Ttaskmaster

So 0.25mm, right? a quarter of a millimetre movement, the sort of thing I'd only detect by feel with the appropriate tools in a pin-cylinder lock... and you go and buy a starter clutch kit to get ripping that apart, on the basis that it *could* be the problem??!! Only known starter clutches go in 1100 Drags, rather than 535s. Just hope you're right, otherwise this could get expensive. "Always check/replace the cheapest parts first" That's why I asked about the starter switch. Cruisers gather dirt and crap like nothing else, including inside the control clusters. Just about every workhorse's switches stick if you don't clean them out enough.

What is a fender?

I'd happily own a Honda - Blackbird, Pan 1100 or *maybe* even a Shadow. Suzuki... depends. G-Strider for sure, as I love spaceships Kawasaki is DEFINITELY lifting some shirts. Hardly - Wants to be gay, but gay doesn't come with chrome accents and the wife won't let him, so goes for the Bear look. Triumph - Since the 1960s, these bikes have come with a 2' spanner in the under-seat toolkit just so their owners have something to beat Mods up with. Very NOT gay!! But anyway, homos are great... well, the ones I'm friends with, anyway. Half are personal security/close protection and martial artists. The most impressive one is also a 6' 3" part-time transvestite who can kickbox in his high heels - When you watch a scrote have his arse handed him by a guy like that, it just makes your day!!!

Take it easy and learn as much as you can. I did my test in hammering Basingstoke rain. Almost got hit myself, but the same car then almost hit the examiner!! Conga-rats on passing the test!!

I can see about getting some pics this Sunday, maybe. Going over to check on my new FJ1200 anyways. Repair is done, but old one is lying chucked in a corner, so if my friend doesn't tidy up beforehand... Not a cheap fix, no, but luckily the skeleton of Drag 1 is still around for me to nick the Hagon I used when that one went! Yes, you strip off the seats and rear mudguard assembly (four bolts, two on each side and watch the electric leads for the indicators). You'll have to jack the bike up to get the swingarm low enough. That is the ONLY way you'll notice, as the base of the shock otherwise sits flush against the broken bearing. At this point, you'll see the bearing, bolt and bracket all covered in the ususal road muck, but this is where muck and corrosion gather. Also fecking hard to clean properly unless you regularly strip the bike down. The bearing rusts up, siezes and then shears off at the bottom, just where it's hidden behind the rubber skirt. Now, if it's proper siezed, you'll probably have to angle-grind the bearing out. When fitting new shock, remember to jack bike up high, bolt the bottom end in first (unless you have really slim tools) and then lower very slowly to line up the top end. Use a LOT of waterproof lube on the bearings. Continue to check regularly (or wait for MOT/accident to unearth it) and keep as clean as you can. Yamaha have not made this an easy thing to watch out for!

Check your monoshock!! They have a tendency to snap off, but because of the design layout, YOU WILL NOT NOTICE unless you inspect the bike, or if you ride over a pothole, whereupon the bike will drop down, go clunk and at best you'll be riding alarmingly low. At worse, you'll lock up the rear wheel and fishtail. Very nasty! Seems around the 30,000+ mile mark, the monoshock gets a little brittle. Doesn't seem to matter how clean you keep it either, as this second Dragstar had a lot of lubing and maintenance after the first one's shock snapped. When it fails, it will snap off just between the swingarm bracket and the preload adjuster. The reason you won't notice while riding is that the base of the shock still fits up flush against the snapped end and performs normally. If you jack the back end high up, the wheel will remain resting on the ground and you'll see the shock wiggling around behind the rubber curtain. I just had a second 650 fail MOT test due to it's fucking bastard snapped monoshock and I know several others this has happened to as well, all around the same mikelage (about 35k), so get home, check your bike and be mindful. Any problems, I recommend getting a Hagon shock as a replacement.

CN has always been the lowest for me. I'm down to about £120 now.

Summer has moved to later on in the year. These days October is still warm and sunny enough for a braai, especially my birthday. Always sunny on that day!

Err... the 650 and 1100 also have spoked wheels. I know - I have 2 in my garage... along with a really shitty NTV. Someone else's project though, so not my concern!

Actually, if I won the lottery, I'd have Yammie custom build me a bike from scratch... and/or find one that suited my every need and then buy 20 of them!!

I'd have said clutch is off, maybe stretched/badly-adjusted cable or something. Interesting article, although talk of ECMs, fuel injections and electrical gubbins sounds a bit above my pay grade!

It's the longest day every year. Dunno what the problem is, anyway... Bikes do have headlights, usually!!

Can you not paint the rims yourself?

Draggie likes 90mph just fine... Bit upset at 107, but then there aren't that many downhills on the M25!

OK, need to stay away from YouTube!! Many videos of FJers blasting along, redlining the revs to blast past the 0-60 in 3.8 seconds mark and straight on to 130, popping the front wheel up several times along the way... I dunno what's more scary - The idea that I might accidentally do that myself, or that I'm THAT much of an old man already that 40hp on a tractor of a bike is now my limit for riding!!

People in general, I think. I'm not really a people person (as if you didn't already know), but everyone seems to be more and more pushy. Our culture has taught us to be victims of everything and entitled to whatever we want, expecting instant delivery and full refends with additional compensation if everything is not 100% perfect for the entire life of whatever we buy!! On the flipside, I'm almost the opposite and a nightmare for salesmen. I don't even haggle. My basic approach - "I want this. How much? HOW much? Forget it. Bye".

Did you dry the filter properly? Carb is easy enough, but can be fiddly, especially refitting. Make sure you are meticulous about the cleaning, do it in a dust-less environment, etc etc. Otherwise, I'd check all the usual bits first - Oil, plugs, leads, etc.

THAT is a dangerous thing to say on a forum like this, my man... The next step would be for all the modders volunteering to show you EXACTLY what could be done to that pretty little bike of yours... Admitedly, some of it would be rather cool. I'm a fan of Rat and Survival bikes myself. There's also the Cafe Racer ones, the massive Choppers (kinda camp, though) and even teh Steampunk styles! http://www.ratbike.org/pages/846virago.htm I have seen a couple of 535s modded in such a way that they look more like very exotic and deadly weapons than motorcycles!! Depends how much ya wanna spend and how skilled you/your mechanic happen to be...

Likely breaking it. Bound to be a few Drag Queens in need of bits in reasonable nick. It's got a nice Hagon monoshock on it. Also likely selling the 'other' Drag to fund the FJ1200, as well. Will need to talk with the 'proper' owner about that, though... she doesn't use it anyway, now that we have the car and two dogs!!

Just over a year ago, right after I'd just renewed my insurance and right before my wedding!! Since been using the 'other' Dragstar from the transport range in my impressive garage, which includes a clapped out Vauxhall Corsa 1.4LS. The R1 in Virgin racing colours has now been replaced by a non-running NTV, unfortunately... I loan storage space out to my friends when their yards are full up with 'projects'! Incidentally, the latter is also the source of my forthcoming foray into the FJ1200 world!

I can recommend someone in Wandsworth, if that's any good... Cleaning - If they're special, expensive leathers, I'd expect them to come with cleaning instructions. Failing that, everyone has their own ideas. Some people chuck 'em in the wash.

I'm told it's the 3CV, which my guy discovered when he went to change the childish-sounding shouty exhausts for more sensible ones... Beyond that, I didn't look that closely. This was the first time I'd seen it and only started researching the FJ1200 afterward. 125HP = that's 40hp x 3 (or 3.12, if you use a calculator). Do the 3CV and 3XW models have ABS? Bit wary of that too, as I tend to use each brake very independently already. Don't fancy touching the back to drag it online only to find the front also triggers and spits me off... Okay, no wheelies is good. I'll just worry about missiling into something, heh heh! I'll likely fit wider diameter grips, partly for comfort (I have huge hands) and partly for the arc magnification factor I'm more used to. It doesn't feel big so much (especially with the looooooooong Draggie parked next to it) but it does feel insanely high by comparison. I have flat feet and bent knees, yet the riding position is ON rather than IN the bike. 'Forgiving' is a word I like! Feeling better about the rev range now. Sounds more like grown-up versions of the new Dullville I once test-rode, rather than the forefather of a Blackbird ballistic missile that contemporary owner-reviews have made it out to be!! I still can't wait till I get my hands on it for a test ride!!

Given that my own Draggie died because it blew (read: melted) the oil sump seal and pissed the contents out somewhere along the motorway (at empty motorway speed) so quickly that the engine warning light didn't even have time to come on, and that it was *possibly* caused by me mis-seating the sealing ring in the first place... I might be more self-descriptive on this occasion.

You're very right. They look SOOO Last Season on little twink gay bikes like Sports models!!

I'm led to understand this to be motorcycling vernacular for, "Take the tassles and studded leather off yer pansy-pink bike, ya feckin' sissy!!", sir...