Ttaskmaster

I don't know if I'd class this as a project so much... But I'll try and pad it out some for you. It will be something like this: Phase 1: - Have parked bike get hit by vehicle, who hits and runs as they know you're not home. - Arrive home to find damage. Swear and curse. Check bike to find it still runs fine. - Continue riding throughout Winter, oblivious to the fact that rust is developing on inside of heat shield. - Have heat shield rust off and drop off bike 'somewhere' along a motorway. M25 is good, as is the M6. Stop at motorway services and suddenly see damage. - Phone up to find how much a replacement downpipe is. Swear and curse when you hear how much! - Order much cheaper entire system. Phase 2: - Take old ones off. - Put new ones on. - Start bike up. - Ride. Phase 3: - Ride over to mechanic mate's house. - Sit around while he looks at pipes and figures out which jets you need. - Go buy jets from m/c parts shop. - Sit around while mechanic mate fits new jets, cleans carbs out and does a couple other little "oh, while you're there" jobs. - Sit around with mechanic mate while availing yourself of his wife's valet services. - Pay mechanic mate some of that papery stuff he likes so much. - Ride home/out/somewhere and enjoy. Alternatively, all phases can be completed by yourself if you feel like it. I'm currently finalising Phase 1, just waiting for PayPal to finish fecking about with updating my account balance.

Most mechanics seem able to calculate what jet size you need and just fit them straight. Rolling road might help, but it will cost and a Draggie ain't exactly a high performance bike, is it... I'm not a fan of having loud pipes and my neighbours love me for it... But since a whole new system costs half that of one single fecking OEM downpipe, I'm going with the noise and dampening it down some. I'm going for the Caligula pipes, kinda like the ones Elvira had, but straight rather than curved.

It's usually best done at the lever end, chap. There will be a screw adjuster right where the cable enters the lever assembly. Have a fiddle and test to find your ideal point.

IGNORE anyone who says not to re-jet. Many riders tell me there's no need to re-jet. EVERY SINGLE (and almost every married ) mechanic I have ever known insists you should re-jet. Who ya gonna believe.... Slip-on types mean you retain the original pipes and just swap the silencers/mufflers/end-cans/big bits at the back. As mentioned, you may need to jury rig some brackets. I've also turned to the dark side and chosen to get some FECK-OFF LOUD pipes on my Dragstar... Most of that is the cost of a replacement OEM downpipe after some feckwitt reversed into mine. But yeah, I'll let you know how it goes and maybe even post my findings. NOTE: My pipes will still have removable baffles to make them nice and quiet and I might even get a tunable baffle for added fun....

Check the cheap stuff first - lightbulbs, fuses, connections. Then start down the road of checking all the wires and other components.

But my tank will trump a car any day (plus I can carry my bike inside it).

I believe they prefer to be called "Harley Davidsons"... Want me to Google it for you?

Absolute fucking bollocks. Cars don't need all this shit, so why do we? Most of this can be discarded in favour of riding properly, like they teach you on the training courses. "Motorbike collision detection systems developed by Mira warn a rider about an imminent impact and let them take action by slowing down sharply or, in the case of a vehicle travelling in the same direction as the bike, following it while slowing". In other words, it applies the brakes... Feck sake. I'm sure I remember being taught that one!! "Vehicles behind or to one side of a bike can be hard to spot because the helmet restricts visibility and riders must remember to move their head regularly to check". Yep, we are taught to do that too.... So basically, all responsibility for rider ability is being waived in favour of reliance on expensive electronics that can fail..... Good to know. I'll go crash, kill some kids and then sue the bike company for the failure of their product. Such lawsuits, combined with the rising costs of tests and bikes will soon see motorcycles completely off the roads. Congratulations safety people. Now, how to get rid of vans, trucks and cyclists.......

How so? Clarkson has a 'stage persona', just like actors, rock stars, models and so many other public figures. How they play that persona is defined by the public demand and the producers/production crew behind the show. It's all sensationalist media marketing in one form or another - certainly whenever Clarky says or does something 'outrageous and prickish', Top Gear's ratings go up. Maybe that says something about the nation as a whole..... I personally find owners of expensive cars tend to be very much up themselves and far too elitist to effectively present to us lower common denominators a show all about things we'll likely never own. But it's also not supposed to be taken seriously at all. Clarky himself is quite self-deprecating half the time and has stated numerous times that he doesn't believe anyone would take his words and opinions seriously.. aside from the car facts made evident in the programme and by this, I mean the facts and figures stuff, not the staged challenges (although I note the cars almost always lose against parachutists, jets, cyclists and whatever else they race unless James May is the opponent). Car facts are boring for most people. Top Gear and all it's childishness makes it fun. If it's all such a bunch of toss, how come there are SO many women who watch it? We don't really disagree so much, I feel. We DO debate things to the end of the earth. Debate and exploration of ideas is good. It gives us a rounder perspective from which to better assess our opinions (which, after all, are only ever based on our experiences anyway). but yeah, I'd love to sit down and chat with you. It's a big, fun world with lots to explore!! Err.... Now you mention it, I suppose it depends who you ask. Most of my female friends, family and biker mates would say, "No, he's lovely and adorable". My fiancee, my very close friends and my fellow martial arts students would say, "Don't let him near anything that could be used as a weapon... ANYTHING!!" Me, I'd simply say, "Not unless I have a reason to be".

Properly tuned and sensibly ridden by a factory person on flat, level roads etc etc, the XVS650 Custom is rated at 178 miles on one single tank. That probably includes reserve too, mind. I'm sure you could make a bigger one fit, but that's pretty average for a 650 Draggie. I usually manage around 122 before I hit reserve, 119 when riding around town. You could get one of those 2L camping fuel bottles and use that as a second reserve... I do that on some long trips.

So do you hate actors based on whether they play a good guy or a bad guy, too? Fair enough, then.

Is he? Or is that just what he's paid to be? Is that what he has to do to appeal to the massive worldwide audience that his productions attract? He plays up to a persona, almost a character, because that's what appeals to most people. His comments are designed to provoke a response, to make people sit up and pay attention. That's why Top Gear is so popular and why shows like Fifth Gear immitate everything, even down to the speech rhythms of the presenters. Aside from just saying aloud what a lot of people are feeling, he does a lot of good for things like the Armed Forces. Check out some of his documentary work on them. No smarmy childishness there - Just a seriously deep respect for our nation's greatest heroes. I was also quite surprised when he did that series about foreigners and whether or not they matched stereotypes. In person, when he's not playing a role in front of the camera, he's a very different guy. Very pleasant and I'd go so far as to say quite a gentleman. A couple of quotes for you: "Smokers pay £19,000 a minute to the Exchequer, and that's enough to pay for the whole police force. Or to put it another way, for every £1 we cost the National Health Service, we give it £3.60. Please don't encourage the state to dictate how I live my life". "Good Shot!" (In reaction to being hit in the face by a pie by a protester at his Honorary Degree ceremony)

As others have very sarcastically suggested - These are mostly a waste of time. From the word GO, you would be better off learning to remember what gear you're in. After a bit, you'll get the hang of hearing what your bike sounds like, seeing what speed you're at and knowing what gear you are in. Digital indicators can fail, so being able to do this is far more useful.

Have you tried dropping the idle speed a bit?

Google is your friend. Clarkson is actually quite fun. I don't know why bikers hate him so much... Actually, I do - They take him seriously. He's been seen around Chipping Norton riding bikes several times (once by me) and he only chucks out his incendiary opinions to get a rise. Very nice guy in person.

Otters are SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO cuwte!!!!! I want one!!

Get one of those red & white stripey tents that the BT guys use when working on the street!! I'm thinking of something like that myself, unless we manage to land a house with a garage....

So am I (yeah, surprise eh? ). Something like that I might consider buying off a reputable local tyre dealer that I know and trust, but certainly not off some random on eBay. Other things perhaps (hell, I've even bought underwear online*) but not this... *It was vintage ww2 kit, original and unissued stock, still sealed

Do it anyway. That way, she didn't "let it happen" as such... it 'just happened' Alternatively, suck it up and be a man. I have to do all my work out on the street too, but it's better than being without the bike!! Do you drive as well, or is this your only form of transport? If the latter, use that as the excuse - Either you fix it inside, or SHE can run all the errands, do the shopping etc...

Yeah yeah, I misread... Probably having an off-day. I thought the kid was riding down to CBT. Correct version - Barky, or someone else licenced rides it, with kid as pillion. That'd work, yeah.

Barky = Best quote of the year!!!!!

Can you post details of this keyfob cam? It looks rather interesting......

Well, colour me distracted, then... I didn't even notice the other link!!

'Nuff said.

Uh... Are you one of those that spams the board and tries to poach members for your own forum? Coz if so.... You're advertising this very forum, ON this very forum!!