Gas up - Let's Go!

Never got away with the 'busa, alway though Suzuki has left a gixer in the sun for too long and melted the fairing!! Someone said fast ....... My instructor has one, can't pull away from the lights/junctions etc anything like the XT can, so fast must mean top speed eh ?? The XJR is pretty 'kin fast - though you need gorilla grip to keep hold of the bars anything into 3 figures I always think of fast as being nippy, so it's more sub 50mph speeds, in which case I guess the LC4 powered Duke (KTM) in supermoto attire is probably unbeatable!! Sorry, back on topic. Yes Yamaha don't really have a bike that squares up to the 'busa - but then why would you want to? it's as sexy as John Prescott in a tight PVC basque yelling "come take me big boy" (for the non-UK readers, John Prescott -> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Prescott )

It's all Little Dave's fault - he leads me astray.......

Sorry - that wasn't very helpfull at all. Off course you're going to use round ones

I'd go for circluar ones, those multi-facet things might be all the rage, but rounds ones still get my vote.

You don't need off-road tyres on it! This bike had full on propper road rubber, and it got to the end of the Byway (5.5 miles or so) It was pretty rough too

Mr Ttaskmaster might have some opinion on this, possibly Goff ?? There are a few folk with these sort of bikes who can give you some real advice, rather than the gusssing game I'd have to play. As a comparison, my missis had a XL125 Varadero (V-Twin), and I could get that just above 75, but the bike only had 1500 miles on it, so the engine was hardly broken in.

MT-03 The XT is a great bike, but I've never been a fan of Super Moto's - don't seam right to me, the XT is far better in it's R or Z form. They do go round corners chuffing quick though!

I knew you southern guys spoke funny, but I just can't place the accent.......

I don't recall suggesting a blow torch

This looks like a good place to add my own little rant, Sunday, lovely day so me and the missus took the XJR out to the coast (we've got a 'holiday home' (aka Caravan)). Now my missus isn't in any way a speed freak, she preffers to tootle along at or below the National Speed Limit, she has no interest in tight lean corners - she just enjoys the journey, and I have to say (blowing my own trumpet) my smooth, predictable & safe riding style suits her. So, tootling along a reasonable busy A road, with lots of grouped oncoming traffic, defending my own road space, nice 2 second gap between me and the car in front, well possitioned to the right of the lane, just left of the centre line, good view of the road ahead (and the oncoming traffic), when a knob on a sportsbike came roaring up (spliting traffic that was already steady at around 55-60), then with no-where to go tried to force me to pull over, then three, yes THREE of his brainless mates were there in my safety space, and I could feel the missus tighten up. Now (and I don't often say this) thanks to the guy behind who had seen these knobs, he created some space for them to go into so we all lived. After the knobs had done what knobs do (waited until a suitable gap appeared - like who are you kidding!) they set off again splitting traffic to the flashing oncoming headlights. If I had been on my own, I think I'd have behaved very differently, more that probably I'd have been there at the lights when they stopped and corrected the attitude of one or two of them. So, with jism type brains housed in human bodies, dressed in shiny (rarely worn) leather, riding powerfull bikes that (in my opinion) only ever see the road when the sun shines (and the probably drive BMUU/Merc/Jags when it doesn't) its hardly suprising that real bikers (the sort that would rather get on a bike than in a car - weather not whithstanding) get Pricks in cars taking the p!$$ - I don't think it's anything personal, they just associate us with the Sunny Sunday knobs that's all. Later the same day I went (on my own this time) for a tootle up to Hartside, Jeasus I've never seen so many brightly coloured knobs in one place. I lost count of the full lean, right hand corner, wheels on the centre line diots, even with pillions on!!! I stopped near the cafe and had a quick chat with the Motorcycle Officer (they are bikers too remember) and commented on the risks that many were taking - he said something to me that kinda summed it up, 'well when they die it's one less idiot on the road - I just feel sorry for the wife and kids they've left behind' I just don't get it, why do people take stupid risks when they get thier leg over a bike ? I would put money on the fact these same people would go nuts if someone put thier little girl in some danger by driving too close, too fast or driving under the influence.

Twas all black and white when my dad was young, glad they invented colour, life is so much brighter with colour. I imagine when I'm old they'll invent smell and hot'n cold too......

Me too, junior school of hard knocks, dragged through comprehensive, then university of life, graduated with honours.......... Just looks like a brass box to me, I've a one downstairs but it plays 'how much is that doggy in the window' pours whiskey from it's spout and looks like a lopp eared rabbit! (so nothing like really, other than it plays a tune). Can you realy see the devil just by working out how it works ? Give it here, I'l break it, sorry take it apart in no-time

involuntary diaphragm spasms.

Yep, heat. and if you're left with a load of gum on the wheel, Maplin do a product called "Label Remover" gets rid of the residue from most self adhesive stuff

Yip. I was followed by Mr Plod (not the traffic guys - who can actually drive) last night, he then passed me on the inside at some lights, so I now followed him, for about a mile, He crossed asolid white line whilst taking a corner, He exceeded the speed limit He failed to stop at a stop line, instead he treated it as a Give Way sign, The stopped outside the chipshop. I couldn't resist, so in I went and pointed out his 'errors' took down his number and thismornign I've reported him to the Cheif Constable! Without going into detail, the reason I was so narked at him was the fact he was driving in MY safety space, if I had had to take action he would have hit me - this is the basis of my complaint. Oh, and at no time was he driving under the protection of blues and two's........ Last week I witnessed a WPC try to put her Police van into a gap in the middle of the road, her oncoming vehicle was a 40ton trunk! and she forced it to stop. Cars on both sides so no-one had right of way, although she was going up hill there is no legal right of way for her, the Highway code does say you should give way to up-hill drivers "if possible" It's not just Proffessional Drivers (those that do it for a living) , it's those you would expect to be proffessional and set an example too. This is the trouble, people just don't take driving serioulsy enough, so if they won't then the establishment must. It's not a right to drive/ride.

Have you knocked the connector? are the wires still attached ? I don't know these bikes at all, but that's where I'd start - the temp sender is usually located in the rad somewhere.

From the perspective of someone who maybe rides with the right aptitude, consideration and attitude this would appear to be a bit harsh, but,,,, You see thread time after time about people not looking, taking the wrong lines, dieing! so from this perspective It's a bloody brilliant idea! The only flaw is it appears to be classroom/CBT (Computer Based Training) and doesn't appear to have a pass/fail test or assesment at the end. So the idiots with the wrong attitude, aptitude and consideration will go and do thier 'time' come out and carry on regardless. Even for busses/trunks it's a waste of time unless there is a some way of geting those who fail to reach the required standard off the roads. Personally, I think a re-test to renew your licence is a bloody great idea (so that's every 10 years), Not for every catagory, but the highest catagory you have maybe ?? Anything that helps to get the tw@s off the road is a good thing I say. Off course, it's always the folk that claim they don't need training that really do need it! (those who do take on extra training off course already know that the don't know everyhting)

We have the worlds best trained Suicide Sheep here in the Lakes, can take you out from behind a mountain if they so wish....

Oh christ, now I'm being compared to a bloody developer - time to buy another map.....

Thank god for that, the riding lines are dubious, observation is poor (or he would have seen the sheep on the side of the road and decreased his speed) and why he headed for the closing gap, rather than the increasing gap is anyones guess!

Nope. Everything is in the box, RAM mount, Car mount, PC mapping software, USB connectivity, Protective case - the lot (if you buy the right box), more expensive yes, but you get's what you pays for. Also has Stereo music, full Phone compatibility (text and audio), address book (if that's your thing) full phone intergration with POI, Track Logs, uploadable TOPO maps, and is the only vehicle aware SatNav on the market.... Specifcally for Motorcycles; fuel gauge (that will remind you when you are empty and then guide you to the filling station) That's true, the TT has a much more user friendly GUI, The mounts are bullet proof ! I've one on the dirt bike, one of the Tenere and one on the XJR. The problem is that people don't read the instructions and over torque the four bolts - if you over tighten anything it will break! It also comes with a snatch proof mount, basically it has a small security screw that fastens the top down. I've covered over 30,000 miles with mine over some of the worst roads & tracks the Europe can throw at you, and I've still got the same one (OK I did destroy the GPS it when I deleted the USB driver & boot file, but Garmin replaced it FOC) You said you "get everything"......... Anyway, What do you want a SatNav for ?? Honestly ?? Why ?? if you want to find your way to Liverpool, then buy one of those cheap ones, stick it in an AquaBox and away you got (or a Givi Satnav bag) If you want to explore and find new places, buy a map If you want to ride into far far far away places, where there are no roads or maps then you need a Garmin To be honest for most people, the TT Rider2 is fine, in fact it's pretty good. Asking a question like "which one is best " is kinda like saying which car is the best - if you are going to cross the Sahara in it then you don't want to be looking at a Smart Car, or if you want to cross London at 14:00hrs on a Friday then a Dakar Prepaired Raider isn't ideal Ask yourself what you want to use it for, some people I know just use thier phone....... (with the GPS stuff on it of course). Me, I need something that I can use on and off road, it needs to be a compass as well as a road-going GPS route finder, I need to create custome routes and waypoints and the celstial information is important too (like what time the sun sets/moon rises etc - when you need an hour to setup camp, you need to know when you're running out of light!) so I chave the Zumo550. I travel lots and it's a great piece of kit and when you get used to it's GUI you can make on-the-fly changes to your route as you go, with the thickest of winter gloves. The TT Rider is more popular with sports/street bikes, the Garmins are more popular with Adventure and Dual Sports riders, it's horses for courses, you don't by a Firebalde to go off-roading in. If you've never had a GPS before then you're probably best starting with something cheap and sticking it in a Givi GPS bag. I'll be suprised if you get many people on here supporting the Garmins, if you go to HU or ADVRider etc then you'll see a different response, from people with different needs.

Dolittle

I love that phrase "totally water resistant"

It's a bizzare feeling, but as you turn, rather than keeping a contstant pressure on the rear brake, sort of 'tap' it or dab it - the bike will lurch a bit (do it on a nice open space first till you get your head around the strange feeling) and feel unstable. in your DAS you were probably told to look at a fixed point somewhere over your shoulder? try looking mor in the 2-3 O'Clock area and moving you focus around every time you dab the breaks. How are you left U-turns ?? some people find them much easier. Take the bike to a carpark on a quite Sunday morning and just keep going round in circles for an hour or so, or figure of 8 as this works on both sides. When you think about it, as you turn left, you do it nice and tight don't you? right turns are normally a wider turn - it's all in the mind.... It's called a Pivot Turn, we use it off-road at time when there just isn't room to turn, you can either spin the rear and point the front in the direction of the turn, or (if you have rear end grip) lift the front and let the bike fall down in the direction you want to go. Either way these are very fast turns !!! Wouldn't advise it on the Queens highway though, depending on which version of Mr Plod you get you'll get some unwanted attention..

Oh no, here's the 'which one is best' debate again. TomTom Rider - great if you ride on roads, detour routing is great, interface is very user friendly - mounting is crap ( I saw two self destruct last weekend). a firm favourite with road tourists. If you want something that is rugged enough to take a beating, can use TOPO mapping, off-road ability (as well as on) full celestial information, waypoint mapping, track logs then it has to be a Garmin (you choose the product - there's a few). If by chance it goes wrong they normally have a new unit to you as soon as you send in the faulty one (48 hours ish). These are the GPS of choice for serious motorcycle traveller Anyway that's not the purpose of the post. As pretty much everyone else you need to build yourself an auxilary circuit, from this you can run a 12v car type power socket, although I find the 16a sockets much more reliable and they are smaller, only problem is you'll need to break that out to a 12v car type multisocket thingy to power such things as your phone charger, laptop charger, heated clothing, camera charger, cancorder charger or car bias GPS - whatever you choose. You can but these already made up, but they charge for it, somewhere like Touratech (if they have any in stock - they are known for thier inability to deliver on time) http://www.touratech.com/shops/008/product...219ae2553579670 As you can see, very expensive - but lots of BMUU riders buy them! More money than sense ?? Halfrauds or Maplin will suply either the 12v car socket or the 16a socket (forget it's name), maplin are cheaper for the relay, and you can pick up some heat shrink tube while you're at it to make it all a nice neat job. As for the relay, you want a 4 pin (you can pick up 5's but look out as the centre pin goes live after ignition is turned off!)automotive relay, there are lots of places on the web to show you how to wire it. in short terms though; Bring two cables from your battery (+ & -), one from an igntion source live - a feed from the break light switch is as god as any) your final cable is the live cable for you Aux circuit. (your earth is the same as the -ve from the battery) I can't remeber the pin numbers off the top of my head but follow the diagram printed on the relay and you'll be fine OG posted a daigram on this some time ago - try a search through the forum.