Ttaskmaster

I'd have had his wing mirror off, myself.

See if the local key-cutting place can impression one from the lock. Try an independant one, rather than a multi-branch place like Timpsons, though. Failing that, any decent Locksmith should be able to do it, though it may cost. You can make one yourself using a hacksaw blade and a set of files. Instructions are on the internet. Is it one of them that has electric signally bits in it? If so, a pro Lockie should be able to copy you one up using the vehicle codes. This might still be cheaper than getting one off the manufacturer. Shit - How do I know this stuff??? Am I that much of a feckin' geek?

About the science of fighting, yes. The rest of it is just my opinion, though. This works fine for people like you and me, but for the 5' 5" small riders who try to stand up for themselves, they need to be careful about approaching people. Again, nothing wrong with highlighting dangerous or unsocial behaviour, hopefully helping people to become better, safer riders. Just that everyone has to be aware that bikers aren't all as nice as us lot!! Fortunately, not everyone is as pretentious as me, either!!!

Out of curiosity and genuine interest, is there any particular reason NOT to do the Two-Step? I haven't done a Bikesafe yet, but I am working through Roadcraft, so I'm intrigued. When starting off from Neutral, I hold it with the front brake and stomp it into first (yes, in a manly Cruiser fashion), put my right foot up, transfer the braking if neccesary and then pull away in a DSA-friendly fashion. At junctions etc etc, I'm stopped in 1st, back brake on and all that. Ah, OK..... Something I read about in an advanced book, which I see being done by riders whose ability I respect; Before moving off, lean the bike over slightly in the direction you wish to turn. This helps to move in a smoother line and lessens the chance of hitting the opposite curb. I don't notice the effect much on my big-ass Cruiser, but I do on bikes with a lesser rake angle on the forks - Like yours!! Try it a few times somewhere quiet and see if it works for you!!

Oddly enough, I find I can't actually pull away properly unless I have my right foot up on the peg!!! That's muscle memory for ya!!!!

Only the little coloured LED underlighters are illegal/suspect. By all means, whack the extra sey of headlights on. They look pretty cool and WILL get you noticed!!! They are perfectly legal!! No reason you can't add the backrest anyway. The existing back seat pad gets a bit bum-numbing after about 200 miles, but you generally stop for fuel before that anyway. The backrests often come with luggage shelves, so could be a good addition anyway. I myself have just a luggage rack on the back, but the backrest allows you to take bigger items. Ah - Shropshire's a bit far from Reading, otherwise I'd have invited you along to some club Rideouts!! Ride safe, Woody.

Thank-you Chris!!

Instrument Bulbs could have blown. Connections or wires between them and the sensors could have gone. Sensors themselves could have gone. Anything could have gotten clogged with dirt and disrupted the connections. I would check the whole circuit, in teh order that I thought of it above. REMEMBER - Always replace the cheapest part first!!! I hate electrical stuff, so sincerely - Good Luck mate!!

Ask Hagon what shocks they have that will fit. Very friendly bunch on the phone, too!!!

Some advice.... 1/. Take it easy. Bikes can "Take Off", but they are not supposed to be ridden like a jet fighter. 2/. Relax. Add a bit of throttle, s-l-o-w-l-y ease out the clutch and find the biting point. Now... It'll be a few millimeters difference, but every time before moving off try and feel the biting point. Spend a few moments on your front drive or wherever you ride off from, just keeping the throttle at a few extra revs and gently easing the clutch into and then back out of the biting point. If you're doing this right, the bike will ease forward just a couple inches and then roll back again when you pull the clutch in. This may seem like meditation-talk, so I apologise. What you're doing is teaching your muscles to subconsciously know where the biting point is. Once you've done this for a bit, you can pull away without even thinking about it. And yes, I was sat like a twat doing this myself until I got it down pat!! It works. 2a/. So, having put some revs up and got the clitch to biting point, add a few more revs and pull away gently. Get your feet up on the pegs as soon as is reasonable, so you can be more balanced. 3/. Stopping..... Do all the things you were taught for teh test, down-shift, brakes more down-shifting etc. As you come to the last few yards of stopping distance, swap to the back brake (being gentle and braking progressively, of course). This will allow you to extend your left foot and keep it just above the ground, ready to put down as the bike stops. This has two other benefits. 1 - It gives the vehicle behind another visual clue that you are actually stopping, as your brake light says. 2 - When you press the rear brake pedal, your weight shifts ever so slightly to the right side. It's more noticable on a Cruiser. Putting your left foot out a touch evens up the balance. And for the finale - When you come to a complete stop, the left foot tips the bike back towards the left and down onto your waiting foot. Hey presto - a cool, balanced, controlled stop. 4/. Braking Normally - Assuming dry roads. Front brake first, applying a little pressure then gradually more as neccesary until you are almost stopped. Consider a bit of back brake once you are going very slow. The key to braking is to make it progressive. Don't jam them on like you might with a car. Bit of pressure to feel the bite then gradually more until you can feel the stopping power. Hope that helps. Hope you also liked the Americanised spelling - I put an extra bit of effort in I'd also suggest extra training with an instructor - partly because I'm not one and partly because there may be other things he can help you with. Ride safe, buddy!! Woody.

Boys that did my 125 gave me a choice of tyre, both what the manual said and other suitable ones. It was in within 2 days and ready for fitting!!

Sorry - I've gotta bite over this comment. I am a fighter, both armed and unarmed. A knife, commonly carried by many arseholes, will penetrate leathers. A helmet and leathers restrict your vision and movement respectively. If someone kicks off on you, you're probably fecked. Given how many people seem to be so 'unfortunately maladjusted', it's seems a bit risky unless you're with the rest of your Backpatch brothers and can swamp the offender. Personally, the Law does not defend you if you're attacked. It can only compensate you. Your face will still be a bloodied mess. YOU are the only one who can defend yourself, so in the event someone does kick off on me, I'd be doing my damndest to kick the shit out of them before they succeed. Now, as you know, not everyone is going to kick off on you, but however polite and tactful you are some will. You must be prepared and capable enough to do whatever it takes to cope with that possibility. How many of you 40+ riders, with your summer speed machines, would listen to a 28-year-old rider telling you how to ride better? How many would just tell him to fuck off? Sometimes it's easier to just let the speeding idiot go and hope he crashes somewhere remote where they hurt no-one but themselves....

I'm an untrusting bugger, though Nothing's wrong with a 4-pin, as such.... However, with a 5-pin, you can install a socket to plug in an Optimate and park the bike connected to that each night, without having to feck around taking covers off and using croc clips etc. Just plug in and head inside. I also can't remember which is SPDT and which isn't It means you can add in GPS, Autocom, CB radio or whatever other gadgets you have!!

Because pretty little Cruiser-Boys (and Girls) just know their tank range, look at the mileage and refuel before it gets too high Tacho? Must be what Aussies call a Rev Counter..... Don't need a Tacho, mate - Cruisers just need LOUD exhausts and LOUD engines. You learn the shift points and power bands from the sound the engine makes. If it grumbles like a tractor, you're probably in Neutral or moving too slow for the selected gear. If it growls and purrs like a horny tiger or a Spitfire aircraft, you're fine. If it screams like a lion that caught it's danglies on a cactus, time to shift up!! I think you can get an aftermarket Tacho added. Dunno about a fuel gauge, though. Half the people that have them on other bikes don't trust 'em anyway. Congrats on the fantastic choice of bike though!! And welcome to the Pretty-Boy Cruiser Gang - "All the women want us, all the guys want to be us"!!

Only thing I'd say is - Connect Heated Grips via a 5-pin Relay or via your Switched Live, NOT directly to the battery. This way, they will only function with the ignition on and you CANNOT accidentally leave the bike with the grips still running. So many people think they'll remember to switch them off when they turn the ignition off..... About half of them end up stranded somewhere late at night, in the freezing cold, with a dead battery..... OK, second thing I'll add is that I reckon every biker should spend at least one winter riding with a stock bike. Endure the really, really, really fecking cold weather, experience the fear of every possible slippery corner, discover the foggy visor.... Then, and only then, will you have earned your heated clothing and other such Old Man On A BMW comforts

Yeah, sure - I'll build my own bike. YOU can pay for it, though!!! Building from scratch is feckin' expensive.

For want of a better term - Ther are SHITLOADS of them!!!! A quick browse through the back of Bike, RiDE, Back Street Heroes and other such motorcycle publications will unearth tons of the buggers, mate!! eBay and many other places stock stuff, as do local parts shps and even independant mechanics. Anything you want, they'll have a cataloge for it. Highway Hawk are one of the more popular manufacturers of custom accessories. Un-modified, the back seat is an absolute bitch. As a rider, you'll have the pillion holding on to you, which will really alter the way you ride. I'd strongly suggest waiting a while and getting thoroughly used to the bike. Even after a year of riding long distances every day, the addition of a pillion for me was very unsettling. Take it very easy and practice on quiet roads. As a pillion, there is not much room and the footpegs are very high up. I'm 5' 11" and my knees sit inside my elbows. You can get footpeg extenders that allow more leg room for your backseat buddy, but you may want to take it easy round corners. The addition of a backrest provides more space and something to hold on to for the pillion. It also means they are further away from the rider and you are unlikely to bump lids when braking. Any acceleration is lessened too as they have the added support of the backpad. The same goes for the 1100 and just about any other Cruiser, IMO. I spent two years as a pillion on these things. If you're touring on your own, ie without other, larger bikes, then no - The 650 will cope perfectly well and happily cruise 2-up at 80. My other half and I weigh a combined total of 24 stone and both our bikes (both 650s) handle fine. If keeping up with bigger bikes or single riders, you will notice the difference though. A big, bright headlight works better. Look at the light-bars with side lamps and indicators. Those do a better job. The fancy lights behind panelling and whatever are mostly for show and, if I recall, actually illegal. If you have some basic electronic skills, try it yourself. Get the service manual, wiring diagram and all that and give it a bash. It's character-building. If you don't know what you're doing, get it done professionally. I belong to a local bike club here in Reading. We do Rideouts once a month at least. Whereabouts in the country are you?

1/. My 650 Drag is a bit like that. I just use a socket with a Universal joint, then extension bar and then the ratchet head. Helps if you have it upright, or get t'other half to lean the bike right a touch!! 5/. Again, mine does this. You open the choke fully to start on a cold day and after a bit it closes halfway - to minimise over-revving and overheating, I imagine. 7/. Don't think it'll increase power by any noticable amount. Fitting a K&N air filter would probably be better. I always though Cruisers had custom pipes just to make them louder....

I'm gonna join in and refute the 1300, as well as the 1900 and all it's offspring. Looks may well be the only thing wrong with it, but for some of us it's a big factor. Generally, you get a Cruiser for the looks, even if it's only a secondary factor (I got mine mostly because it's the only one that fit). I got my 650 Drag Custom because it had that retro thing. I don't like the Classics and all the new Yammie Cruisers have too much Classic for my tastes. It'd take a lot of aftermarket modding to look how I'd like. So yeah - Looks do matter with this stuff. Yam have stopped doing Customs, it seems. Certainly there's too much modern styling and 'streamlined, flowing lines' babble in the brochures for my tastes. A few fellow Star owners seem to feel the same way.... Horses for courses, really. I'll not be buying one, though.

I'd certainly argue it if they did take objection. I only have 40 horses to punch anyway, so it's not like I'm a speeding loony

Horses for courses, mate. I know feck all about belt drives. Chain systems are used mostly for saving weight, hence every "rilly rilly fast" sportsbike will probably have one. On a bike as heavy as a Cruiser, the extra weight of a shaft makes little difference. I'm sure there will be many other arguments but, aside from personal preference, I doubt many of them will be relevant to the average rider. Shaft transmissions deliver the power directly, so you get a more immediate response. However, unless you are a professional racer, the actual difference is unnoticable. The big one about shafties is that they don't need continual tension adjustment and re-lubing like chains and (presumably) belts. One less thing to feck up while cornering at 60!! I just prefer the look of a shaft, myself. BTW - Good choice on the Custom - Much prettier than the Classic!!

Caberg 104 V2. In order of importance - Coz it fitted better than any others I tried, it has the groovy sun visor and it's cheap. That's why.

Best bet is the Parts Finder webshite, I reckon. They ring round loads of breakers' places for you. There are some custom bits for 125s, but not so many as people tend to keep them stock to retain the resale value.

What the Lady said..... Better to catch up with the guy at a cafe or something and have said gentle word. Many young 'uns will tell you to fuck off, or worse, so the worth of the hassle is up to you.

Yeah, plenty of after-market parts of all shapes and sizes. Google custom bike parts or look in the back of almost any bike magazine!! Please do not get ones with skulls on though - It's such a cliche these days