Norcot

Looks nice, a bit like the triumph street triple 8 ball editition that's out just now. Would look nicer on a Yama

I can third that, a Haynes manual can help tell you what to do, but it's the experience from generous people on the likes if this forum which really reassure me when doing some tasks for the first time

Hey Remelad and welcome to the club I'm afraid I can't help, I'm not a mod or staff for this forum but couple of bits of advice before any gets rubbed up the wrong way. This is probably more suited post for the workshop board which I'm sure you will get plenty of info in return regarding changing the piston rings, I have found everyone is very helpful and friendly on this forum. Second thing which is stickied in the workshop forum is that links to service manuals are not allowed as they are (usually) copyrighted and should not be redistributed. Hope this helps, sorry that it doesn't answer your question though!

Sounds good thanks, we may stop there for a look around. Also i'm preping for the ride. Going over from the UK I hear there are some extra things we have to do in order to ride over there. - Reflective strip stickers on your helmet on each side - Carry 2 disposable breathalysers - Spare Bulb Kit are there any other legal requirements? I heard that they dropped the requirement for motorcyclists to have a high vis on, but do we have to have one packed like the cars need to? Thanks

We have booked our ferry for the 5th sept, arriving in the morning of 6th, we aim to be at the Pyrenees about 8th. So we might pass you on our way back!

Hey everyone, so its been years in the coming but me and a few friends have finally planned a trip across the pond to France. Going to be getting the Ferry across from Plymouth to Roscoff, and then spending 3 days riding down the west coast to Biarrtz, then back up to Roscoff. Anyhow this is where we are looking for some help, we have only planned as much as we are starting at Roscoff and Ending in Biarrtz. Has anyone ridden in this area before and have any must see / must ride places we should aim for? If we have time we would like to ride into the Pyrenees too.

The MOT breaks down into a few major categories, some good to check over: - Lights (All operational, brakes and indicators work from the controls) - Steering (Bars, forks, wheel to be straight, must be able to steer freely with no restriction i.e. from cables, head bearings smooth) - Brakes (Pads in good condition, no binding, rotors with enough material left and not warped, enough fluid in resivoirs) - Drivetrain (Chain is not too slack, wheel bearings in good condition) - Engine (Starts and runs clean, no burning oil etc, exhaust not blowing) - Wheels (aligned and straight, balanced, tyres in good condition with enough tread) The general issues that I have found with my past experience that have failed mine or my friends MOTs: - Tyres Bald / Condition, must have over 1mm tread, no cracks or perishing in the rubber or cuts etc - Brake Pads, make sure there are enough pad left on each pad - Blowing exhausts (check theres not corrosion / holes leading to blowing) - Seized or Binding Brakes, so check your wheels are spinning relatively freely - Chain tension (check they are in reasonable limits) - Bent Bars / Fork (if you dropped your bike make sure your bars are not bent and forks too) Generally I find bike MOTs are easier to pass than Car ones, but that's maybe because I do all my own bike maintenance. To be honest, if you maintain your bike and keep it in good enough nick to trust your life on it then it will probably pass the MOT.. Thats my opinion though. There are comprehensive lists on google on the MOT requirements, i've only listed the major things that I have experienced. Enjoy scotland!

Turns out alpine do attenuating plugs for motorcycles too http://www.amazon.co.uk/Alpine-Moto-Safe-Ear-Plugs/dp/B002ZHIBUC I've compared them with the music ones, exactly the same plugs it looks like. The motosafe yellow ones have same attenuation values as the gold in the musicsafe, and the green same as the silver. The only difference seems that you don't get the white low protection ones. Anyhow will have to get out on the bike to try them! Are the silver / medium protection setting good enough for 70mph motorway riding?

On your recommendation I just bought a set of these, should arrive in the post tomorrow so will try them out and let you all know how I get on. Im currently just using bog standard industrail ear plugs that I get from work, they work well but I wouldnt mind hearing a little more when riding about town. I actually started wearing ear plugs after I was laying in bed hearing a slight whine, tried ear plugs for a couple of weeks and it went away. Wont ride motorway journeys without them now.

So I bit the bullet a couple of weeks ago and splashed out on a tail tidy for my FZ6. I spent weeks debating on an R&G one or a cheaper competitor.. So I found one by Evotech. Anyhow fitting was easy, unfortunately my plate is still a bit big, need to get a narrower one made. But this is how she looks with and without the fender:

Glad that this thread has helped it was something I had never thought of trying until I read about it, long rides are much more comfortable, I find it relaxes me. It's one of those things that you will love or hate. Do they fit under your helmet ok? Do the bits that stick out not get caught against the helmet when you try to put it on? I may give a pair a go.

thanks, I would but i dont want to stick one of the sticky mount on my new lid Just testing out my new chesty mount.

I was riding in wales yesterday with my chest mounted GoPro on, sticking to the speed limit so I was doing 50 to 60mph around the country roads. Came round a corner and crapped my pants when I seen this van crossing into a junction. No one was at fault, but he could have hurried across a little quicker! Anyhow a good lesson as to why speed limits apply in my opinion. Call me lame but I think if I was going over 60mph there would have been a good chance I would have ended up as an imprint of the side of the mini bus! What you cant see in the video is the biker behind me, luckily he didnt plough into the back of me.

I have used the suction cup mount on my fazer and it works very well. I still tether it to something incase it falls off but to date it hasnt even come closer to unsticking. I usually suck it to the fuel tank, you need a reasonably flat and smooth surface for it to work. I personally use a suction cup mount, handlebar clamp mount, chest mount, and some sticky mounts, you can get a load of different angles with that collection. check this one out, I mounted my go pro to the center stand using a handlebar mount: I have plenty of other places where I have put it, will try dig out some examples tonight.

For my first 3 years of riding I never wore ear plugs, didn't like cutting out noise of traffic as I liked to have all my senses working. I then read a study in one of the Bike mags about damage to hearing, some study showed that the vibrations caused from the wind over your helmet at motorway speeds cause a level of noise that can potentially do permanent damage if you are exposed to it regularly. Worst case is you can end up with tinnitus, a permanent wining in your hearing that cause cause sleep deprivation / depression etc. Anyhow got me thinking, my ears do whine after my 30minute motorway commute to work, so I tried plugs. Was very strange at first, but now i find it so much more comfortable riding at speed with plugs in. I still occasionally like to ride without them so I can hear the bike and see if she's sounding right. So.. Do you wear them? Would you be inspired to try them now?

What about the rear brake? As mentioned above, tyres, bearings, brakes, drive train are all the things that cause friction, so pop it on the stand and check them all and you should find the culprit.

As promised I have now had some time with the new levers and though I would post a quick review and some pictures. So many people out there say avoid cheap chinese made items. With the price of these levers I thought I would have to give them a chance.. Well I have now used the levers for a couple of weeks, the lever feel is better than the stock in my opinion, switching to the shorty levers makes quick gear changes effortless, and having fitted EBC pads the short brake lever gives me all the stopping power I need using only 2 fingers, I can keep the others on the bar. I was sceptical at first about the levers at this price but i'm pretty impressed. They fit first time hassle free, took 10 mins to fit, undo a bolt, stick new one in, redo bolt. The adjusters work well too, I found the adjustment allowed me to get the brake lever closer to the bar than the stock one which fells better for me, yet they can be adjusted far out enough from the bar to as far as the stock lever, so the adjustment range is greater. Also the clutch lever features an adjuster too which my stock on did not, allowing me to tweak that lever. The lever feels responsive and reassuring through use, there is a little play in the vertical direction through the lever adjustment mechanism/joint but its not noticeable in use, only when you inspect them compared to the stock ons. Finally I love the look of them, improvement on the stock. Bottom line, the quality seems good, they are cheap, they look good, and work great for the price. As long as they don't decide to break within a year (or half a year!) i'm happy. Heres how they look on the FZ6:

I have the same dilema Steffan so your definitely not alone! I rode my FZ6 yesterday in the rain, came home let it cool down but put the cover on it still wet as the rain wasnt stopping. I've tried different covers over the years, but I found my Oxford Rainex cover works well on the FZ6 as I bought the medium which is very snug, the cover doesnt touch the ground (it comes down to the tyres and a little of the wheel is on show). I guess the gap lets the air circulate in through the cover to help remove moisture, when I come out to the bike after covering it while wet the night before I find its completely dry underneath. Before this I had a larger cover which had no vents, it made my XJ600 rust like a bi**ch, would still be wet the morning after! Personally if its raining and its not going to stop, I let the bike cool a little and stuck the cover on while at least the engine is still relatively dry. On top of this, over winter I use Scottoiler ACF-50 after wet rides / washes (theres nothing like the smell of burning off ACF-50 from your engine block in the morning!).

Decided lately that I wanted some short levers for my FZ6, the stock ones looked a bit dull! But I didnt want to spend £80 per lever on ASV ones so I thought I would try some cheap levers from eBay. My first worry about them were that they may fail in operation, but having checked many many forum reviews and despite all the worry stories, I didnt find a case where cheap levers have failed under normal use.. So I bit the bullet and I bought these, short, black version: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/350648816847 Despite having to wait 4 weeks for them they have finally arrived and I have fitted them onto the bike. First thing I did was inspected the lever build, quality is immaculate for the price! Indeed machined from single piece of Alu. and feel very reassuring / strong and stiff under initial tests. They fit very snug (as good as the originals really) with the only thing being that the reach adjustment mechanism built into the levers lead to a little vertical play in the lever itself, nothing noticeable during operation though. Will be sure to post pictures and a clearer review after some trashing! Anyone else out there use cheap levers?

Nice site foamy, feel free to give me a shout if you need any website assistance, I run a number of sites for people and have a bit of experience. Only suggestion is to fork out a little for a website once things pick up, get yourself a domain name and ad free hosting, doesn't cost much these days, and looks more professional without the banner ad up top.

Totally different bike but I had an XJ600 Diversion that had similar symptoms with the leakage although mine wouldnt havent issues starting. Saying that though, does the breather pipe from the crankcase lead back into your Air Box? If it does have a look in the Air box, on the Divy I found that my air filter was sitting in a pool of this oily/water mix (Which I suppose could make it difficult to start..). I just dismantled the box, gave it a good clean (including the inside of the pipe from the crankcase as it was all gunged up) and changed the filter, then after going for a good ride the performance difference was noticeable, as well as no more oily mess on the street when I park up. Just a suggestion, hope this helps!

I have been in the Bristol area for 4 years now and havent made it along to the Weston Bike nights yet. So tomorrow we have organised a group ride out from Bristol to Weston for the bike night. Any one else thinking of heading along? We are heading along this route from Filton, and down Bristol Portway onto the A370. We will be setting off from Filton at 6pm, probably pass under the Clifton suspension bridge about 6:15. If anyone wants to join us feel free to catch us on route shown in the map. Lookout for an orange KTM supermoto and a FZ6: Google Maps Link Flyer for the event here: http://westonbikenight.rblr.co.uk/photos/2013/docs/WBNFlyer13.jpg

We have all done that before too! I went as far as checking wiring / checking battery / attempting to bump start / checking for fuel.. Then I realised the kill switch..

Hi all, I'm currently in the middle of some cosmetic mods for my fz6, I'm looking at changing the indicators to some nicer looking ones and have come across LED indicators on eBay, are these road legal in the UK? Will they pass an MOT?

I have two incidents that come to mind. My first 600cc bike, the XJ600, on the day I bought it I rode home stopped and parked up next to a mate, thought I had put the kick stand down (but didnt) and went to lean the bike over.. Luckily my friend helped catch it so it didnt hit the ground hard but was embarrassing! Second time (more embarrassing but im sure 90% have done this!) I was in a rush, it was dark, I ran out to the bike, started it up went to ride off.. "CLUNK!" Next thing I know im lying on the road with my bike on its side with full throttle as I gripped the bar.. I left the blooming disc lock on.. Luckily no damage done (only damaged my pride!) as I only went to roll away slowly.