying substrate from corrosion for as long as possible. Pretty is the secondary concern.

This is one of our wolfhound pups. 7 months old when the pic was taken. She is now 10 months and is starting to fill out. She no longer needs to jump up to pinch stuff from the worktops. Her head is above them now. Everything has to be put away, or a large nose will start showing unhealthy interest in the ham for the sandwich you are making...

We have noticed this more and more. We have a flood control bank (sea bank as the locals call it) at the rear of the house that is about 3/4 mile long and is fully fenced in on both sides. There are kissing gates at each end to allow access and of course, it is a great place for the village dog owners to let their pets off the lead and play. The dogs have a wonderful time and all know each other. Surrounding this area, there are 1000s of acres of open countryside with many pretty walking paths. Recently we have seen quite a few strangers walking on the bank without dogs. Either they have driven several miles to walk there or are new to the village. The local dogs have responsible owners who will call them to lead when they see someone approaching, but of course if the dogs have ranged some distance, this is not always possible. The dogs can somehow sense if a person is not a dog lover and will keep their distance. They never approach strangers unless they have a dog with them. These people have become well known amongst the dog walkers for complaaining about dogs not being kept on a lead and frightening them. The comment is invariably " this is a safe place for the dogs to be allowed to run free, and is acknowledged as the village dog playing area; if you do not like dogs, there are plenty of other places to walk around here". Yet these people continue to walk there and continue to complain.... I do not think they will find themselves compatible with village life. Townies huh? The sea bank can be seen under construction in this pic with the now buried reinforcement piles. This pic is taken from a nearby footpath, yet these people still insist on walking through the dog playing area ( basically a bare railway embankment in appearance) and complaining....

Rustoleum hard hat..

A couple of hours spare this morning so I thought to build the top end of the motor and stick the carb top parts in my new ultrasonic. Did the bottom end of the carb yesterday and also rebuilt that this morning. My old machine was little more than a jewelry cleaner that I used for cleaning watch movement parts. Carbs were left partially uncovered and needed turning regularly. New one has plenty enough capacity to dunk carbs easily, even though it is only 3 litre. It, being the more powerful pro model also has 4x the power of the old one. Waiting for the machine to reach its set temp. While waiting I built the top end and carb body. I was not going to do the cap, but I just wanted to have another play with the machine before tossing out the cleaning fluid. The offending item. That ebay special jet cost a fiver. The genuine one from Fowlers cost fifteen quid. I thought a 130 jet was a 130 jet, was a 130 jet and gave it little thought. A tenner saved is a lot. That tenner saving cost me well over a hundred quid to put right the damage that jet caused. If you take anything from this thread, it is do not skimp on carb jets. It may well bite you on the ass. Also got the engine in the frame and the right side of the motor built up. She has strong compression at the kickstart. A bit more insurance..that plug is a B9ES. I went for a step cooler since the bike will be ridden pretty much wide open most of the time. Rural roads, little traffic and 60mph limits round these parts. I read somewhere that the B8ES is borderline hot for open highway use. Sprocket and chain refitted on left side. Needs carb, left case, exhaust, wiring, tank and seat refitting and she is repaired. Stomach is growling so I need lunch. May or may not do a bit more this afternoon. Also need to remember to bring home the neutral switch from work. I took it out when warming the cases to drop the new transmission bearings in....and forgot it. Edit.. Forgot ths is not the original thread. I decided to change all the bearings in the transmission while I had it apart, so it would not bite me later. That engine is to all intents, brand new so far as bearings, pistons and seals go.

A lot of bikey things today... VFR750. Today I put in on SORN until April. No point paying road tax when I will not be using it. Six monthly from now on. DT175MX. Built up top end, rebuilt carb, dropped engine into frame and built up the right side of the motor. DT100. Insured it to start begining of Feb. It being a US import, a lot of insurers would not touch it. However, Swintons were happy to insure it TPFT for £55 with no excess. Do not see the point of comprehensive on the tiddler. Its not like I will be cartwheeling it across the countryside at 100 mph.

Etch primer, Simonize steel wheels and 3 coats of clearcoat...

As far as degreasing for paint. I always use carex hand soap and hot water both when scotchbriting a part and as a wash afterwards.

Couple of hours to spare this morning. Cracked on building the bottom end. Left case heated to 100C and crank dropped in. Transmission dropped in next, giving that expensive special output bearing one last glare before left case fitted. Even tried the stores manager who orders 100s of bearings a week to see if he had seen a bearing with the same number. Nope. Out with the bearing books and nothing. Arm and a leg time.. Cases screwed together, tried the gears and I have a box containing six gears that snick in and out. Fitted new piston with new small end, new circlips but original rings and pin. A word of caution when cleaning out a bottom end after a holy piston event. Even the piston pin had debris down inside its bore. Bottom end complete. I will fit the top end tomorrow and leave the outer cases until after the motor is in the frame. Still need to strip carb, subject it and the intake parts to a warm bath in my ultrasound machine. Rebuild with genuine std main jet and throw the damnable spurious ebay special one as far as I can over the garden wall into the field behind the house. Bottom end built.

As others said. Drain a little out. YBR has a roller bearing crank and ballbearing cam, so I would not be concerned about damage to those, however it will be giving your piston oil control ring a very hard time.

Mine was exactly like the one in the pic... It had electric start, but when I first tried it, I was disappointed. Instead of the sound the big boys starters made - chewchewchewwumbrrum.. Mine went blub....blub....blub...blub.. Ring a ding ding. Still it was incredibly cool to nonchalantly press the button while keeping your other hand on your knee, whilst all my mates were busy leaping up and down on kickstarts. It was a bigger engined RD125 chassis, rather than a smaller engined RD250 chassis, so it was far lighter, nimbler, quicker off the mark and better handling than its full sized 250 cousin, but lost out on the all important top speed. Blistering from the lights up to about 50, after that the 250s would start to come past as their extra grunt came into its own.

A post about riding tests brought to mind a memory from the days of yore. I would be about 14 and a lot of my older mates were 16 and riding Fizzies, AP50s ect in a large group, maybe 12 of them. When they were not hanging out, outside Hanging Heaton post office (popular meeting spot for ped riders) they gathered in the garage at Skitties just down the road from my parents house. I would be there most evenings, on my pushbike, just hanging out. Various bike maintainance tasks went on in that garage. I was accepted into the group because I had a Montesa Cota 247 trials bike and basked in the glory of being a " big bike rider". I remember Skitty of course, he being a long time friend well before motorcycles became an interest. He got me into bikes when he bought an old step through Motobecane moped for £6 when he was about 14 and we hammered it around the local fields ( until the drive belt got wet and it was going nowhere). My fizzy was actually Skitties. My dad bought it for me, for when I turned 16, when skitty bought a bigger bike when he was 17. It was £150. It seemed an eternity from getting my fizzy and my 16th birthday. Sold it 18 months later for £150. Skitty was a curly, ginger haired, half Italian with buck teeth and an italian mother who spoke little english and put the fear of god up me every time she spoke. Out would pour a torrent of italian, obviously very, very angry with us; before going back inside. We shrank back in horror. Skitty would translate.. She says she is putting the kettle on, does anyone want a cuppa? Then there was Marma. He was the debonaire one with a long term girlfriend that he was " getting it on with". I used to look at him as some sort of superhero. I was very shy at that time where girls were concerned. He rode a popsicle purple fizzy. Daz, rode an AP50. Good mate I remained friends with him for a long time after this. The only one who stayed in the area. A few others like Kellet who were kind of non descript members of the group who had fizzies. I forget their names. And one lad, the focal point of this memory. Rode a Honda SS50 5 speed with a lime green tank and a cable operated front disc brake. He was tall, gawky looking, fair hair, pimples and really, really long neck. He rode with a white stadium open face helmet. He looked like Plug out of the Beano. Aha, remembered that was his nickname.. Plug. Anyway one day, we were in the garage and Skitty was holding forth as usual. He had bought some stuff for his visor that was supposed to shed rain, I suppose it was like rain x. Plug hit upon the idea to improve disc brake performance in the wet by applying it to his front brake disc and shed the water from it. The experiment was on. Potion applied liberally to disc, front disc splashed with hosepipe, out onto the avenue, point downhill and give it the beans. 30 yards further, approaching the T junction at the bottom of the avenue... Brake light illuminated.. Not much seemed to be happening. At the T junction, rear wheel locked up. Still not much happening. Up the far kerb and into the low garden wall. Honda stopped immediately while plug continued, his legs and backside seen to fly over the rose bushes on a ballistic trajectory onto the front lawn. Thing about peds was you get get away with the most amazing idiocy with little or no damage to bike or rider. His bike had a few scratches and he was unhurt. The tale around biking circles in Dewsbury evolved into that plug had applied copper grease to the front of his pads instead of the rear in an attempt to stop them squealing. Nope I was there. Even Plug was not that stoopid.