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Recently used a tub of Chelsea Leatherfood on my bike leathers; I'd heard it makes them last longer and helps waterproof them. Well, it left a manky white residue on my legwear and after 24 hours has yet to dry on my jacket. Is this normal? Any thoughts?
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Aug 7, 2013 10:13
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I'll try those next time, I polished the wax in and it set nicely; little experiment and water runs right off. Thanks for the tips.
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Aug 7, 2013 11:23
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Just did my first semi-long ride with luggage; one largish backpack on my back and one cargo netted behind me on the tail. I drive a 1996 bandit and, mother of god, when the wind gets up I get swatted around the road. Any suggestions for luggage boxes or other solutions so that my bike doesn't effectively become a kite?
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Aug 18, 2013 19:10
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Thanks, I'll have a look at that.Z3n posted:I'd try relaxing on the bars and just letting the wind sort of move you around. Keep looking forward where you want to go, relax, and you'll naturally correct into the wind. It's probably not actually the luggage, it's probably you stressing about the luggage catching the wind, tensing up, and causing the bike to react poorly to the wind. That's actually pretty likely, didn't help that there was lots of sleepy Sunday drivers merging without looking and so on.
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Aug 18, 2013 20:08
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Anyone got any solutions for winter hand-freeze death? I've already got pretty hefty winter gauntlets, but the wind cuts through on longer drives. I've heard those wind blocking cups are pretty good.
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Aug 27, 2013 20:47
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Taking the girlfriend on the back of my bike in an hour, will be the first time I've had a pillion passenger. Any tips? Other than not showboating and taking it slow, of course.
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Aug 31, 2013 09:54
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Thanks for the advice guys, she had a blast. Sometimes forgot to brace before traffic lights and got a friendly headbutt as her helmet clonked into mine. Need to get a grippier seat, too, the bandit has a very smooth leather affair and she was joining me on the front seat on downhill stretches more often than not.
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Aug 31, 2013 20:23
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There was a van doing camera checks out today, but it was facing head-on on a one way system. I guess they aren't fussed about catching bikers with it, seeing as the plate's on the rear.
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Sep 4, 2013 15:47
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Read somewhere that the machines that read plates, and especially speed cameras, have a really high necessity for manual entry. On those traffic police shows they only tend to ID and subsequently pull over people who are actively acting suspicious.Linedance posted:Some of those sneaky fuckers have a camera pointing in both directions so they can get you coming or going. Good to know. I sure don't want to spend £100 to sit in a council office with a load of other Joes listening to an office diplomat tell us that driving over the speed limit has a 100% chance of sudden, painful conflagration. Again.
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Sep 5, 2013 00:25
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goddamnedtwisto posted:That was about 10 years ago. ANPR is now reliable enough to run road pricing schemes like the London congestion charge with a failure rate (excluding deliberate deception) of well under one plate in a million. Well, poo poo. Time to move to somewhere police are more bribeable and less well equipped.
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Sep 6, 2013 00:45
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Anyone invent a bug-resistant visor yet?
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Sep 9, 2013 21:39
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Looks good for the examiner too. Kinda get the feeling they'd be less inclined to pass someone wearing no gear.
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Sep 15, 2013 22:32
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Is there some sort of coating I can spray on my bike to stop people letting their kids climb on it?
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Sep 17, 2013 17:11
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nsaP posted:Glue a dildo to the backseat. That, combined with his lack of plate, suggests a reading of about 0 on the Like-I-give-a-gently caress-ometer.
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Sep 17, 2013 19:20
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So I had the Bandit (1996 600 naked model) MOT'd a few weeks ago, and one of the things they had to fix was the indicators flashing too fast. All fine and dandy, but a week ago they stopped flashing and were just staying on, and then a couple of days ago they just stopped working altogether. How easy a fix is this, or should I take it back and ask them to double fix it? My experience with bike maintenance on the whole is very basic.
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Dec 3, 2013 22:54
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What's the part of the bike on the handlebars called where the indicators, lights and kill buttons go, as well as the break levers etc? Feel like a complete tool for asking, but I have no idea. Feels like it should be called the handlebar array or something.
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Jan 21, 2014 23:50
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Thanks! I'd get all defensive but I really am that green.
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Jan 22, 2014 00:26
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Slavvy posted:No worries. Look where you want to go Not that green.
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Jan 22, 2014 09:37
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So! I'm going to work in the U.S. for three months over the summer. I own a 97 Suzuki bandit 600, and I'm wondering if I should sell it on and buy a new one when I get back. I picked it up for £800 at 20k miles last August, I've since ridden it through the winter and put it up to 26k. Cosmetically, it's in good shape, with a few spots of rust around the edges which I plan on treating tomorrow. My thoughts are that it'll start getting more expensive to run and MOT if I put it through another British winter of commuting. In the last year it has needed a fair bit of work on electronics and so on that have needed replacing, like switchgear and relays. If I can get the same price back I sold it for, I can drop the same amount again into it with the money I'm earning in the States and get something a bit newer and in better condition. Or, should I keep riding it and run it into the ground? TLDR: flip it, keep it.
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Apr 13, 2014 20:10
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So The bandit ('97 600) has been behaving a little peculiarly. Started a few days ago. - When it gets to about 8-9k revs, it misfires and faulters, spluttering. Perhaps low on air? - Loses power when trying to accelerate after engine braking. Subtly but noticeable. Thoughts?
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Jun 2, 2014 22:46
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Just built a pannier rack and panniers and am thinking about going over to continental Europe for a few weeks over the summer. Any weird laws like France's car-triangle I should know about?
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Apr 3, 2015 18:39
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KARMA! posted:werds Good grief. Thanks! There was a breathaliser on the desk at Halfords when I went to buy paint today and it said you needed one for driving in France from July, which prompted the question. In other news, I found out that rubbing kitchen foil will strip the rust right off of your chrome. Who knew.
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Apr 3, 2015 22:27
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In the Uk, if you exceed by no more than 10% + 5mph (or similar) you can pay £30 and get 3 points on your license, or about £100 to go to a "Driving awareness course" and you get no points, but you can only do that once a year. Anything from there up to 25mph over the limit is a standard £30 and 3 points with no option to take a course. If you get 12 points over 3 years, you're toast. 25mph+ over and you lose your license, have to retake the test and I think it's a 2 year ban anyway. The test is no joke here either, and if you are retaking after a ban it's double the duration. That said, most of the speed cameras here are deactivated because the government said they refused to pay for what they thought should be a self sustaining part of the police service, so most of them are shut off. Police will pull you over for speeding, but if you're polite you can get away scot free. Police are so used to dealing with arseholes they'll generally turn a blind eye if you take the time to dismount and remove your helmet and apologise. Mentioning that you're a nurse helps. My sister was pulled over doing 85 in a 50, had a malfunctioning tail light and no road tax and so rightly should have been banned with a huge fine, but she was cheerful and talkative and he let her off with some points.
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Apr 4, 2015 11:37
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Backov posted:Angrily tail gate a motorcycle in the UK, causing an accident? No points. Speeding though, that's serious. Sounds like we're missing a story there.
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Apr 4, 2015 16:41
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builds character posted:The folks this guy is making fun of want to buy a bike that they can take off road. They want the idea that they will change a tire in Mongolia or replace their blinker fluid in Baja. They do not want to actually use a wrench. They have responsibilities Slavvy. God, why can't you understand that? There are families at stake here! Excellent.
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Jun 28, 2015 13:17
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Old chain on xr650r was knackered, so I bought premium renthal one and a link remover to get it to size. Any advice? Can I cock up really badly? Never done it before.
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Oct 19, 2016 15:05
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Thanks, I think I just bought a breaker. It's the crimping stage at the end I'm over thinking.
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Oct 19, 2016 19:45
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Any thoughts on a good crate/box to affix to luggage rack? Beer crates have a lot of noodly stuff in the middle to keep the glass safe that eats up a lot of storage, and the flat bottomed plastic crates are on the flimsy side.
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Mar 17, 2017 18:26
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Nice. Using cable ties, or something more convenient to have off and on?
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Mar 17, 2017 19:33
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The electronic system on the xr650r that was added after is a pain in the rear end. It stopped working again today on a bumpy trail. Think it would be worth stripping it out and replacing it with proper thick, well insulated and colour coded wires, and cable tying it all neatly? It's a very simple system; horn, indicators, lights, no battery.
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Jul 13, 2017 15:58
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So last week almost all the electrics on the RR stopped working, with the exception of the head/tail lamps. The bike has no battery and still runs perfectly, which suggests the regulator/cdi/condenser/converter all work fine and the problems is in the aftermarket harness. Fiddling and cursing got me nowhere, and the harness in place is a real rat's nest of unintelligibly mixed wires with no colour coding. There are no fuses. The lamps are all old filament bulbs and so not ideal for a thumper's vibration (something needs replacing every month or so), and the wires are thin and fraying throughout. So! I've decide to make my own harness, and replace bulbs with LEDs, and generally make it tidier and easier to maintain.  This is a very basic outlay of what the system will look like. Questions for anyone interested/able to answer- - Is there any merit to installing a battery? - Is it a good idea to replace the switch gear while I can? Are they prone to deterioration? - Should I install a fuse box? And slightly more technical questions- - The head/tail lamp slider on the switchgear has three settings (as below); off, low, high. On the third setting, does the slider provide power to low and high beams on its own, or do I need to wire that myself as per the last image? Is that the best way to ensure the highbeam only comes on on the third slider position?   And finally, recommendations for connnectors and wiring? Sorry for wall. Shelvocke fucked around with this message at 14:21 on Jul 19, 2017 |
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Jul 19, 2017 14:15
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Yeah it should be dead easy to just hook everything up directly to the stator. I'm just looking for validation because it's the most intrusive/potentially damaging thing I've done to a bike before.
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Jul 19, 2017 22:03
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Every few hundred miles or so I start to get problems with the keihin carb on my xr. If I drain the float bowl it resolves itself. I think sediment collects in the deep wing parts of my ascerbis tank, and when I run close to empty, it gets sucked into the carb. The obvious solution is a fuel filter and cleaning out the tank. Unfortunately the taps on the tank sit very low, only a couple of inches above the carb intake, and the filter protrudes too far upwards. Is there some wizardry with filters to make them flow better at an extreme angle? Should I just resign myself to frequent bowl drains?
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Apr 28, 2018 11:39
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n8r posted:Werds Great, thanks. I didn't know the tanks have filters in the petcocks, I'll have them off.
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Apr 30, 2018 11:47
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Thought experiment: Kevlar lined jeans are expensive, as are services that line existing jackets and jeans with Kevlar. The Kevlar that these companies use are relatively inexpensive per sqm as are the per hour services of a tailor. How much of a bad idea is it to take Kevlar fabric and thread with the desired garment to a tailor and ask them to make stitch it in? You could even specify pouches for back/shoulder/elbow protectors.
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Jun 28, 2018 20:53
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+1 for ROK straps
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Oct 10, 2018 06:34
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Thinking of replacing the whole brake system on my xr650r as they've become a little corroded with age (and stripped a bolt). Any recommendations of where to get/a brand for replacement calipers/levers? Should I just try and get some originals?
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Jun 4, 2019 22:45
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Are your gloves too tight? Putting fat bars with weights and pillow top grips made my big single much more tolerable on highways. Shelvocke fucked around with this message at 14:57 on Jul 21, 2019 |
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Jul 21, 2019 14:50
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You could plonk a new set on top of the steering column while they're still in the packaging and see if they feel right before going to the effort of moving all the switchgear over, then send them back if you don't like them. 24mx is a decent (UK) vendor for handlebars and have a good returns policy. They have a really wide selection and sell conversion brackets. Wouldn't necessarily recommend going narrower, tends to make handling worse and less comfortable generally.
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Jul 22, 2019 12:10
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Any idea why my bike would have two reg/rectifiers? I had an electrical fault a couple of years ago on my batteryless bike. I eventually replaced the reg/rec under the seat which fixed the issue. I've replaced the lighting a few times, usually when adding the windshield for longer trips, and today when I was doing that job I finally googled the serial number of a mystery part of the electrical harness that sits in front of the handlebars. Sure enough, it's another reg/rec. What's it doing there?
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Aug 8, 2019 18:50
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