chrisw

I wear the Storm Rider http://exo2.co.uk/exo2.html#stormrider (not Storm walker as it doesn't have as much heating elememts more suited to bike riding. It's fantastic ... and keeps me warm when it's snowing and I'm on my R6. getting the above link has made me realise they have finally started to make Heated Biking Gloves ... I'll be buying some of those at the NEC show to replace's my uncomfotable heated Klan gloves.

Quite like the Scorpion Stubby cans for the 03 - 05 range myself. Look smart sound nice.

Doesn't sound so sweet though. Better on tick over than when in motion when it's far too quiet.

You may have checked the oil a week or go but that is meaningless. Has the bike got sufficient oil in now ?

Hi there, Unfortunately I live to far away, most of my riding is done around the Peak District.

front brakes on bikes can be a bugger to bleed because air gets trapped in the master cylinder and keeps pushing new fluid through without actually disappearing itself. Some levers even have a bleed screw on the master cylinder.

I user Wurth Performance Dry Chain lube as it doesn't fling everywhere. As for a product to help your bike through winter; Scottoiler do one which is OK, but the best one is ACF-50. Here's a link to have a read about it. (It's always selling on EBAY if your local bike shop doesn't sell it) http://www.acf-50.co.uk/acrobat/ACF-50%20MOTORBIKES%20.pdf I use ACF-50 on my bike (04 'R6) and it's helpd keep the condition of the bike good as I ride it whatever the weather ... even snow.

considering the R1 has underseat exhausts you've probably got a fair bit of work to do to make it fit and get the exhausts rights.

600 mile service includes, checking everything is set up ok still after it's first set of miles. Shouldn't cost that much though, less than £50.00

Probably about 20 miles, if you really wannt to know, best way is strap a spare to the rear seat and wait till it runs out. Although personally I'd not get in the habit of running it low and sucking any dregs from the bottom of the tank.

err this added my reply to the wrong post ! Strange ! so I've replaced the text with this.

But Yamaha has a 2 year lifespan on bikes and the '08 R6 although looking similiar to the '06 and '07 R6 acctually has a different Chassis, different engine now has YCC- I (Variable Inlet Tracts) and slightly amended bodywork. The 04 -05 R6 has a stronger engine for the road, but the 06 - 07 R6 handles slightly better. I've got an 04 R6 and took an '07 out for a teast ride a few weeks ago and decided I want my engine in the '07 frame to get the best of both worlds. The '08 should be an awesome bike ... as usual of course :-) See link below for more details. http://www.motorcyclenews.com/MCN/News/new...072008yamahar6/

Get it to a dealer and get them to look at it. Anyone trying to answer why it won't start is just stabbing in the dark, although there are some obvious thngs you can check to begin with. 1) Is there a strong spark at the plugs. 2) Has the bike been stood with petrol in the carbs, if so then you may need to strip and clean them.

Pretty sure that the Exup valve won't be a problem as it's just the end your replacing. Not sure i like the Laser one though, I did at first but then the more i looked at it I thought it was to shiny for the bike. I do like the Akroprovik one which for less than £150 is good value .. see link below http://www.cmcbikes.com/shop/product_info....products_id=376

Might be that the sprocket is hooking up the chain and it's snagging off every now and again. Swap the sprockets (best to do both and if you can afford to do the chain it's best to do that as well. Then you'll know for sure. A quick test and not a solution to ride around on would be to flip the front sprocket round so the good side of the tooth is pulling the chain. Don't leave it like this for long through.

A compression test will help, maybe the head gasket could have gone. are you losing any coolant .. even if very slowly ?

Could be that there's load's of crud all around the linkages. I've had a similiar problem with my R6. After dis-assembling/cleaning/regreasing the linkages all has been fine for quite a while.

White smoke would tend to indicate water, but how much smoke is coming out ? Is it thick smoke or just a slight trail of it. It is possible that being stood for a long time there could be a build up of condensation withing the engine. I would recommend giving it an oil/filter change and checking the spark plugs as an absolute minimum. Then give it a good ride to make sure the engine warms up for quite a while a couple of few hours at least to make sure condensation is evaporated away.

Flex in the frame is a good thing and to have a very stiff frame and swingarm would make a bike handle crap. The flex has to be controlled though, and therefore carefully engineered into the design. A good example of this is Racers (pedal bikes), I know a group of lads who went out into the Pyrennees on them and 3 of them had Carbon fibre frames, which were very stiff, going down hills none of the carbon bikes would turn the corners which caught them out to begin with until they learnt how much slower they had to go to get round them compared to the lightweight steel frames. Yamaha have been doing some R&D on forms that have built in sideways suspension as when your leaning into a corner, the normal telescopic action doesn't pick up small bumps and the whole bike lifts instead. Personally though, I'm worried about some of your comments as you seem very focussed on top speed and as a newbie rider you could land yourself in a whole heap of shit. An SV650 is a bit dull to ride compared to the R6 and R1, it's a whole different category. If you were experianced I'd maybe say the R1 as you don't think your going to get much chance to get in the twisties, so my choice would be the R6 for you, it's still plenty fast enough but will be more forgiving and easier to control. Whatever you decide, just take it steady to begin with, now you've passed your test you've got to learn to ride which is different, you need to learn the bike and what it's saying to you, none of us experienced riders can stress just how important it is to be able to read what the bike is wanting to tell you, whether it be under heavy braking or fast cornering. Don't go being daft and end up another statistic.

Start it up and ride straight away, after after a minute close the choke off, then just ride for 5 mins or so, to allow the oil and tyres get some temperature in them.

You can thrash a bike from new, many people do. These days with such high tolerances that manufactures can meet bikes don't really need running in like the days of old. All that really happens is that a new bike trashed from new will be a little noisyer but will be quicker. A bike treated with kids gloves won't quite be as fast but will do quiter. But I'm putting a disclaimer on that as nothing in life is guarenteed. First service should only cost around £45

That looks ugly and bulky as hell. On an origianl carb'ed R6 Yes i can see the point of a steering damper, on a later carbed R6 then maybe, but on an 03 R6 (assuming it's the injection model) then I see no point what so ever all you'll do is empty your wallet on something that will neither benefit you nor improve the bikes looks. Do you think you need a steering damper at the moment ? If so why ?

Common fault with the cat, and is part of the diagnostics system. What it's saying is that there is a problem with the fuel sender. Usually it doesn't need replacing but can be fixed by soldering on the wire that breaks loose. You will need to have an emptish tank, take you tank off and tip it upside down on to some soft non scrath padding and then remove the sensor the broken wire is hidden away inside the tank.

If the fork stanctions are the same diameter (I think they were but had the yoke offset changed) then you won't actually need to change the yokes, just the fork legs themselves. (providing that the clamping area on the forks is ok). Make sure that you check the unladen height before you go makeing changes so you can make sure you stick with that, to much difference and the handling will be crap. (to slow or too twitchy)

Susspensio set up is very much a personal preference and will depend on your riding style and the kind of roads you ride on. I've been out on an 07 R6 with Standard set up and it was spot on handling and i weigh 14 1/2 stone. I'm not saying a bit of tweeking wouldn't have improved things but for the road it would have been very marginal.