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The Bikeshite Thread


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On 4/16/2020 at 2:51 PM, RED2stroke said:

My god I had forgotten about that episode, I  know the feeling of being a senior citizen and dropping a few bikes along the way, the worst was my lovely few months old Suzuki GT 250 RAMAIR  in 1974 I had to hide the damaged bike from my mum till I got it fixed, because my mum had signed the HP agreement as I wasn't old enough . She would have had a fit if she had seen it !Ask your grandad about HP (hire purchase)  and flairs and loon pants  and Elton John moon boots  ha ha ha.

I went from a FS1e at 16 to a RD250 at 17 in 1977 , the difference in power was made apparent when I came round a bend on a damp road and accelerated like I'd done many a time on the fizzer, the back tyre stepped out and I very nearly lost it an hour after picking it up , I went round bends like I was on my test for a while.

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1 hour ago, Wack said:

I went from a FS1e at 16 to a RD250 at 17 in 1977 , the difference in power was made apparent when I came round a bend on a damp road and accelerated like I'd done many a time on the fizzer, the back tyre stepped out and I very nearly lost it an hour after picking it up , I went round bends like I was on my test for a while.

That will teach you, not changing the standard Bridgestones to either Dunlop TT100's or Avon Roadrunners! 

Just don't get mixed up between Roadrunners and Speedmasters....

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1 hour ago, Jerzy Woking said:

That will teach you, not changing the standard Bridgestones to either Dunlop TT100's or Avon Roadrunners! 

Just don't get mixed up between Roadrunners and Speedmasters....

Speedmasters, or skidmasters more like, both on the road and in undergarments! Christ I remember them on my GSX400F. They were ditched quick smart before I ended up in a ditch. 

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I used Michelin Macadams on my GSR-R750 when I was using it for commuting. They were fine in the warm weather. But when it was wet or below 8°c, they span up easily and offered appalling grip, but when I got 10,000 miles minimum out of the rear, I put up with it.

 

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4 hours ago, Jerzy Woking said:

That will teach you, not changing the standard Bridgestones to either Dunlop TT100's or Avon Roadrunners! 

Just don't get mixed up between Roadrunners and Speedmasters....

I changed them pretty soon after to roadrunners , I think they were yokohama 

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I think my mate's brand new X7 came with Dunlops.  Ridiculous choice of tyre to fit new, the Suzuki was skittish at the best of times. In the wet, especially over man hole covers, it was fucking lethal.

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37 minutes ago, Wack said:

I changed them pretty soon after to roadrunners , I think they were yokohama 

I forgot some came with Yokohama's too. The Japanese made yres fitted as standard to their in the 70's and early 80's were dreadful. Especially with Stainless Steel brake discs in the wet. Apply brakes, nothing happens. Wait a second before they bit, then you fell off as the tyres wouldn't grip when they inevitably locked the front. I remember riding in the wet relying on the back drum brake to stop, the front was used gingerly just to slow me down gently.

 

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car dunlops fine

bike dunlops shite

michelin @Jerzy Woking remember hi sports?

great when warm shite in the wet - they got burnt off :D avon azaros

not had michelins since until cb500 had pr3 or 4 on it which were good

cant remember what nc has on it not ridden it for a month ?

had maxxis on bikes for a long time - people slag chinese tyres but chen shin been making bicycle scooter and off road tyres for an awful long time

 

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Had Metzler M7RR on the work BMW K1300S, and they were excellent dry and wet.

When the Pirelli's on my Guzzi needed changing, I put M7RR's on it. They weren't great in the dry, and would break traction in the wet all too easily. Dreadful, very disappointing when I fitted them 200 miles before embarking on a 3,000 mile ride to Albania and back.

Now runs on Dunlop Roadsmarts which suit the Guzzi well. People who don't ride bikes might find all this a bit alien in comparison to car tyres

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9 hours ago, They_all_do_that_sir said:

It's amazing how good modern tyres are. Certainly my dad struggled to get his head around how far things had come on when he came back to biking after a 30 year break, on a 600 bandit with brand new set of Bridgestone Battlaxs.....

Too right, if you think good quality modern car tyres are way better than say 20/30 years ago, then difference between old & new bike tyres is like night and day. I'm sure those of us who've been riding for a good long time will agree and have vivid & possibly painful memories of Skidmasters and the like!! 

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All this tyre chat - you really ought to try a set of Pneumants before moaning. All MZ's I had had them replaced tout-suite by either Metzlers or Avons (not Speedmaster flavour).

Having said that my 400/4 had the proverbial stainless steel disc and Dunlop tyres which was 'interesting'. It was replaced with a contemporaneous Moto Guzzi with it's cast iron discs, (linked) Brembo brakes and Pirelli tyres - what a difference. It highlighted why European bikes were seen as superior handlers/stoppers at the time. But the Japanese soon learnt...

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I've had this BMW F650CS 'Scarver' a few months now but can't ride it yet as I'm still working through my bike test - only got MOD2 left to do but that's obviously been delayed somewhat now.  Oddball thing, I know very little about motorbikes but there seems to be a generally positive view of these as a decent 'big' starter bike.  Looking forward to when I can finally get out and use it - it's just sat in the garage collecting dust at the moment.  Wants for nothing other than a new exhaust as the current one sounds like it has no baffles in it, it's been in storage a lot of its life so has had an easy time of it.

20190914_122700.thumb.jpg.f8a43040fe96ff0d7586b222007ea0ee.jpg

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12 minutes ago, Tigerfox said:

Bought this about this time last year from  a fellow member

RE500.thumb.jpg.62e583572bc1422d1a7679a2fc0696c8.jpg

Its a 1951 Royal Enfield 500 twin and was about 95 % complete with lots of boxes of bits.

Gave it to my brother in law and this happened yesterday

 

 

Excellent, well done that man, go get a beer after that!! Another one saved. Much like.

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Also bought a couple of years ago this 1982  Morini 350 which had been imported from Italy and then nothing done with it.  My kid brother had one  when he was 18/19 back in the 80s and always regretted selling, so he has it now and

aims to have it on the road in a couple of years for its 40th birthday. 

Its had been off the road for a good 10 years and is missing bits which are slowly being sourced and has now been stripped for a rebuild

 

1982 Morini 350.jpg

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I had a thread about buying another bike to go alongside this while I do a light restoration on it but I'm thinking I may be interested in trading my project MZ ETZ 250 for a bike that is moted and on the road. Let me know if you have anything or if anyone wants more info on it.

IMG_20200416_195345164.jpg

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Removed the front downpipe on my SV. I've known its needed doing since I bought it but only just got the balls together to tackle it.

 

exhaust.jpg

Space down there is pretty limited and the nuts had fused into the retaining ring/clamp so I cut the retaining ring up into smaller sections then ground it back against the stud to free it off.

grinding.jpg

All with a dremel and about 100 discs. Only scored the engine casing a little.

haggard.jpg

rusty old bits.jpg

Was expecting the old studs to put up a fight but a few knocks with a club hammer and they came out with some mole-grips. The chunks there are the left overs of the retaining lamp. I'd barely ground anything off the studs, they were really crunchy at the road-salt end. Have some stock replacement studs or some +10 CHR Ti ones (i forget why though) and some copper flashed nuts for reassembly.

port.jpg

I'm sure there should be a gasket in here somewhere. It might be that slightly copper coloured bit. Also looks like some of the aluminium casting has broken off between sort of 11 o'clock and 3:30. Will investigate that. Needs gaskets anyway. Have a spare downpipe section so hopefully the rear cylinder just unbolts (its only a clamp for that bit) and I can put the new downpipe on the old can and win. Update! yes, some of the exhaust port aluminium has come off... sigh.

missing clamps.jpg

Both clamps on the downpipe to can section fell apart when prodded.

Shouldn't be too hard to reassemble but need some bits for that. The GS is still available in case I have to race any mopeds.

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1 minute ago, tobyd said:

wait wait, a turbo project?

Yes, i always have a project on the go. Just turboing an old XJ600. Low boost, nothing too special - 0.5bar. Just doing it because i got the bike cheap. 

Should raise it from 70hp to 95 or so. Torque should be fun.

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1 hour ago, pilninggas said:

Yes, i always have a project on the go. Just turboing an old XJ600. Low boost, nothing too special - 0.5bar. Just doing it because i got the bike cheap. 

Should raise it from 70hp to 95 or so. Torque should be fun.

Is it still on carbs? I always wonder how you set up carbs to deal with coming on boost- maybe it’s simpler than I’m imagining. 

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Just now, Fabergé Greggs said:

Is it still on carbs? I always wonder how you set up carbs to deal with coming on boost- maybe it’s simpler than I’m imagining. 

im going to pressurise the float chambers using a pitot tube upstream of the plenum and use a rising rate regulator to keep the fuel 5 or 6 psi above boost.

Should work satisfactorily and shouldnt need rejetting.

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Bah, I've been meaning to get some new boots for ages so of course having put it off I've managed to go through the left sole. Which while shops are closed / postal returns are buggered and I can't try any on, which is a pain as I have odd feet so won't risk gambling on size online.

 A bit of duct tape should get me through lockdown if it doesn't last too much longer ?

 

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1 hour ago, pilninggas said:

im going to pressurise the float chambers using a pitot tube upstream of the plenum and use a rising rate regulator to keep the fuel 5 or 6 psi above boost.

Should work satisfactorily and shouldnt need rejetting.

Bloody hell you need to keep us posted on this. 

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Just done the fork oil and seals on the Divvy.  Put everything back together, gave it some shoves to 'line up' everything.  As I don't get to ride the bugger everyday, it feels soft now.  Don't you just hate that nagging feeling of 'have I missed anything?'

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