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Having only been riding 'big bikes' for just over a year now and being on the small and light side I was worried about taking a pillion. After reading up on advice and taking with other biker friends I bit the bullet and took my lad on the back today. We went for a bit more than a little jaunt as we did a 100 mile round trip to Lincoln! He loved it apart from his new lid pinching a bit and I learned a lot about carrying a pillion. He had already been on one of my mates bikes so he knew just what to do and once we were under way I hardly noticed he was there. Biggest problem was stopping and making sure the bike was upright to keep the balance right. On the return journey I was stopping like a veteran and it became much smoother to a halt. I found pulling away was fine just needing few more revs and feet up on the pegs quickly for the balance. The bike is only a 750 Virago but it seemed to pull well two up and did seem to be a little more sluggish to respond to inputs to the bars apart from that it was a great ride and a big hurdle for me to overcome. Problem now is I feel knackered with all of the concentration.

LOL! You guys are hilarious! I vow to not become one of the newbies that disappears once my question/issue is resolved. I get a kick out of reading all of your posts. once I master how to get pics on my posts, I'll start posting away! Enjoy & be safe

hi everyone , thanks for the comments and advice . after reading all your replies I realised why I joined this club , great helpful people , just like the old guys that offered advice on bsa issues when I was a kid , like you could set the gap on lucas points with the lid of an embassy regal packet , great advice when your on the side of the road , not so good If you didn't smoke ! any how , now you can see the old Girl , you probably think I was talking utter crap when I described the sorry state but those photos were taken at low res. so you cant see too much. Cop for the mice nest made from bits of air filter , wonder what was going through their mind when I opened it up to 10,000 revs , apart from two valves. Imagine the cartoon to that......their little front legs clinging on to the plastic airbox as they slowly lose their grip as they waver about horizontaly and are sucked through the carbs into the cylinders , being squeezed to a third of their size ( cut to the cartoon bit where they continually get squashed by the piston,and pounded on the head by various valves over 40 cycles ) then suddenly the bike splutters and coughs and there is this thud thud , thump , high pitch squeeking noise as the exhaust down pipe bulges with lumps ( that strangely disappear as they make their way down the exhaust system , great cartoons , aren,t they ? ) then there is this ( polystyrene on glass ) type noise as , one by one they get pushed through the tail pipe and land on top of each other ( the one on the bottom of the pile squeezes his eyes shut as each member of the family lands on his head ) when its all over hes just sitting there with a sooty face and that " oliver hardy " look on his face. well today folks I,m balancing the carbs and painting the tank , may I add that this is a temporary painting around the graphics job until I get new graphis . I,m using four sets of kitchen scales and some dope dealers weights to balance the carbs , only joking , I,ll let you know how I got on. ive also decided , whilst writing the mouse story , to strip the clutch down and investigate , I,ll also let you know what I find the mouse story was true , for the record !

Fuck Off We already had a wummin do that and it fucked our Country

Here she is...... Lovely shiney bike with 2miles on the clock when picked her up today

nice

good album that, from Canadian rockers Triumph (lots of links in there )

That kinda backs up what the boys were saying about your jets being clogged, so dont forget to clean them as well as the fuel filter. Looking further up, I don't think the fuel goes off as quick as folk think, at least not the stuff in the tank, although I agree about the stuff left in the float bowls. My reasoning is this. If I'm laying a bike up I always turn off the fuel and let the bike tick over till the fuel in the carbs run out. Anytime I go to start the bikes they always start after a few kicks and this is the old fuel still left in the tank. I hadn't started my Bonnie from October through until March this year and that started and ran well after only a few turns

Thanks for the amusing read mate, been there done that, my XJ is the 750 version and it has had a rattly clutch since I got it, rebuilt it twice now and it still makes horrible noises and has yet to actually break or let me down, if I were you I would just ride it and forget about the rattle/rumble as even if you fiddle with it for a month it will still rattle. Tried all sorts of fixes and can't for the life of me see what makes the thing actually make the noise, tho I suspect it is the plates in the basket making the thing rumble/rattle but above 15 hundred RPM it quiets down and works fine, it's just the way it is.

is you keep the bike on its side stand (if oil in the engine) you'll be able to take off the clutch side cover without losing the black stuff first check the starter gear isn't loose (mine was) and then take off the clutch basket and check the toothed drive on the back,its held in check with a pin and gets worn which makes a horrible noise. An Austin mini (as opposed to a BMW one) door pin will fit when drilled out and shortened. this is a common "fault" and is about right for a 30k engine keep up the writing, makes great reading

thanks guys... btw bippo, I put the lower kit in standard position ) packed and ready to go

yum yum ! candle wax... stick out yur tongue.

.......Both lights would flicker every now and then with moving the wires and vibrations. you've answered your own problem in your first post! because that is NOT supposed to happen no matter how old your bike is! I had a similar problem on one of my bikes, if I moved the wiring loom the lights would go out, In fact I traced it to moving the steering which would make the lights go out/flicker (ie the wiring loom around the headstock). If you checked the wires with a multimeter without doing anything else it would have "passed".....until you moved the wires/loom! Turned out that moisture had corroded one of the wires resulting in a poor joint, every time you moved the steering the slight movement on the loom stressed the joint. I peeled back the insulation found the wires -repaired the offending joint , and have had no trouble since. Yours might not be down to corrosion, but it points to the wiring being the source of your problem, it might simply be a connector which has come slightly apart and simply needs plugging back in. Remember most problems are caused by simple little things!