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Hi Your stem looks stuffed, hard luck. PM sent Aj

Hi I use 2 piece leathers or a 2 piece textile suit when I am going any distance at any serious speeds, however when it is bloody hot I wear some bike jeans for the shorter journeys, I always use bike boots gloves and a good helmet. But I do believe that the most accidents happen on roads close to home when you might be thinking of the beer in the fridge.

Hi Other than the frame/engine no. I think the CT3 exhaust runs along the left (oops I meant right) side of the bike and the DT has an exhaust that crosses over the top of the cylinder head

Hi Yes its LH thread, try yam bits they are cheap enough, most yam shops will sell them, got mine for less than a tenner, from my local dealer, say hello in the new members bit more people will respond if you do

When I set the points on my DT I always lock the advance as per the manual, I have found that this way I seem to get the the engine to run better possibly because I get the gap closer to the ideal setting,

Hi SS If as Airhead asks the carb is constantly over flowing. The float or needle valve could be stuck, You said in your intro the points have been set, My Dt is can be very sensitive to the points gap (Did you lock the advance weight with a match when you set the points?) it is easy to create a short in the magneto particually at the joint where the points connect to the condenser, I even had one set of points that had a worn 'plastic foot' this allowed the points to short against the magneto cam at higher revs, I would also look at replacing the condenser if you havent already, also get a magneto puller it will save you having trouble getting the magneto off, the more info you can supply the more useful the answers will be.

Hi SS My Dt twin shock looks to be the same as yours, with standard gearing it will do just over 60 mph maybe a bit faster with the wind, I have put a sprocket which is 1 tooth larger than standard and it will just about do 70 mph, bearing in mind that the speedo is over 30 yrs old so is probably not true, but I can now keep pace with most of the traffic on a 70 mph dual carrage way, butt I tend to stick around 55 mph.

Hi With the cable connected at the drive end only, if you spin the wheel can you see the inner cable spin at the clock end, If no then with the cable removed completely can you see the internal cable drive spin when the wheel is spun, if no then I would suspect the internal gears in the wheel are not working correctly perhaps a gear has stripped its teeth, only my guess, but I bet you have already tried this anyway

Hi I would get in touch with a parts list , get a part number then scan the net, perhaps Wemoto, Yambits or similar,

Hi I took my final drive off my Divi at about 30.000 miles to paint the swing arm, it came apart without a hitch, however when I re-assembled it I did use a graphite type of grease,

Hi I have done about 60 thousand miles on Yamaha shaft bikes XJ/FJR, as you said all I have done is checked and changed the oil as per the service schedule, on the divi I did take the swing arm off and the final drive off to allow me to paint the swing arm, the shaft drive and final drive gear case came off as a single unit and was easy to refit also the rear wheel was easy to remove and refit. on the whole I am pleased with the 2 shaft driven bikes I have had. Hope you find the same as me. You might want to say hello in the new members bit, people can get a bit tetchy if you don't.

Hi Camm Removing studs often is a right pain, I would probably remove the barrel and attack the stud on the bench, Here are some of the methods of stud removal/ replacement, I have use in the past: Cam type stud extractor (use heat and penetrating oil) Mole grips (use heat and penetrating oil) Drill hole then use easy out (use heat and penetrating oil) Drill successively larger holes in the stud until only the stud thread is left and pick the remains out. Drill the whole stud out and use a helicoil Drill the stud out to take a larger stud then thread the larger stud in to the hole cut flush and drill/tap a new thread to take a new stud of the correct size. There are others who will no doubt have other methods but these have always suited my needs. Good luck AJ

There speaks a law abiding copper or is speeding not breaking the law?

When I was a apprentice mechanic I was told that a garage was only as good as its worst mechanic and My aim should always be to be the best in the workshop and be dammed sure that I was not the worst, So as far as I am concerned the Police/Feds/Scuffers/Coppers or what ever you want to call them are only as good as the worst of them purely because you don’t know how bad the apple will be.

That's the best offer I have had all year, I think Blackhat is correct with the timing, The data I have tells me that the timing for the later 175 models is 17.5 to 19.5 degrees from BTDC depending on the model and the timing for my model of bike is 1.8 mm BTDC, because of this I would use a timing protractor and a dti to ensure that 1,8 mm translated to 18 degrees +/- 1 degree, you are lucky to have two bikes to compare against, once the bike is fired up with the newer ignition set up you will have to monitor the way the engine runs to ensure that it don't get too hot, I have 3 new sets of points/condensers for my twin shock so untill they become unobtainable and or the mag gets trashed and I ain't got the bottle or the dosh to have a go on my bike yet, good luck it would be nice to see your posts on how it all goes if you do give it a go, Drop an email to Redrose they are normally very helpful,

Hi Looking at it from another view, it is a given that if you hit your head without a helmet on it will hurt and cause more injury than with a helmet. But from an insurance payout point of view the ‘Dick Turpin’ insurance world will probably take the opinion that some of the damage to a person without a helmet or safety gear is self inflicted and this will affect any payouts. I use a helmet for the winter and a helmet for the summer, Full or Open face with draggin jeans, padded bike jacket and light gloves for the short summer rides, better and warmer gear for the other rides.

Hi 5 grand budget, I would think that would buy a very trick 125. However I would buy a good condition second hand bike from a reputable place for about a grand, max splash out on the safety gear and water proofs, and be prepared to topple the bike over a few times as you are learning to attack the traffic, I have been riding for over 30 years, last year I did a superman flight over the handle bars on my DT whilst on the Viking way, So experience don’t always make you immune to trip ups, What ever you buy have fun and be safe, well ‘ish’.

Hi C&Y Thats what I would try, you have nothing to loose, If you have the room and you can make the connection at the back of the stater plate having a slightly longer pig tail lead will allow you to wrap the lead once around the coil and re-instate the total amount of windings, but as you have found there ain't much room under the magneto rotor, in the mean time, Red rose retro bikes in the uk tell me that you can transfer the mag rotor/stator and l/h handle bar switch & cdi unit from a single shock MX to a DT twin shock allowing it to ditch the points, if my bike trashes its mag again this is what I might try, so if the fault is on your older bike and a visit to the breakers yard for a coil is needed you could keep your eye out for the makings of an MX ignition set up. Quote from email to me from redrose: ''Hi, the ignition system fitted is from a DT175MX. The generator is direct replacement, but you also need the CDI unit, and either modify the wiring to suit, or fit a full MX loom (If you fit the full loom, you then need to change the ignition switch and left handlebar switch to MX as well). All the other electrical parts are compatable. Cheers, Redrose'' I have never looked in to it any further than this; AJ

Hi Just for a comparison: My DT 175 twin shock is a 76 model with the single plug cylinder head, It has had an engine rebuild in the last 2000 miles and I consider it to be running ok, no misfiring the plug is the running a straw brown and it fires up first or second kick hot or cold and can just about lift the front wheel (only a couple of inches, I am told size is not important) accelerating hard into 2nd gear, it has one tooth more on the front sprocket it will show and indicated 70 mph on the flat, it don’t like it and the revs are very close to the red line but it will do it, normally I ride it around at between 50 to 60 mph, I cannot compare it to a MX model as the last time I rode one of those Pontius was still a pilot,

Hi They are a very good bike, the bike shop gave me a loner whilst my FJR was in for service and I couldnt find fault with it, right propper ride,

Hi Car battery chargers have a high charge output and Car batteries can cope with higher charge rates, If you charge a bike battery with one it can cause the battery to get very warm and this can damage the bike battery, but that is not to say you could not get away with it but I wouldnt try it, I have just brought a trickle charger from wemoto for bike 6/12 volt batteries it came with in 2 days and it only cost £15.52 delivered to my door.

I agree too Random drug testing takes place in all UK armed forces also, Duno about the fed's and the associated cling ons though. hic!!!

Hi C&Y Last time I rode a Skidoo, (if thats what they are still called?) lost my deposit crashed it into a snow bank in Labrador, Have fun

Hi C&Y Personally I would fix both of them, start with the easiest, but along the way keep a look out for parts for both, for me the twin shock is the prettier bike but the MX is the better bike on/off road, I got some new keys cut from blanks via a key cutting shop in our local town, I have seen both models for sale for similar values original bikes in good condition fetch more as is always the case.

I took my wife to a disco the weekend. There was a guy on the dance floor moonwalking, back-flips, the works. My wife turned to me and said, ''See that guy? 25 years ago he proposed to me and I turned him down.'' I said, ''It looks like he's still celebrating''