Ttaskmaster

My bike isn't fuel injected. What might it be?

Second best. The best will be when your other half brings a friend along

I think so.... Where I grew up, you use a phrase like that you're likely to get shot, by the sort of 'believers' who don't turn the other cheek until they've reloaded!!! So what does it mean? I'm genuinely curious, now!!

Both my and my other half's Dragstars do it. Not all the time, but it's very frequent. I think it's something to do with the Regulator/Rectifier unit. That's where it sounds like it's coming from, anyway. The sound is like the rapid clicking from one of those little Pull & Go toy cars. And I haven't a fecking clue what it is!!!

Why is Alvis 8/11 Armoured Personnel Carrier not listed???

Nope. Can't carry pillion passengers either. Must have full bike licence to ride a bike on m/ways, I'm afraid. You can still ride a 125 on the m/way - I did that for a year before getting a bigger bike. But you MUST have that full licence first!! Friend is correct. You can hold a full Private Pilots Licence at 16, yet not be old enough to even hold a provisional car licence. Must have passed Theory & Hazard Perception tests and have completed CBT.

A lot of it will depend on the area you live, time you've held a licence for and your age. Young'uns get a rough deal.

Tips: Read and understand the Highway Code before you do CBT. Listen closely to what you are told. Take notes, if you like. Do your best. Enjoy the day. Failure: Compulsory Basic Training is exactly that - Training. You cannot fail as there is no actual test as such. You may have to repeat sections of it, but this is not a failure. It just means you haven't quite got the hang of it yet. Certificate: If you complete the training, you will be given a certificate (DL196, I think it's called) there and then, stamped and signed by the instructor.

eBay - £157. Pray your starter clutch doesn't go. That'll be £700 easily!! Not an amazingly common fault, but it does happen.

How short are you Sarah? My other half is 5' 4" and she manages well enough on her 650 Drag. First question I'd ask is whether the bars are too high as OH actually has hers set quite low. Second question I'd ask is whether you are tensing up at all Even on a Cruiser, this still makes a massive difference. You have to be relaxed, especially doing lond distance. I can get away with it, but try 'hanging off' the bars when going at speed. You will get battered to bits by the wind anyway, so don't brace against it but secure your grip instead. Old Git is right - Pics would help.

Eh????!!!! Here what comes? Dunno what 'shine you've been on matey, but best not drive or operate heavy machinery for a couple of days, eh!

Shit, forgot - Re-insert the little screw-cap thingies into the riser tops!!!

Good on ya, Dan. Nothing quite like spending 9 hours fitting custom stuff to your bike!!! OK, I was wiring lots of stuff and it was my first project, but it was great fun!! I also kept stopping for ciggies and stuff OK, for the bars.... I will assume your 1100 is assembled the same way as my 650 in this respect. First, plan out precisely where the bar will be positioned. Make sure NOW that the new position won't stretch or pull the control cables at all. Remove the grips. Various ways to do it, but basically they're glued on. Use careful pressure to pull the bar ends off. I say careful, because they're basically chromed plastic. Ease/work/wiggle these off. Do not force them. It may take half an hour, but you must avoid damaging the grips. Then, work a long stemmed, thin flathead screwdriver under the grip rubbers and separate them from the bars. Be VERY careful with the right one, else you'll damage the throttle slider. Finish by carefully pulling off the grip buffers. Some people reccomend working some washing up liquid or glue solvent under the grips. Loosen all the handlebar fitments. These will be secured with allen bolts or screws. Just loosen the fitments - Do not try removing them. Use a small flathead screwdriver and lever out the four screw caps from the risers on the yoke. Undo the four bolts holding the riser tops in place and lift the bar out of the riser. Now remove the fitments. Slide them off the bar, remembering which way round everything goes. You remove the bar first so you can manoeuvre it about and avoid stretching the cables!! Re-assemble in reverse order. Slide the control fitments onto the new bar and finger tighten only. Position the bar where you want it. Re-attach the riser tops and finger tighten only. Now sit on the bike and lift it upright. Use a hold on the tank to lift it (because the bars are still loose, remember) and if possible, have someone help you hold it. You will need your hands, so keep the bike stable with your legs and the weight of your arse on the seat (sorry - best way I can describe it). Adjust the cant of the bar to where you want it. NOW - TEST THE CABLES ARE FREE!!! Do it now, or it will be a pain in the arse later and you might break them. If there are problems, sort them out. This is, however, a whole other topic which I won't cover at this particular moment. Once placed and all is good, then you can tighten the riser bolts properly. Confirm the position of the control fitments and tighten in place. Reassemble the grips in reverse order too - Buffers, rubbers, end-caps. Grips will have to be glued back in place. I use Superglue myself. There are other threads on here that discuss the various options. While you're letting the glue set, give everything a final check over, make sure everything works etc. Careful with the throttle grip. Pay particular attention to the clip-on plug that connects the cable to the front brake light switch. This pops off easily. That should just about do it. If the cables won't reach the new position, longer ones can be obtained, but I haven't fiddled with this part of things myself yet, so I'll leave that for someone more learned like OldGit. Various peoples' opinions will differ, I'm sure and I may have slight errors or something. This has taken about an hour to type and I am knackered, so I'm going for a ciggy. Hope you have fun, matey!!!! Woody.

It's a great line, isn't it!!!! His hands were a bit rough, but he did grease them first !!!!!!! Hmmm.... sounds like a fun Sunday afternoon activity. Can't afford diesel as well as petrol, though... Pah - I have no fear. I actually work for an engineering consultancy, who hire me out to a water utilities company. I fix broken waste water pipes. I don't have to know or care what your water bill is or which pipes are leaking. In the immortal words of some spotty kid with a Woolworth's name badge, "Its not my department"!!! I generally don't bother polishing, actually. So long as it's clean of crap, I'm happy. My bike is a functional tool, not a fashion accessory.

Well, he had a feel inside my helmet and, would you believe it, he could feel degredation. Guess I'd better buy one of his expensive lids then. Thank god he's a professional, learned fitter of complicated Plug & Play manufacturer's parts...... Yes, I'm sure my lid is susceptible if you put loads in, or maybe spill some petrol. But with the amount of crap that comes in through the vents and open visor anyway, I don't think putting my gloves inside the lid is much of a worry. Besides, isn't it also susceptible to all the hair products and general atmospheric crap that my head picks up when it's not in the lid? Sounds a bit like the potential for a mobile phone to blow up a petrol station.... Oooh, Napalm!!!!!! I'd be genuinely interested to know what the percentage of increased risk is. Clearly, you're also a man very much in need of a stupidly expensive helmet. It just so happens, I know a place that sells them........ It does to!!!!!! Muc Off and similar does help, though!! Mine doesn't. Comes directly from the same Clean Water source as that which you drink. I work for a water utilities company. I have to know what goes where, y'see. FS365, innit? Some say it's better than ACF. I just have 2 whole cans of ACF to get through before I even consider the FS, though. Then again, different things for different bikes. Autosol works fine on my chromey crap, so I will continue.... not that I bother polishing it that often anyway

OMG, what a stupid question!!! Sorry, a cheap jest at a Newbie's expense. Couldn't resist!!! It's actually not a bad idea, to be honest. I don't know if it will work, but I can tell you that certain parts from a manufacturer will be used across different models. My bike apparently has the same indicators as the old V-Max. The only thing I'd say is be SURE the 'Cat caliper fits properly before you do this. Check with your local dealer, or email Yamaha directly. An independant garage might also be well-placed to advise. As for finding parts from breakers, have you tried Part Finder yet?

Not heard that one before...... Have heard about using tinfoil, though! The tosser of a salesman at my local Yammie dealer told me not to store my gloves inside my helmet. The road crap that sticks to the gloves then gets transferred to the inner padding of the helm, compromising the structural integrity of the polystyrene. He also happened to be selling a far more expensive brand of lid, which featured a guard against this. Clearly the rest of the road crap and petrol fumes that my helmet gets exposed to is a different grade...... Like having the "wrong kind of leaves" on the train line, I suppose.......

Aw, ya gotta have a dig!!!! Same as I'm a posey pretentious tosser on my Cruiser, people with 'proper' bikes are speed-crazed loony Power Rangers, Tourers are all old men etc etc..... I still do OK in bad weather. I just sing loudly to lighten my spirits. NO-ONE enjoys getting freezing cold in the wetness that slowly seeps through your clothing to chill your bits.... unless they need medical attention, of course :-D But we rip the piss all the same. There's always someone harder/faster/richer/whatever-er than you. Just let them fuck off and get on with it, leaving you to enjoy your ride. Incidentally - For those who are mad enough to join me in riding through all weathers...... "Any fuckwitt can rough it. A good rider will make themselves comfortable under any conditions"!!!

Yep, something like them!! Except over here you tend to see them with clear glass, rather than the tinted ones in the pictures. I mean the auxilliary headlights, rather than the indicators, of course!! Kit costs something like £100 to £140-ish, I believe.

I have longer stems on my mirrors. That works fine for me.

DUDE..... PLEASE STOP TYPING ALL IN CAPS!!!!!!! It's the internet equivalent of SHOUTING YOUR FECKING BOLLOCKS OFF AT EVERYONE!!!!!!!!!! Thanks. As for the speed issue - Don't worry. 125s are supposed to be slow. You can feck about and modify it to go faster (plenty of threads here), but it comes with a risk and a cost, especially if you want a bigger bike and have to re-sell the 125. NO decent dealer will touch your bike if it's been modded. Learn to ride well instead - Most 125s will outrun the average biker if ridden well. Plus, nothing is better in traffic than a light, manoeuvrable machine!!! People often buy 125s, just so they can have fun chucking it around.

Only in the dark, really. You'll be seen.... But it doesn't light up that much road. It's still notably different, but only the bikes with twin headlights get proper performance. Try putting those extra headlights on instead, with the indicators on, so you have a triple cluster. THAT makes a difference!!

Yeah, a lot of people keep telling me this.... Usually 'Blade owners, who don't think anything's worth it unless you're riding on the very edge of your nerves all the time. If riding really is all about how fast you can go, then fuck the 'Blade and the Hayabusa... I'll get myself a Rocket III, thankyouverymuch. Rocket III - 0-50 is faster than a 'Busa and with subsequent stats (the ones that they've bothered to measure) are only something like 0.8 seconds difference anyway. Personally, I'm left with memories of seeing what a Police Officer can do on one. It was anything but dull!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! There's a reason why they continue to use DVs as well as all the new BMW models!!! These guys consistently outperform all the track bikes and whatever else you care to throw at them. Good performance is taking a bike like this and making it do what the 'high performance' ones do. Besides, it ticks all the boxes and I like the styling. I'm a very utilitarian person and the DV fills gaps that the Drag just can't manage. Plus I love the way the panniers are styled into the bodywork!! The FJR is OK, but just a bit too big and unwieldy for what I need. If they made a smaller version in, say, 900cc, it'd be OK. It's also got some silly, stupid and even downright rediculous features to it. Performance aside, it's like carrying the Jimmy Lyle 'Rambo' knife, when all you need is a standard model Victorinox. And who in the name of FECK came up with those stupid loppy-lugs that act as knuckle-guards????!!!!!! Honda do these little triangular inserts..... Yamaha rip the outer casings off coach wing mirrors and stick them around the mirrors on the FJR!!!!! If I want to look like a nob, I'll buy a (insert your least favourite car here) !!!

This only works if both chains are kept off the ground and run through parts of the bike that cannot be easily removed (ie not the wheels). That said, some of the locks out there are fecking easy to pick open. I've mentioned this elsewhere, so I won't bore you again.

Just go into your local parts shop and ask for a brighter one. I used a Phillips errr.... H4 or H7 60W bulb, I think it was...... Take the old one in, if you have any doubts. Most decent places, even Hein Gericke will have the one. Cost about £10-£15, I think.