The Bikeshite Thread

[mrdelmonti]

Thought you all deserved a better photo of the new bike

Still love it, just need a bit more seat time.

[Bradders59]

My little C90 project I posted pics of a few pages ago is now with a new owner. I bought it for £200, spent a further £210 (and about 100 hours of work) on it. Sold it for £1325. Happy days.

 

[Bfg]

1 hour ago, Bradders59 said:

My little C90 project I posted pics of a few pages ago is now with a new owner. I bought it for £200, spent a further £210 (and about 100 hours of work) on it. Sold it for £1325. Happy days. 

Would you know if the later ones as robust as the early ones ?

[Bradders59]

I wouldn't have a clue to be honest.

[tobyd]

MOT day for the ex-JerzyWoking '99 SV650 today.

Pass, no advisories so big success. 

Rides quite nicely, picks up well and seems to handle alright in the dry.

New tyres and brakes fitted before hand however meant the ride home in the pouring rain was a little sketchy. Should clear up tomorrow so i'll put in a tankful of fresh pez and give it a trot up the A12 to scrub the tyres in. The water is beading off most of the treat currently.

Might be a '97 GS500 and/or '93 Divvy up for sale at a pretty considerable loss in the next few weeks if anyones interested?

[LostnotFound]

30 minutes ago, tobyd said:

MOT day for the ex-JerzyWoking '99 SV650 today.

Pass, no advisories so big success. 

 

 

Snap, my VFR had it's mot today. The receptionist at the council mot centre was very nice (all the staff there are good, there's a reason I'm happy to ride half an hour to go there, rather than bugger around with local garages) and ran out to open the bay garage door so I could get inside out the rain rather than park up while it was sheeting it down. Overtrousers / Jacket and a big old fairing mean it really isn't bad to ride in the rain, just does lack the 'fun' factor of a proper dry razz.

My only issue MOT wise was that the dipped beam bulb wasn't getting full power to start with so it was getting failed on that, until the end where he went to show me what was wrong and the bike decided it really didn't want to have to go back to Luton anytime soon and bucked it's ideas up. 

I did promise the bike that it owed me an MOT for the money thrown at it to get it back on the road before I thought about cosmetics, I'll have some decisions to make for winter around that.

[strangeangel]

On 8/11/2019 at 3:08 PM, Bfg said:

Would you know if the later ones as robust as the early ones ?

My experience is that all C90 variants will rot merrily around the rear shock mounts (and other areas - I will try and find photos of the 1981 C50/Lifan 110 Frankenstein I used to commute on) without provocation.

 

The only plus point of the earlier bikes for me is the nice looking round headlight; in practical terms the 6V bikes are pretty crap, with piss poor headlights and indicators that some times do, and sometimes don't.  There is also the problem that if your charging circuit (and/or battery) ain't all that you will run out of sparks and end up walking home - not a problem with the 12 volters, which will run happily with a completely shagged battery. Furthermore I would avoid any 6V 90cc models as these have different engine mountings to all the rest and can't have a later 12V motor (or Chinese wonder) fitted, as I did with the aforementioned C50.

 

[Jerzy Woking]

13 hours ago, tobyd said:

MOT day for the ex-JerzyWoking '99 SV650 today.

Pass, no advisories so big success. 

Rides quite nicely, picks up well and seems to handle alright in the dry.

Glad to see this is now back on the road. You might need to play around with the front suspension a little as I had it set up for me and my bulk, and the handling was great, even on old and squared off tyres...

[shoddybanger]

My VFR carb rehab is just about finished. I tore every carb to pieces, cleaned all the jets and passages, changed all the O-rings in the carbs and the interconnecting fuel + air lines, and even managed to put it all back together.

I bench syncronized the carbs with some drill bits and spent a lot of time wrestling the assembly back on the bike tonight. Apparently it helps, when you warm up the intake boots with a hot air gun to make them more pliable.

I'm going to put the rest of the bits back on the bike tomorrow. Here's hoping that everything works and I get to take the bike out for a nice cruise around some local twisties!

[shoddybanger]

VFR shenanigans continue..

So the idea was to put the rest of the bike back together today where I had left off yesterday. I only had to connect the throttle cable, choke cable, and fuel line, install the airbox and tank, and I should be set. I got as far as the airbox, but when I went to put it on I noticed that the screw holes didn't match. The airbox lower half comes on top of the upper plate pictured above, and I was positive I was offering the airbox on the plate the right way around. After racking my brain for a minute I realized that I had indeed managed to install the carb assembly top plate in the wrong orientation!

Now, the mental image of myself pulling the whole assembly out from the intake boots after spending considerable time wrestling it on yesterday was immediately blocked by the brain. This was simply not an option, so with trepidation I unscrewed the top plate, pulled it off the carbs, turned it around and offered it back on. A great sigh of relief was then heaved, as it went on without too much hassle.

Then I found that I had only two liters of fuel in the house, car is with the wife, and on top of that the fuel pump wouldn't even prime the carbs. Started looking into that, and apparently the 3rd gen VFR's only run their fuel pumps when cranking and when the engine is running, so the pump needs to be jumped straight from the battery, when the carb bowls are empty, bypassing the relay.

So, I am presently trying to convince myself to go and fiddle with the pump, but I've just about lost my mojo for tonight. Stupid carbs. Stupid pump. Bah.

[shoddybanger]

Well, wife returned with car, so I scraped together what mojo I had remaining and went off to buy some petrol with a jerry can. Filled the tank, jumped the pump and started the bike. It runs! Woohoo!

I went for a test ride and it pulls with authority now.. except that I'm now missing the top end of the powerband completely. The slides are most likely not opening, so I probably have an intake leak. I cracked loose the synchronization screws on the intake, so I probably forgot to tighten them back up. We'll see tomorrow.

Here's hoping.

[LostnotFound]

Ok, which of you was it? I feel for the bloke getting pulled given he was fully legal when there will have been dozens of audi's rolling past with number plates in the front windows while the drivers are watching youtube.

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-beds-bucks-herts-49393998

 

[doug]

Tried to sell the BMW R1100GS I bought in June on ebay. A couple of people were interested then disappeared. No problem, happens all the time. Wrong time of year to sell a touring bike I suppose. So put it up on Gumtree only for the advert to be rejected. It turns out its recorded as stolen in April !!! Just hoping that their records are out of date/wrong. I got the V5 from  DVLA no problem and also got it insured no problem. Surely if it was stolen I would not have got the V5 and the insurer would have noticed? I ran a check via Mycarcheck.com and they confirmed it is flagging up as stolen.They are investigating and say they will get back to me.Not going out on it till its cleared up in case I get pulled and its inpounded as well as me along with it. Happy days.

[shoddybanger]

Well, that's a bummer! Hopefully everything ends up well with that.

I recall reading in the local newspaper about a woman who took her VW Golf - that she had bought used from a dealer, mind - for servicing, and they weren't able to update the ECU software. Turns out that the VIN was flagged stolen in another country, and the update was refused. I think the used car dealer agreed to reimburse the price in the end (but not after the woman had gone public with the whole ordeal so that they were forced to save face).

Edit: Forgot to update my VFR situation: I tightened the synch screws and intake boots. After that I adjusted the mixtures, but no cigar. Next possible culprit would be the diaphragms not sealing. I might just be able to reseat them with the carbs on the bike, but until then I'm just going to ride it. Bah.

[martc]

4 hours ago, LostnotFound said:

Ok, which of you was it? I feel for the bloke getting pulled given he was fully legal when there will have been dozens of audi's rolling past with number plates in the front windows while the drivers are watching youtube.

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-beds-bucks-herts-49393998

 

It's not Barefoot.

[scdan4]

I'll just see what day next month the mot is up... 

 

DOH! 

[scdan4]

That'll do pig 

[Aston Martin]

I'm off 9-22nd of Sept. So, I have booked my CBT on the 6th of October. 

 

Why? Because those two weeks off I'm doing nothing. If I do my CBT and bike test, then I'll buy something stupid during my break. So, if I do my CBT after my holiday, I don't have the time to get my full licence and I'm hoping the weather is miserable.

 

However.... I'm trying to delay the inevitable. Which is either a new Tricity... Or a used Burgerman 650.

 

I've also booked my best friend to do her CBT at the same time. I might be able to persuade her to go halfsies on a cb125f. It's £59 a month PCP.  

[shoddybanger]

Good luck with the test! A Burgman would be quite nice!

[shoddybanger]

I managed to sort out my VFR carbs. Woo! I finally have a fully functioning bike. And it goes so well!

The issue turned out to be the diaphragms. They weren't seated properly and so would not pull up the slides to let fuel through the main jets. So, I had to pull the assembly out once more, open the diaphragm covers and reseat them.

There was an excellent video on YouTube on how to set/test diaphragms properly, which helped immensely:

 

The trick was to push the diaphragm in and pull it against the seat slightly so that the edges expand. The problem is that the diaphragm wants to 'pop' out, letting the slide fall fully into the carb, so I chucked a plastic ruler down the throat of the carb (see below) to prevent the slide from going in and hence keeping the diaphragm edges expanded, and I was then able to place the cover on and screw it tight. I did this on all four carbs, as none of the diaphragms were seated properly. The diaphragms themselves were in very good shape still, so no issues there.

 

This wouldn't be AS, if there wasn't some bodging involved, so in the process of doing the carbs I noticed that the choke/enrichment arm was a bit slow to retract and/or wouldn't always retract fully, so I bodged on a wire that I can pull from one of the side fairing holes to make sure that the choke is fully retracted. I used black wire instead of yellow/green this time:

 

 

I used small bags to keep the screws and parts organized - they're now empty and the bike is finally ready to eat miles!

 

[Aston Martin]

I cannot persuade for a Tricity, said it's ugly. I want her to be safe, but she said no.

She's on board with a joint cb125f.

 

Having said that the Yamaha dealer didn't have one in last time, but they've just got this used one in. Gonna make her at least look at it.

[LostnotFound]

6 hours ago, Aston Martin said:

I cannot persuade for a Tricity, said it's ugly.

I don't think you'll find anyone arguing with her on that. Even it's mother is resigned to it never getting married and leaving home.

[Aston Martin]

18 hours ago, LostnotFound said:

I don't think you'll find anyone arguing with her on that. Even it's mother is resigned to it never getting married and leaving home.

I like it because it's weird.

[They_all_do_that_sir]

Great run up over the Sperrins yesterday. Absolutely love the firestorm, it's so capable. Big smiles all day.

Only fly in the ointment was me dropping my helmet onto tarmac.....hard enough to crack it and bust the left visor hinge.....I managed to bodge the visor back on but it disappeared on the way home at (ahem) motorway speeds.....

Nice excuse for a new lid!!!

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[83C]

Incoming!

Moar details later.

[LostnotFound]

8 hours ago, They_all_do_that_sir said:

Great run up over the Sperrins yesterday. Absolutely love the firestorm, it's so capable. Big smiles all day.

Only fly in the ointment was me dropping my helmet onto tarmac.....hard enough to crack it and bust the left visor hinge.....I managed to bodge the visor back on but it disappeared on the way home at (ahem) motorway speeds.....

Nice excuse for a new lid!!!

At least there's no, 'it was only a couple of foot it'll probably be ok' dilemma.

Given you're now smashing around on a fast Honda I expect a photo of a Marquez rep on this thread soon.

[They_all_do_that_sir]

At least there's no, 'it was only a couple of foot it'll probably be ok' dilemma.
Given you're now smashing around on a fast Honda I expect a photo of a Marquez rep on this thread soon.

Ahh but Rossi raced Honda's in 2000 when mine was registered

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[83C]

Moar on the little GS. 

I’ve been on the lookout for a smoll runabout bike, and this popped up at a local dealer at a very good price because of needing some work. So far as I can tell the MoT that it had last week is the first one it’s ever had, it looks as though it has been sat in storage for ages. It’s a 61 plate, 12k on the clock, the paint is flaking on the frames and the chain is orrible.

Brake fluid is a bit grim. 

However, it rides very well - great for bashing around back lanes and cutting through traffic. 

First priorities are changing the brake fluid and chain.

[hairnet]

due to issues this might be happening

 

[They_all_do_that_sir]

due to issues this might be happening
 

Very capable bikes

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