What have you done to your bike today?

[Easy-X]

"Yeah, actually a speedo would be nice"

And... no speedo drives on either of the funky wheel hubs
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Husqvarna Vitpilen 401, Yamaha XSR700, Honda Rebel, Yamaha DT175, Suzuki SV650 (loan) Fazer 600, Keeway Superlight 125, 50cc turd scooter

[DaddyStu]

Checked and prepped mine for another week of stormy commutes.

50mph wind tomorrow so will tie it to the fence at work.

At least it isn't cold though!
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Daddystu
Zontes 125-G1 (part-ex'd). Yamaha Tracer 700.

[A100man]

[Easy-X]

[DaddyStu]

Not the bike exactly but proofed all my gear on the washing line while the sun was shining. Used up nearly 5 litres of the stuff. Did the shed roof while I was at it.
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Daddystu
Zontes 125-G1 (part-ex'd). Yamaha Tracer 700.

[Nute]

There was so much salt cacking up the radiator it was pulling moisture out of the air it looked as if the rad was leaking. Washed it all off and just checked this morning in case it was a leak, thankfully not.

[A100man]

[DaddyStu]

[Easy-X]

Looking again at this exhaust box thing on my Husky:

https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/QxwAAOSwcfFjw2qm/s-l400.jpg

There's a large inlet (>3") and a 2" outlet. Peering inside with a torch it has an odd arrangement of walls (sound dampening fibreglass behind a a mesh) but there's a bit of a gap before this starts so exhaust gasses can flow direct to the outlet. Evidently this chamber's sole purpose is to shape the sound output rather than offer much restriction. Anyhoo, I'll give it a go, see what it sounds like...

Or not While it's nice to get a big box of parts (including this resonance chamber) when you buy a bike that's already modded I don't have any of the fixings. And this thing is heavy, probably more than the mid- & end-link pipes and can. Not something you could just cable tie and duct-tape

Surely I must have some appropriate bolts kicking about...
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Husqvarna Vitpilen 401, Yamaha XSR700, Honda Rebel, Yamaha DT175, Suzuki SV650 (loan) Fazer 600, Keeway Superlight 125, 50cc turd scooter

[Howling Terror]

Maybe could have posted this in a ‘You are no longer a real man’ thread.

The duke has been loaded into a van to be fixed up.
First time I’ve asked someone to do the work that I couldn’t be arsed to do.
Not much of a defence but decades of working on the bikes outside in a tiny garden has pee’d me off.

I’m going to be a big boy and pay up without a grumble.

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Diabolical homemade music Bandcamp and Soundcloud
Singer songwriter, Artist and allround good bloke Listen to Andrew Susan Johnston here
The Harry Turner Project

[Fullers1845]

[Easy-X]

Looking at scooter today. Splutters but doesn't want to start

Plenty of fuel coming through so doesn't look like a problem with the vacuum petcock. It has a CV carb with one of those accelerator plungers and if you give that a fiddle it will start up for a bit. I'm guessing the carb's gunked up so weighing up whether to strip and clean, check the slide membrane, etc. or just lob in one of those knock-off carbs the Chinese love to churn out
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Husqvarna Vitpilen 401, Yamaha XSR700, Honda Rebel, Yamaha DT175, Suzuki SV650 (loan) Fazer 600, Keeway Superlight 125, 50cc turd scooter

[Easy-X]

Pulled the carb to check the size/part no. turns out it's a 30mm Keihin CVK. Membrane looks good, bowl as clean as a whistle but gave the carb a clean anyway.

Back to basics: spark plug is wet with fuel and sparking lovely on turn over. Checking the airbox... looks fine but then I tried the ol' "cover the air intake" trick the engine started straight up! Pulled the auto choke and taped over the hole (after reassembling the airbox) again, started straight away. We have a winner
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Husqvarna Vitpilen 401, Yamaha XSR700, Honda Rebel, Yamaha DT175, Suzuki SV650 (loan) Fazer 600, Keeway Superlight 125, 50cc turd scooter

[Easy-X]

Plonked in the new choke and wired it up. Bike started straight up! Dies if you give it any throttle After fiddling with the carb for a bit the engine suddenly sprang to life. Fuck knows what we did, probably the slide stuck on something.

Anyhoo, left it an hour or so and had a cup of tea. Bike started again fine from cold. Fingers crossed it's sorted.
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Husqvarna Vitpilen 401, Yamaha XSR700, Honda Rebel, Yamaha DT175, Suzuki SV650 (loan) Fazer 600, Keeway Superlight 125, 50cc turd scooter

[Kawasaki Jimbo]

Not fitted yet but I’ve just bought a lithium incendiary device battery for the ‘99 ZX6R. Exide ELTX9. A long-established company so hopefully decent.

The bike has a recent history of consuming batteries if laid up for two or three months, and that’s happened because I have two bikes and more significantly, I’ve gone soft in my old age, not riding much through winter. When I rode daily I could get 5 years from a lead-acid battery but I’ve had to buy several new lead-acid batteries over the past few years. The last one lasted 20 months. It’s either parasitic drain (I know how to diagnose that and I have a decent meter but there’s been no indication) or the battery type (YTX9BS) somehow loses charge naturally. My alarm-equipped ‘03 R1 will keep a battery for yonks so it’s a mystery.

I had worked out that a TTZ12S was a suitable upgrade for the Kawasaki. Same dimensions and polarity, lead-acid, but compared to the stock 8.4 Ah, 135 CCA the TTZ12S was a useful 11.6 Ah and 210 CCA. It still wouldn’t survive a lay-up.

The new lithium battery has identical dimensions, 3Ah and 180 CCA, so supposedly between the two lead acid options in terms of cranking ability, but lithium is supposed to crank for longer and tolerate lay-ups for longer too. I’ll report back. It is phenomally light though. When I picked it up I nearly threw it at the ceiling. It also has a button linked to a charge indicating LED (which is nice), and I already have a charger which will accept lithium.

[recman]

[Kawasaki Jimbo]

I dabbled with a small solar panel 10 years ago and it, plus the prevailing weather, wasn't enough. I note that Halfords and outdoor shops offer bigger panels these days. However, I’m renting so there’s a limit to how much drilling and wiring I can do, and a big ol’ panel on the garage roof tells the local scrotes there’s something valuable inside.

[Easy-X]

Mostly finished the wiring on the old Triumph project (swapped to negative ground.) Just some headlight wiring and calibration of the digital speedo left
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Husqvarna Vitpilen 401, Yamaha XSR700, Honda Rebel, Yamaha DT175, Suzuki SV650 (loan) Fazer 600, Keeway Superlight 125, 50cc turd scooter

[Villers]

After an awful week I decided I'd take the SV out for it's first run after fixing the magnet issue. Went against risk and ran it up to temp outside the garage to check for leaks while I sorted tyre pressures. Sadly, a bit of a bad leak. Back on the garage and all stripped down, all my previous work seemed fine, the clutch push rod seal has given up the ghost and needs replaced. So have the area a bit of a clean and made a list of bits for the repair happy days!
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RS125 > CBR6 > SV650S > ZX636R > GSX1300RZ Hayabusa > 06 RSVR Mille ≥ Sv1000s somehow
'You came on your own, thats how you'll leave'

[Easy-X]

Old Triumph project. Calibrated the speedo. Top tip: don't stick the sensor magnets magnetically to the brake disk, they don't work Sticking them with double-sided tape to the stainless steel disk bolts for testing was fine though. Span the front wheel by hand, apparently got it up to 10mph Long term we'll drill a slight recess in the bolts and glue 'em in.

As a bonus, bled the front brake and hydraulic clutch.
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Husqvarna Vitpilen 401, Yamaha XSR700, Honda Rebel, Yamaha DT175, Suzuki SV650 (loan) Fazer 600, Keeway Superlight 125, 50cc turd scooter

[Easy-X]

Two wheeled vehicles... I fix 'em apparently. This time it's eldest daughter's other half's electric scooter

According to the manual this one's a "Xiaomi Mi Scooter 2 Pro," completely dead though. The battery seemed okay (holding 40V, charges up) so it'd have to be either the dashboard or the controller. I plumped for a matched pair from Aliexpress as it's such an old model but the upside is that the boards are knock-offs from the later models so effectively the scooter gets an upgrade.

Bluetooth pairs to app, allows switching from kph to mph, Celsius to Fahrenheit, changing the speed modes, enabling cruise control (WTF?) and a digital lock. Readouts of the motor power drain, battery capacity and health estimate, regen braking strength... very fancy

There seems to be an whole eco-system supporting eScooters I was unaware of. As long as the base is solid everything else on the scooter can be replaced or upgraded. Fairly cheaply too, given their origin. Almost a shame their illegal
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Husqvarna Vitpilen 401, Yamaha XSR700, Honda Rebel, Yamaha DT175, Suzuki SV650 (loan) Fazer 600, Keeway Superlight 125, 50cc turd scooter