pointblank0

It is a big engine though mate. My bike gets arund 160 miles to a tank (18 litres), which isn't far off what your getting out of yours, and mines smaller, and probably slower too!

There will have been old ones in, and as said above, they compress so much that they look like the cylinder head. A small screw driver prying it will loosen it and then you'll see it. If you don't take them out, you won't get a proper seal. As for keeping them in, I smear them in grease and stick them in. The grease burns off later.

I serviced my bike today, expecting no problems as usual. Whilst trying to sort out my front brake squeel, I came across my well and truely seized pad pin cover. Just the small slot head screw bit that keeps the crap off the pin bolt. Anyway, it wouldn't budge and I ground off loads of metal from the slot trying to get it out! Drilled it through and started to insert the easy out bits, snapped one off flush!!!! Tried to drill round it and snapped off two HSS drill bits level with the bloody thing! Running out of ideas, I went through my garage drawers and unsheaved my manual impact driver that I have never used, but have had for ages. Well, what can I say....THESE THINGS ARE ABSOLUTELY FANTASTIC!!!! EVERYONE SHOULD HAVE ONE!. Screw came out with second whack of hammer on the driver. I don't know why I have never used it before, but I will be using it for all sorts of hard to remove bits from now on. I really recommend one of these to anyone. Mine cost me about £5, a few years ago new.

I had the same problem with my 1980 cb750c. If I remember rightly, the rubbers need to squeeze over a lip on both ends? Pain in the arse! I'm glad they use smooth joints now and a clamp on each instead! I eventually managed mine by doing the same as you, except I soaked mine in boiling water rather than use a hairdryer (I didn't think of that), plenty of grease. I made my knuckles raw, but it worked eventually.

Could be a stuck float in the carb maybe?

I've never replaced an exhaust system without shearing off at least one stud. I usually end uo filing whats left into a square and using mole grips after a few hard whacks with a hammer.

To be honest mate, probably not worth the effort. You wont get much more out of it and the hassle would be grand. Can you not just get a bigger bike , or are you restricted at the moment?

Yeah, fair enough. I looked into getting LED indicators when one of mine broke, and a replacement for the single light was £16! Quite a few sets on ebay came with the relay for about £15, for all indicators and relay. But I suppose, if you bought the indicators seperate, it may be a bit costy to find a relay on its own. Resistors are very cheap and last longer than your bike will.

I have always been in the habbit of removing the cable from its sleeve and applying extra grease (nothing fancy, just standard bearingy type stuff) with my fingers. I re grease every year or so, not sure if required, but it can't hurt!

Agreed that's a cheap way and effective way of doing it, but changing the relay is much easier and you don't need to bother working out how you're going to hide the resistors on certain bikes.

As said above, if you change usual bulbs (around the 5w range), you will need to get a rely that is designed for use with LEDs. The LED indicators draw much less power, so your old relay will not work correctly. Just find out how many pins your old relay has and go on ebay and buy a replacement for LED bulbs. You will need to change front and rear bulbs though, as a combination will cause problems.

Those easy out sets are fantastic. I got given a set about 5 years ago. The set included a small hss drill bit and 5 sizes of the screw things and an adjustable spanner. The set has saved me loads of times. I start with the smallest, then if that starts stripping the part, move on to the next size and so on, though I have never needed to move up more than two sizes.

Either will be fine. The link should come with the seals anyway.

Sounds like a gasket has blown a small hole. Put a bit of soapy water round the gaskets and fire it up and look for bubbles (if it is that)

Oh yeah. Forgot about the retaining bolts!!! Not a problrm though. They sometimes just spin when you try to loosen them. Something thin and long that you can jam in the tube to hold it will be fine, so you can ndo the bolt on the bottom. I used the aluminium thin tube I use for opening the loft in my house. Use your imagination, you don't need 'special tools'. Seriously, it's an easy job, and certainly not woth paying a garage 140 quid!!!!

Yes mate. Plastic tube is the way forward if your just doing it as a one off, a few quid. If it's got a centre stand, then just use that and raise the engine up a little to clear the front wheel from the floor. A trolley jack works best but you could use a load off hard back books or something. Once you have the tubes apart, just take your time and follow the manual. It's quite easy and you can't really go wrong if you follow the Haynes diagrams. Deffinitely check the bushes though. If they are worn, then you should really replace them too while you're at it. Good luck. Let us know how you get on.

Every bike starts differently and you will get to know your own pretty soon. As the guy above said, choke isn't really needed in this weather, or if you do need it, certainly no need for longer that 10 seconds. Try slowly closing the clutch and just keeping the engine alive with a bot of throttle. If you've flooded it, just leave it for a while.

You shouldn't be able to push it in first gear. Sounds like it's not going into gear. Please don't take this the wrong way, but have you ridden a geared bike much before? It may be just something you are doing (or nor doing) causing the problems. Maybe worth calling whoever you bought it off too to see if it has had any similar problems recently and the fixes for it.

They're not bad scooters. I had a similar one about 10 years ago. Depends whether it has had a speed deamon tracksuited teenager on it or not. 14000miles is not too much for that engine.

Strange. I would say relay switch, but if they work with the engine running then that's unlikely. Just a thought, may be a loose connection or bit of bare wire that corrects itself when the engine is running due to the vibrations. Maybe worth checking the wiring loom when you have a bit of time and checking the flasher relay is tightly connected.

Do they stay on even when the indicators are turned off?

As said above, get a Haynes manual first. They are very straight forward if you take your time. If you have a socket set already, all you will need is a slide tool to bash the new seals into place. You can also improvise this with some plastic plumbing tube for a couple of quid. I have changed loads of fork seals, and it takes me about an hour as I take my time. It's a good idea to change the bushes at the same time though whilst you have them apart. DO IT YOURSELF!

Improvise a long handle for the wrench with some tube or something, or just wheel it to your garage that let you borrow the tools and see if they can just quickly put the rattle gun on it for you

The way I do it is too put it on the side stand with the rear wheel firmly on the floor, sit on the bike with the wrench on the nut, and put full pressure on the rear brake. That should hold it enough to release the nut.

Can you not use the old washer?