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Yup, Wakefield...

you somewhere around leeds s/bite? i was a student there for four yrs in early 70's - over 50 yrs ago lol at the then polytechnic.

Oh, I've done a LOT of miles on my Ace... Not only did I ride year round in all weathers just for shits & giggles, it was my daily driver for commuting too! I can't be far away from another gapping! lol But this time, I think I might give it a go myself. I'm trying to work out if I can afford a new garage / man cave, if so, I'm going to strip it down completely and do a full refurb. Aaah, I have a stainless exhaust system, exups aren't a worry for me! lol.

crumbs i'd better check my radiator. your valves shouldn't need doing again for another 27K I think it is. I've got a loose exup valve in the exhaust system, still works but makes a clicking sound at times, mainly when cold. Replacements are difficult to find in operational order. You can't get too excited riding in these parts around Oxford and the Cotswolds as it is relatively crowded, there's dual carriage ways and motorways but they are busy too. For quieter roads I need a whole day to leave the area and get over to the west towards Wales. Have you noticed how Thunderace prices are dropping in recent times? I guess if problems were to mount up one could realistically consider another similar bike if you could find one without without issues.

The really big cost I had with my Ace was having my valves gapped... 5 bucket type valves per cylinder, the price mounts. But it was well worth it performance wise. And I was spending an upsetting amount on chains & sprockets (three chains in the first two years! (I like my acceleration! lol)) But I solved that one by uprating my chain to a bigger size and haven't changed it in the last four years now. I've spent a mild amount of money putting things back to how they should be from strange upgrades from past owners. Right now, my concern is my radiator, it's rotting in the bottom corner and I've got reduced cooling. Finding a decent 2nd hand one is proving to be difficult currently, and a custom replacement is NOT going to be cheap. I'm looking around to see if anyone can re-core mine, but not everyone does curved radiators... P.S. Front tyres! For some reason, I go through front tyres more than back tyres..? I put it down to not doing burnouts & such, but taking every opportunity to get my knee down (not really, I'm a little creaky for that but getting it well leant over). My front often vaguely resembles the old V shaped racing tyres by the time I've finished with them! lol

a lot of money to find but the equivalent here doesn't sound that bad at £714.65 UK have you hasd to pay out on the t/ace much s/bite? don't like to tempt fate but so far it has just been low level stuff for me like oil, filters, cables..

Speaking as a 1998 Thunderace owner, meh, sometimes you pays the money... But that's probably going to be the most money you spend on it for the next several years! On the other hand, I see nothing against getting another bike!

Well good news all sorted now, $1450 of work. Feel like it's getting to the stage I need a new bike :D

when i went to a lecture on the science of being seen. rear enders are very rare as I asked that very question. Pink was the safest colour to wear and making your bike "bigger" using lights on handle bars are a good thing too. I have LED hand guards on mine. moving your bike to the crown presents a larger area of bike at junctions (the most dangerous for motorbikes)and watch for the car wheel turning when they are stationary indicates they are about to move off. So feather those brakes ready to stop. Always be able to stop in the distance you see the road ahead to be clear.

swingarm would be difficult as not possible to protect the wiring that well, as it is i can largely keep feeder wires out of harms way but yes that's something one might associate with a cruiser I suppose, low lights, hog style. My motivation is hearing about or seeing videos of bikers getting rear ended, so trying to attract attention or catch the eye might assist.

Yeah, not too bad... I suddenly had the stupid idea of fitting them on the ends of your swingarm, but I'm not sure if there's laws about having rear lights that low lol.

yep, bit on the marginal side but having put them on just flipping thewm back was easy and anything that may help..... bit obscured but Ok I think

I'm starting to sound like doom & gloom guy here... lol There's no way those red lights are going to be visible from behind past your legs! There's a possibility that they'll become visible as you turn, but that could cause other problems. There was a 'thing' years ago about the question of whether two bike headlamps close together looked like car headlamps further away. If you see what I mean. Gotta admit though, I quite like the spots!

amber/yellow flank led with red led facing rearward rear quarter view

re: Hey welcome back. Thanks Alex. I was off line for a bit, had problems with my thumb, now all good again, can ride and operate m/bike controls OK. Sorry to learn that you have had issues with the MT-09.

Sorry had a geriatic moment and was thinking of @Mr Bignel ! Yeah when I spoke to the local Yamaha dealer about a rough idea of time a few weeks back to fix it, they told me it might be cheaper to buy a second hand engine if it's gone. After looking into it more I can see why, having the split the gearbox and engine and then take the shaft out to replace the bearings it's pretty much overhaul time. Took into the garage this morning, hopefully there's no unexected findings.

Don't forget, you've got no weight on that frame, your suspension is happily sitting at full height! I suspect as you put more bits on, it will get better...

Are you sure that little 250 can carry you and all that Petrol? On the other hand, you could probably drive around the country with all that fuel! lol

What do you mean 'welcome back'? I never left! I check the site every day lol. After my version of your output shaft panic, a Yamaha dealer (I'll drop his name: Clive Padgett (ex racer)) told me that output shafts are pretty strong, and it's actually pretty hard to bend one. It's more likely to explode, which you'd be much more certain about! lol.

Hey welcome back. I've never been so pleased to be wrong!

I got this little heap and since I have the US custom as a stock bike, this one is getting altered a touch. Stripped it all down and just playing with ideas at the moment.

Stripped the engine out of the bike and put the rest in my new shed. Then I took the engine apart. Judging by all the oil hanging about on the non working side, I think it needs new gaskets and piston rings.

Told you it wouldn't be the output shaft!

Well, my whining output shaft noise had been getting worse, so I took the bike to the garage to get an idea of the cost. They did what I’d been too lazy to do, stripped the back wheel and sprocket cover. After removing the front sprocket, it was clear the sprocket had worn one side quite a bit, hadn’t been aligned properly. It was also quite worn, I didnt even think to check this as the chain and sprockets had only done about 5k km on it. Obv crappy material. Thankfully, the output shaft spun freely with no clicking, phew! That was great to see. Turns out the rear wheel bearing was the main culprit, followed by the front sprocket, which explains why I thought the noise was coming from the front. I’m honestly so relieved to be wrong, a wheel bearing, chain, and sprocket are a lot better than having to pull the engine and split the gearbox casing. Hate to think what that would’ve cost! It’s booked in for Monday for some much needed love and care, something I embarrassingly haven’t given it for a while.

No worries