ReBorne

You could try dropping in to customfighters.com, I remember seeing a thread in there about forks - like, a big list of bikes listed by fork size. Might be an easy way to locate a yoke that'll fit that way.

I remember reading in Performance Bikes ooooh, about 8-10 years ago about a group that would 'leave' a bike in a prominent place at night then park close by in a transit.... when a scroat would try to nick the bike they'd dive out all masked up, take him in the van and advise him nicely on how he really should change his ways. Doesn't sound so bad an idea to me.

oh, I sympathise. Seriously, I do. Quite a few years back I gave my beloved Mini to a friend and was doing some welding underneath... sliding out the welding rod hit the underside about 4" from my face. Woke up the next morning and even the light coming through the blinds was too bright to let me open my eyes. A week before the patches came off and I could see again. Not fun. Do I learn? Not completely. Years later, cutting the roof off another Mini with a grinder without goggles. Yup, bits in the eye - trip to hospital to have eye flushed and the bits picked out with a needle. A few months later, sitting at work I blink and feel a scratch... another trip to hospital, sent straight to a specialist. Have the wonderful news that a bit had been left in and the thin skin/membrane of my eye had grown over it. Head clamped into a medieval torture device and a (very cute female) doctor took what was suspiciously like a hobby drill with a flat bit to break through and 'flick' it out. Kept telling me to look forward when she was sitting there in a very nice tight jumper and impressive breasts. :-S Still, I always wear goggles now. Mostly :-S

I have to admit I do stroke mine and say things like "Come on, girl....." But I always have with cars or bikes.... doesn't feel right treating it like a lump of metal when you spend blood,sweat.... and yes, sometimes tears on them. (The wind gets in my eyes, ok?) oh, and I admit I'm weird. I said 'Thank You' to a vending machine not long ago :-0

ah, didn't take long for it to degenerate. lol

Welcomes!!!!! Am I the only sad-sack here wondering how you got a nickname like Cardboard?!? :-D

I've been a good boy and done a quick search to see if I'd missed a thread on this and from my quick glance it would appear not :-) ok, I've had a few cars over the years and they've all had names. Mitzy, Betsy, The Bitch etc etc. But despite having the bike for a while it has remained simply 'The Bike'. Until recently, when I called her Ebony - due to the fact she's gonna eventually be gloss and matt black. So, What do you call yours? Or am I just one of those crazies? :-D

I could never give up on my little baby *wipes tear*

Ok, so I'm only recently back on 2 wheels, but over the last week had the pleasure(?) of three vehicles - a 125 scooter (taking home for a friend) which got laughed at by bikers but nods from another scooter (understandable), a BMW Tourer which got ignored by everyone and my own dear FZ400 which has got nods EVERY time over the last few days. 'Course I always recipric.... recipra... reciprie... nod back. And when I nod, I seem to get plenty back too...... I put it down to being on something a bit different :-)

My FZ400 import. On the road after..... well, too long being in the garage :-D

Ah, Drewpy, cornflake packet gaskets..... damn, that brings back memories. Used to do the same myself, but I was posh and had Frosties :-p

I find the prices to be extortionate so avoid garages coz I'm tight. lol. When I was at school I was 'geek' who was a little bit of a petrolhead. So, at 16 I bought a brand new moped which was promptly stolen, smashed up and dumped in a river. £300 excess compared to £310 to replace the parts meant I decided to keep my no claims bonus, buy a Haynes and learn fast. Since then the only jobs garages have done on my cars or bikes have been where it's too big and needs equipment I don't have (car suspension) or where I've tried before and knackered something (bike suspension oil seals). Even then, it's never main dealers, it's my local (overworked) bike shop, who I really can't fault and though he takes the p!$$ outta my bike in a good-natured way, I really do trust - to me the most important bit. In short, get the manual, learn. Get friends involved in little bits and some of them will start getting the bug too. Before long you'll have some great stories to tell your grandkids :-) (yes, the day the back wheel fell off the Mini..... ah, now that was funny......true story). :-D

I *SO* know where you're coming from :-| Ok, with me it wasn't bikes, but I used to have the same problem with Mini's - being the only driver in the house at one point I had 3 on the drive plus a runaround :-s Thankfully I haven't started with bikes, but have a friend with 5 if she counts lol. :-)

Hi OldGit - I don't think the tap has on off. Truth be told, I don't know 100% what the tap positions are. Yamaha in their infinite wisdom put this information on the side panel next to the tap. Which has had a respray :-S. I'm pretty sure I know reserve which is what it is on at the moment, and ON is the opposite (or so I believe). Don't know what the centre one is yet :-S Brian, thanks for that one - but I've ruled out anything getting into the fuel system now in any way shape or form. Stripping down the carbs and using red-ex in my airbrush to get into EVERY tiny cranny, and the compressor blasting air through all the pipes etc. Good news overall though. She passed her MOT yesterday and I get tax today, so she's road legal. Bringing her home, of course, she cut out - less than a km from there. Pushed her home and put the battery on charge - flattened it trying to start her. I took her around the streets a little last night, let her run, took her around again, let her run, and again, let her run.....and run... and run. She overheated kicking water out of the reserve water tank at the side. Ok, so most people wouldn't be happy at their bike overheating, but I was well chuffed. It means she ran LONG ENOUGH to overheat!!! lol. So, it's now showing itself to be an intermittent problem. The 3km twice was probably co-incidence. That, to me, rules out lots of things - but means that something quite random is happening. One thing I've noticed in the past is the amount of excessive wiring underneath the tank. I'm gonna bag that all off and tie it up out of the way. (Never done it before now as I've been going under there so much). I've ruled out fuel, mechanical and ignition so there isn't much left. (And thinking on, I DID move them out of the way a little to get at the breather pipe underneath the tank before she did the long run). Thanks to everyone so far for the suggestions. God, I hope this sorts out soon. I just wanna get out on her now - well, for a couple of months till I strip her down and make her look good ;-)

Thanks again for the response guys. Coils? Checked. Still gets a spark ok on all 4. Battery? Checked. Along with wiring for loose connections and possible chafing. Fuel tank seems to be letting fuel through in general whenever I check it - including when I had the tank off and to one side (but still attached at the fuel lines) when I was setting her idle speed. But it's hard to check when both fuel pipes are on, hence my thinking it may be the vacuum tap. Whenever I disconnect the fuel line a splash of fuel comes out. oh, and I've flushed the tank out completely already. There was crap in there from her standing which us what she was pulling through to make the carbs so messy before I cleaned them. Tonight I took the tap off the tank and opened it up - didn't look too brilliant inside to be frank - rubbers a little worse for wear. I'm bypassing the vacuum part of it simply by taking the spring out from behind the valve thingy and moving it in front - so instead of it holding the valve closed it holds it open to eliminate that as an option. (After reading some of the work other people have done to get the same effect I'm quite surprised no-one mentioned doing it this way. The spring fits in the other side nicely.) I realise I'll have to remember to turn the tap off when she's standing, but small price to pay. Now the fuel has a straight run through when the tap is open. Will be re-fitting tomorrow or Thursday morning. As the bike is currently sitting at a friends about 2/3 of the way to the bike shop, it should at least get it's MOT. Fingers Crossed this works :-S