The Bikeshite Thread

[Dave_Q]

Sadly the guy is saying he's already got some viewers lined up for tomorrow so he will let me know, my only option to collect it is the 15:30ish flight from Manchester to Newquay tomorrow.

Otherwise I have no free day for absolutely ages

[Cavcraft]

Do you want to borrow an online translator so you can ask @hairnet if he can collect it for you?

[tom13]

What a combo

[Stinkwheel]

9 minutes ago, tom13 said:

What a combo

Hell yeah, much like 

[Cavcraft]

A smidge under 65 miles today (bloody lightweight) and a last minute decision to go to Hawkstone Park Follies in Shropshire. Obvs. had to have a brew on the way. That's not my bike in the foreground...

It's only like about 6 or 7 miles or something from Ma Baker's to Hawkstone Park, and it transpires they have a cafe...

so I could have saved myself the bother of stopping on the way. Anyhow, HPF is amazing...

Here's @hairnet and @chaseracer practising meeting Princess Charlotte...

Being fat, overweight, unfit, having no drink with me and wearing a motorbike jacket, it made perfect sense* to not only walk round the park, but to climb this tower too. It was well worth it though...

Think I missed out about a quarter of the park or so, but will go back again one day. Enjoyed the ride, came back via Wem and some quite nice roads. Gave it some beans here and there, but kept it fairly slowly on the back roads to enjoy the views a bit more.

Oh, my mate helped me fit the Ali Express front/rear dash cam yesterday, so tested that today. Thought it could be handy having a better rear view when riding, it was really good on single screen mode, when splitting front and back it was harder to see but should still do the job. A cheap shit rubber stretchy phone holder was absolutely  bollocks though, so I'll get a better one and maybe mirror mount it for occasional sat nav purposes. The photo is really crap, but it does seem to work ok. So far...

 

 

[chaseracer]

2 minutes ago, Cavcraft said:

Here's @hairnet and @chaseracer practising meeting Princess Charlotte...

HAHAHAHAHA... no.

😆

[straightSix]

Perhaps a silly question but what's the best way of getting a bike onto a motorbike trailer, push it on or do people drive it on? I'm not particularly big and the bike is a heavy cunt. Or should I just rent a plant trailer and make me life easier hmmm

[scdan4]

3 minutes ago, straightSix said:

Perhaps a silly question but what's the best way of getting a bike onto a motorbike trailer, push it on or do people drive it on? I'm not particularly big and the bike is a heavy cunt. Or should I just rent a plant trailer and make me life easier hmmm

Either with some motivation and 100% conviction (because you really don't want it to run out of oomph most but not all the way up, or with a mate to push while you balance and brake.

People do ride them up and on, but fuck that. 

[Stinkwheel]

8 minutes ago, straightSix said:

Perhaps a silly question but what's the best way of getting a bike onto a motorbike trailer, push it on or do people drive it on? I'm not particularly big and the bike is a heavy cunt. Or should I just rent a plant trailer and make me life easier hmmm

When putting bikes into my van, or in the past trailers, I tend to have them in 1st and just use walk by the side of them them slowly using power as required with some careful clutch control. Its how we always did it back in the bike shop days, so thats the way i do it. Basically pushing up but with self propelling

[Rustybullethole]

On 05/06/2025 at 12:45, Stinkwheel said:

When putting bikes into my van, or in the past trailers, I tend to have them in 1st and just use walk by the side of them them slowly using power as required with some careful clutch control. Its how we always did it back in the bike shop days, so thats the way i do it. Basically pushing up but with self propelling

Me too. Easy on the throttle to stop spitting the ramp out the back mind. 

Old transit with a proper metal bumper I had a 4 inch nail to drop in to secure the scaf plank for fast entry. 

[Cavcraft]

I push them on, and find that standing on the left works best as I can keep my right hand over the brake lever incase I need to yank it on. It's saved me a few times.

[myglaren]

Swiped from 'Quora'

https://qr.ae/pAVM5B

"I sold the Harley I wasn't riding to buy this 1959 Vespa 150. It's got a new engine and works perfectly in the 2-stroke madness it likes to indulge in. I decided to keep it looking ratty with a clear coat of eggshell because that patina is irreplaceable. "Rusty but Trusty" is well known and admired in my neighbourhood. The old suitcase is for my helmet. The books are in fact hollow fibreglass so the helmet fits in. Made it myself.

For me, it's an ideal machine for popping around. The Harley turned every trip into an occasion, but Rusty is just a fun, trouble-free bit of nonsense that makes everyone smile. It will do 45mph and complains like a grumpy old man if I try to squeeze any more out of it. No one tries to race me because obviously, they would win. The four-speed twisty gear selector was a little awkward at first but I'm pretty used to it. I have to add 2-stroke oiled in the correct proportion when I fill up, but that's not a major inconvenience. I see it more as an entertaining quirk of a lovely little machine full of analogue charm".

[AltheJazzman]

I only found a sudden interest in bikes in 2022 when petrol prices went silly. This is despite my Mum and her partner being life long bikers, but I always thought bikes were not practical enough. I also didn't have anywhere to store one until recently, where my new (ish) flat came with a garage. 

Everyone I spoke to talked me out of buying one of those Chinese made 125's like Sinnis or Lexmoto, even though they use a Suzuki licences engine design, the build quality sucks, whereas every old Yamaha or Honda seems to last forever. 

Before long, I had found a Yamaha YBR125 for £850 that even came with a helmet on the right size as the previous owner had never learnt to ride it. I got it home and learnt how easy it was to service it, and took my CBT. 

My mate works for the training school where I took my CBT, so a year later he started badgering me to take my full test. Keeping things simple and familiar, and sticking to my original ethos of cheapest possible powered transport, I bought a Yamaha SR250 and spent a few months servicing that. It was basically the same as the 125 except cable operated drum brakes, and even more basic electronics. I think the rear tyre was original though it was so square! I replaced and balanced both at home. 

After a stressful week of training, I passed my full test. Here I am with my mum and partner with their weird looking insect styled Triumphs. 

Since then, I've rebuilt the carb, upgraded the truly dangerously dim headlight, found a rare original luggage rack, recovered the seat, fitted a screen, heated grips, stainless exhaust, and had it tuned for an extra 1.5bhp!

I've taken it half way up the country and back, and use it for work whenever the weather is good, and I don't need to take much. 

My only plans in future is to upgrade and go older again to an SR500. 

[DeanH]

Replaced my first clutch today which totally transformed the bike. 

What's the consensus on fitting tyres? Struggle yourself or pay the man?

[Stinkwheel]

4 minutes ago, DeanH said:

Replaced my first clutch today which totally transformed the bike. 

What's the consensus on fitting tyres? Struggle yourself or pay the man?

Well done on the clutch.

As for tyres, depends, do you have tyre levers, bead breaker, compressor for bead seating? static balancer etc etc I do, so often fit my own tyres, if i didnt the local bike shop would be getting the job

Also, if they are tubed tyres, always have spare tubes to hand, if you pinch one when fitting its a pain to have to wait to get another to put bike back together

[DeanH]

4 minutes ago, Stinkwheel said:

Well done on the clutch.

As for tyres, depends, do you have tyre levers, bead breaker, compressor for bead seating? static balancer etc etc I do, so often fit my own tyres, if i didnt the local bike shop would be getting the job

Also, if they are tubed tyres, always have spare tubes to hand, if you pinch one when fitting its a pain to have to wait to get another to put bike back together

Thanks. I really enjoyed doing it, it was surprisingly simple.

They're tubed knobblies. 3.00x19 and 3.50x18 if size makes a difference to the difficulty.

[Stinkwheel]

15 hours ago, DeanH said:

Thanks. I really enjoyed doing it, it was surprisingly simple.

They're tubed knobblies. 3.00x19 and 3.50x18 if size makes a difference to the difficulty.

Knobblies can be a swine, I've had some really stiff sidewall ones in the past that put up a real fight. Most road type tyres or dual purpose ones are usually fine. Tall and thin are harder as there is less wheel 'well' for the tyre to dip into to allow enough give to get the bead over in my experience, not impossible, just harder. 

[AltheJazzman]

I fitted my own tyres, but only because they have inner tubes, and they are not very wide, so easy to handle and don't need a perfect bead seal. 

[Cavcraft]

On 10/06/2025 at 19:52, myglaren said:

Swiped from 'Quora'

https://qr.ae/pAVM5B

"I sold the Harley I wasn't riding to buy this 1959 Vespa 150. It's got a new engine and works perfectly in the 2-stroke madness it likes to indulge in. I decided to keep it looking ratty with a clear coat of eggshell because that patina is irreplaceable. "Rusty but Trusty" is well known and admired in my neighbourhood. The old suitcase is for my helmet. The books are in fact hollow fibreglass so the helmet fits in. Made it myself.

For me, it's an ideal machine for popping around. The Harley turned every trip into an occasion, but Rusty is just a fun, trouble-free bit of nonsense that makes everyone smile. It will do 45mph and complains like a grumpy old man if I try to squeeze any more out of it. No one tries to race me because obviously, they would win. The four-speed twisty gear selector was a little awkward at first but I'm pretty used to it. I have to add 2-stroke oiled in the correct proportion when I fill up, but that's not a major inconvenience. I see it more as an entertaining quirk of a lovely little machine full of analogue charm".

A trouble free Vespa? Guessing he's only ridden it once.

[Cavcraft]

In boring news, I've been doing a 50 mile each way commute this week down the A55.  Used the car the first day, them decided I needed to man up and go on the BM instead. More because I'd like to do some long runs and I've always preferred driving rather than riding down bypasses/motorways. 

Anyhow, the first day was windy AF and a bit overcast, but the second day was nice and bright. Actually enjoyed it more than the car, so if the forecast doesn't suggest thunder and rain, I'll be using it more. 

It was slightly intrusive noise wise (single pot working hard) but felt like it'd sit at 70 (and more) all day long and found you can tune out to the noise. Also glad I didn't get a noisy exhaust as it'd get on my tits. Fuel consumption suffered due to the wind/hills/faster than usual speed, but you can't have it all.

[DeanH]

4 hours ago, Stinkwheel said:

Knobblies can be a swine, I've had some really stiff sidewall ones in the past that put up a real fight. Most road type tyres or dual purpose ones are usually fine. Tall and thin are harder as there is less wheel 'well' for the tyre to dip into to allow enough give to get the bead over in my experience, not impossible, just harder. 

 

4 hours ago, AltheJazzman said:

I fitted my own tyres, but only because they have inner tubes, and they are not very wide, so easy to handle and don't need a perfect bead seal. 

I'll have a bash at it. Can always give up and pay the man.

[Dave_Q]

I've  sweated on 12" Vespa tyres in my garage with levers, I reckon a 17" + would be pretty easy.

[Barry Cade]

Just done the tyres on the Tiger, 17"  120 and 180. Breaking the bead is the worst I think, I use a big G clamp.  Popped them both back on the bead with a little 12v compressor- take the valve core out first..  I've never balanced bike wheels and never noticed a difference.

[andy18s]

On 12/06/2025 at 19:11, DeanH said:

Thanks. I really enjoyed doing it, it was surprisingly simple.

They're tubed knobblies. 3.00x19 and 3.50x18 if size makes a difference to the difficulty.

It depends on how kind you want to be to the wheels themselves. If a few little marks don't bother then give it a go.

Be sure to get a decent tyre iron set beforehand though.

[Rustybullethole]

4 minutes ago, andy18s said:

It depends on how kind you want to be to the wheels themselves. If a few little marks don't bother then give it a go.

Be sure to get a decent tyre iron set beforehand though.

You can get bead protectors. Saying that i've never used them. Being careful with good levers is good enough for me. Not that I've never marked a wheel mind, just more that i'm not too bothered. 

[Dave_Q]

I managed to sell my Vespa so am on the lookout for the next heap.

What I really want is what the cool kids had when I was at school which is Gilera Runner, Aprilia SR, or an Italjet Dragster.

Just posting in case anyone has some prime 90s/00s italo-ped shite stashed, not too fussed if 50 or 125.

[castros_bro]

On 15/06/2025 at 09:08, Dave_Q said:

I managed to sell my Vespa so am on the lookout for the next heap.

What I really want is what the cool kids had when I was at school which is Gilera Runner, Aprilia SR, or an Italjet Dragster.

Just posting in case anyone has some prime 90s/00s italo-ped shite stashed, not too fussed if 50 or 125.

 Not quite fitting your preference............                   Iceni CAMmag market place

[tom13]

Just got a Benelli TNT as I always wanted a Grom and this was the cheaper alternative.

Fuck me it's expensive to insure a 125. Any tips or tricks to get it down.

[MrGTI6]

The previous time I filled up the Sprint, I used E10 for the first time. Not out of choice; it was the only option at the garage I was at and I didn't fancy chancing going to the next place due to the temperamental fuel gauge. 

The plan was to chuck a few quid in and top up with E5 later, but auto-pilot kicked in and I ended up brimming the tank. This was last week. 

It seemed happy enough for the rest of the day and indeed the following day. But fast forward to this morning and I could tell it wasn't running quite right.

Nothing horrendous, and the triple clatters a bit on tickover by design anyway. But it seemed particularly grumpy below 2500rpm-ish

It felt particularly hesitant/stuttery when pulling away and the easiest workaround was to slip the clutch a bit which I generally try to avoid doing. It cut out a couple of times while waiting at a junction then at a busy roundabout. Restarted absolutely fine on both occasions.

So I topped it up with E5 and within a couple of miles it seemed a lot happier and continued to improve until eventually it felt normal again. The lumpiness on tickover has gone and the stuttering at low revs seems to have completely disappeared. 

Although it's fuel-injected, it's still a 26-year-old bike and as expected it much prefers the expensive stuff.

[hairnet]

Dave kwoos bike did the equivalent of 125 mpg from Wallingford to Bbradford Bbrighouse