Cynic

Then maybe some crash bars would be better then?

Got to be honest after 25 years on motorbikes i couldnt tell you what gear i'm in, if the bike is labouring i change down if its racing i change up. Which one don't really matter so long as the engine's happy. I will quite often run up to the lights gradually dropping a gear at a time, that way if the lights change your ready to go. Your method OM will leave you in the wrong gear, the time it takes to sort out which one you need in bad traffic could be dangerous to you or others as you may panic/ pick a gear too high and stall, even fall over cos you forgot to put your feet down. You can laugh but i've seen it first hand. Other car drivers wont understand the issue and will have no consideration. Rolling holding the clutch is classed as coasting which is badly frowend upon buy instructors etc. Essentialy the vehicle is not under full control, a bike is most stable when under power no mater how slight, coasting will at the very least cause chain snatch which if your chain is badly adjusted may cause it to jump the sprockets Unlikely but possible none the less. As far as the handling goes, when i moved from a 50 to a GP 100 i could lean the bike over far enough to run out of ground clearance on either side. 20+ years later i'm nowhere near that level (spending a lifetime not leaning in cars/trucks don't help). Relax and ride with confidence, you may actually be feeling your own nervousness as you tighten your grip on the bars. People say "The most important part of a bike's handling is the nut(er) holding the bars", personally i don't thing they are far off the mark. Oh and running it in, so long as you don't rag it to death, forget about it. Modern engines and machining are so much better that the initial running period to settle everything in is pretty redundant. We didn't run our car in when we got it over a decade (90000+ miles) ago and apart from avoiding wide open flat out running i have never botherd on any of my rebores/bigbores etc.

Yep, XJ600F cos there was an XJ600 as well but missing one important part, the Fairing. Suzuki didn't really do anything new with the Bandit did they. Please tell me your thinking of the light brown tint or clear. People get these bigger screens in a 'COOL BLACK' then realise they can't see when they get behind it. There is nothing wrong with the XJ screen, its stunning as it is. Considering its age its a beauty. Why not do stuff like refurbishing the wheels so the polished areas shine oh and use it. You've got the jawa to cock about with. Its what i do, dick around with daft idea's on the 175 and leave the TDR well alone bar polishing, servicing, polishing, riding oh and polishing. Its the best original condition TDR250 i have seen in 2 years and i'd be a twat to fukc with it. Likewise your XJ.

Yep only get the headlight with the motor running.

Well back in the days of twin shock trail bikes lived in my loving care a likew DT50m with:- Ported 60cc Italian high compression big bore kit. Autesia i think they were called. 16mm carb K+N filter skimmed head Point stator plate, moved to advance ig 3deg, additional condenser Full Fresco pipe, cut open smoothed, stinger cut down to concentrate and move power up With octane booster, (rather more than reccomended) after being set up for temperature, points cleaned etc she was good for 70mph in absolutly perfect conditions. A reliable 45mph was doable anywhere, uphill to a degree. Without the rose tinted goggles, the bike was a liability. A bastard to start, expensive relatively on fuel, needed very expensive 2 stroke, needed constant maintainance and very difficult to get the performance from, like a modern pv bike with the PV pegged open but with less bottom end. I loved it, king of the hill breifly as i had the bike to beat till it got nicked.

That is either flooding out massively or a shit spark, or a combo of both. How do i know. Cos thats the symptoms of my DT to the letter earlier this week. Black liquid on the plug is fuel/oil mix thats unburnt. Check your ignition and check the float height in the carb.

Hmmmm, aside from CSF's morals and Dewpy's shit cap. It lives. Really odd, plug cap was a duffer but it wasn't just that, i swapped the carb body over as i had one in better nick, on a hunch i swapped it back as the cap didn't really sort the running, swapped all the jets over everything and now its great, goes first kick. Baffled. Unless its just not as good internally somewhere i'll have a look later. Did 5 or 6 mile (on private road of course) today as a test. Feels bloody dated next to the TDR but otherwise good, shoots round to 10k in the first 3 gears ooops (8K red line), tops out at an indicated 60ish with a wobbly needle. Handles far better than a bike this age really ought to. I think that chassis could handle another 10-15 hp, brakes hmmmm maybe 5 hp less Anyho just need the MOT man to say nice things and she's sorted. Have some piccies up later.

Odd, a lot of the stuff for the disabled is not that high spec. A lot of the stuff i have seen is pretty basic as far as construction and design is concerned. There are some real nice custom trikes that have chair bound pilots and their chair is generally part of the build. There are also plenty of gold wings with a glorified box on the back. Go along to the NABD rally and you will see some amazing kit. The equal in many cases of the meggabucks builds seen at the Kent Custom or the Rock and Blues. There are also a few that look like somebody dropped the welder on a pile of scrap and a bike rolled out, but it takes all sorts. Personally, i want to stick a RD250 motor in a dt175, i'll do it one day.

No oil turns to a white milky sludge if it gets water in it, with the apt discription of monkey spunk in my neck of the woods. Anyway the oil having a grey colour may indicate moisture in the oil. Hense check the amount of water in the bike. Its normall for bike gearbox oil to go black, its friction material from the clutch and perfectly ok. Edit Added the mildly important defining part of the comment

C'mon then Vez, what would impress you. Granted the theory is the same as any 7/11 suzuki or the cbr6/9. But the technical problems he's fixing in building the bike is interesting. World away from that blue thing.......

My old 350 did that. I never did fix it though. Turn on IG put keys in pocket, no scratches, no jangle jangle.

Nah thats just a tarted DT with some ally wheels. Bit naff TBH. My opinion mind. THIS is what i call impressive, God alone knows what its costing but it will be some piece of kit when its finished. aprila/Yamaha RZ350 supermoto

Ha did that at the first MCN Skeggy do, right laugh No body gave a Fk, some of the other 'holidaymakesrs' with some cheap arsed tickets got the hump, otherwise it was a lot of harmless fun. And thats my point. A couple of thousand people, drink, probably a bit of smoke. A lot of motorcycles. Anybody arrested? hurt? Accidents? None that i was aware of. Just a lot of people having a real good time. If the political idiots ran that you wouldn't be allowed to do any of it. Health and safety etc. We don't need it.

I'm a bit numb to the redundancy thing, ND basically keep you guessing at 12weeks notice. So the longest i can gaurantee i'm in work for at any one time is 3 months. Been like that for nigh on 3 years.

No bother Kev, glad it sorted you out.

Cor you havent lived. I was making gaskets for my bikes years ago, still do on non essential stuff. My old man (mechanic man and boy, call him a fitter at your peril) has been doing it for years and showed me how. There is a technique to get it accurate using ideally the ball of a small ballpein hammer but done right with a smear of grease its fine.

Odd another one, how many is that now must be 4 or 5 bikes on here that have had piston/pv contact. Couple of TDR's on the TDR owners site have done it too.

F'me someone coughed up 25 notes for that choke. Anybody want some hens teeth, going cheep!

Sorting her out for MOT on saturday, she looks nice even theough i've done nothing but cleanher up and paint the frame and the sw arm. She's all clean and nearly all the fixings are now stainless allen jobbies. Thing is every time i tried for a test run its running great on the drive ticking over lovely, then you run up the road she wont rev past 7 thou then 6 then 5 then cuts out. 2hours later she'll start. Been driving me nuts. Should be able to bed her down with a sneaky run out into the boonies tommorow, not too far though eh

Spent the last 3 days pulling the DT to bits playing hide and seek with the spark and it was the bloody cap. A brand new bastard that i bought "to make sure" mutter, grumble, i've set the timing, swapped coils, plugs, been into my loom to be sure of connections. "Caps either work or they don't" Ha, famous last words

Yep from the pics the best thing to do to that bike is a set of panniers then do your DT50 tour on something that will do it with ease and make it a laugh. You better be at the next meet too. So you tell Her Majesty you want a couple of days off next September or else,

Yep i have some very fond memories of mine, thats where they will stay though memories. As there are plenty of cold, slow, wet, slow, oily, cold, and depressingly slow, did i mention slow moments you forget with the rosy glasses and a little time.

Bought bike Had tasty bits on like pipes and filters, went like fuck Unfortunately it only went like fuck on AVGAS (Tarted proddie racer) I didn't know it ran on AVGS as i got the careful owner speech from the bastard that sold me it. Blew up (literraly steam oil etc) on way to Rock and Blues Head bearings, sw arm bearings, wheel bearings all just good enough cos they had been rammed with grease. Got another motor mains went on that one Got another motor gearbox siezed Some idiot nicked it, Insurance paid out and left me the bike, not recorded. Sold as project to proper numpty for far too much "Its a future classic init", Ended up losing not as much as i could have but learned a lesson, never go cheap on 2 strokes.

The bit that holds it open is in the brass collar under the rubber bit. I've got a donor carb (amongst others) that i've robbed for bits. Send us your address and you can have the choke bits out of that if you want.

Still tempted to split the motor and check it through though, especially as i have permision . After the money pit the LC turned out to be i'm not skimping on this one.