What have you done to your bike today?

[Nobby the Bastard]

if it was a piston, use it as an ashtray. Gudgen pins can make a nice keyring.

Chains (cam and starter) can make interesting jewellrey.

I'd probably sling the stator straight in the recycling.
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trevor saxe-coburg-gotha:"Remember this simple rule - scooters are for men who like to feel the breeze on their huge, flapping cunt lips."
Triumph Sprint ST 1050

[hellkat]

yeah I had a smashed-piston ashtray - that was my first bike misdemeanour way back in 1998-ish I am a long-standing member of the Piston Broke Club
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Not nearly as interesting in real life.

[Pete.]

[A100man]

[A100man]

[Easy-X]

Update on the R125, took the top end off today...

https://i.imgur.com/L9K1SjH.jpg

Buff out? And the piston might need new rings...

https://i.imgur.com/Kq4kk2N.jpg

Haven't done a leak test but the top end will probably clean up okay:

https://i.imgur.com/1o6Z6t7.jpg

New barrel + piston set made out of finest Chinesium is ~£80. Probably good enough to rinse a few more miles out of the bike till the kid does his A2.
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Royal Enfield Continental GT 535, Husqvarna Vitpilen 401, Yamaha XSR700, Honda Rebel, Yamaha DT175, Suzuki SV650 (loan) Fazer 600, Keeway Superlight 125, 50cc turd scooter

[A100man]

[blurredman]

https://scontent-lhr8-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.15752-9/365899193_2722637431212226_3356389977042070576_n.jpg?_nc_cat=107&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=ae9488&_nc_ohc=OXbrWUQnT4YAX_rMtki&_nc_ht=scontent-lhr8-1.xx&oh=03_AdT4vXYs4Pd1N4GehNJ2qlqexNhFf_MnbqdFVVNVGQK-6A&oe=650AFEFD

Got my brother's TS250 engine in for re-build. Been off the road since late 90's due to a big end failure. Pretty much was all original except one mains bearing was a koyo and a seal was replaced. This is putting it back together somewhat after crankshaft rebuild. Just needs a rebore though and we can install onto the bike - gearbox teeth mint!
We did have to lap in a replacement clutch side taper though with valve grinding paste and using blue dye to determine full coverage. The one on the engine was not at all trustworthy.

He only bought it to get around ULEZ. Probably will keep it though.
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CBT: 12/06/10, Theory: 22/09/10, Module 1: 09/11/10, Module 2: 19/01/11
Past: 1991 Honda CG125BR-J, 1992 (1980) Honda XL125S, 1996 Kawasaki GPZ500S, 1979 MZ TS150.
Current: 1973 MZ ES250/2 - 18k, 1979 Suzuki TS185ER - 10k, 1981 Honda CX500B - 91k, 1987 MZ ETZ250 (295cc) - 40k, 1989 MZ ETZ251 - 50k.

[Easy-X]

Some good news on the abused R125. If you recall the bottom engine mounting bolt would not budge so we ended up cutting the ends off to drop the engine out of the frame.

I reasoned that most likely corrosion starts from the outside and works its way along the bolt so the old fella drilled out just an inch of the bolt from either side, hit it with a drift and it pinged out
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Royal Enfield Continental GT 535, Husqvarna Vitpilen 401, Yamaha XSR700, Honda Rebel, Yamaha DT175, Suzuki SV650 (loan) Fazer 600, Keeway Superlight 125, 50cc turd scooter

[A100man]

[Kawasaki Jimbo]

Years ago I replaced the R1’s boring black hugger with a cheap blue version. The colour was never quite right and it then faded unevenly, so today I’ve resprayed it. Like previous attempts at painting, the lacquering stage seems to be the most tricky. I guess being the final stage, it would be. However, I cannot get a deep, smooth shine. I recall that when I supplied RS Bike Paints products to a local sprayer who did my Kawasaki’s wheels and swingarm he didn’t approve, saying it was going on ‘like wood lacquer’. I took him to mean it was too thick but I don’t know for sure. In the end he used his own. Today I ignored the advice to apply ‘light coats’ and made the last one a thickie, although maybe my interpretation had been too literal. Anyhow, this will do. It has a slightly grainy texture but that might be because I sprayed a base primer over the existing paint and did no sanding. It’s much better than it was.

https://i.postimg.cc/SR3XznTy/IMG-1116.jpg

https://i.postimg.cc/NMjnMW8B/IMG-1119.jpg

https://i.postimg.cc/MTd20HCQ/IMG-1126.jpg

[that_impulse_guy]

not today, but this friday sent bike for new tyres and MOT...the first MOT this century...passed!
got on bike and drove straight to ULEZ testing centre for tailpipe emissions test...passed..0.13NOX...
that makes it euro3 compliant, and ULEZ compliant.
my 1987 4pot 4stroke.

was only able to get this all done because passed mod2 on tuesday.
Its been a busy week.
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Gone: Yamaha DT50lc, Suzuki DR500, Suzuki A100, Kawasaki z250ltd, RD350YPVS, Suzuki DR Big, Kawasaki AR125, Kawasaki KMX200, Suzuki GS1000S, Katana 1100, GS550M, Suzuki RGV250
Now: Suzuki GSX400X, Suzuki RF900R, NS400R

[hellkat]

Now that it has a fresh MOT I took the Suzuki out for a stonking great ride down to Wiltshire for the weekend, including a little pootle alongside the Avon through "the Woodfords" into Wilton.

My mate helped me get it onto the centre stand and patiently oiled the chain with a brush

Came home back down the M3 this arvo, bit of weaving and dodging through traffic but it hadn't built up at that point ... stopped off once on the A316 to visit the inlaws at Twickenham Cemetery and then straight across town to home, hardly any traffic in town too. Yay!

Pushed it well beyond 7500 revs i.e., very fast (for me, LOL) with no effort at all on its part or mine.

Blinding. Goes like shit off the proverbial shovel.
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Not nearly as interesting in real life.

[Robby]

I took the 250 out for it's first ride of the year.

It's quite slow.

[Easy-X]

[hellkat]

Erm ...


Yeah I think there's a few here and there
... one might think I was going too fast to notice the signs ...

... but I am so ridiculously familiar with the A316, having ploughed it for many years when I lived in Fulham, that I'm very conscious you have to go really fuckin slowly or you could lose your licence within a couple of roundabouts
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Not nearly as interesting in real life.

[Kawasaki Jimbo]

[Skudd]

Downloaded loads more music onto my sat-nav for my riding entertainment.
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Famous last words of Humpty Dumpty. " Stop pushing me "
Petty Anarchists look at "1984".............. The Visionary looks at "Animal Farm".

[grr666]

[Easy-X]

The worst is some NSL country road with a dick doing 40mph. Hit a village with a 30mph limit? Still doing 40mph. Dual carriageway? Suddenly turns into Stirling Moss
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Royal Enfield Continental GT 535, Husqvarna Vitpilen 401, Yamaha XSR700, Honda Rebel, Yamaha DT175, Suzuki SV650 (loan) Fazer 600, Keeway Superlight 125, 50cc turd scooter

[bacon]

Fork seals on the 00 VFR800fi, left seal blew the other week, leaving me with no transport to work, well, I rode in on it a few times out of necessity, but I was expecting oil at any time to be dumped on my caliper, managed to work from home for a couple of days and got them sorted.

LH leg went well (the one with the blown seal), minus a very siezed in oil seal, the oil was filthy, bike is on 39k, unsure when they were last serviced as nothing regarding fork servicing in my mountan of history, but I did find Eiback linear 0.95N/mm springs installed, so must have been open once upon a time.

RH leg however was a royal pain in my arris, the damper bolt was spinning.
I didn't have a 1/2" to 3/8" adapter to use my electric rattle gun, had to improvise and found a solution using my battery drill. Upon removal it seems that the damper leg itself spinning wasn't the problem, but the compression valve at the bottom spinning within the leg. This made tightening the bolt impossible, despite running the bolt through a die, I couldn't get a tap to clear the female thread, due to the valve spinning...
The solution was to add a "spacer" along the damper rod and tighten the cap nut down into it to add tension, this pulled the compression valve against a circlip within the cartidge...
Once I did this the assembly was a piece of cake.

Also did a quick oil change, new brake pads should be here tomorrow and will give the calipers a good clean out again while im in there.

Brake fluid and clutch fluid next, which will be fun with the combined brake system.
Then when I get time I will replace the coolant hoses, I had one let fluid past during one of our hot days last month, believe it was the hose connecting to the top of the LH rad (one with the fan on it) going by the staining to the fan...

[Easy-X]

R125 - went to help the old fella put the new cylinder and piston on. "Did you check the ring-gaps?" Nope! Hoping the guys in the Chinese factory were on the ball that day

Took a couple of attempts - 125 pistons are small and fiddly - "hang on, is this [bottom] gasket the right way round?!" ffs... And of course we tore the gasket before getting it off. Probably for the best though as it was about as thick as tissue paper. BTW note in the instructions suggests one might need 2 or 3 gaskets if there's valve/piston interference not that there's any spares supplied with the kit. Apart from "don't buy cheap Chinese shite" I would suggest getting a proper gasket kit. Oh well, Take 2 next week I suppose.

Vitpilen 401 - fitted paddock stand bobbins, any generic M10 ones are fine. There were also exposed mounting holes from removal of the original tyre hugger number plate which I filled with some M8 dome headed bolts. Same deal with where the stock mirrors go and again just need generic bungs, both thread directions clockwise and anti-clockwise. Put back the stock foot pegs instead of the cheesy aftermarket alloy ones. Time to get the fucker on the road! And...

...I went round the block and came straight home!

Initial impressions of the Vitpilen: small, light, easy to move around by hand - exactly what I wanted. Even so I'm probably gonna put back the grab handle behind the seat. The pegs are set back quite a bit compared to my XSR but somehow my feet naturally gravitated to them so that's fine. Transmission is light, maybe too light as neutral's quite hard to find. (Never even got as far as testing the quickshifter.) Engine is nowhere near as vibey as I thought a thumper would be and seems quite reasonable and sedate. Apparently the ECU has been retuned for the exhaust so maybe that makes a difference. But unfortunately:

Clip-on handle bars

https://media0.giphy.com/media/v1.Y2lkPTc5MGI3NjExZnZ4dTRqbGw2NjlvZ25sMnN3NmdwaHBzbnBhajIxYjhzZWdldHpnZCZlcD12MV9pbnRlcm5hbF9naWZfYnlfaWQmY3Q9Zw/vyTnNTrs3wqQ0UIvwE/giphy.gif

I thought I'd try 'em for a week or so but I do not like them one bit. My arms ache just thinking about clip-ons and I only went half a mile! Yet again a reinforcement of the "I'll make this into a café-racer by adding clip-ons" makes you a special type of c*nt The bar-end mirrors are also flipped down and I can see the sum total of fuck all. I had the same with the XSR and changed them to the upright position.

Anyhoo, I expected and planned for this eventuality. Vitpilens, even new ones, are regularly sold for a bag less than the Svartpilens. However, Husqvarna sell a kit for conventional handlebars - essentially converting a Vitpilen to a Svartpilen (minus the knobbly tyres) - with all one would need including new yoke, cables, brake-pipe, switches, etc. They don't sell the opposite kit, to fit clip-ons to a Svartpilen, funny that
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Royal Enfield Continental GT 535, Husqvarna Vitpilen 401, Yamaha XSR700, Honda Rebel, Yamaha DT175, Suzuki SV650 (loan) Fazer 600, Keeway Superlight 125, 50cc turd scooter

[Villers]

[MercurialWarc...]

The Triumph was running poorly when hot, so I spent last week investigating:

Checked the valve clearances, and 3/6 exhausts were a smidgen tight and 1 intake was a smidge loose.
Managed to swap a couple around so only needed to order 2 new ones, which are now fitted and all valves are now within clearance

Then to balance the throttle bodies - a bit more fiddly than the twin-cylindered engines I'm used to, but managed to get all 3 pretty close to each other (that photo was taken during the adjustment procedure btw, they weren't that far apart once I'd finished ).

Result is that the bike runs beautifully now - took it out today, had the engine working hard in this heat and not a hint of any issue, so I'm a happy boy

[bacon]

Vfr800fi again, changed front pads to some new EBC HH, cleaned up the calipers, red rubber greased the pistons before pushing them home, renewed the front brake fluid, renewed the clutch fluid, both were rather brown!
Need some assistance from the wife though in order to bleed the LH front caliper centre piston with the rear brake circuit. I can't reach it with my foot on the rear brake pedal (no vac bleeder).

Rear brake next when I can find an hour.

Been trying to sort a dodgy neutral dash light. I had hoped it would be something simple, I pulled the neutral switch on the crank case and replaced it with a new OEM part , no change. Removed the front cowl and changed the bulb, no change... I've got continuity between the switch terminal and the crank case. So it must be the wiring. Eurgh.... That will have to wait until the weekend.