What did you do to your bike today?

tom_e · 28 Nov 2016 at 16:21

I'd give my left something for a grotty oil stained dark damp shed as long as it was big enough for me and the bike, for that lovely space I'd give up my first born.

Craig321 · 28 Nov 2016 at 16:23

Yup, as Freeman said, the British generally don't know what they're doing when it comes to garages (small, very often no power, nasty floors, etc.). I'd do anything for one of those American houses where the garage is bigger (or at least wider) than the house

A shiny floor is no doubt better. Any spill can be cleaned up without a mark whereas a bare concrete/other floor is just going to stain if you spill oil or something else.

My garage floor is horrible (rented place so I won't be doing anything about it), it's that dusty concrete stuff, so as soon as you lean down, you're covered in white powder. Plus it absorbs spills nicely

Fireskull · 28 Nov 2016 at 16:27

In the next few years I want to buy a new place thats 90% garage, 5% kitchen and 5% bedroom, I will do my business in the street drain....

Craig321 · 28 Nov 2016 at 16:38

Sounds good to me

Nice big, well kitted (floors, lighting, power) garage is definitely priority when buying, or I'd at least buy something that I can kit out myself.

Kreeeee · 28 Nov 2016 at 16:50

My garage is a bit pants, but at least I have one.

IC3 · 29 Nov 2016 at 00:04

thedoc46 said:
https://s25.postimg.org/j6f7jc2fz/IMG_8833.jpg[IMG]

[IMG]https://s25.postimg.org/lp0wk0o67/IMG_8846.jpg[IMG][/QUOTE]

How did I miss that garage :eek: So clean, tidy and big. I'm jelly... :(

Could you send a picture of your whole garage? For scientific purposes (ekehm... fap folder). :p

thedoc46 · 29 Nov 2016 at 15:12

tom_e said:
I'd give my left something for a grotty oil stained dark damp shed as long as it was big enough for me and the bike, for that lovely space I'd give up my first born.

Craig321 said:
Yup, as Freeman said, the British generally don't know what they're doing when it comes to garages (small, very often no power, nasty floors, etc.). I'd do anything for one of those American houses where the garage is bigger (or at least wider) than the house

A shiny floor is no doubt better. Any spill can be cleaned up without a mark whereas a bare concrete/other floor is just going to stain if you spill oil or something else.

My garage floor is horrible (rented place so I won't be doing anything about it), it's that dusty concrete stuff, so as soon as you lean down, you're covered in white powder. Plus it absorbs spills nicely

Fireskull said:
In the next few years I want to buy a new place thats 90% garage, 5% kitchen and 5% bedroom, I will do my business in the street drain....

Craig321 said:
Sounds good to me

Nice big, well kitted (floors, lighting, power) garage is definitely priority when buying, or I'd at least buy something that I can kit out myself.

IC3 said:
How did I miss that garage So clean, tidy and big. I'm jelly...

Could you send a picture of your whole garage? For scientific purposes (ekehm... fap folder).

Wow thanks fellas for all the compliments on the garage. All appreciated. BTW it was a complete DIY, and for not a lot of money either. If i can do it, anyone can. It was all featured here on the excellent online resource for garage floors allgaragefloors.com scroll down a bit and you'll see it featured there. I've had it since around Jan and its still as good as new. I do all my own work on cars and bikes. No hot tyre pickup, and trust me, where i'm from, tyres get hot hot hot !!!

Dogbreath · 29 Nov 2016 at 16:01

The_Abyss said:
Ignore the hate - it is just jealousy. Any one of us would give our left something for a garage like that!

Not jealously at all. A tiny bit of fluid spilt on that floor and it will be slippery as hell compared to concrete.

What is the actual material the floor is made from?

Diddums · 29 Nov 2016 at 16:05

Yeah, I'm still going with jealousy. Any half decent spanner monkey will reduce the risk of spillage and also have a spill kit handy in case he does spill a bit. That floor is a million times more pleasant to work on than some scabby concrete floor.

And it looks like treated concrete to me.

IC3 · 29 Nov 2016 at 16:22

thedoc46 said:
Wow thanks fellas for all the compliments on the garage. All appreciated. BTW it was a complete DIY, and for not a lot of money either. If i can do it, anyone can. It was all featured here on the excellent online resource for garage floors allgaragefloors.com scroll down a bit and you'll see it featured there. I've had it since around Jan and its still as good as new. I do all my own work on cars and bikes. No hot tyre pickup, and trust me, where i'm from, tyres get hot hot hot !!!

Lets see a picture of the whole garage than.

tom_e · 29 Nov 2016 at 16:28

It's a polycuramine coating, whatever one of those is.
http://allgaragefloors.com/rocksolid-polycuramine-garage-floor-coat/

thedoc46 · 29 Nov 2016 at 20:19

Diddums said:
Yeah, I'm still going with jealousy. Any half decent spanner monkey will reduce the risk of spillage and also have a spill kit handy in case he does spill a bit. That floor is a million times more pleasant to work on than some scabby concrete floor.

And it looks like treated concrete to me.

Whenever i spill oil on my floor, i just wipe it up, then spray some Simple Green, and use a paper towel. No matter how hard i try, i always manage to spill oil whenever doing an oil change on a car... Bikes tend to fair better. But a car, some seems to always miss the goddam target ! Anyway as i said, wipe with paper towels, then a spray of Simple Green and its perfectly fine.

Diddums · 29 Nov 2016 at 20:43

thedoc46 said:
i always manage to spill oil whenever doing an oil change on a car...

This film both highlighted how thick I am and enlightened me in something I should have known beforehand

Gamefreak501 · 30 Nov 2016 at 22:37

Took my bike out for a ride this evening. It was a lot of fun and gosh it's powerful, but had my engine die on me when idle. It was at something like 500 RPM which is less than half what it should be. Found the idle screw and put it to just over 1k RPM, engine is much happier and the idle isn't faltering as much now. However I still need to sort out a speedo bulb and tacho bulb, plus I've a feeling my throttle might be sticking. Things to look at this weekend

TallPaul_S · 30 Nov 2016 at 22:54

Gamefreak501 said:
Took my bike out for a ride this evening. It was a lot of fun and gosh it's powerful, but had my engine die on me when idle. It was at something like 500 RPM which is less than half what it should be. Found the idle screw and put it to just over 1k RPM, engine is much happier and the idle isn't faltering as much now. However I still need to sort out a speedo bulb and tacho bulb, plus I've a feeling my throttle might be sticking. Things to look at this weekend

Yeah you want your idle about 1250 or so. Is the throttle stiff or notchy? If it's stiff some 3 in 1 penetrating oil dripped down the throttle and return cables will make it much smoother, the cables are probably the originals so 12+ years old. Make sure to adjust the throttle so there's no free play too, makes so much difference to how the bike will feel.

Gamefreak501 · 30 Nov 2016 at 23:00

TallPaul_S said:
Yeah you want your idle about 1250 or so. Is the throttle stiff or notchy? If it's stiff some 3 in 1 penetrating oil dripped down the throttle and return cables will make it much smoother, the cables are probably the originals so 12+ years old. Make sure to adjust the throttle so there's no free play too, makes so much difference to how the bike will feel.

Cheers TallPaul_S,

I have it at around 1100 at the moment, I might put it to 1250 if I feel it's needed.

The throttle is a weird one, it is a bit notchy at the start of it's travel and it will sometimes stick at higher revs when I flick it (when I was recovering it at the lower idle before adjustment). No harm in adjusting the throttle so there is no play either.

I'll be dripping some 3 in 1 over the weekend, as I'll need to take most of the front off to replace the blown bulbs. I believe it takes 501 type bulbs which I could pick up from Halfords when I've checked.

Craig321 · 30 Nov 2016 at 23:41

The idle being that low doesnt sound right, maybe the carbs could do with a clean?

Gamefreak501 · 1 Dec 2016 at 07:26

Thanks Craig321,

The carbs haven't been cleaned since I took ownership of the bike - I've got a service and owners manual that I can refer to so that I can give the carbs a bit of TLC, that is probably a good start and may include a troubleshooting part.

tatts · 1 Dec 2016 at 12:30

Today's job

TallPaul_S · 1 Dec 2016 at 12:47

Mmmmm carbon

Got the CB400 MOt'd today, eventually! Checked it this morning before going there, horn wasn't working. Must still be frozen I thought. Some warm water on it and it's working again. Get to the garage and it's stopped working completely! Luckily another dealer nearby has a horn in stock, so whipped round there and fitted the new one. Passed with no problems after that!!

Had this as a demo bike while mine was in getting MOT'd:

Lovely bike, heavy when moving it about but beautifully balanced, didn't feel like 230kgs. 1-2mph no feet down was a doddle. The 21" front wheel is VERY different to a 17" wheel, slow speed turning was like a cargo ship at first! Makes a lovely throbby growl when you accelerate, I didn't wear earplugs. 80mph with my visor up was a nice feeling, the wind was skimming the very top of my helmet, and I'm 6ft 3in. Think it had the higher than standard screen on.

I did try standing up but I think I'd need bar risers, or maybe bent knees a bit more - felt weird though and the standard badly adjusted throttle with lots of slack didn't help.

Plenty of grunt for overtaking, more than enough. I had the TCS at max (level 3) but still managed to have a little rear end slide accelerating on a wet sliproad up to the motorway, all I knew about it was the rear going very very slightly sideways, I'm sure the TCS cut in but it wasn't noticable.

All in all, once the CB400 heads for retirement it will 100% get replaced with something like this (probably a KTM 990 Adventure). It was an armchair in comparison, the pegs felt so far forward at first, and getting back on my bike it felt like a pocket rocket, tiny and all bent over!!