What did you do to your bike today?
- Thread starter edd1e
- Start date
I guess it depends on the climate? The 18c in the UK feel a lot warmer than if it was 18c in Poland, it works both ways though... if in here its like -3 or -4 it feels like -15 in Poland. I'm guessing its due to the higher humidity and the fact UK is an island.
It's very dry at the moment so when you hit the shade in the early evening it gets very very cold if the wind gets through all your mesh gear.
It was shorts and T-shirt weather off the bike so I really wasn't expecting to suffer.
I can just about survive the 38C summers here, but in the UK even 25C feels nasty in comparison. The main difference is sweating here actually does something other than insulate you more.
Oh and it's only 25C up in the mountains when it's that hot so I have an excuse to go play!
It was shorts and T-shirt weather off the bike so I really wasn't expecting to suffer.
I can just about survive the 38C summers here, but in the UK even 25C feels nasty in comparison. The main difference is sweating here actually does something other than insulate you more.
Oh and it's only 25C up in the mountains when it's that hot so I have an excuse to go play!
Got home last night and decided to have a fiddle.
Fitted some new Brembo pads up front, adjusted and lubed the chain I was giving WD40 wax a go but it doesn't seem great made the chain seem like it was rattling so I've gone back to my Muc Off extreme lovely sticky purple stuff.
Then I decided to have a closer look at the oil seeping down my front plug drain hole, stripped the rad off and popped the plug out and there was a tiny amount of fresh looking oil right at the very bottom of the ceramic and a little around the washer on the threads and I mean tiny so I wiped it off put the plug back in a tightened it a little more than when I last replaced it just incase the oil was sneaking past the threads and wiped down the drain hole so I'll keep an eye on it.
The bike isn't losing any real oil judging by the sight glass so it's a tiny seep whatever it is so I'm not overly worried.
Tonights job is a tin of engine cleaner in the old oil then drop it and replace the filter and fill it up with some nice fancy red (oil colour is very important) fully synth Motul 7100 as a treat and possibly wash it as it's the only chance I'll get before Sundays big ride.
Fitted some new Brembo pads up front, adjusted and lubed the chain I was giving WD40 wax a go but it doesn't seem great made the chain seem like it was rattling so I've gone back to my Muc Off extreme lovely sticky purple stuff.
Then I decided to have a closer look at the oil seeping down my front plug drain hole, stripped the rad off and popped the plug out and there was a tiny amount of fresh looking oil right at the very bottom of the ceramic and a little around the washer on the threads and I mean tiny so I wiped it off put the plug back in a tightened it a little more than when I last replaced it just incase the oil was sneaking past the threads and wiped down the drain hole so I'll keep an eye on it.
The bike isn't losing any real oil judging by the sight glass so it's a tiny seep whatever it is so I'm not overly worried.
Tonights job is a tin of engine cleaner in the old oil then drop it and replace the filter and fill it up with some nice fancy red (oil colour is very important) fully synth Motul 7100 as a treat and possibly wash it as it's the only chance I'll get before Sundays big ride.
Can you see any oil weeping from the cam cover gasket? The oil could be spraying from that as you ride along and collecting in the sparkplug well?
They use a mastic type adhesive on mine aswell as the gasket itself
Mines been leaking for a few years now
They use a mastic type adhesive on mine aswell as the gasket itself
Mines been leaking for a few years now
Nope the only oil I can see is where it's run out of the drain plug on the side of the engine, I still suspect it might be the gasket and I've got one coming today but it'll probably sit in the shed unless it gets worse.
Test fit & used my Satnav today & it went really well, It's a widescreen Garmin an old one I've had a fair while, I had no problem seeing it & I could even hear it when coming up to roundabouts & junctions. Lead traced nice back to my hook up lead as well so all in all it couldn't be better.
Time to pick some completely random locations to head to now.
Time to pick some completely random locations to head to now.
Satnav off, get completely lost & explore for a bit, then satnav back on to get home. That can be the best sort of riding
That's what I normally do, stick my head phones in my pocket just in case I need to use Google Maps to get home
Satnav off, get completely lost & explore for a bit, then satnav back on to get home. That can be the best sort of riding
Thats what I do in my car, need a new satnav for the bike now.
Soldato
- Joined
- 24 Mar 2011
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- 6,479
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- Kent
Trouble with exploring like that is you end up going down some proper dodgy single track roads, gravel/grass in the middle, then meeting a combine harvester coming the other way
Trouble with exploring like that is you end up going down some proper dodgy single track roads, gravel/grass in the middle, then meeting a combine harvester coming the other way
Selecting the windy route on the Tomtom last year to go to Wales took me down some similar paths, brilliant once in Wales but terrible for getting over the border.
I spent the first hour of the journey crawling round gravel roads with high hedge rows not knowing if I was actually going to make it out of England!
sounds fun if you had a trail bike/adventure bike.
less so on a sports bike
Yeah the SV was not a fan plus I never knew if I was about to get a face full of bonnet.
Soldato
- Joined
- 24 Mar 2011
- Posts
- 6,479
- Location
- Kent
You soon get used to using the trip meter, I have a fuel gauge but I don't really take much notice of it. The reserve indicator comes on on my bike with 60km to go, roughly. I reset the trip after I fill up, and at 320km it's fuel time as I'm only a few miles away from empty.