The Bikeshite Thread

[robt100]

2 hours ago, castros_bro said:

Well that's interesting.  Except it doesn't say which licence category is needed.

Gov.UK

Towing with a motorbike

You can use motorbikes with an engine size of 125cc or more to tow small trailers.

Your motorbike has to be clearly and permanently marked with its ‘kerbside weight’.

Kerbside weight is the weight of the vehicle without passengers or any load but with a full tank of fuel and filled up with the necessary oils, water and fluids.

The trailer must be no more than 1 metre wide and must be clearly and permanently marked with its unladen weight.

When the trailer is loaded it must weigh no more than 150 kilograms or 2/3 of the kerbside weight of the motorbike - whichever is lighter.

When hitched, the distance between the end of the trailer and the rear axle of the motorbike must be no more than 2.5 metres.

Seeing this reminded me of when SWMBO took her bike theory earlier this year.... first question was 'what is the maximum width allowed for a motorcycle trailer'.......not one she had come across in the highway code!

[New POD]

9 hours ago, castros_bro said:

Well that's interesting.  Except it doesn't say which licence category is needed.

Gov.UK

Towing with a motorbike

You can use motorbikes with an engine size of 125cc or more to tow small trailers.

Your motorbike has to be clearly and permanently marked with its ‘kerbside weight’.

Kerbside weight is the weight of the vehicle without passengers or any load but with a full tank of fuel and filled up with the necessary oils, water and fluids.

The trailer must be no more than 1 metre wide and must be clearly and permanently marked with its unladen weight.

When the trailer is loaded it must weigh no more than 150 kilograms or 2/3 of the kerbside weight of the motorbike - whichever is lighter.

When hitched, the distance between the end of the trailer and the rear axle of the motorbike must be no more than 2.5 metres.

For my A level Design project, I designed and built a one wheel motorcycle trailer, which leant over with the motorcycle. 

Unfortunately I had to test it behind a car, because at the time I'd sold my motorbike to fund a car. Doh. I got a grade D. 

It did work. The hinge arrangement that kept it standing up was very clever.  The rest of it was shit.  Unfortunately I have no pictures, no video, nothing but memories. 

[castros_bro]

Jawa did one

 I've recently bought a Mofa Anhänger Kupplung from German moped shop as remember Swiss postal service using mopeds with trailers and was going to try pulling a small canoe trailer behind mine. But 125cc lower limit is a problem. 

 

[Stinkwheel]

I wasn’t towing anything but had a bit of a noodle about in the hills, lovely day.

[Hawkeyethenoo]

Norton Commando 961 Sport Vlog. 

 

[Hawkeyethenoo]

 

[Hawkeyethenoo]

Tempted by another 

 

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/bike-details/202509266648363

[5speedracer]

Fair thing, just run in too. Is it the rear subframe of swingarm on these can succumb to rust and not really be noticed?

[Cavcraft]

16 hours ago, Hawkeyethenoo said:

Tempted by another 

 

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/bike-details/202509266648363

150, 076cc is enough for most people.

[Hawkeyethenoo]

2 hours ago, 5speedracer said:

Fair thing, just run in too. Is it the rear subframe of swingarm on these can succumb to rust and not really be noticed?

FWIW, no mention of that in the MOT history which is pretty bloody good reading on the face of it. I know early Pans were bad for crusty SA, but think they've all be scrapped now mostly. It's obviously been crashed and re-imagined as The Beast and why not.... I still would. 

[plasticvandan]

On 28/09/2025 at 09:55, castros_bro said:

Jawa did one

 I've recently bought a Mofa Anhänger Kupplung from German moped shop as remember Swiss postal service using mopeds with trailers and was going to try pulling a small canoe trailer behind mine. But 125cc lower limit is a problem. 

 

I had a trailer I used behind one of my MZs,virtually didn't know it was there

When researching I did find it interesting that the min engine size was 125, where there is no min engine size for fitting a sidecar!

[scdan4]

You know when you think you've worked it out and solved the problem....

 

 

 

 

Bah.

No biggy, just moving house tomorrow 😆

[loserone]

Hope you had it dropped outside the new house 😂

[scdan4]

19 minutes ago, loserone said:

Hope you had it dropped outside the new house 😂

Vendors are nice, it's already in the(ir) garage 😁

[mat_the_cat]

I did my first long trip (350 miles) a few weeks back, visiting a friend in South Wales.

Very enjoyable few days, apart from nearly getting sideswiped as I was overtaking a queue of cars.

After that, I decided to sort out a few bits and bobs with it. My mate gave me a Scottoiler, so I set about fitting that.

There was a perfect sized recess for the reservoir, next to the battery, so that went in.

I needed to replace the thermostat, as it rarely warmed up - should have been a simple job, except...

Although a replacement housing was only £13 delivered, so very reasonable.

Then one of the mounting lugs snapped off the radiator, and it was all looking a bit crusty anyway so bought a decent looking 2nd hand one.

One of the fork seals had started to leak despite being a recent replacement. Not sure why as the stanchions appear smooth. I've popped a new one on for now and will keep an eye on it. I didn't have a suitable tube to drive in the new seal, so I improvised with a bit of tape and used the fork as a slide hammer.

I think I've mentioned this before, but the front rim on this had corroded, and was causing a slow leak. I'm not a fan of black wheels anyway, so I decided on a bit of a colour change. From this...

...to this.

I wasn't sure whether the colour would be a bit much, but I reckon it suits the blue/purple fairly well.

[hairnet]

utter tart?

not used mine in two months

must fix that

[tom13]

11 hours ago, mat_the_cat said:

I did my first long trip (350 miles) a few weeks back, visiting a friend in South Wales.

Very enjoyable few days, apart from nearly getting sideswiped as I was overtaking a queue of cars.

After that, I decided to sort out a few bits and bobs with it. My mate gave me a Scottoiler, so I set about fitting that.

There was a perfect sized recess for the reservoir, next to the battery, so that went in.

I needed to replace the thermostat, as it rarely warmed up - should have been a simple job, except...

Although a replacement housing was only £13 delivered, so very reasonable.

Then one of the mounting lugs snapped off the radiator, and it was all looking a bit crusty anyway so bought a decent looking 2nd hand one.

One of the fork seals had started to leak despite being a recent replacement. Not sure why as the stanchions appear smooth. I've popped a new one on for now and will keep an eye on it. I didn't have a suitable tube to drive in the new seal, so I improvised with a bit of tape and used the fork as a slide hammer.

I think I've mentioned this before, but the front rim on this had corroded, and was causing a slow leak. I'm not a fan of black wheels anyway, so I decided on a bit of a colour change. From this...

...to this.

I wasn't sure whether the colour would be a bit much, but I reckon it suits the blue/purple fairly well.

New wheel colour looks good. 

[Stinkwheel]

13 hours ago, mat_the_cat said:

I did my first long trip (350 miles) a few weeks back, visiting a friend in South Wales.

Very enjoyable few days, apart from nearly getting sideswiped as I was overtaking a queue of cars.

After that, I decided to sort out a few bits and bobs with it. My mate gave me a Scottoiler, so I set about fitting that.

There was a perfect sized recess for the reservoir, next to the battery, so that went in.

I needed to replace the thermostat, as it rarely warmed up - should have been a simple job, except...

Although a replacement housing was only £13 delivered, so very reasonable.

Then one of the mounting lugs snapped off the radiator, and it was all looking a bit crusty anyway so bought a decent looking 2nd hand one.

One of the fork seals had started to leak despite being a recent replacement. Not sure why as the stanchions appear smooth. I've popped a new one on for now and will keep an eye on it. I didn't have a suitable tube to drive in the new seal, so I improvised with a bit of tape and used the fork as a slide hammer.

I think I've mentioned this before, but the front rim on this had corroded, and was causing a slow leak. I'm not a fan of black wheels anyway, so I decided on a bit of a colour change. From this...

...to this.

I wasn't sure whether the colour would be a bit much, but I reckon it suits the blue/purple fairly well.

Looks lovely on the gold wheels 👍

[mat_the_cat]

This has previously had fairing protector 'mushrooms' fitted, which are probably sensible, but don't look great. Especially as I think they have been cut down in the past, and aren't quite square.

This would be a simple lathe job to square it off and round the edges - but I don't own a lathe.

I do however possess a drill, an angry grinder with flap disc, and a reasonably steady hand.

A Stanley blade did an acceptable job of marking out where to square it to. And below is the end result!

[Heidel_Kakao]

The CB1000F has finally been announced and should be at dealers in February 2026. It's been detuned somewhat from the Hornet to 122BHP which is a bit disappointing but it's still 10 odd more than a Z900RS. £10,599 is the base price but adding the sport pack and a couple of other options brings it to £12,000 so it looks like it will be good value and I am pretty sure it will be my next bike and out of the three colour schemes I shall be going with the black one.

[Shandylegs]

Didn't think we'd get much more decent weather this year, but it's glorious out there so had a little run out over the Woodhead to see the daughter in Manchester.

Finally found the second kick at 9k, it goes well (only in a straight line though 🫣).

On my way back now and just having 10 minute hip rest 🤣)

[Cavcraft]

On 10/10/2025 at 19:53, Heidel_Kakao said:

The CB1000F has finally been announced and should be at dealers in February 2026. It's been detuned somewhat from the Hornet to 122BHP which is a bit disappointing but it's still 10 odd more than a Z900RS. £10,599 is the base price but adding the sport pack and a couple of other options brings it to £12,000 so it looks like it will be good value and I am pretty sure it will be my next bike and out of the three colour schemes I shall be going with the black one.

There's definitely a throw or two to the old CB750 and 900F. Not altogether sure about the headlight, but that's one nice looing bike.

[Fat_Pirate]

Managed to scratch the tank on my Pan Euro today, and I wasn't even riding it at the time.

Caught it with my belt buckle whilst angrily shoving it back into the garage, after coolant started pissing out within a couple of mins of being started.  Not investigated any further, I've got a cold and have had enough.

[martc]

Talking of new Hondas, I'm going to give this a good caught of looking at when I'm at the NEC show next month...

The hilariously named WN7. Why hilarious you ask, well W = Wind and N = Naked, yes it's the Honda Wind Naked 7. You'd have thought they'd have tried a little harder with their first electric bike.

I'm really enjoying the Zero but as most bikers, but not most bikers wives, know, we get itchy feet after a while and start looking around. I do have an excuse as my Zero came from a dealer in East Anglia and although the relationship has been very good they are over a hundred miles away and it's always been a bit of a worry. My nearest Honda dealer is 40 miles away.

Anyhow back to the WN7, details are very scarce. But we do know that it has about a third of the power of the Zero (18kW vs 52kW) and about two thirds the torque (100 Nm vs 140 Nm) but I'm not sure that will be a problem in the real world. The thing that makes me a bit twitchy is the range - I quote - 'more than 80 miles'. Zero quote 162 miles for mine, which is generous but just about doable so I'm guessing Honda, like Zero, are quoting the best possible figure you can get. I'm also guessing the Honda may have a smaller battery than the Zero but as it only ways 6kg lighter I don't know what is so heavy on the Honda if it's not the battery (the battery being the heaviest component by far, the weight being directly proportional to the number of cells). The Honda is water cooled and the Zero air cooled so that may explain some of the weight. I may be talking myself out of this but I'd like a sit on one. Starts from £12,999. https://www.honda.co.uk/motorcycles/experience-honda/register-interest-august-2025.html

Whilst at the NEC I'm also going to have a good look at the Can-Am Pulse. Now this is 35 kW with a 100 mile city range, still not as good as the Zero, but better than the Honda. It only weighs 177kg as the battery is half the size of the Zero, but it has water cooling which begs the question, again, why is the Honda is so heavy but has, potentially, the poorest range? The Can-Ams torque is lower at 72 Nm. It's a little cheaper (£11,399) and my nearest dealer is only 10 miles away. https://can-am.brp.com/on-road/gb/en/models/motorcycles/pulse.html

There's also the expensive option, an upgrade from my SR to a DSR/X, this has a similar chassis to the SR but a slightly larger battery giving a 179 mile range, the motor develops 75kW and there's 229 Nm torque and is the most expensive by far (£19,970). But the dealer is in East Anglia. https://zeromotorcycles.com/en-gb/model/zero-dsrx

Or I'll just stick with the SR.... (which needs a new front tyre as the original has squared off but annoyingly has plenty of tread left).

[Rustybullethole]

What does the man who has a broken GS and a breaker RS need? 

A broken RT of course.

Fixing it so far has involved a small fire and finding lots of gunk where petrol once was.

Had a go at saving the fuel pump but no dice. 'Ran when parked' so going with optimism and spending 40 sovs on a pattern pump and malle filter. 

Its got a front screen as big as the window in my flat and a muthafunkin stereo with speaker in the dash. Could make the commute to work over winter a far more comfortable experience than it is on the Himi. If it wants to live that is.

Technically this classes as thinning out the fleet as i've swapped it for two bikes. Those bikes are both honda qr50's which could be carried in the panniers of the Bm haha.

Edited November 5 by Rustybullethole

[mat_the_cat]

It's only a minor irritation, but the horn on this sounded really weedy.

Without wanting to be silly, I went for something a bit louder but still compact.

I don't know whether it comes out well enough on the video, but in real life it's a lot better.

I was still struggling to get the old front tyre to seal to the rim, so given that it wasn't the newest tyre, I ended up replacing it.

I've generally been a fan of Continentals, but tried a Michelin Pilot Road 4, as the place which fitted it (I didn't want to scratch the powder coat!) did me a good deal.

Next little job was to replace some of the fasteners. @Stinkwheel had already made a start on this, and the bike actually came with a few not yet fitted. I added a few more to my last David Silver order to complete the job on the front.

The old ones weren't too bad, but will have been taken off at least every time the wheel has come out, so seeing as I've had a caliper bolt fail before I replaced them for peace of mind.

[Stinkwheel]

Something happened yesterday, I'm more than over excited about it, I just cant tell you how much I like sporty 2 strokes. (well, i probably could actually)

 

[Rustybullethole]

Stinkywheels are the best. Enjoy.

[andy18s]

I still ride with a couple of fingers covering the clutch lever,just in case ..... 

I think the last 2 stroke I've ridden was my old man's GT750 Kettle in the late 90's. 

[Stinkwheel]

3 minutes ago, andy18s said:

I still ride with a couple of fingers covering the clutch lever,just in case ..... 

I think the last 2 stroke I've ridden was my old man's GT750 Kettle in the late 90's. 

Old habits die hard 👍

And remember folks, anymore than 2 strokes is masturbation