Cynic

Nothing that will drag me out of the 80's. Probably the highpoint of motorcycles and their design. Every manufacturer distinctive with their own methods. Yam were playing with the genesis concept, Kawasaki had the big gpz'z and then the 1000RX (whoops). The speed hungry ZZR Honda had sorted the vf issues with the vfr's and were on the point of ripping up the rulebook with the blade and had a 250 2 stroke (that we never got) the equal of the RGV engine. Suzuki were slowly ruining the GSXR but had the glorious RGV 250. Where is all that energy today, market research and focus groups has turned it into a world of average.

I would go with packaging as the primary, with the silencing requirements and emission control required for engines dictate the size of a modern exhaust more than style, plus i think the temperatures needed for a cat to be efficient (so smaller) would be difficult that far from the engine.

Packaging for one, takes a lot of thought routing pipework that could be a couple of hundred degrees through all the delicate parts of a motorcycle not to mention avoiding the rider. Especially with catalytic converters getting seriously hot. Next one is a performance compromise, do you want to give away some horsepower putting the pipe there rather than the conventional position that needs minimal curves as opposed to the twisting and turning of pipe needed to get up under the tail. Size, the amount of silencing and the cats in exhausts now mean they have to be big, you don't want big that high in the bike. Exhausts in the main now are actually completely under the bike to aid handling and lower the cog. Handling, adding to the previous, high and heavy are not good, add that to taking weight off the front wheel is even worse. Cars are not like bikes, cars aim for 50/50, not so much with bikes. They want more on the nose, the rear can slide and skip to its hearts content you can deal with that. Skippy front end, yuk. My TDR by way of example, just the weight of a tank of fuel seriously changes the way she handles, that's 9 litres, 8kg maybe. Lastly, its old hat, ducati did it long ago, cool on a 916, no not so much. Depends what the gp boys are doing, fikle really. Personally i like it myself, on the right bike.

1978 yz 80, thats all you will get. Its not a vin in the modern sense, its a model code, the 2J5, followed by basically the build number. Unlikely they made 18000+ yz 80's in one model year so i would expect it to be number 220 maybe, even 8000+ in one year is a stretch for a pure race bike.

I tried it once years ago, made fk all difference as far as i could tell. It supposedly improves mid range which the 175 has plenty of. Its any worthwhile peak power/rpm she needs.

Wow, didn't expect that. Must have gone down in just the wrong way. No other tells of an accident.

Right here... Difficult to imagine anything vmax being secret. Damn things demand more attention than teenage daughters.

That sucks, you do realise they are and always have been an utter bastard to start if you havent learned how. Just the right choke, just the right swing, just the right everything and she will be running before the kicker hits the stop. My mate ran an xbr500 for years and that was the same, his standing reply to anybody who wanted a go was "sure, all you gotta do is start it". First time every time for him, nobody else could even when he told us how. Use the force and figure her out. Try the xt forums, or thumper talk, both of those groups are rife with big single yams.

Careful, a lot of led headlights are not mot legal, personally i hate the fucking things they are so bright they blind oncoming cars, they are really blue too so makes things harder for your eye to define because we evolved to see in yellow light. Lastly the brightness comes from essentially flashing the led at really high frequency and that again makes it harder for your brain to judge distance. Final point the dip beam gives a really bright patch of light in front with a linear edge, past that edge because your eye cannot switch between light and dark very fast. You cannot see for shit. The trucks at work have led lights and they are hateful things. How can something so blindingly bright to oncoming traffic give off so little effective light to the user, should be illegal. Personally you could not pay me to fit one.

Total crap shoot, it may be fine, it may not. Quality control is the problem. I would use the 100 quid on getting a good one sorted with a decent piston, aircooled dt's can suffer with detonation from the ethanol in modern fuel and you need a decent piston to handle the temperature of the cylinder. Cheaper units with poorer ally will burn through. That will cost you a bottom end rebuild, crank, bearings etc plus the bore and piston, found that out the hard (expensive) way.

That will be the oil warming up. Just about every motorcyclist wont bother with all the down changing faf of 2nd to first, even 3 rd to first when coming to a stop. Hell i have gone from top to first sat at the lights before because the change caught me on the hop. You just ride up to your stopping point and ( ideally while the wheels are still turning a little ) in the last few moments before you stop, just rattle down through the box. It works as well stopped, 1st can sometimes need you to rock slightly, that should illustrate than it can be a troublesome bugger till you get the hang of it.

Job number 1 is to make sure you have ownership and no duties/debts/losses owed by the bike caused by previous owners or commitments to previous owners. Would be a real shit to get work done only to find it was a total write off a few years ago, or you get it finished register it and then the police turn up, thank you for your efforts and take it away because its stolen property. It is literally job 1, i cannot emphasize this enough.

Now the bearings are out it looks like some ham fisted fucker has just beat on the bearing land instead of the bearing its self when changing a set in the past. That left an edge propping the race so it was doome to fail early. Looking at the land the bearing looks like it had just started to turn (beginning to terminally sieze) as I got home.

Out on the bike yesterday with some mates. Pushing quite hard in a few spots when the handling really started to go to shit. Barely got home. Front wheel bearing had shit it's self. Thank f it didn't happen in Derby although I think it was affecting the bike looking back and I just thought it was shitty vmax manners.

Remember there are no syncros on a bike. The gears locate on dogs not splines. When the gears are loaded they naturally want to stay in place. It's what stops it jumping out of hear. 1st is rarely if ever changed into while riding. When you change to second you are changing up 2 gears effectively. (n is a gear position). This change takes time. Breif granted but if you are not going very quickly the momentum you lose will stop the gear engaging properly. Biggest piece of info. Don't worry about looking a tit! Stalling or any of the other possible cock ups available. You will do it. Now way round it. Just ride. People have crashed thinking they have to be perfect. If you started learning Russian, could you be fluent in a couple of hours.

Honestly, ride it. Motorcycle gears can be tricky to sus, my vmax can sometimes catch me if i go from 1 st to second too slowly when crawling in traffic. You will learn to give it a nice clean flick rather than a push. Sounds odd but when it clicks you will understand. YBR125s are legendary for being all but unkillable, i have personally been alongside an SR125 (same motor) at 80mph (slight downhill), considering the gearing was stock god only knows what the rpms were, that bike had over 80k miles on it.

Try a push button first, press for as long as you think it needs. Go from there. Only thing for me is your not actually fixing the problem and that could bite you in the arse later.

Great weekend as always lads, got the pegs down on the way home, , then frame bolts too, so figured i better ease back. 350 odd miles all told and would do it again tomorrow. Need to go north next year for john and jimmy.. Maybe do a run further south too.

Its 'full' , so long as Andy, Paul or myself ask if we can squeeze in another with us i think that would fly, no harm in asking the question if you are coming up. They do seem happy to go the extra yard. New bookings would be a flat no but an addition? Especially as bike groups generally go with food and beer more than a couple of ol smokies in a camper.

Nice one. Mounted my panniers on the max today so I'm all good to go. Personally can't wait. Pete gets out of work (closes his laptop Lol) at 12 and will be taking a roundabout route up aiming for late afternoonish.

As a Hgv I have to interact with so many people I cannot worry about it (covid) too much. Don't hear the bullet that gets you etc. I know the camping is full though as Pete took the last spot last week.

I am bringing an extra too, so there will be more non YOC at the YOC meet than members. Are you mates on Yams Andy?. Pete is coming on a Triumph so Paul will be happy. Unless he brings his blue wasp....

So do we know who is going for certain? Mate of mine has just picked up a 1200 trophy and may well tag along.

One thing a cruiser can never have enough of. Power.

Side car is a disastrous idea. May as well have a car. I would have a trike first before cursing a motorcycle with a side car. Don't forget you daughter needs to learn how to pillion too. It's not just sit down and shut up. Both of mine started pillion at that age and now both are accomplished pillions quite happy to ride pillion on my vmax1200 or on the back of my neighbours busa when either are 'ridden enthusiasticly' . Little if any adjustment in your riding style is needed with a good pillion.