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I just wear heavy leather harness boots. I like boots that I can walk around in cumfy that look normal when I've parked up somewhere, with the advantage of being able to wear them outside leathers or inside jeans

The country needs guys like this, if only to keep mechanics in business!

Agreed. Sounds like damp in your switches. WD40 for a quick fix, or if you have a spare half hour and a screw driver, dismantle the switch housing, dry the contacts, clean them and put some contact grease on them. Will do forever then. Same with the horn, probably the switch. Don't waste money taking it to a garage!

When I used to work on building sites way back, the companies I used to work for took over derelict hospitals....very heavy and f**ked concrete floors. They were latexed back then (maybe they do this still). It needed to be leveled but was pretty smooth and permanent when dried. Could be painted over too. I am also a lazy man, so if I had a few extra quid, I would look at the jig saw style foam flooring, the martial art sort of stuff. Would be kind to your knees too when you're doing a bit of maintenance.

I've never got on with 12 sided sockets. I find the 6 sided ones a much better fit. Sounds like your sump bolt has been put on way over tight. Should be around 30 - 40Nm. DON'T ride it low on oil. While you figure out how to get the drain bolt out, you can top it up to it's specified limit, it wont do any more harm, but you certainly will damage it with hardly any oil inside. May be better to just take it in and get an oil change. When you get it back, it should have a new sump plug on it and tightened to the correct torque so you will be able to do it yourself next time.

Were you referring to the oil filter or the drain bolt underneath? The drain bolts are usually protected with a dropped bit of engine, so you would have to have a socket to get it off. Buy yourself a socket set mate, you will need one for servicing and repairs. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/DRAPER-15-PIE ... 231b87fae3 Stick that above address into google. It's on ebay at the moment. I love draper, they make very good affordable tools, very well made and they last for years.

I agree. That is a pretty reliable indication with the slapping underneath, and vibrating through the foot pegs. You will have probably noticed that it disappears when you get some speed up and are at a steady speed. The chain steadies out when it's going round fast.

I forgot how amusing and great fun motorbikes really are! My slight coolant leak ended up with my radiator completely emptying it's guts over the road on my way home from work today. Lucky my new radiator arrived this morning, but still, tomorrow morning will be spent in a big winter coat, a flask of tea and a tin of rolling backey, in my cold garage, nursing a hangover. Rock and roll!

Good work mate. Did you have any difficulties?

Great advice. All my older bikes had engine bars, but my latest hornet doesn't, so got some crash bungs from ebay for about £25. Very easy to fit and you don't need to worry about the occasional balls up. Your bike looks like you collided with a tank by the way. Glad you could walk away. With the parts ordered, I reckon an easy fix with no special tools required. Good luck

Bikes tend to need loads of maintenance. I repair something on mine pretty much every weekend, usually small jobs, but they need doing. Funny enough, I sprang a leak in my cooling system yesterday, so my nice relaxing Sunday will be spent in my cold garage grazing my knuckles and swearing a lot! Never mind, that should be all for another week!

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/SEALEY-VS779- ... 2ebf5f07f2 . The link above is the chain riveter I bought a few years back. It's served me well, but I did bend one of the needles when I set it up wrong, but I ordered a replacement for about a fiver. I can't comment on any other makes as this is the only one I have used, though I have used the hammer method before with great success, but it can be fiddly. As with the damage to engine with the bike in gear, I wouldn't worry about it. It's never caused me any problems, and the nut's not on that tight, it's just a pain as it turns.

. That sounds like a really good idea! Good thinking

Also, try loosening the bolt that holds the bar end on. Sometimes the grips slide along slighty and cause friction between the bar ends and the end of the grip rubber.

Let us know how you get on mate.

It's an easy job, especially on a Honda. I have never had too much trouble getting the front sprocket bolt off, just sat on the bike not on the stand, 1st gear and back brake on hard. The front bolt should budge really easy then. Once you have cut the old chain off, lay it out on the ground and lay the new chain next to it. I have changed 3 chains that have turned out to be too long, so had to cut them straight back off again and buy another link! You will need a chain riveter, they cost around £20 - £30 but they will last forever, but you may need to replace the pins occasionally as they tend to bend with heavy use. I use an angle grinder o grind the rivets off the old chain. I would say first time, probably won't take you more than an hour.

Full sets are quite expensive, and you will probably use less than half of them really, as you will probably come across the problem before you remove everything. You will probably be able to get away with a top end gasket set, strip the engine down to the pistons, and hopefully you would have come across the guilty gasket. It's probably the barrel gasket, which is a pain int he arse to get to, but it's a cheap fix. Exhaust gaskets are only about 20 - 50p each and probably wont come in a full gasket set. You can get them off wemoto and ebay.

Can you post a picture of the offending bit so we can advise. Thanks

Probably have to drill it and use a screw extractor set.

Ha ha. I remember when a mechanic asked me to leave the room when he was changing my head brace bearings. He said his method would upset me!

Chances are mate, you will use less than half the tools in a ready sorted set. You could probably buy a good enough socket set and ratchet, spanners, allen keys and screw drivers for about £30. I would buy them separate for the reason above. Buy what you need to do the job. Some expensive tools will do the same job, but quicker and easier. If you don't mind spending a little more time and grazing your knuckles.....then keep your costs low. You will learn a hell of a lot more working out how to combat problems with your basic tools. Good luck. You will have saved money anyway by the time you do your first service. Everyone will help you if you ask, and there is no such thing as a stupid question when it comes to mechanics, so ask away my friend. Cheers, Rob.

Also, well done for buying a Haynes manual first. You would be surprised how many people new to biking (and driving) attempt to do jobs that they have never done before without a clue!

I started out with a cheap socket set in metric, a spanner set, some mechanics screw drivers and some allen keys, or better still, allen sockets. I later bought a torque wrench. I added to my tools as and when I needed them. Many people will say buy the best you can afford, but this isn't always necessary. If your just looking to do standard servicing on one bike only, then the chances are, your not going to be using them much anyway. Some later additions may include the following - Feeler gauges brake piston reset tool chain riveter fork seal driver (though these are easy enough to make out of plastic pipe) Metal files Screw extractors Drill and HSS bits hack saw ball pein hammer centre punch spark plug spanner oil filter wrench steel rule files pliers side cutters crimpers and electrical bits soldering iron Also handy to have - Tube of thread lock tub of copper grease tub of standard grease Oil can WD40 wire brush Don't spend a great amount, I have been working on bikes for about 10 years, which is nothing compared to some on here, but my collection of tools is now huge, so now I don't need to buy anymore except for replacing broken ones. I bought all of mine as I needed them, so didn't really notice the cost. Ebay is a good place to look, and scoot around discount home stores, as in my opinion, a hacksaw is a hacksaw, and one that costs a pound, will do the same job as one that costs ten pounds.

What do the ends of the wires look like? I made mine with a fuse halfway and crimped standard ring connectors on the end, so I just screwed them directly onto the battery terminals.

isnt yours a honda? his is a cheapo chinese copy which will last a fraction of the time a honda will. if it even gets to 12k miles i'll be suprised. That's a fair point