The Bikeshite Thread

[Aston Martin]

These look hideous, but it's £2699

[5speedracer]

On 6/25/2019 at 9:49 PM, Jerzy Woking said:

Riding up to Cooperb Morcycles in Wellingborough tomorrow to get some bits for my Himalayan. 

Going to take a 650 out for a test ride. I do hope I don't like it!!

Well, did you?

[Jerzy Woking]

2 hours ago, 5speedracer said:

Well, did you?

No, as had a last minute change of plans. But i am riding up to Cooperb tomorrow morning (Thursday) instead.

 

[Jerzy Woking]

6 hours ago, Aston Martin said:

These look hideous, but it's £2699

I've ridden one, but it's looks really put me off of buying it. And I owned a V-Strom, no beauty in it's self.

[They_all_do_that_sir]

Antrim coast ?

Yup, Port Muck, Islandmagee

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[twosmoke300]

12 hours ago, Aston Martin said:

These look hideous, but it's £2699

Paid 1300 quid for mine about 5 years ago . Awkward arthritic camel of a thing to ride at low speed and ethanol related fuel tank death affects most of them now .

[5speedracer]

In which case you will. Approach it with the right frame of mind and they are wonderful. I'm quite big so upped the rear preload to mid setting and fitted front preload from Hitchcocks. Settled it down nicely.

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[Bradders59]

35 minutes ago, They_all_do_that_sir said:

Yup, Port Muck, Islandmagee

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Don't know why, but I was sure I recognised it, although I haven't been there for years. Nearest thing I ever got to going on holiday when I was a kid was a few days at Browns Bay, Islandmagee. We kipped in the back of Dads van, and Mum cooked for 5 of us on a single ring gas camping stove. It seemed like great fun at the time. 

[Bradders59]

Its a mystery to me how a company which produced something as utterly beautiful as the 916 could produce something is hideously ugly as the Multistrada.

[Aston Martin]

This is probably the only route for these.

[andy18s]

3 hours ago, Bradders59 said:

Its a mystery to me how a company which produced something as utterly beautiful as the 916 could produce something is hideously ugly as the Multistrada.

I believe the guy who designed the 916 moved on soon after,so the multistrada got left with the Yts guys 

[Bradders59]

I believe your right. Massimo Tamburini if my memory serves. He went to MV Agusta, so the design for the replacement for the 916 became the MV F4. I haven't been impressed by anything Ducati have built since.They are similar to modern Ferraris. Designed and built for posers rather than enthusiasts.

[gtd2000]

3 hours ago, Aston Martin said:

This is probably the only route for these.

 

That one looks great.

 

 

[doug]

Not so good news with the BMW I bought with the clutch problem. Got the replacement push rod today and its about 2" longer. Looked a bit closer at the old one and it looks like it might be snapped  in half with a bit  still stuck the clutch. Ho hum.

20190626_122703[1]

[Jerzy Woking]

So finally got around to test riding the RE Continental GT650 today.

The one I rode has 1800 miles on it, so nicely run in, and like my Himalayan, very, very smooth engine. Very little mirror vibration at all, which I now see as essential. Riding position in between that of my Guzzi and my RC8, so that's good, as I can do 800 mile days on those )not at the same time).

Suspension wi need adjusting for me, as a little bit soft which made it a bit wallowy on the back lanes which I rode with enthusiasm. Engine gives a nice blend of torque and power

 Bit wheezy up by the red line as it runs out of puff, but really no need to rev it so hard, so tye needle won't see the red line again.  

Overall, impressed, and again, as I was with the with the Himalayan, with the price too. The three year warranty is welcome, but from what I read and hear, few problems have occurred with them, just a few niggles.

Once I get the Ducati 900SS up and running (few piddly jobs to do on it) it will be sold and another RE will take a space in my garage.

[They_all_do_that_sir]

The wife's CBR125 had an absolutely rotten downpipe, apparently they all do that.

So I went looking for a new exhaust, with the brief from the Mrs being nothing too loud and looks wise she likes the standard Honda end can.

Black Widow exhausts do a stainless exhaust with an adapter to mate with the standard can, so one of those was ordered yesterday for £74, free delivery too. And amazingly it arrived here in Belfast today.

The finish is perfect, and it fits like a glove. I'm really impressed with the quality of the pipe especially for the money. It was really well packaged, and inside the box were a couple of stickers, a lanyard and fairly decent instructions.

You can see the difference in bore:


Old pipe really was buggered:


On the bike




Yes the swinging arm needs painted.......

The Honda end can was a different story, it was in good condition other than the three bolts to mate with the link pipe which all sheared.....and I couldn't get the remains out either

So I filed them flat, used the black widow flange as a template and drilled new mounting holes, and used some threaded bar and lock nuts to bodge it all together

And on the bike



The removable flange is a really neat idea, because with it off you can fit an aftermarket slip-on silencer instead.....

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[strangeangel]

 

Autoshite - always on the money!

[Aston Martin]

I didn't discover they existed until this year. 11 years late... The Autoshite way.

[martc]

17 hours ago, Jerzy Woking said:

So finally got around to test riding the RE Continental GT650 today....

What was the detailling like? I mentioned a few pages ago that I was looking at one at the NEC Bike Show and some of the finishing was disappointing - eg the indicator lens didn't line up with the plastic chrome body. Someone I know suggested that these were pre-production models and certain rough edges would be ironed out before sale to the public.

[shoddybanger]

I managed to score myself some 90's bikeshite yesterday - a 1992 Honda VFR that's in surprisingly good nick. Best part of course is the V4 engine, because it means that I essentially have a two-wheeled Saab 96 now!

It does have a bit of a part-throttle sputter, so I guess I need to take the carbs apart. It hasn't seen much of the road in the past ten years, as the date stamp is 09 on the front tyre and 07 for the rear tyre. Idles very nicely and happily pulls all the way up to the redline, though.

[twosmoke300]

Lovely . If its rides / runs something like it id be inclined to put some good quality fuel system cleaner in the tank and run it a bit to see if it gets better . I would imagine carb removal on that , like all engine jobs on them, is a proper prick of a job.

[Jerzy Woking]

3 hours ago, martc said:

What was the detailling like? I mentioned a few pages ago that I was looking at one at the NEC Bike Show and some of the finishing was disappointing - eg the indicator lens didn't line up with the plastic chrome body. Someone I know suggested that these were pre-production models and certain rough edges would be ironed out before sale to the public.

It was fine-certainly better than some of the CCM's I have seen. However, I think it all depends on the dealer's approach to completing the PDI.

Some dealers seem to slap them together whereas others take their time and sort things out like panel alignment before releasing to the new owner. 

[Aston Martin]

Stop buying motorbicycles

Or maybe I need to stop visiting the thread.

[shoddybanger]

6 hours ago, twosmoke300 said:

Lovely . If its rides / runs something like it id be inclined to put some good quality fuel system cleaner in the tank and run it a bit to see if it gets better . I would imagine carb removal on that , like all engine jobs on them, is a proper prick of a job.

Thanks for the compliment - and for the suggestion. I hadn't even thought about trying a cleaner first. Indeed, I think I'm just going to throw on a new fuel filter and buy a bottle of fuel system cleaner to see if that helps any.

[They_all_do_that_sir]

Out for a wee run yesterday evening, the weather was stunning. Even managed a wee crossing on the Strangford ferry, which takes all of ten minutes

 

Not my video, but here is the ferry. Proper Autoshite!

 

 

 

 

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[UltraWomble]

If like mine, your bike is a bit shit, you might be in needs of something like this:

The phone app I was using, has its uses, but frankly is a bit pap. It keeps flipping to adverts, so you need to de glove to press the screen to get rid of the adverts. Also the display isn't great to read in sunshine. So this arrived yesterday - £14 off eBay.

The Chinglish instructions were simple enough to understand and sort out the settings.You can have it set up as MPH or KMH and when you stop the display flips to miles travelled then total time travelled in mins.

Its got a little stand that sticks to wherever with a 3M adhesive pad. Its getting a lot of vibration where it is currently so may not stay there forever.

[hairnet]

Commuting helmet died

Shiny helmet yes?

 

I R STRING FELLOW HAWKE

[pilninggas]

49 minutes ago, UltraWomble said:

If like mine, your bike is a bit shit, you might be in needs of something like this:

The phone app I was using, has its uses, but frankly is a bit pap. It keeps flipping to adverts, so you need to de glove to press the screen to get rid of the adverts. Also the display isn't great to read in sunshine. So this arrived yesterday - £14 off eBay.

The Chinglish instructions were simple enough to understand and sort out the settings.You can have it set up as MPH or KMH and when you stop the display flips to miles travelled then total time travelled in mins.

Its got a little stand that sticks to wherever with a 3M adhesive pad. Its getting a lot of vibration where it is currently so may not stay there forever.

i ordered one of those this morning, as the speedo on my ZX10R is very optimistic. nice to know it works.

[UltraWomble]

The Speedo on Hagar doesnt work at all - the trip counter does, but the total counter and dial never have ( and its speedo number  in the bikes life)

Originally I was using a mobile phone, but it was just crap and hard to see - this actually works quite well and had it going yesterday in the Picasso and was pretty accurate ( or at least as accurate as the Picasso speedo is)

One thing I will say is it is NOT battery powered  - the inaccurately labelled "charging port" is actually its power port, no power, no workie. You can run it from a power bank, or install a USB socket like wot I did last week

 

[OhhEnnEmm]

Finally at that time of year in the UK where I get to see everyone else's motorbikes!

Though the instant weather change has got my carb all confused ?