Ttaskmaster

You know what... she did indeed!! Well, missed the 'sorry mate' part. Wonder how, at night, you can miss a stationary vehicle with brake light and bright flashing indicator directly in front of you... Photos pending daylight!

I left work early today, to get home and play with new PC components, expecting to spend ages updating Windows or somesuch... The ride home is all good, bit nippy but everything going great. Traffic is hectic as ever, but nothing I can't take in my stride. I live along a 'country main road', which means single carriageway, two-way traffic. Clean lane markings, some street lighting. Speed limit 40mph, but you can expect most people are pushing 55, so always take extra care. I'm approaching the turn into my driveway, which is across the oncoming traffic on the right side of the road. I check my mirror, seeing there is a car quite far behind... so far that she has her full beam on. I flick the right indicator on and slow to a complete stop, allowing three oncoming vehicles to go past. I was stopped for a good 9 seconds, with both working brake light and bright indicator flashing (flashes slightly faster than 80/sec). All clear ahead, I perform a right shoulder check and prepare to move off.... "SCREEEECHWHAM!!!!!" Yep, rear-ended... by a 2003 Vauxhall Corsa 1.2. The bike is flung forward and its 42 stone of weight slam it down hard on its left side. I am thrown forwards, sliding off the bike and hitting down on my right hip. I may have bounced the back of my head off her bumper. Enraged, I get up and have a quick yell, along the WTF lines. This is right outside my house, so 'The Ttaskmistress' is outside and on the scene almost instantly. Best part was the witnesses - Two members of the Police Forensics team, still in full kit, were walking away from some job earlier and saw the whole thing. They had comms and got a patrol car there within minutes. Damage to the car - Massive rectangular dent in bonnet that ain't buffing out any time soon, ripped off bumper, smashed Vauxhall front badge, bashed in headlight. Known damage to the FJ1200: Left faring scuffed. Left passenger footpeg bent. Gear selector bent. Left exhaust silencer scuffed. Left bodywork scuffed. Left wing mirror bent and scuffed. Rear light assembly smashed. Both rear indicator reflectors smashed and bent, bulbs intact and still flashing. Left engine bar scuffed and bent in towards engine. Possible crank case cracked (might just be the cover). Possible frame bent (might just be my eyes/the light). Rear wheel possibly damaged (it took the hit of a car at ??mph). Insurance seemed delighted to take this claim, of course and I am expecting phonecalls from solicitors and bike repair/courtesy people, along with doctor's appointment first thing. No major pain so far, but bruised hip joint and some twingey pains between the shoulder blades. Don't know much about whiplash, but the legal people sounded quite worried by it. But yeah, the driver was a 20-something girlie on her way to a hair appointment. She was a bit shaken, but fairly straightforward about things. Of course, being the 'bad-ass muthafukkah rebel biker' that I am, I did the only thing I could and invited her in for a nice cup of tea, while waiting for her recovery truck!!

Some 125s have trouble with getting enough power to the grips. Be mindful of this and read up a bit. There is a great post on here (by Toutsuite, I believe) about how to calculate the exact outputs and whether you have enough to add hot grips in. I have a bookmark to it, but it's at work and I won't be back for a few days. Maybe someone else can oblige?

I was gonna do this myself at some point. Might take me a bit longer, now... But basically: - Wire into a good earth point. - Wire the positive into a switched live. - Include an inline fuse for each spot and wire both through a switch separate to your normal headlight. I can't tell you the exact wiring points myself, at least not right now. However, the FJ Owners Club will have a wiring diagram available for all variants, at the massive price of £0.01. You should join them anyway - Membership is about £17 and you get specialist, dedicated FJ expertise as well as the Club shop and all their exclusive parts (pretty cheap, too!) Check them out: http://fjclub.co.uk/ http://www.fjcatalogue.com/home.html

These three places are local to you: http://www.saddlecraft.com/ http://www.dandgupholstery.co.uk/motorbike.php D P Leathers 243a Westgate Road Newcastle Upon Tyne Tyne & Wear NE4 6AE Tel: 0191 232 4450 Email: [email protected] Motorcycle seat specialist. Recovered, rebuild and resculpt. Motorcycle leather repairs and alterations. Open 10.30 - 5.30 Monday to Saturday.

I'd advise against Instant Gasket, purely from having seen it go wrong on numerous vehicles. I had to spend ages scrubbing my own side cover after a previous owner fucked it up. Horrible stuff...!!

Or even use the existing seat base - Just add some better foam and re-cover it. There are professional places that re-upholster seats to your requirements. There used to be one round here somewhere... I'll check around.

Hang on... are you actually trying to pick this up and carry it, here??!!

I find these things are usually much easier to manhandle about when you're sat on them. Use gentle clutch to get it going forward, use full steering lock and a firm amount of pull to get it going backward. Beyond that, the weight seems to make it more stable that its lighter brethren!

Awesomeness!!!!! You are gonna have so much fun on this!!

Exactly, Noisy! Hence wanting target reticule, system monitoring, environmental data, tracking, comms = AIRWOLF!!!!! *rides off humming, "Dahh da-da-da-dahh, da-da-da-dahh, da-da-da-dahh, dah-dah dahn-dahn dahn-da-dahn da, Dahh da-da-da-dahh, da-da-da-dahh, da-da-da-dahh, da-da-da-DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH"*

Can't play video at work... I'm guessing it has a clear angled screen that you look through, with the display image projected from beneath the screen like a reflex sight? I want one that displays a crosshair, target information, real-time monitoring of bike statistics, weapons lock, radio frequencies, bluetooth phone display, media display, radar and stuff... There is absolutely no point in this device unless you can pretend you're Airwolf with it!!! But seriously, it is a cool idea. One I've fantasized over often, though not even having the first clue how to make one.

I said I *nearly* owned one. Ended up with the 650 Drag instead. But yeah, I'd get a 535. It would get heavily modded, though - The one I had my eye on looked more like a wicked Streetfightered Hornet than a Cruiser!!

It's an old man's bike, dude - Viagras seems more fitting!

Is this a hydraulic or mechanical brake system? If it's hydraulic, try changing the fluid and thoroughly bleeding it to get rid of any air. Also, what condition are the pads in? You may want to clean out the caliper... or have it done by someone who will teach you (if you're interested in such things). Lastly (or possibly firstly, if this is a post-crash repair), have the alignment checked and make sure everything is securely bolted where it should be.

As mentioned, change the oil and see how it goes. Ideally flush out as much of the old crap as possible - There are products for this, but someone else will have to name them. If you are able, perhaps even strip some of the engine down and physically clean it all up, as you never know what was in there or how messed up and congealed it may have become. Always try the cheaper fixes first. With a bit of luck, it just needs a damn good servicing and will blaze back to life!

Bam:

Just don't buy any Dr. Pepper....!!!!! Seriously, best of luck mate - Enjoy the road!!

Meh... That's 4 weeks in which to figure out what I'm buying those who *have* been good this year (ie members of the family who have not pissed off my wife) and get them sorted, wrapped and delivered in time... with another week before December's paycheque, with which I can either decide to get back to building myself a decent gaming PC immediately, or start saving for any January sales that may happen!! It is, however, roughly 6 weeks until the PC has to be turned off and put into hibernation for almost a week while we have various people visiting and yuletiding and all that... the upside, though, is that my homebrew mead might be ready in time!!

Nah, Noisy's more just taking the piss out of said threads!! The 535 is a good bike, especially for shorter riders and those starting out. They're pretty popular even today and I almost had one myself. There is a bit of polarisation between Cruiser fans who like it and those who don't, but at the end of the day if YOU like it then that is the most valid opinion around and the only one that matters!! Somewhere there's a thread with a LOOOOOOONG post from me about the differences (in my experience) between riding other bikes and coming to a Cruiser. Might have some useful/interesting info for you. I might have even made that one entertaining to read!

There's a reason Cruisers are so popular!

This early in the year? YES YOU ARE!!!

Also, can you bring your 5' 0" girlfriend. I don't have anyone around here short enough and I'd genuinely like to see her ride the FJ with this technique of yours.

YAAAAAAYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Eezah-good, Eezah-good...