do i need to replace battery?

[tara1234]

So my new bike. It wont start with electric start, lights are very dim and horn doesnt work.

I can ocasionally bump start it but eveb that takes a lot of effort. Does this sound like a flat battery? Or could it be the starter motor?

[Teflon-Mike]

Think it through... if the starter motor was faulty, would that, when it's 'off' most of the time.... make the lights go dim?

It's probably in need of a new battery, most 125's are after a short while. The problem is that they iz small, and cranking the motror over on the e-start, sucks a LOT of amps.. it's technically called deep-cycle discharge. The starter-motor sucks something like 80Amps... the battery is rated nominally at perhaps 8 Amp-Hours... which is a convenience; means that it can accept or deliver 8 amps for one hour. E-start obliviously sucks something like 10x the amps the battery is rated to deliver, or take; which is why it's on it's own solenoid operated circuit, by-passing the probably 10amp main-fuse of the rest of the electrics, and on hefty thick cables, that can carry that kind of ampage, straight from the battery.

Any-how.... deep-discharge, kills batteries; the high amps makes the electrolyte effectively 'boil' and it makes the plates inside break down, and they start to sulphate up, and can short between plates, through the sludge.... the battery can 'stand' some DCD, but only briefly, and occasionally... more often the bikes started, and the longer button held in each time, more the battery suffers.

The first cause of the problem, is not thrashing the bike; and especially this time of year, over using the head-lamps. Modern vogue for permanently wired on 'Day-Time-Running-Lights' don't help much, nor 'advice' to always switch on lamps.... probably before engine started.

The 125 Super-Dream was one of the first 4T125's given an e-start only; and because it was a novelty, and folk were suspicious that they wouldn't be able to start the ting, they gave it a pretty beefy, for a 125' generator and battery... and I have the book to hand; so, flipping to page 156; it got given a 9Ah batterty, and a beefy 150W generator, that might deliver, about 12Amps.... most 4T 125's have a lot less, perhaps a 6Ah battery, and, if they are lucky, a 100W generator...

Worth noting, though, that generator is only rated at 150W at 5ooo rpm crank speed. Which is just about half red-line revs on the 125 Twin, motor, which, tottling round town, might rarely be breached, especially if you have the tendency to short-shift, and use the taller gears at lower speeds.

At lower crank-speeds the generator cant even make the watts its rated for at 'peak'.... and you may be lucky to get half them amps out of it....

If you do lots of town work, rarely getting over 40 mph between traffic lights, and have to sit at them traffic lights as long as you are moving, with the engine at tick-over... probably with the back brake lamp 'on' if nothing else.... Then you can easily get into electrical over-draft, with the generator never putting back into the battery what lamps and other equipment takes out..... and that's without factoring in the e-start.... which as said sucks something like 10x the amps, when used....

But it's worse than that Jim.... you get into a vicious circle;; use the e-start, bike starts... you stall... common on learner-bikes... e-start again.. battery slowly goes flat, as genny struggles to keep up with the over-draft. Meanwhile, repetitive e-starts wear out the starter motor, and the carbon brushes inside, leave a deposit of dust on the contacts... now when you press the button... electric tracks through the dust, and current flows through more windings of the motor than was intended... this is not good, because some of those windings are making magnet that is now 'oposing' the magnet made by other windings... as well as robbing thier electric.... but the result is, that the starter, as it wears, starts to get 'lazy'...

Now! With lazy starter, the engine isn't spun up so briskly, and it takes longer for the engine to 'catch' ans start up.... means that the startter is sucking even more amps, the battery being even more heavily hammered in deep-cycle-discharge... and for longer.....

The battery, then gets hammered, and faster than normal.... until som-one has the notion it's dead.... and replaces it.... and the new battery, 'seems' to spin the engine into life really really easily.... but then, the decay takes its toll, and the battery dies again, in a relatively short time.....

Now, filk start muttering about chitty cheap e-baty batteries.... and get a new 'better' one.... and that works better for a while.... BUT that too eventually 'goes', cos the under-lying problem that the starter motor is old, and tured, gunked up and lazy has never been tackled.

Aiding and abetting the issue, is bad earth connections, especially between the engine and frame, more so if some-one has had a crack at 'restoring' the old girl, and painted the frame, so there's a layer of insulating paint between the electrical connections... thats often no more than the boss on the engine and lugg on the frame where the bolt that holds them togehter goes through.... and probably aught to have a braided earth strap, to provide a good earth path anyway.... which if it was there, is often omitted.

More aid is oft offered by solenoids, that are a heavy brass cont plate moved by an elecro-magnet, and on an 'iffy' electric system, the plate dont move so far, so fast, and the plate gets corroded up, and pitted from the high-amps its carrying, and any arcing when the plate isn't quite in contact with the contacts.

SO... you have a bit of a three ring circus... and the correct solution i to tackle it all, in a oner; recondition or replace the starter-motor; make sure that the power leads are good, all the way back to the battery, and you have good earth-paths too. If not standard, some braid between engine and frame, or even a direct return wire from the starter to the battery negative, van be a real boon. A new or reconditioned solenoid, then eliminates that variable.... and finally.... a new battery... might be fitted with some confidence the 'old' starter system wont kill it in double time.

THEN... with reconditioned starter system, and new battery.... change the way you use the thing a bit.

First up, use revs not gears; give yourself access to the small power little engine makes, and the throttle response it may have, AND get the revs up, more often, to where the generator makes more amps than equipment might suck... and give it a bit of a chance to do something about electrical over-draft.

Next.... start-up... use the e-start sparingly. A-N-D give it best chance of getting the amps it wants, by NOT having anything else competing for electric; so make sure lights are 'off' if you can, DONT hold it on the brakes, lighting the 25W tail-lamp, sucking half as much as the head-lamp, as you prod the button.... Get it started, give it a chance to 'warm' and THEN think about switching stuff 'on'....

Pay heed though; once started, at even high-idle revs you might have on choke, the generator is probably not making an enormous amount of amps.... don't think that just having the engine running will charge it, or put back what you have taken out with the e-start...

A lot of little, and particularly older bikes have whats called a 'self exited' ignition. That is, the electric to make sparks, comes straight from the generator, not the battery. This is why they can be bump-started, possibly without a battery at all, and once running, at least the sparks are self-sustaining. On more modern, more sophisticated bikes, more usually bigger ones, and certainly fuel-injected ones; the electric to power the fuel pump and the squirters and the electric brain that controls them, and probably sparks to, most often comes entirely from the battery, and its even easier with that electric 'load' on the system, for the battery to be in over-draft much more of the time, and particularly at tick-over revs, even if there's no other equipment 'on'.

But, point is, don't think, that leaving the bike at tick-over, for a prolonged warm-up is all that helpful, and that with the engine running, its putting back electric into the battery.

As mentioned, the little Super-Dreams relativily beefy generator makes 150 watts, perhaps 12Amps... at 5ooo revs. At tick-over? It probably only makes 1 or 2Amps.... and the lights in the clocks probably burn more than that!!!

So keep warm up as short as you can; it will warm up far faster on the road, especially if you aren't short shifting, and there it will have far more chance to be in electric credit than debt.

BUT... even IF you are reasonably careful, and have a gfood charging system, and a good e-start system; follow advice on start-up, and not short-shifting..... IF you do a lot of short-hops, and multiple starts, the battery can still go flat, in what seems 'normal' use.

Snowie, had this problem on her 125 S-D, when she went out on the road in care, rather than working in a care-home. She had perhaps a dozen calls or more, a day, to make, rarely more than a mile apart, all in 20 and 30mph residential zones; I think that there was one, maybe 1/4mile stretch of 40mph duel carriageway between any of them; and with so many e-starts demanded by the number of stops, and so little distance betwen them to give the genny a chance to put the electric back in the battery, it STILL needed frequent bench-charges on a battery-charger to keep it topped up.... I actually ran an extension lead out the kitchen window and put a high ampage connectort on her battery and the charger to make it 'easy' to top-charge over-night.... Sort of like an 'omptimate'... but with a 4Amp supply rather than a 1/4 amp one... that frankly just NEVER gonna charge a battery! Might keep the flashing LED for the alarm alive... but not much else!

Depending on use, a similar solution may be needed... but, a decent bench charge, over-night about as often as you 'should' do oil changes is no bad idea.

Point of note: an 8 Amp-Hour battery 'notionally' can supply 8Amps for one hour. Conversely, it should 'take' 8Amps for one hour, to fully charge from completely flat. IF you have a typical 4Amp work-shop battery charger, then, you would 'think' that it should charge a completely flat 8Ah battery in two hours.... Not so.... when you first switch 'on' a bench charger, then it might deloiver close to its 'peak' amp rate.... but as the battery takes charge, so the terminal volts rise, and the amps the charger can shove in fall. Takes something more like 12hours, to recharge an 8Ah battery off even a moderately 'good' bench charger, because of this rate drop.

With a 'new' battery... claims are oft made that they are 'dry-charged' before delivery; and that all you have to do is add the acid and fit to the bike. If they are dry-charged, though the amount of charge is often pretty small, and may be enough to turn over and start a 'relatively' good engine, but if the starter system iffy, and probably the reason new battery ordered... any dry-charge is probably not enough to get the thing to live, and even if it did... its putting the thing into deep-cycle-decay, from first touch of the button.

Always 'best' to be a bit diligent with a new battery, whatever the seller claims; and before fitting to bike, making sure its acid filled, and properly, then given a night on the bench charger; electrolyte checked and topped of needs after, and charged 'again' to be sure its properly full..... THEN it might be fitted to the bike.... and if the e-start system good, if the start-up regime helpful, if the use and maintenance advice followed, and the bike thrashed a bit, and or the battery periodically bench charged to make up any short fall.... all should be good, and new battery last well.....

SO... from query at the top.... yes, it does sound like a flat battery; no it doesn't sound like you necesserily need a new starter motor... BUT.... they go together, and you probably should tackle both.

On matter of the hard bump-starting?

There is a definite knack to bumping a bike; one of them being to get a good head of speed up to begin with, before dropping the clutch, a-n-d, dropping into the saddle yo load the back tyre as you dump the clutch.....

Also most people's mistake is to select first gear to bump in..... this is a bit like the engine-braking you should have been taught about on CBT.

When the engine is running, and driving the back-wheel, a 'tall' gear, like 4th or fifth, gives most turns of the wheel for fewest turns of the crank...

When bump-starting, you are working the other way around, and a LOW gear like 1st is trying to turn the crank most revs per rev of the back wheel.

SO, the 'trick' if it is one, is to NOT try and bump in 1st, but remember the gearbox is working back-wards, and to select 2nd or even 3rd, to give mechanical advantage to the back wheel, and make it easier to turn over the engine... but pay heed; for any given distance and speed of push, the crank will be driven more slowly, so it will be easier to push, but you will need to push faster and for longer.... AND... when you dumnp the clutch, IF the engine catches.... you will be in taller gear... like trying tio start off in 2n'd or 3rd... and it may stall..... if not... it can try and run away with you.... especially if you are NOT properly seated when you dump the clutch....

So, IF you bumpo; 1) select 2nd gear (for preference) 2) give it a good head of run up, to get the speed and momentum up to get the engine spinning, when you dump the clutch 3) make sure your bum be on saddle when you dump the clutch, to load the back wheel... AND be very careful to keep your hand on the clutch lever and be ready to haul it 'in' as soon as the engine catches, so that it don't stall or run away from you..... And THEN you can sort the gears out to what you'd normally pull away in.

IE: Bettery 'Yes'.... but, 'Starter' probably could do with over haul, and not just the starter.

What YOU do, by way of start up and use, probably aught be looked at too, to help stop it happening again, and periodic battery maintenance by way of checking the electrolyte levels and top-up charging are all good practice.

And bump-starting.... is an art that like so many, needs a bit of thought anbd a lot of practice, to do and do well.... and if there's underlying issues in the charging system, and use op the bike.... you COUKD have plenty of opportunity for that practice...

But like the dilemah over DIY testing vs formal training.....

IF you go-it alone, and trying and figure it out as you go, you can spend a heck of a lot of time getting frustrated, NOT getting bike to start... or starting, and being dragged into hedges and things! Working out the vest ways about it.... where with a little 'learning' some-one telling yo to use 2nd gear, not 1st, and bum-bounce to load the back wheel, AND be quick over the clutch when it catches.... with a bit of show with the tell... you CAN save an awful lot of hurt and frustration, learning to do it 'right'; right at the start, rather than by hit and miss make it up as you go...... just a side thunk.....
____________________
My Webby'Tef's-tQ, loads of stuff about my bikes, my Land-Rovers, and the stuff I do with them!
Current Bikes:'Honda VF1000F' ;'CB750F2N' ;'CB125TD ( 6 3 of em!)'; 'Montesa Cota 248'. Learner FAQ's:= 'U want to Ride a Motorbike! Where Do U start?'

[redeem ouzzer]

[doggone]

There are possibilities like bad earth, but if the symptoms improve after charging it then you answered your own question.
After that how long before symptoms return, once batteries have been let go flat they deteriorate rapidly, and it might only last 2 or 3 years anyway.

It could also be not charging properly or at all, various things could cause this.
An easy way to check if charging system is effective is to have it ticking over with headlight shining on something close by (hand will do).
Rev the engine to about halfway and you should see a slight increase in brightness once off tickover.

Winter is hard on batteries in all vehicles with engine harder to start, more use of accessories and often reduced running time for recharging to occur.

[Tankie]

[grr666]

Have you tried rubbing the battery with a sock? That might do something.
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Currently enjoying products from Ford, Mazda and Yamaha
Ste wrote: Avatars are fine, it's signatures that need turning off.

[Ste]

What bike?

[M.C]

[bhinso]

[Freddyfruitba...]

[stevo as b4]

Why does this poster keep posting both multiple same threads and multiple same posts all the time?

[Travis Bickle]

A lot of unhelpful people in here giving unhelpful comments. Yeah maybe it should have gone in the workshop forum but she IS a new rider and it's a pretty basic / newbie question to ask. Cut her some slack guys she's reaching out for help and getting mainly sarcastic or unhelpful comments in return. She's also said previously that there's something quirky going on with her phone that sometimes posts stuff twice so it's not intentional.

Definitely not starter motor as Teff said this would not cause the lights to be dim or the horn to not work. I've got to be honest I didn't read beyond the first line of text on Teff's post (I never do) so apologies if I'm repeating something he's already said (albeit more concise). All the starter motor does it start the engine. If it were the starter motor, once bump started and up and running you'd have no other issues whatsoever while running, until the next time you turned the bike off you wouldn't be able to start it again.

If it were the battery, I would have thought that once bump started, again you shouldn't have any issues as even a completely knackered battery should be able to receive and hold enough charge to keep you running once started so long as the alternator is working correctly.

Sounds like an alternator to me. If you can access where the battery is and test the voltage with a voltmeter (any multi-meter will have a volts option on it and I believe you can buy them from pound shops or even Argos/Tesco for a fiver max for a cheap one which will be more than sufficient for what you need it for). Search YouTube for how to use a voltmeter or multi-meter if you don't know already. Not having had much experience with bikes I can't say for sure exactly what the voltage should be, but I know cars should be in the region of 14.4v while the engine is running (as the alternator is charging the battery) and 12v while the engine is turned off and therefore the alternator not charging the battery. I see no reason why bikes should be any different as they too use 12v batteries but maybe someone will correct me, perhaps bikes charge their batteries at a slightly lower voltage like 13v or something perhaps? But I suspect not. Either way you'll know if it's the alternator or not if it's reading 12v or less while the engine is running.

Another possibility as previously mentioned is a bad earth but this is less common. A way to test for this would be to hold the negative lead on the voltmeter onto anything bare metal (not painted) on the chassis and the positive lead to the positive terminal on the battery. See what the voltage reads. If it doesn't give a reading or is less than 10v chances are it's a bad earth. Take that negative lead off the chassis and back to the negative terminal on the battery while still with the positive lead to the positive terminal. Should be reading at least 10v. That'll be a positive diagnosis of a bad earth. Best to go to a mechanic if you're not sure but you could search for any loose or heavily corroded bolts coming from the battery to the engine or the chassis.

If you're not confident to do this yourself take it to any garage and they'll be able to diagnose it in 5 minutes flat. If you use a garage you've been to before, preferably if they know your face or maybe go with a friend or family member to one they use regularly, I'd be very surprised if they charged you for the diagnosis, maybe batter your eyelids a little.
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Must Go Faster
1999 Yamaha FZS600 Fazer

[Travis Bickle]

Also a bad earth would usually cause juddering / cutting out while riding as the contacts between the negative battery terminal and the engine/chassis is on and off as you ride and bump around to make the contacts move.
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Must Go Faster
1999 Yamaha FZS600 Fazer

[Travis Bickle]

[P.]

[M.C]

[Ste]

[Travis Bickle]

[M.C]

[Ste]

Your tablet doesn't press the back button on its own.

[M.C]

[bhinso]

[tara1234]

Ok specific details about the bike.

Honda NSR 125 italian import, saw it being sold for £500 with a working engine, just had top rebuild and I can sell my SR for at least £400 and learn a thing or two about bike mechanics while I do this project. So all in all the upgrade wont cost me much.

I managed to get it home it wouldn't start in the cold with just a push start. The lights don't seam to work and I had drained the battery flat to the level that the dashboard lights had stopped working. After about half an hour they started to show albeit very dim.

Iv ordered a new battery as people seam to think thats the first thing to change and see what happens.

One thing I did realise is that push starting is almost instant when the bike is warm, eg I stall at traffic lights. So was wondering if something like a 12v electric blanket connected to the battery and wrapped around the engine can heat the engine up to a level that I can push start it easily. The night I posted this it was 3 AM and below freezing, wonder if raising the temperature of the piston would help a little.

I plan to go for my full license again in febuary or march after riding this slightly bigger bike (It weights 140kg and is a more sporty bike so should get me more used to the sort of bikes training schools use).

In regards to why buy this bike and not just wait it out on the SR 125 until full license I saw my opportunity to get a bike for roughly the same value as my bike and when I pass I can just run around on this A2 bike. A 125 2 stroke is roughly equivelant to a 250 4 stroke in power which is what I was kinda after anyway.

Lastly restriction, should I restrict? Id assume yes, if I can manage to get 15 BHP it will still be a massive jump up from what the SR125 gave out. (Yamaha YZF/KTM duke etc can reach 85 mph top etc).
Does anyone know any ways that I can restrict the engine down to 15 bhp easily. Would limiting the throttle travel be enough to get me down to 15 bhp if I limit it to about 50%. The bike has a full arrow exhaust system on it.

[stevo as b4]

You'll fuck it up trying to restrict it, it's an import model devoid of any restrictions and only designed to run in that configuration. You'll have to ride it as it is, or legally (I.e. insured) once you pass your A2 test.

Two things though, firstly do you know that to pass your A2 test and gain that licence that you'll have to pass the test on a much bigger capacity bike (heavier) as that's the criteria for getting the license? And that your test bike will be around 45bhp, making the peaky little NSR hard work and seem quite gutless there after.

Im not two stroke bashing here, it's just they don't in today's world make much sense as a daily ridden do it all commuter bike. And how shall we say it people are pretty thin on two stroke engine knowledge and maintenance requirements, as there's so few in daily use and the current learner generation largely have never seen any or don't know what they are.

You need to be aware of two stroke maintenance requirements and how to operate them properly and their quirks etc. Maybe start by seeing if you can buy/download an NSR owners and maintenance manual for your model of NSR (there's two main model generations of them).

You'll have to learn about filling up your two stroke oil reservoir, not letting it get too low to stop air getting into the oil feed line, and not to trust the low oil warning light as Gospel. You'll probably find it needs the tank filling up every 200miles approx, but get used to checking physically with your eyes the oil level at every fuel stop.

As your bike is a full power Italian import and as it has an aftermarket exhaust fitted it would be well worth checking that the fueling is correct and safe, as two strokes can't tolerate incorrect air/fuel ratios for more than seconds under full load.

You'll need to carefully warm it up from cold too. It'll probably run shit when cold so a couple of minutes running before trying to ride it is sensible, but then you'll want the coolant temperature to be in the normal (mid position) before riding it quickly or using the full rev range.

If some of your journeys are short 30mph town centre runs, it'll probably eventually protest and foul a plug or run like crap. When a two stroke is fully warm they like to be ridden hard to burn off all the oily gunge inside the engine and exhaust. Otherwise it'll smoke trails of blue and gradually clog up with unburnt oily shite.

Its worth taking a spare spark plug with you all the time and have the tools and know how to change it at the side of the road.

Keep a note of the mileage and plan basic services every 2000miles, and for eventual engine maintenance around the recommended intervals. This will vary somewhat depending on how you look after it, ride it, and if your feeding it on good synthetic oil which it needs in any 200bhp/litre two stroke.

Something tells me that you won't have this bike too long, either because once gaining an A2 licence you'll see how it's far less of a good daily bike than a 300-500cc 45bhp bike is, or because of it being awkward and too much trouble to look after and keep it running spot on. A worn or poorly running/poorly maintained two stroke is awful to ride, and can be downright unreliable or expensive if it goes bang.

Oh yeah and everything I have said mainly applies to a good well looked after example of the bike, I don't really hold out any hope of a £500 NSR 125 being much good for anything, and it won't run on a shoestring budget either.

[Teflon-Mike]

Ahhhhhhhh Now everything becomes clear.....

NSR vs CBR post was not so much a question of which might be better, if any than your SR... but "I've seen SHINY! I want it! Pleeeez tell me that all the 'sensible' reasons for buying it, are.... pleeeeze!"

Oh-Kay..... well... the milks spilt.... a-n-d I have to say, better the devil you know.... and you know the SR.

The NSR, if it IS a genuine Italian market import, a) is not Learner-Legal. b) 'restricting' it to be learner-legal... apart from being awkward, perverse and rather fultile.... would make nit not only a Grey-Import non-UK model motorcycle... but a modified one to boot.....

If I was an insurance underwriter I'd be rubbing my hands together with glee... because first I could wop you with a hefty premium loading for it being a sporty and show-room expensive bike; then some more for it not being a UK model, and then even more, cos you have modified it from even that 'standard' to comply with UK licence regs.... have you done any 'propper' insurance quotes on this thing BTW? And by propper, I mean actually declaring its not a genuine UK import bike, and that its full-power.... which you dont have a licence for... so how much more if modded to be UK Learner-Legal.... and what 'proof' of that do they want to see to give you a certificate? OR... well, if the uinder-writer, I'd maybe just shrug, and say "Well, if duffers will drown" take your money, then use the 'omisions' as reason never to pay out.... and/or sue you after for the losses.... but still....

Easier starting hot than cold....

My first instinct there is to suspect that the thing's knackered, and in need of a 'real' rebuild... as in one with new bits... not just taken apart and shoved back together again, when the owner finds out how expensive it it....

Back to former post: knackered battery and poor starting, suggests that the battery is a symptom, not a cause. Cause is the old worn out starter system, that needs reconditioning properly, BUT beneath that, on a kiddie-go-kwik two stroke, that reputedly has had a top-end rebuild or three.... knackered rings and or barel... which are service spares on a hi-po two-stroke, giving low compression and poor starting when cold, getting easier when warm and the metal has expanded a bit...

And, poor starting on knackered bore, would suggest heavy use of the starter for more prolonged periods, hammering the already tired starter and battery.... and we are going back around the loop... all pointing towards a bike that is probably pretty knackered, and really in need of a LOT of remedial maintenance.....

And it's another loop, IF you dont do it, and do it all; where tackling symptoms, as they present themselves. you will forever been frustrated by the niggles, never getting down to the underlying faults that really need to be tackled, but never are.... and this is NOT what you want if you need a half way reliable daily rider....

Have you actually sold the SR yet?

For MY money.... this NSR would likely be a no-go. It isn't learner legal for starters, Italian and grey-import origins are a can of worms, and bottom line.... it dont work.... and the little surface niggles you are noting, are likely just the tip of the ice-berg.....

£500? This aint 'cheap' if you have to chuck £1000 worth of parts at the thing to bring it up to par... and it would only be a £1000 bike for it, at best......

And, being brutal.... you probably DO need to chuck that kind of cash at it. As said, this starting issue, is not likely to be nice simple flattery... sorting that, properly, would be reconditioning the starter, new solenoid, new battery, lots of careful attension to deail over engine earths and wiring... and then doing an engine rebuild, and doing it properly, as its probably never 'really' had one.

Go tally the cost of a new nikasil cylinder... or getting the old one de-plated and re-plated. Add the price of new piston and rings, and all gaskets. New starter; new solenoid, new battery.... a-n-d.... like I said that's tip of the ice-berg... doing that much work, you may as well, on an engine that old and that tired, tear it all the way down; replace the main bearings, check the crank, replace crank-case seals, and do the gearbox and clutch whilst you are about it.... new thermostat would probably be worth-while... and what state are the hoses in? And more, how silted up is the radiator....

Sort all that, and looking at the exposed parts of the chassis, without the engine in it.... Hmmmm.... how far do you go? What are the shock linkages in? What state ios the shock in... and how far do you go, whilst its in bits, doing stuff that will likely save even more of these silly questions in the long run......

And besides the costs... how long can you afford the thing to be off the road whilst you do it? And with the questions over lessons and licence, is it likely to even be done, before the whole project becomes rather redundant, 'cos you have licence for a big bike?

On that score.... I really think that this bike is likely going to prove more of a hindrance than a help.... both on the mechanics, and the legalities, and the fact that your 'idea' that because its oooh a wopping 25Kg heavier than what you got, and has a perverse power-band power delivery, and twice the power, that that will some-how be more 'preparation' for a bike with at least five times the power and likely twice the weight, and all the SMIDY idiots that are out there.....

Even if it worked, it's no 'help' really... lessons might be.... and if it dont work... it's just going to hold you back, giving you reason to persevere and try and get what you hope from it, rather than bite the bullet and get what you really want....

Like I said... have you sold the SR yet, and be honest, how much of this plan is the magpie effect, of seeing 'shiny' and kidding yourself that some-how its a great idea and 'such' a bargain, it cant be turned down.....
____________________
My Webby'Tef's-tQ, loads of stuff about my bikes, my Land-Rovers, and the stuff I do with them!
Current Bikes:'Honda VF1000F' ;'CB750F2N' ;'CB125TD ( 6 3 of em!)'; 'Montesa Cota 248'. Learner FAQ's:= 'U want to Ride a Motorbike! Where Do U start?'