What a difference 6 years makes.

[chris-red]

6 years ago I got my CBT, I got my RXS and when haring around like Valentino.

My rear brake was always shit the start of the lever was about 1-2 inches below the foot peg and you needed to move your foot forward off the peg to use it and most of that time it locked up. I did 8k miles on it in about 10 months.

Fast forward a year or so and it had run out of MoT and Tax, the rear brake was even worse and it wasn't going to pass the MoT because of the headstock bearings, I resigned her to the garage. All but forgotten about for a couple of years until my dad wanted more room in the garage and she was demoted to the Garden.

Fast forward to a month or too back and my mate decides he wants his CBT and a bike to cut fuel costs. I said to him you spend any money needed to get her running and you can use Roxy (my RXS) for as long as you want.

Is envisaged a fairly comprehensive rebuild would be needed after all it had been sitting in the garden for about 4 years. Fortunately my tight arsed dad has pilfered all the fuel out of it for the lawn mower ages ago, inside the tank was spotless. I decided to clean the carb out which was also spotless and change the gearbox oil, which was still golden and the air filter which had deteriorated a bit. With a splash of fuel and a bit of choke she roared into life. I honestly think I could have just pored the fuel into the empty tank and she would have gone. My Friend an I spent a bit of time sorting a few things, I re-wired the battery as the connections were dire and we sped about £30 on a couple of bulbs. Lots of money but they are amazing. Anyone with an RXS will tell you the lights are dire, these bubs are specially designed for old bikes with 6V electrical systems. I think they are halogen or something these apparently use less power and the front is definitely much brighter. Also the actually indicators flash at a decent rate while the bike is idling. A quick tighten of the headstock bearings and they were fine.

Then she was left for a couple of weeks while my mate got his CBT sorted, he needed to insure it so I could take it to the MoT station, which I was going to do Monday. Come Sunday I decided to give her a bit of a run make sure she was fine for the MoT, I wanted to check the brakes where the rear was still shit, and when I put the front on hard there was a rather loud bang. I whipped the front up in the air and saw the front brake cable had frayed quite badly. I took the wheel off and looked at the drums and they looked fine, so did the shoes, however when I compared the pads to some new ones the previous owner had lumped in with the sale, I could see there was missing material on the edges of the shoes. I put the new ones in and ordered a brake cable, which arrived and was fitted and last night. I also had a quick look at the rear brake I thought I must be able to fix this, looking at it it looked like the pegs where not aligned, turns out the right peg is quite bent. So an old fork tube and 30 seconds later and it looks fine! it still takes a lot of push before it does anything though. I thought there must be an adjuster 5 seconds of looking found it, it was a wing nut near the exhaust. 15 seconds and about 6 turns later and the rear brake is amazing. I also noticed the rear shocks are adjustable and on the lowest setting, being the size of a medium hippo this was obviously no good for me. Cranked it up to max. I could not the believe the amount I had improved the bike in just a few minutes. It actually made me pretty angry I didn't know to do this 5 years ago.

Riding it is horrid, the brakes are crap they lights although better as shit, I counted at least 3 groups of people that laughed at me when I was riding along. Handling is interestingly bad, the gearbox is shit,and it has no power, I smiled the whole way to the MoT Station.

She passed and I will be giving her to my friend tonight.

The only picture I can find from when I first got her.
https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v295/chris-red/photo001.jpg

I started this as a thread about how I made a few tweaks and it made my bike so much better and that I wished I knew how to do it years ago.

Anyway sorry to go all Teflon Mike at y'all.

If you have only ridden one bike and you aren't experienced about how a bike should ride or what things can b e changed I implore you to take it to someone that has been ridding years ask them to run it and tell you what they think.

They may be able the transform the bike by twiddling a few adjusters.
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Well, you know what they say. If you want to save the world, you have to push a few old ladies down the stairs.
Skudd:- Perhaps she just thinks you are a window licker and is being nice just in case she becomes another Jill Dando.
WANTED:- Fujinon (Fuji) M42 (Screw on) lenses, let me know if you have anything.

[chris-red]

I didn't mention how I ran out of petrol on the way to the MoT and had to push the bike home and drain my KTM tank into Roxy, what a bitch.
____________________
Well, you know what they say. If you want to save the world, you have to push a few old ladies down the stairs.
Skudd:- Perhaps she just thinks you are a window licker and is being nice just in case she becomes another Jill Dando.
WANTED:- Fujinon (Fuji) M42 (Screw on) lenses, let me know if you have anything.

[mysterious_rider]

Interesting read fo' sure.

someone needs to call 'call story bro'

[Minty]

I hear a few people have emptied their tanks into Roxy.



Oh, that's the name of the motorbike?


Sorry, I thought this was the Auntie BCF section.

(awkward silence)


Good read.
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My fingers smell of your mum.

[UKRedwing]

I wish I knew back when I was 17 and got my NSR125 what I knew now, although I have a hell of alot still to learn.
I was such a noob I'm sure I took it into the garage once just for them to tighten the chain
First sense of achievment was derestricting it and having the tank, airbox and carb off to change the jets, seems stupid now!

[pepperami]

It`s nice to read that another little tiddler bike is going to get a new lease of life
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I am the sum total of my own existence, what went before makes me who I am now!