What did you do to your bike today?

MowyTone · 18 May 2019 at 21:07

Went round the bike checking all the terminals and cleaning with WD40. Found my CCTs were the OEM ones so I've got some manual ones on order. Softened the front forks off as there was next to no give in them. Still need to soften the shock yet. Then gave it a clean.

Took the baffles out to test and it's loud

My next door neighbour is encouraging me to keep them out so they might have to come out.

MowyTone · 20 May 2019 at 06:57

First ride without the baffles in. A great noise, but it's like I've been assaulted by sound. Got off it with a smile but feeling a bit shell shocked

signs · 20 May 2019 at 12:03

took a spin to a village i grew up in and bumped into a mate on his zed , combined age of 82 right there !

MowyTone · 20 May 2019 at 13:15

What well kept bikes

signs · 20 May 2019 at 13:40

MowyTone said:
What well kept bikes

i've had mine for about 30 years , he got his two years after he helped me restore mine 27 years ago

.one. · 20 May 2019 at 15:45

I had an alpha pipe on my z650 & a Haris on my gsx750 like the bike at the back.

Kreeeee · 20 May 2019 at 16:43

Well it was my bike for the day and I just got the photos:

I'm well chuffed with that for my second track day, and now I'm seriously considering giving up road riding and just doing track days.

signs · 20 May 2019 at 16:55

.one. said:
I had an alpha pipe on my z650 & a Haris on my gsx750 like the bike at the back.

mines the harris one

Scort · 21 May 2019 at 08:47

Kreeeee said:
Well it was my bike for the day and I just got the photos:

I'm well chuffed with that for my second track day, and now I'm seriously considering giving up road riding and just doing track days.

Great action shot! I do miss battering knee sliders - but should probably avoid that sort of action on the road, and save it for a track day - which I still haven't done after 12+ years of riding

khemist · 21 May 2019 at 18:30

Changed the fork covers from White to Black, the replacement isn't exactly the same though as there is no allowance for the ABS sensor so had to cut out some of the plastic.

Not the tidiest of jobs but not really noticeable.

Scort · 22 May 2019 at 11:00

Picking up a W reg SV650 tomorrow

The Misses hates going on the back of the RS, so picked up a cheap bike for pillion jaunts - had a couple of hundred quid spent on it recently, but it's an unseen eBay jobby - so hopefully it'll be ok; might do a bit of work on the brakes and fluids as it's been sorn for a few years.

Looking forward to having a hack to abuse in the rubbish months and rainy days

Kreeeee · 22 May 2019 at 11:33

Scort said:
Picking up a W reg SV650 tomorrow The Misses hates going on the back of the RS, so picked up a cheap bike for pillion jaunts - had a couple of hundred quid spent on it recently, but it's an unseen eBay jobby - so hopefully it'll be ok; might do a bit of work on the brakes and fluids as it's been sorn for a few years.

Looking forward to having a hack to abuse in the rubbish months and rainy days

My wife found the SV650 to be one of the worst bikes for riding as a pillion. She sat really high on the bike and she hated that.

Scort · 22 May 2019 at 11:34

Kreeeee said:
My wife found the SV650 to be one of the worst bikes for riding as a pillion. She sat really high on the bike and she hated that.

Hopefully mine won't mind - the was more about comfort (of lack of) with the RS - at least the SV is old, so have armchair seats.

khemist · 23 May 2019 at 19:34

Bridgestone BT 45's on and got a new D.I.D. VX2 Gold chain, there was nothing wrong with the old one mind you but i fancied one.

Munchies · 25 May 2019 at 14:59

Rant

Went to put the VFR back together after getting and fitting the valve shims, all fitted, gaps are perfect, throw it all back together, 1 of the 4 cylinder head cover bolts feels like it's stretching before it's even near 10nm, so I pulled it, switched it with another, different bolt, same hole went in fine, so I put the one that felt like it was stretching in a different corner, and.... It sheared, at <10nm. The remnants of the bolt came out easy enough as it was barely more than finger tight, pop to Honda, the bolts are discontinued... Can no longer get them. Check David Silver spares, 2 week wait for them to get their hands on some. Fine, ordered, but now the KTM's rear wheel bearings have started grumbling, and it's a bank holiday weekend, no chance of getting bearings now until next week, and as the VFR is out of action for atleast 2 more weeks, I have to use the KTM for work. Damnit.

/Rant.

Lakeland · 25 May 2019 at 16:24

Try Craig’s for ktm parts, they seem to stock a fair amount of spares.

CGrieves · 26 May 2019 at 01:22

Munchies said:
Rant

Went to put the VFR back together after getting and fitting the valve shims, all fitted, gaps are perfect, throw it all back together, 1 of the 4 cylinder head cover bolts feels like it's stretching before it's even near 10nm, so I pulled it, switched it with another, different bolt, same hole went in fine, so I put the one that felt like it was stretching in a different corner, and.... It sheared, at <10nm. The remnants of the bolt came out easy enough as it was barely more than finger tight, pop to Honda, the bolts are discontinued... Can no longer get them. Check David Silver spares, 2 week wait for them to get their hands on some. Fine, ordered, but now the KTM's rear wheel bearings have started grumbling, and it's a bank holiday weekend, no chance of getting bearings now until next week, and as the VFR is out of action for atleast 2 more weeks, I have to use the KTM for work. Damnit.

/Rant.

If it's only a cam cover bolt, I'd bodge that until the proper ones arrive!

Foghorn Leghorn · 26 May 2019 at 10:34

Fitted a new clutch basket to the blade. After 33k miles the springs in the back of the original basket were a little loose and the basket had a very unhonda like rattle.
It's all quiet again now, checked the original clutch plates whilst I was in there, all good.

https://flic.kr/p/2g2NoFR

How do you embed flickr images?

tom_e · 26 May 2019 at 11:59

Foghorn Leghorn said:
Fitted a new clutch basket to the blade. After 33k miles the springs in the back of the original basket were a little loose and the basket had a very unhonda like rattle.
It's all quiet again now, checked the original clutch plates whilst I was in there, all good.

https://flic.kr/p/2g2NoFR

How do you embed flickr images?

You say unhonda like but if you get a blackbird that doesn't sound like a bag of spanners until you pull the clutch in then you've found the holy grail

Foghorn Leghorn · 26 May 2019 at 13:25

tom_e said:
You say unhonda like but if you get a blackbird that doesn't sound like a bag of spanners until you pull the clutch in then you've found the holy grail

Interesting, cheers for that, I've just had a quick Google and it seems to be the same problem. The springs in the back of the clutch basket develop a bit of free play and then rattles when the bike is in neutral.
I knew it wasn't doing any harm, just mildly irritating. A nos clutch basket appeared on eBay about 12 months ago for silly money so I bought it, it's taken until now to get around to changing it