NEV

Electric eels is the future, am tellin ya, saw a program on them other night, by christ they give off some volts

Theres a number of factors that could be at fault here Alan, but I'll start with two, you say you changed the rollers, but did you change the rollers weights to suit the sports exhaust? did you buy the sports exhaust or was it on when you bought it? I ask as usually, new aftermarket sports exhausts generally come with a set of rollers to suit that particular set up. Another thing to check is the main jet in the carb, you say it drinks petrol, it could be down to the wrong size jet, you'll need to get a workshop manual, and find out the original size, and as a rule of thumb, you go up in sizes of 2, i.e if the original main jet is say 80 then you should be fitting an 82 or 84, then you do what is called a plug chop,this is when you run the bike for say 5 mins, then take out and check the plug's colour, (black means too rich ,white means too lean,) Another thing you need to be carefull with when it comes to fitting power/sports exhausts, is that they are put on to aid performance and do add a couple of Horse Power, and this is construed as modifying the bike, something your sons insurance company would check on, in the event of a claim, so be carefull there, although if you want to gain a tad more out of the bike there is a large washer at the back of the variator, that you can "forget" to put back on, the next time you take the variator off to change rollers.Hope this helps.

Don't get me wrong, its just that I can see the potential for giving even more to it's charity, I used to make the steelwork and build those big building, so I know roughly the cost of them, I dare say the head office, for the RSPB, is bigger still, it's just a shame that I see the head office of the NSPCC, is a damn site smaller in comparison, now theres a charity closer to home.

Yamaha XJ550H

Cheers OG, tell ya what, I never knew that, ta, hopefully I can get some on fleabay.

Afraid Norwich Union is no more DT mate, well that's what she told me today, apparently it's now Aviva, who I'm insured with. And Yes yamahait, it is a bleedin rip off when they charge so much for pressing a button, I had to pay £50 odd quid, over the phone today, just to say yes, I wanted to carry on with them as insurers,and carry on with direct debit, for which there is a charge for btw.

Phil, Took a different tack with the loom yesterday, seeing as how it was so caked with oil, and roadcrap, I thought I would give it a good soaking in a parafin bath, mainly because half the wires wire so covered in stuff you couldn't tell what colour they were, so after soaking for an hour or so and giving it a good scrubbing, stripped all the black wrapping tape off it, and cable tied it as I went, so as to keep it's shape, found out that the wiring is in pretty good nick, the terminals and block connectors have definately got to be changed mind, they're well beyond saving, another thing I found, was that where the same coloured wires are connected via a single bare crimp, (two, or three wires to one wire etc)they were just wrapped with insulation tape, obviously done before shrink tubing, but again all bare wires looked like new, so have ordered some crimps, shrink tubing,and terminals, and a couple of rolls of black insulation tape,and an afternoon on it should have it looking like new, glad it's come out like this, instead of making up my own loom, as they tell me I'm colour blind on reds and greens, that would've been fun ey? I'll put some pics up on my profile, seeing as I'm hijacking your thread, enough here Oh btw, the swingarm bearings have been soaked in coca-cola, for the last couple of days now, so tomorrow I'm gunna have a go at those. Nev.

Aye to be fair Ormer, it's understandable they'll say it's uninsured if they've been told it will be garaged, overnight,even though it's wrong, I mean, who hasn't forgotten to put their bike away, or thought sod it,if it's raining cats and dogs, and you don't want to get a soaking, what sticks in my craw, is the fact that if it's say 3p.m, in the afternoon, and the bike is outside the house, or on your driveway, and some scrote decides he fancies having it away,you would,nt be insured then.

Renewed my insurance on my bike today, and as the girl on the other end was touting the usual twaddle, she mentioned that I had put down that I garaged my bike overnight , as I was hoping that would bring down the policy a tad, but oh no, it's not as straightforward as that, by garaging the bike, the company means literally putting the bike into the garage every time you come home from a ride out, as opposed to parking it out on the road or even up your driveway,during the daytime, after umming and ahhing with her, she quoted me an extra 25 quid on top of the policy, so that it is covered whilst parked at my house, either up the driveway, or out on the front. The £2 extra a month isn't such a big deal, and does give piece of mind, and knowing how insurance companies can wriggle out of paying out claims due to the "small print" hoped that this doesnn't catch anybody else out.

Have you got any more info or links on the 'Great Dorset' Foamy? as the only stuff I can get up is an annual cycle ride that happens on 5th June. Probably a bit far for you ? but we have the Bmad bike night at Paignton every Wednesday night, would be good mind if a few locals in here, who use the forum, possibly meet up and have a rideout to it,maybe a couple of shandies afterwards somewhere, I would sort something out if enough people fancied it? http://www.bmad.co.uk/bikenights.html

Oxfam Head Office 'Nuff said

Yup, it may be a replacement new exhaust on an older bike.

Right mate where were we ah yes, I'm presuming here you have a new bike? as in age not you have recently gotten? K your exhaust will be new and devoid of the usual carbon build up,any new paint,or oils that are on it can smell of heat for a while, so no problems there it's pretty much normal, as for the ticking noise, again that's normal, it's just the exhaust getting hot, and the metal expanding whilst riding it, and when you stop, the exhaust gets colder, therefore the metal is contracting. The bit where you have the bike locking up, whilst pushing it? Never heard of that before, ever. The back wheel is driven by a belt to the clutch from the Variator, which is driven by the crank, and seeing as the Variator works on centrifrugal force, you'd have to be pushing it at a rate of knots to drive the belt, which in turn drives the clutch,(that's why you can't bump start automatic scooters btw))so that one I can't help you with sorry, but if it happens on a regular basis seek professional help with it, as it doesn't sound right. The squeaking at the rear when you press the rear brake? sounds like it just needs a little copper grease where the springs go across the shoes, or around the pin that holds them together, be very careful if you are going to attempt to do this yourself, not to get copper grease anywhere near the actual brake shoe lining, as this will affect your braking big time. the bit with the stiff front brake lever, I've already said thats normal give it sometime for the pads to bed in and it will get easier. Hope this helps? safe riding.

Reckon I can help you with a couple of your problems Zaidar, but it's getting late here mate, so I'll come back to it in the morning, what I will say is, under no circumstances do you bleed off any oil/ brake fluid,there is a min and a max level on the reservoir for a reason,and also its meant to be pretty stiff mate, and as your brakepads wear down, there will be made more room in the reservoir,and will slightly loosen off. Right then I'm off up the apples, maybe Kishan will be along later and help you a bit more, I think he has the same scooter, but until then, maybe go onto the new members area, introduce yourself a bit more where from, pics of bike etc

Aye, I reckon you'll be very popular with the missus, dragging her,and the kids, around all the autojumbles over there, they can be massive,have been to a couple in upstate NY, and if you can sift through all the HD stuff, you'll deffinately bag some bargains A fair few bikers go to the drag racing they do over there in Florida too, maybe another source for parts? Update on the wiring loom btw, the bloke rang me back earlier and is quoting £140, I might as well go Yamaha at that price, infact am thinking of looking at making my own, by getting some 4ftx4ft hardboard, nails, string, felt tips,et al(think london underground map) and coming up with some sort of jig, I still have the old one, for reference, even if it is a bit manky, I reckon on about £70 quid should be somewhere near,by doing it mesen. Couple of the needle bearings have popped out on the swing arm today, so I've decided to get them replaced, sods law means they're stuck fast, and the powdercoating dictates no heat, so I've filled two sandwich bags up with coca-cola to cable tied onto the swingarm, will be giving them a couple of days soak,I'll let you know how this goes, it's worked for me in the past All the best Nev

Rev While taking on board what Neversaydie suggests,and as a rule of thumb yes you do grease bolts screws as to make it easier for extraction next time out, theres also certain bolts/screws you actually need to do the opposite to, as in make them stay in,i.e. Disk/rotor bolts, and sprocket bolts,these need a dab of "Loctite blue", on the thread, along with some others, a decent workshop manual shouldl tell you whether or not to grease, or loctite. Hope this helps Nev

Found this in some notes I made for my lads scooters, they're for Peugeot Speedfights, but you'll get the drift. COMPRESSION TESTING: Step one ... remove the spark plug .. connect the gauge to the plug hole ... some screw in ... other have a rubber 'bung' that you hold by hand ... A 'true' reading is testing when the engine is warm (metal expands with heat) .. Holding the throttle wide open ... spin the engine over untill the pointer on the guage will not move any further ... Write the figure down ... Press the button on the gauge to release the pressure (resets the 'clock' to zero).. Then repeat the process a couple of more times to get an 'average ' reading ... Step two ..put a small amount of oil down the sparky hole ... Repeat the ... Hold the throttle wide open ... spin the engine over until the pointer on the gauge will not move any further etc:- three times Noting each of the pressure readings ... If the pressure is quite a bit higher ... the oil may be 'compensating' for a worn bore / piston/ rings )and on a four stroke ...valves not seating right) ... Crankcase compression on a two stoke is a lot more difficult to measure .. this does not actually measure the compression ... but the crankcase .. seals ..piston ...gaskets etc:-ability to maintain it ... A long winded task .. as the inlet/exhaust manifolds have to be 100% sealed ... Like .... if you know your (true) compression ratio ... multiply it by 14.7 (one bar) and that will give you a guide to the PSI (or bar) .. that an engine with a good piston / rings / bore / seals / gaskets should show on the guage ... EG:- Compression ratio = 10-1 .... 10 x 14.7 = 147 psi .. (10bars) SPEEDFIGHT 50 COMPRESSION = 6.6:1 =6.6 X 14.7 = 97.2 SPEEDFIGHT 100 COMPRESSION = 11:1 =11.0 X 14.7 = 161.7 Hope this helps Nev

One

The sort of thing you can show your kids/grandkids, when they ask the awkward question of where babies come from, well it's a damn site nearer the truth than the stork, or a cabbage patch And I'm sure there was a similar thing to this on Phoenix nights. Good to see it was a good day had for all at Lincoln!

Aye Jernej, sprocket and chain sets can be bought pretty cheaply on the internet, and it is reccomended you replace both front and rear sprockets, plus new chain. With a decent manual beside you,for reference, it would probably take you a couple of hours, ball park, to do, but if you don't have the confidence, which is understandable, then take them to your nearest bike garage/ mechanic, they'll more than likely do the job within an hour.

Nah, bugger all, mind you weathers been pretty sh*tty down here too. Good to hear you've got the V5 sorted for the other frame, I really need to get my arse in gear and start on sorting the V62 so I can get a V5 for the XT, it's a must, that I keep that original frame, from what I understand the XT was first started in 82, which mine is, and the frame is number 007, so presumably mine must be the seventh off the production line. Aye and ditto what OG said on getting a rebore on your barrel, Mitaka piston, and use a genuine Yam head gasket, I hear pattern stuff just isn't up to the mark. All the breast Nev

Book for 125 says 6Nm, 0.6m-kg, 4.3 ft-lb, presuming same for yours Phil

Aye, I've family live in Drumnadrochit, well I say family, we share the same great, great grandfather

Hi and welcome,Carl

Well you know me mate, am a big believer in an electric drill, and a wire wheel or cup attatchment, takes paint/enamels off no probs, not sure about powdercoating mind, but maybe give it a go on a place not so visible, bit less time consuming than a razor blade too hope this helps.