The beauty of the motorway

[Bru]

Just thought I'd share my (non) event with you. Spent the day going to Brighton and back (65 miles each way - no biggie) on my NTV. Buzzy old thing - must get it balanced. And how necessary that is was made clear to me when I finally got on to my home slipway off the motorway. Gear selector had no feel to it, so with the bike stuck in top gear, I had to roll to a stop on the roundabout. I discovered that somewhere down the motorway, my gear lever retaining bolt had vibrated right out of its thread! So I must have been buzzing along for miles, with my gear linkage and lever flapping about under the bike. A quick fix, of course, when my mate pitched up with a spanner and replacement M8.

I knew the bolt was not positively locked when I regreased it. And I know that the carbs need to be balanced/looked at. Lesson is: don't take short cuts - do it right first time. Could have been worse.

[Nath]

I don't think you should be pointing the finger at out-of-balance carbs causing vibration, as the source of this problem.

Fact is, nuts and bolts have to be done up tight on motorcycles. "was not positively locked" doesn't make a whole load of sense, but if you're saying you didn't actually tighten up the bolt then no wonder it vibrated out!
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Hard livin', hard luck.

[Ariel Badger]

Does "was not positively locked" mean "finger tight" in English?
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Bikers make great organ donors, get 115 on your licence today.

[JonB]

What's the obsession with "out of balanced carbs" recently?

It's like they are the cause of the worlds great miseries.
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Be careful whose advice you buy, but, be patient with those who supply it. Advice is a form of nostalgia, dispensing it is a way of fishing the past from the disposal, wiping it off, painting over the ugly parts and recycling it for more than it?s worth.

[MarkJ]

[Bru]

Weeeell.. I'm ignorant, to be sure. But that bolt would only tighten up positively (ie. tightens up sharply in the manner of a good nut and bolt combo) if it locked the lever. Looked like an authentic fastener, but acted strangely. There's something to be said for the correct-sized washer, if one was original to the bike it's not there now.. my replacement bolt is satisfyingly longer.

As for carb balancing, OK so it may be a fad, but for me and my still newish/unknown bike, it would be a palliative. If I could only be sure that 'they all do that, sir'.. I have this need to go over most things to convince myself that it isn't just that way becaust the rust/grease/wear made it so.

It was a nice day for it, though.

[St0rmer66]

Had my first experience of a motorway today. Nearly changed lane into a 4x4 . Can't believe how stupid a move it was now I think back. Had the girlfriend on the back as well so it would have been extra bad if I had hit it! . Took it a bit easy the rest of the way...
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:: Honda XR 125 L ('53) => Kawasaki GPZ 500S ('02) => Suzuki SV650S ('00) => Aprilia RSV-R ('51) ::

[mattjs895]

just the othere day i had taken my front wheel not off to get to sort out my speedo cable problem bit got stuck inside so had to loosen bolt to flip it up side down, if you get what i'm saying)

a few days later, looked at my front wheel to basicly see the nut falling off, remember to check things after you have been working on your bike as well

cheers

matt

[krebsy]