JUST ME!

Geday, That stuff re shaft or chain is rubbish. Down shift incorrectly with either setup and you risk rear wheel lockup. Ride pillion with an experienced rider that you trust and have them show you the correct technique. Much easier demonstrated and then having the theory behind it explained! As stated earlier, practice the technique at lower speeds until you have it down pat. After time you will be doing it without even thinking about it. Little tip! Whilst learning the technique always have a finger covering the clutch lever. This way, should you inadvertently lock the rear, you can quickly pull the lever in without delay and the back of the bike will settle back to normal quicker. Don't use this technique in the wet until you are comfortable with it in the dry. All the best, Paul.

Geday mate. This time around you are approaching it the correct way. Far better to start way too rich and work back. Initially concentrate on the upper rev range, main jetting, and work down. So long as the plug is sooty, you now have to gradually decrease the main jet size until the thing starts to perform properly hence why it is good to come to some arrangement with your bike shop re borrowing and replacing jets. Without witnessing your previous drama first hand,on the information you put forward, I feel sure last time you leaned it out. If it was mine I would be premixing the fuel at least until you have the jetting correct. Reduce the main jet size in small increments. Becoming impatient will cause another blowup! Best of luck! Paul. Oh yeah, don't ride it expecting a mind blowing difference in performance. A 10cc increase is only going to make a small difference. Starting to wonder what effect this kit is having on the port timing. Is it a good quality setup? I frigged around with wiseco oversized stuff on DT250s years ago and found their pistons at the time to be complete crap! Anyway, soldier on and see what you achieve.

Geday mate, Yeah maybe the R6 doesn't cook the rear up as much! I'm sticking with the PP2ct on the front and trying a Conti Sport Attack on the rear. I will have the Conti on soon as the rear PP is almost rooted. If your are interested I will pass on my opinion. Just purchased another new standard Pilot Power for the front of my Blackbird as they really suit the front of it. 16000 hard kms out of the last one.It almost looks like a slick and grips as good as new.I am running a Conti road attack B on the rear of it and it suits the rear of the bird however it was too hard on the rear of the GSXR. PP2ct on the front and a soft Bridgie or Conti on the rear of the R6 would be a good setup with about 36psi front and rear, solo. HAVE A BLAST! Paul.

Geady mate! If all exhaust gases are ultimately going to exit via one pipe, you do not need any balance pipes.However be sure to make that one pipe large enough! HAVE A BLAST! Paul. Oh yeah, in an ideal world you make all the header pipes the same length but on a V4 this is easier said then done.The balance pipe is there for better scavenging and is usually utilised when there is multiple exits. I have built many performance engines and found the best spread of power throughout the rev range is achieved with a large bore, free flowing single system. I raced a near standard GSX1100 on the salt a few years back and it simply had all 4 header pipes chopped off at about mid engine. It performed well over 12000 rpm and was fine for the salt, but distinctly lacked mid range power!

Geday mate, I ride bikes all day for a living and almost every weekend for fun and I hope my views on this topic help. Try and get in the habit of always down shifting to first when coming to a stop. Not only will it prevent you from having the drama you described but it is also a defensive riding technique. Should you commute often enough, you will eventually be put in a position where you need to move away from the stopped position as quickly as possible. For example, a car reversing from a driveway that has not seen you or a car locking it up behind you and you needing to move away quickly. In both instances finding a cog and then moving on is way too slow. In my opinion always keeping these possible scenarios in mind,is the only way that you can commute year in,year out and not get bowled over. Another defensive technique relates to gear position whilst commuting. It is advisable to always commute in a gear relative to the speed of the vehicles around you. This way should you need to accelerate away to avoid a collision you are not wasting time finding the appropriate cog. I always try to ride in a gear where one quick shift down will put me in a very responsive range. You will be surprised how many speeding fines it may also prevent especially when you step up to big bikes. In the higher gears it is easy to be cruising along at a higher than intended speed without noticing. HAVE A BLAST! Paul.

If possible, get a good 2nd hand tank. You would not consider having a suspect tank in your car, so why have a potential bomb sitting over the engine of your bike!

No Drewps, your wrong , my Latin is up to shit. The method of glass construction and the way of achieving the good gelcoat finish, is very much dependant on the shape of the tank. For a home job you are far better to work along the lines of it being painted in 2 pak when completed. The aluminium construction is heaps easier. Simply roll, beat, form, cut all of your sections out of 3-4mm aluminium plate. Bevel all the edges and have a welder tack all the bits together.Then fully weld it. You can buy the section of threaded flange that is welded on for the filler neck.Oh yeah,may heed 2 little elbows welded in for a crossover pipe,depending on shape of tank and the backbone of you frame. When you machine the billet that is welded in for the fuel tap, only start the thread with a taper tap. Don't finish thread until it has been welded in place. Otherwise the thread will finish up too loose. If you make the tank out of aluminium,the shape will only be limited by your imagination.However a relatively reliable tank out of composites will also restrict what shape it can be. Don't get me wrong, glass for certain parts 40 years ago was brilliant and still is! But in my opinion it is far from ideal for tanks. I will look through my books for a glassing book and get back to you with the name,just in case you are hell bent on going down that path. HAVE A BLAST! Paul. Just a thought re your finish concerns. It is actually the inside finish you need to be most concerned about. If I was to do a tank out of glass I would make the top , fully visible, half, and the bottom,blanking half that incorporates the backbone relief. This way both parts can be flow coated prior to them being chemically bonded together. The flowcoat will make the glass impervious to fuel,but again the shape may be limited.

Geday mate, This stuff about not mixing brands and not mixing types of tyres within brands, is the biggest load of horse shit! Run whatever you feel confident with and whatever seems to suit your bike the most. I really like Michelins as a front tyre however don't feel as though they are a great drive tyre. In my experience,price has little to do with rear tyre performance as well. I am running a relatively cheap Conti road attack on the rear of my Blackbird and,for me,it really suits the bike.Running a Pilot Power up front. Running Pilot Power 2cts on my K6 and just about to try a Conti sport attack on the rear. It has had about 6 or 7 different tyres on the rear,and seldom have they matched the front and it is absolutely hammered.Also don't get into the trap of fitting a new front tyre just because you have replaced the rear. It is normal to get at least twice the life from a front over a rear. Heaps of people will disagree with this advice. Try it for yourself and make your own judgement.HAVE A BLAST. Paul.

Yeah Drewps, just got that contact for you. Don't get me wrong, I am not suggesting you buy one of their tanks. Just thought you could get some ideas when you see what they,for one, do with aluminium. The company is called Dues Ex Machina. www.dues.com.au Hope this helps. Paul. I don't know what their bikes are like, but they look the part!

Geday mate, A better option is hand beaten aluminium sheeting, that is why all the custom chopper blokes go that way these days. You can still make it any shape you like but it is a much more sound structure when complete. Further when the little threaded billets are welded in for fuel taps and the like, they simply never leak. They went down the composite path in the past because the now very common aluminium welding processes were not around. The finished product comes up that good that it is usually highly polished or cleared. A company in Sydney called Duess Machina do these flat tracker style road bikes based on xs 650s and the like and this how all their tanks are done! They have a website. I'll find it and forward it on. Should you still wish to go down the composite path let me know. I do all my own glassing of gaurds, car bonnets,scoops and so on and can refer you to plenty of reading matter re the topic. Saw a great hand made aluminium tank on this back yard cafe racer and had 2 elbows welded on the tank, 1 up high and the other down low, and good quality,clear,flexible tubing clamped on and this was the fuel gauge. Really gave it that period racer look! I will get back to to you with that website! HAVE A BLAST! Paul.

Geday mate, I agree with Steve re the probable elictrical drama. A friend of mine had a SV650 that was throwing the same sort of tantrum. However when his did it the FI light came on so I lifted his tank and started going through the couplers in the wiring loom. One of the first ones I unplugged and replugged was the coupler onto the air flow sensor on the air box. FI light went out, sprayed it with terminal cleaner and never had a drama with it again. Check all connections and make sure when they did the engine swap that all looms are running in their original locations just in case a connection has undue weight placed on it or a wire is rubbed through. Also check that all earth wires are grounded properly. If still no go, check clutch, side stand and neutral switch. It is often a prick of a job isolating the drama but when you do find it,it will probably be a very simple problem. Good luck! Paul.

Yeah mate,go for it.The power is unlikely to kill you and in the off chance it does, atleast you were on the bike you like. Just kidding,buy the YZF, I am still hoping the came to Oz. HAVE A BLAST! Paul.

Geday mate, That is actually quite good mileage out of a rear. Yeah run a conti sport attack on the rear, and it is not unusual for a front to last as long as 2 rears. In my opinion it is not a problem mixing brands however plenty of people will disagree! Don't get into the business of replacing a front routinely just because you are replacing a rear. It will send you broke and remember to fit new stumpy valve stems every new tyre. The sport attacks are around $260 Australian and I think that is about 110-120 pound. In my opinion Dunlop are rubbish. HAVE A BLAST and get used to throwing tyres at sports bikes,It is the nature of the beast!

Geday mate. Buy another bike identical to this one and it top condition. Then use this one for spares. Eventually the old one will have paid for itself!

Geday Steve, One question. If you are mainly riding on the road, why run full knobby tyres? They wear out quick and are deadset dangerous. Go for a road/trail pattern. Better still with all the little perfomance scooters out there, you must be able to get a decent road tyre for the little bugger. Fit the skinniest,softest road tyre you can find and the difference will make it worth while and much safer! HAVE A BLAST! Paul.

Geday mate! Pull all of the pistons out of the calipers and you will be surprised by the amount of crap that is mixed in with the old brake fluid. Clean all the pistons with brake cleaner and scotch brite and reassemble with new seals and dust boots, applying rubber grease to the seals. Short of there being a problem with your master cylinder, it should be as good as new. Just did a friends 600 Kawasaki and it had 6 pistons in each caliper.The pads also get pushed back by whats called-KNOCK OFF- just due to the normal flexing of components and bearing end float. I once had an 1100 Suzuki that used to head shake that badly that you had to pump the pistons back out to where they lived to ensure the brakes were ready for action! HAVE A BLAST! Paul.

Reminds me of old mate that arrived home pissed with a bunch of flowers for his wife. She said " I suppose you want me flat on me back with me legs in the air for those". He replied " Why? haven't you got a vase".

Does not look any different to any other Harley to me! Possibly technically a little more advanced.

Just a word of warning to anybody running Pilot Power 2cts. In my experience sports compound tyres grip pretty much as good when they are almost worn out as they do when they are new. However this appears not to be the case with the one that I am running on the rear of my sports bike. It is about half worn out and does not have anywhere near the same level of grip that it had near new. Rather disappointing considering this was supposed to be Michie's state of the art world beater. Even more so when you consider the price. Having said that the front is as good as any thing else that I have tried. Anyone hammering their rocket on a set of half worn out Power 2cts,take care! I posted this on a Yankie site and had plenty of feedback from riders with similar concerns! HAVE A BLAST!

Love ya work!

Sounds like the rod is rooted,so now you can grab the middle of the rod with a good set of vice grips and undo it! Spray it with WD40 first and when you initially get it to move,rock it back and forward so as you are cleaning the threads as you go. You probably have 2 of these rods with the allen key head. If so,replace both incase the 2nd one is also fatigued!

Probably piston slap! Pull the head off and have a look at the piston and bore.

Geday mate, A fellow i know in Oz had a Yamaha 250 Zeal and it was a little beauty. It was an inline 4 cylinder and was great to ride. Don,t know if they are available in the UK. Worth a look!

IN technical terms, IT'S ROOTED, mainly because it interferes with the gasket face. The epoxied area is weeping because the epoxy is expanding at a different rate to the alloy and cracking. You may be able to make it oil tight by grinding out most of the epoxy and just leaving enough to form a plug that won't fall into the case. Then sand an area somewhat larger than the hole. Then apply a large coating of urethane such as sikaflex or windscreen sealer.Anybody that has used this stuff knows that it sticks like shit to a blanket. Wear latex gloves when applying it!This really is a rough and ready repair, however anything else would be uneconomical. May just get a few more months use out of it! Ensure that oil has not covered the tyres. No it will not impact on compression, if that is what you mean by pressure. Let us know how you go. SEE YA!

Glad to hear you are up and running again! I used to premix all my autolube Yammies without any dramas! SEE YA! 25:1 0r 40 mls per litre!