The Bar

in the winter. I don't have a heated garage and it was -8F here last night. That would be -22C to most of you. It doesn't get that much warmer during the day here either. Such lovely weather here in Minnesota.

Just for the craic ! What made you become a biker ? And why after all the years do you still love it ?

Right guys,i keep my project bike in my concrete sectional garage,the problem is it's that damp all my chrome is rusting and due to a health condition this is going to be a long term restoration as i sometimes am not fit enough to do anything to it for weeks on end.So my question is what is the best way to keep rust at bay ? WD40 didn't seem to help much so i thought maybe you guys could suggest something. Thanks Al

With it being mostly dry today, and the sun out a bit, I went cross county on my XVS, she got 70mph! I'm still waiting for the bigger front sprocket to come so she should be able to cater a lovely cruising speed now! She's thirsty mind you, set off with more or less a full tank..... after 35 miles, shes below half..... I like a girl that swallows it anyhoo... Anyone else go out today (wed)? Yorkshire area?

i kain its nae a yamaha, but im starting to think about my next bikee . . looking at the above, its 6700, brand new and if i pay 3k as a deposit i can pay the rest of in 2 years at 2.2% interest . . anyone had any experience or heard anything about them ?

Hi all, dont know if im posting this in the right place but I saw another project in here so please move it to somewhere more appropriate if needbe, thought i'd share this with you all. The posts are cut&pasted from my local clubs website of my project log so far This is my 2nd project bike, a 1998 Yamaha YZF1000R Thunderace which was in need of a little TLC, got it for a reasonable price with 27K on the clock, there is some minor damage here and there and mechanically its in a bit of a tatty state.

Hi there peeps i have been hoarding parts for my DT50MX project for a few months now but there is one part that no breaker seems to have and appear to more rare than rocking horse sh*t made of unobtanium with hens teeth in it. It is the rear light bracket/assembly, which also holds the number plate, i have bought a universal stop/tail light for the time being but it would require new mounting holes to be drilled in the rear mudguard and bracket and is not the original part which sort of defies the whole point of this project in addition to requiring a self-fabricated number plate mount. is there a way that i can find the part number, and find out which other m…

A friend of mine is leaveing for canada soon and he asked me if i wanted to buy his bike its a 2003 honda cbr 600rr its looks amazing . Im seriously thinking of buying it as hes doin me a good deal . I cant affored an R1 at the min so this is affordable alto the missus will prob throw me out haha but i no its no yamaha but has anyone any advice on these bikes are they a good bike . He never had a problem with it bit he hardly used it . Thanks

Hi all, I have a couple of queries and was hoping some bright sparks on here might give me the info... I have been looking at YZ 125's, mainly the engine, and I know there are differences but I was just wondering if anybody knew what the main differences between them are that give the yz its extra umph, I mean is it as simple as porting differences or is it a completely different engine?? Exhaust and carburettor are a lot bigger and gear ratios must be different for the track use but what about the engine internals?? They have similarities in look but this doesnt mean anything.. Any help appreciated, I guess everyone can tell what I'm thinking about doing... T…

Well peeps, its an extra-long weekend, what did you do with your time off? I went on a rideout with one of my old school mates, went from Newbury to Bournemouth (via loomies cafe for breakfast, where i spotted some gorgeous RDs, soooo shiny!) Then in bournemouth i won a furby at the arcade. Then we rode on to swanage, where i won a space monkey at the arcade Lots and lots of bikes out and about today, did you go anywhere nice/different?

just thought of this after seeing jimmy's TT13 mine was in a car park outside local shops in liverpool the carpark to be fair is on a bit of a steep hill and it had been raining and I had only been riding a motorbike for a couple of weeks, anyway pulled away no problem, riding parallel to hill turned to head up the hill and must of just leaned that little bit to much, back tyer lost traction, went down like a sack of shit before I knew it and I tried to recover it by pulling the handlebars up but in doing so pulled back on the throttle this made the bike spin in circles while on the floor anyone looking on must have thought I was mental a brand new bike doing horizo…

Well peeps, the new buyer came to collect the Mong today. As a last leaving gift, the little f*cker decided not to use its headlight, however the new buyer was understanding of these older bikes and their "quirks" (he's a classic mini owner aswell, so that explains it) and into the back of the little van it went off to a new home It may have been a little shitbox compared to the blade, but it was my little shitbox for a brief while, made me feel a little bit sad when it left , maybe i am just getting too attached to my bikes? not sure if anyone else gets this. but anyway, onwards and upwards with the cafe racer project, need it ready for squires

Got pulled today by armed response. I thought wtf! Turns out they were just warning me that my rear tyre was under inflated. I must say that the officers in question were very polite and helpful and seemed very genuine. Luckily I was just by a petrol station so I went to inflate my tyre, but the air pump would not fit on the valve because the of the brake disc on one side and swing arm on the other, so I then attempted to inflate the front, and again the pump wouldn't fit onto the valve because the wheels were too wide and valve was not tall enough. Where can I inflate my tyres?

I have spent a couple of months hunting for a bike to replace my XT125X, i needed something with off-road capability and preferably something that had a supermoto model of the same bike (less of a headache to try and sort out a Sumo conversion) Also needed more ommph then the 125, anything 250 and up really. I tried to arrange to view a '99 Honda xr250, but couldn't make a viewing before end of auction- so missed that one. After looking for a good couple of months i managed to find a bike for the 'right price', plenty of power, tons of ground clearance, maybe a bit tall- but then again most of these enduro bikes are. So i went to see a bike and after a lo…

A study from an insurance underwriting firm, Equity Red Star has suggested that people who ride motorcycle's are 23% less likely to have a claim in a car than those who don't own a motorcycle. http://www.visordown.com/motorcycle-news--general-news/motorcyclists-23-better-behind-the-wheel-of-a-car/23971.html There's a bit of debate in office as to whether this is because bikers are better drivers or whether they just use their car 23% less. Personally, I think it's a bit of both. What do you think?

passed my mod 2 today...buzzing!! cant wait til the weekend to get the xj6 out ...this is where the real training begins...as they say

So me and a few of my mates are planning a weeks touring next year, ferry from Hull across to belguim and then through Belgium, Luxemburg, Germany, Austria, Italy, Switzerland, France then home. What kinda milage would people suggest as max per day? we were thinking of setting a limit of about 400-450 miles a day? Opinions? also any one done anything similar? Thanks, Matt

Hi. Today I was walking round a 'vintage' car & bike show. I was re-united with my old fizzy. It's been 34 years & brought back some great memories. This got me thinking if any of my other old rides are still out there. Does anyone have any ideas how to find out??? Thanx.................

Just got the FJ put back together and though now would be a good time to see if it ran ok, check the oil - ok check timing marks are right - ok check it has fuel - ok, general look round it to make sure everything was in the right place and hit the starter button, fired right up BIG SMILE yippee it lives, but hang on what's that strange hissing noise? Look down and I am up to my ankles in oil a LARGE puddle I might add, WHAT THE F**K is that? Do you think you can find the off switch when your mind has gone into overload !! How do I turn this thing off? Finally got it off and dropped to the floor to see what was going on and guess what numb nut's here has forgotten to tigh…

More years ago than I care to remember when my daughter was 16 I bought her a twist and go so she could get to collage, the price of the bike included a days training and the CBT test but they would only deliver it to the training centre, unfortuantly she failed the test so I had to ride it home. I will never forget riding that thing, just about got to 30 flat out, no chance of accelerating out of trouble, I tell a couple of times it really put the shits up me. anyway after spending hours in the local sainsbury's car park teaching her how to ride and of course riding it back to the training centre she passed her CBT and I vowed never to go near one again.