A most useful tool

[Ariel Badger]

In your bike's tool kit you will have a cross head screwdriver, this will be made on a budget and you should not use it for undoing screws. what you need to buy is one of these that Pete linked up earlier. However do not chuck the one from your kit into the bin, instead cut through it just below the handle and measure the diameter. find a nice bit of mild steel bar ( about 12 to 16 mm) and about 100 mm long and drill a hole the same size as your remaining bit of driver and about 25 mm deep ( you are best doing this in the lathe). Now you need to braze or silver solder the screwdriver into the bar. What you now have is a punch with a cross head that matches your screws, before even trying to undo a screw with your nice new driver you bought via Pete's link locate your punch in the screw and give a sharp tap with a hammer. This will break the bond that has formed between the screw and the case (dissimilar metals, galvanic action etc) and allow easy withdraw of the screw without wrecking the head.
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Bikers make great organ donors, get 115 on your licence today.

[stinkwheel]

Petes tool (fnar) isn't going to be much good for undoing the JIS B 1012 screws you'll find all over the shop on many Japanese motorcycles.

Good luck finding a screwdriver that fits them (other than the one in the toolkit) in the UK.

If you see this screw head, you may as well just get the drill out:
https://honda-cb750-s.456789.n3.nabble.com/file/n4035834/jisdimples.jpg
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“Rule one: Always stick around for one more drink. That's when things happen. That's when you find out everything you want to know.”
I did the 2010 Round Britain Rally on my 350 Bullet. 89 landmarks, 3 months, 9,500 miles.

[Timmeh]

I have a set of standard philips which I machined down to have a domed profile.

Works a treat, presuming they haven't turned to cheese with age.
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GSXR400 x2 | '94 RVF400 | '93 TZR125 4DL (again)
20:22:30 BLUEX5: i would love to be forced to undergo a**l plugging with different sizes
20:48:18 Temeluchus: comp you hunk of smouldering homos3x you

[Polarbear]

Impact driver for me. The best tool for Japanese engine casing cheese head bolts
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Triumph Trophy Launch Edition

[Ed Case]

[map]

One of my favourite philips/cross head screwdrivers (because it's head isn't knackered) has a little hole at the top of the handle. Useful for storage but also if you put another bar (usually another screwdriver) through it, apply downward pressure and also use the bar to turn it can be quite effective.

To misquote Archimedes, give me a lever long enough and a fulcrum to put it and I will move the world
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...and the whirlwind is in the thorn trees, it's hard for thee to kick against the pricks...
Gibbs, what did Duckie look like when he was younger?

[.....]

[Pete.]

[stinkwheel]