mike1949

A dog is not just for Christmas!!!!!!!!!!!!!! With a bit of careful planning you could have some left over for Boxing day. Only joking Goff

Mike, 60 years old, riding 20 yrs, started on a Puch Maxi automatic which was embarrasing when I had to stop on an incline by a zebra crossing then had to push it til I got to a flat bit. Bought a 100 then a 125 then a 200 then two 250's. By then my lad was 6' tall and another embarrasing moment when we had to stop at the bottom of a hill and was a bit sluggish until we got some momentum going. That's when I decided to get my present bike an xj600 diversion and haven't looked back since.

Cheers Jim, it's certainly made a difference. I covered it last night and when I got into work this morning just after 0530 by the time I clocked in and got my kit off the oil in the view glass was clear after five minutes as apposed to about fifteen/twenty minutes prior to this. It's due for an oil change this weekend so lets hope it should go on indefinately. Thanks again for your help Jim, much appreciated. Mike

Cheers Jim Yes, I do frequent short journeys every day to work, 6 miles each way. What I do tend to do is let the bike tick over for about 10 minutes when I get to work about 0530 and turn it off when the sight glass shows the oil is normal. I'll certainly give it a try covering the oil cooler with tin foil, I had toyed with the idea of covering the engine to stop it getting to much cold air in the morning but it's not easy with four downpipes in the way. Going home at night this time of year is no problem but in the winter the engine never seems to warm up. Thanks for your help Jim

Cheers Jim Next obvious question. How do I check the oil galleries?

Going on from my original topic, I really do think that the bike is fantastic, when it goes it goes really well, but when it goes wrong it's a very expensive pain in the arse. I bought it nearly four years ago for £2000.00 and since then it has cost me over £2000.00 in repairs and servicing. Yes I do use it every day as a workhorse but I was lead to believe that was the ideal bike for it. Maybe JimR could answer this, would a xj900 be more suitable?

Coming home from work last Tuesday I found it very difficult to change gear, more down than up. Luckily I managed to go through town in second/third gear without stopping. Thursday night I removed the clutch cover after hearing a very weird noise from that area. The problem was the clutch release bearing which is about the size and thickness of a flat washer. I did have this problem about three years ago shortly after buying the bike and left it to the dealer who sold me the bike and they charged me £187.00. It took me 1.1/2 hours to do it myself and cost me £10.00. There are two issues here. Is the thrust bearing up to the job? Did the Yamaha dealer rip me off? What I might do as a matter of course is change the bearing every two years. Below is the bearing.

Have you got nail polish on??????

When the missus, sorry wife, took my bike out for the first time I was extremly worried because she had no knowledge whatsoever about the mechanical side of bikes. After about half an hour I rec'd a phone call from her mobile and she said that the bike had broken down. I thought F***ing hell what has she done? She said that the carburettor was flooded. I was very impressed and asked her how she knew that was the problem. To which she replied "because the bikes in the river"

I wonder if Patrick Mower owns one

If it's any help this is my 2000(w reg) divvy, notice there is a gusset seperating the fuel tank and the rear panel housing the grab handles, and also the front twin brake discs.(not obvious in the photo)

If Harley's were fitted with a B & S engine they wouldn't go very fast but they would start first time every time.

Die-Hard 2-Wheeler Group: Moderator Posts: 3,473 Joined: 16-October 03 From: Milwaukie, OR USofA Member No.: 27 Isn't the above the home of Briggs & Stratton and "The Fonz"

Bearing in mind that you have got a lot more places to go to than us, we can't go more than 5 miles before we hit a village. (No doubt I will get a few comments about the Moors, i.e. Yorkshire, Ilkley, Dartmoor. Exmoor.) I would love to just get on a bike and ride, ride, ride and ride. I'm no more happier than when me and my little lad (6'4") are going to support our local team down the motorway.

Cheers Jim, thanks for the explanation, I'm more of the TV series Heartbeat generation. Although I wasn't riding bikes then because I was in the RN my first ride as pillion was on a "Tiger Cub"? in 1964. Even now my dream bike would be an original Triumph Bonneville 750. How weird is this? My first ship was HMS Triumph

Point taken, basically it boils down to I don't know the difference between an XT and an MT.

Jim, I do presume you mean the weelie bin?

I kid you not Jim, in my last job in an agricultural engineering firm I saw one of the fitters put his bike on the centre stand, start it up and put it into first gear and while the rear wheel was spinning round he used an angle grinder to deepen the centre groove.

As a last resort if you are desperate for genuine parts try Fowlers of Bristol (01179 770466). They have a second to none mail order department, if you order before close of play you will get the parts next day. Although genuine Yamaha parts can be expensive, if like me you rely on your bike for work it can be money well spent.

For that price I would expect Pirelli to include this years calender and at least one of the girls modelling it

The most annoying part was that I live 6 miles from work, I got to within 50 feet and stopped to push it around the last corner which was treacherous, I must have been doing only about 3 mph but as soon as I touched the front brake the bike just collapsed under me causing about £60.00 worth of damage, (new indicator and mirror).

And yet I still uncovered it and went to work on it.

Notice the absent of the wheelie bin. Also amongst the sharp eyed of you, you will notice that not only the change in weather but that the the missus's change of car. From Vauxhall cavalier to a Ford fiesta.

Still confused. It's not sexuall is it?

Cheers Jim, I forgot to mention that, it's in racing green