Joeman

The Standard GSXR throttle requires the rider to bend their wrist right down to get full throttle. A comfortable wrist position at closed throttle, is not comfortable at full throttle, and if you want to get full throttle quickly, its a bit annoying!! So i decided to install the Hairy-RS 1/5th turn throttle kit. This basically reduces the amount of twist needed to achieve full throttle. For what it is, at £25 the kit is pretty expensive - Its literally just a bit of plastic! It looks like the bit of plastic you pull off the top of a orange juice bottle! Installation is not complicated, but its a bit fiddly.. First i started by unscrewing the two cross head screws underneath the throttle/kill switch houseing. I couldn't get screwdriver in here so a small ratchet with screwdriver head was needed, and even thats a bit tricky thanks to the cable positions. With the screws undone, the kill switch housing splits in half allowing the two throttle cables (Push/Pull) to be removed from the throttle tube. With the handlebar end weight removed, the throttle tube slid off. Throttle tube removed: The Hairy-RS then simply clips onto the throttle tube, increasing the radius of the tube, which means the cables pull further for the same rotation angle. Since the radius of the throttle tube increased, both cables needed to be lengthened. To do this i had to slacken off the cable end adjusters. These are bit tricky to access, and even with the left fairing removed, its tricky to get a spanner in there as the frame leaves little space for the spanner to move. I found the simplest way to get it all back together was to disconnect the cables at the engine end, assemble everything (with nice slack cables) on the handlebar end, then with the cable adjusters slackened off, i could easily re-attach the cables on the engine end and tighten the adjusters. Before i started work on this, i made a pencil mark on the twist grip to show the start and stop of the throttle. I then made another mark after the job was complete to see how much the movement was reduced by: Photo taken after installation showing throttle close position moved. from the pencil marks, it doesnt look like its reduced the movement much, but that fraction of a turn does feel very different, and with the throttle opening quicker, the bike sounds mode "lively" and responsive... Not had time to test ride yet, but time will tell if this was 25quid well spent or not!!

After reducing the gearing on my bike, my speedo was displaying a much faster speed than i was actually traveling at and the bike's millage was increasing at an alarming rate!! So i decided to install a "speedohealer" to correct the speed shown on the speedo. The speedo healer works by intercepting the signal from the magnetic speed sensor on the front sprocket, and based on the calibration settings, it reduces the frequency of the pulses sent to the bike's speedo, thus allowing the speedo to read the correct road speed. The speedo healer comes in two packs, one containing the main unit, remote cable, some stickers and cable ties and instructions. The second packet contains the bike specific harness to wire it all in. When you order the speedohealer, you need to make sure you order the correct wiring kit for your bike! The unit is pretty small, probably a bit bigger than a match box: Installation is pretty simple, just remove the seat (two bolts) lift the tank (1bolt) and prop it up to allow access to the wiring. I also removed the tail unit, but there wasn't really a need as i ended up installing the speedohealer in the space under my pillion seat cover. The speed sensor is located on the left hand side of the engine, just above the front sprocket cover. I traced the wires back and unplugged from the bikes wiring loom. I then connected the Y-shaped cable between the speedo healer and the bike's wiring loom, and ran the long cable past the battery, under the seat and into the space under the pillion seat cover to connect with the Speedo Healer main unit. To allow easy future access, i located my speedohealer under my pilionseat... its stuck on with Velcro (supplied). Theres a second cable connected that runs up to the handlebars. This second cable has a button on the end, and when you press the button your highest speed is displayed on the speedo.. (bit of a gimmick really) Once the unit was installed, there was the final matter of calibration. The instructions include a couple of methods for calculating the calibrations figures. In my case my speedo was over-reading by 15.4% so i needed to program "-15.4%" into the unit to correct my speedo reading. And that was it!! very simple to install, simple to calibrate. lets hope it works!!!

well i doubt i would be able to make it (new baby in the house), but if there's a shortfall, im happy to stump up for a ticket... paying up might motivate me to get off my arse and ride that far north....

Hope that wasn't your best nose picking finger...

Proper zombie fingers!!. Did they sew them back on? Or are you now a size small glove on one hand??

Anyone thought of a way to thicken up old motor oil to help prevent it flinging off??

Bottle it up and sell it as "Stu's Special Chain Lube"

A random pic from my phone: I was hoping to take the KTM green laning this weekend...

Ive got the RST pro jacket and RST leather jeans. they fit well and seem well made. CE approved armour in the jacket, and a removable warm liner for the winter. Not crashed (yet) so dont know how well it will all hold up in a crash, but looks pretty good to me..

since fitting the "Whisper strip" to my helmet, ive not bothered with earplugs much apart from long rides. i highly recommend everyone with a shoei helmet to fit a whisper strip!!

i regularly wear sunglasses on the bike. they let me ride with the visor open and protect against flies and bright sunshine.. ive never had a problem apart from when i forget im wearing them and remove my helment in a hurry... then i get a whole world of pain from pokey glasses in the face!!

Buy something you would see yourself riding in 12-18months time... something you can grow into, rather than get bored of...they only go as fast as you ask them to.

I ride like I Dont expect to be seen. I'm not putting my trust in some car drivers ability to see me, so high viz is pointless..

Depends what food! Don't try stuffing a 12inch pizza in there, all the topping will slide off to the bottom of the bag... Messy...

bet some thieving toerag has nicked it...

with the wind speed, some of the ladies might get chapped lips....

sounds painful mate....

just reminded me... i must get my rear view camera fitted to my bike asap.... ;)

would be a good laugh.. trouble is, where would you store all our biker gear/clothes whilst youre doing the ride?? Or would you have to ride there naked??

Only if you fall off!! and i reckon anyone riding about stark bollock naked would probably make every effort to stay on the bike...

Can't go wrong with a shoei mate!! I've got the older XR1000 and its great! Good investment is the "whisper strip" that shuts off all the noise coming in underneath. About 30quid from eBay..

Well, there you go wonderful thing technology ,, My 125 was twenty three years past 1976 & it was five years old when I bought it, first bike I ever had,,, it had a little cup on the inside of the tank filler cap,, one cup of oil to every gallon of fuel ,, so by todays standards primitive,,,, but hey,, it never went wrong Dont worry, some bikes are still pre-mix.. My 2005 KTM300 needs oil adding to the tank as it has no oil pump/tank.

nice one! welcome to the forum mate I saw a black Diversion out on the weekend going past the Sainsbury's roundabout... think it was following a GSXR... was that you?? Edit: also saw another bike (Looked like a diversion) pulling out from road at the side of the little shop on the Otford road..

Has the power valve been removed to make it go faster? That destroys bottom end pull but gives them a wicked power band.

check for a spark... leave the plug out, connected to the HT lead, touch the plug to the engine block and press the starter button, and look for a spark. Careful not to give yourself a shock!!