KirriePete

What's wrong with using black heat resistant paint? Powder coat acts as insulation, whereas paint doesn't (some say it helps shed heat, maybe matt black .....) Clicky link Even BBQ paint from your local B&Q/Focus/Wherever will do the job - satin finish stuff on the nipper's TS50X exhaust looked the dog's danglies and stayed stuck on despite the heat.

Any photos?

The screw adjuster on the CBR does the same job as the snail cam on the SR - IMHO the snail cam is a superior method as it's much easier to check alignment (assuming it was put together straight at the factory, that is!). You could always just slacken off the axle and pull the wheel back as far as it will go, regardless of whether the cam is hitting it's little blob, getting the wheel straight could be fun in this case .... As for correct tension - in the bottom run of the chainguard there should be a vertical slot - with the bike on it's wheels and rider seated, the chain should be visible in this slot at about the halfway mark - seemples! Am I reading you correctly in saying that you've bought a chain tool? Shouldn't be necessary for the wee SR as most chains for these are of the split link variety - joining link held in place by a wee spring clip - so no tool required. Having said that, it will come in handy in future as bigger machines need stronger chains of the 'endless' variety so an investment now will pay off later .....

Radio link? Bloody posh that! When I did my test I went one way round the block while the examiner walked the other way smoking a fag - when he finished the fag he stuck his hand out for me to do an emergency stop (maybe he was just flicking the dogend away, now I come to think of it ....), couple of Highway Code questions and that was it. Fraz - just remember to do a 'lifesaver' every time you do anything to change position on the road and don't let the nerves get in the way - maybe a brushup lesson or two from your local instructors would help? Best of luck!

Proper Traffic - good guys (mostly), react well to intelligent, reasoned comments but will drop on you like a ton of bricks if you come across as a bellend. BikeSafe and a few escorted charity runs shows up their human side and gives an insight into how to deal with them properly. Town clowns with an eye on targets - avoid where possible, but give them the full "Yes sir, no sir" if pulled over. Any bike cop who can take this in the spirit it was meant is OK in my books:

Yeah, looks like a call to NRP for you ... PS - What is it with Zshare and the 45 second wait? Makes it a real pain in the ar$e to view any pics online, and as for embedding .... sheesh! Here's your pics dropped into my photobucket account, much easier if you ask me... Is that silicone? Looks like Araldite to me, and I should know, I keep the share price of that company abnormally high!

Huh? If the boot is on the carb stub properly then tightening the clip squeezes the rubber against the metal of the carb creating a nice tight seal (as the walrus said!). If it's distorting then the rubber can't be far enough on .... or am I missing something?

If it's only just started in this warmer weather when sat in sunlight, my first guess would be something like a fuel vapour lock in the injection system. Is there a Prime position on the fuel taps of these things, or some other way of dumping neat fuel into the system? If there is, try switching to that just for starting and then back to normal once it's running. HTH

Err, sounds like the actual carb operating diaphragms to me, the thin rubber in the carb tops that operates the slides. Only takes a slight leak here and the slides don't, errr, slide - also if they been bodged repaired with silicone they'll be too thick/heavy to operate correctly. New replacements, £32 each from NRP - Clicky Linky Thing. You're welcome

Or a big black guy named Ben:

PSSSST, Anty - you might want to try reviewing the same post you made yesterday: Click me It's only a few lines down the page in Workshop, after all ...... Just a word to the wise, know what I'm saying? Nudge, nudge, wink, wink!

Blimey! Even Bitzforbikes can't call them manifolds, they go with the snappy "Carb to Head Rubbers" - Click Me . Whereas WEMoto have an even longer title, presumably to justify a higher price! More Clickage. You're welcome

All good from GULG, except ..... an R6 on the Applecross road? My old NX650 Dominator loved it, but a sportsbike ..... ? For those that have never heard of Applecross (Monty Halls did a series on t'Beeb about the area), it's a tight, twisty, mostly single-track route that just keeps climbing - here's a piccy I shot from near the top: Stunning views though ....

Incoming PM, but to add to that - there's a whole network of Youth Hostels, cheap, clean and friendly - click me. Or you could have a go at rough camping - Scots Law on land access is quite a bit more open than English Law - plenty info on t'interweb, like this: click me HTH - bring a stack of memory cards for the camera, you won't stop taking photos .....

Looks like a 'mercan version of Redex ..... USMarine - have you checked your float bowl drain screw(s) is/are done up? If they're OK it sounds like the float needles aren't seating properly - drop bowls, clean crap, check needles aren't worn, simple! Semper fi!

I live on the east coast of Scotland - every road round here is good to brilliant (away from the A90 rat run, that is). Here's a few samples, all taken within a 30 mile radius of my house: Going up the Cairn O'Mount View from the top (see the road up?) The Slug (Crathes to Stonehaven) Coast road Stonehaven to Montrose Moulin Moor (Blairgowrie to Pitlochry) .... and my old mates from dahn sarf wonder why I choose to live in such a God-forsaken place! That's just this coast - get over to the west and it's even better! Search Youtube for Kinlochleven Loop for a wee sample ......

Why change filters? Oil: Every time you run the engine you get some wear from all the lumps of metal sliding and bashing against each other - this produces teeny tiny metal flakes that, if left to circulate, will create a nice grinding paste to wear the engine even faster. The oil filter traps these particles so they can't circulate, but eventually it gets stuffed full, stopping the oil from flowing freely - less oil, more wear. Air: The air we breath is full of dust and suchlike, this can block the passageways in your carburettor and bigger particles can get sucked into the engine where they can add to the wear. The airfilter traps this material so that your engine can breath the pure clean stuff. Over time it gets stuffed and .... imagine taping a few pairs of dirty socks over your nose and mouth then going for a 5 mile jog - that's what your engine has to do with a dirty air filter. For the sake of a couple of quid (£4 - oil, £14 - air) every couple of thousand miles .... WEMoto are a good reliable source for these kind of consumables - Clicky Linky Thingy You're welcome Clarkegray - £7.50 for a spark plug? I hope that was an Iridium one, standard NGK's are about £2.50 each .......

Did Wall-E not teach us anything? "Both hands are free so carrying packages while moving is simple." - Wow! That's something I can't do while walking ... oh ... hang on ... Honda, turning good looking fit burds into fat slappers at the press of a button. Sorry, it's Friday, the sun is shining and I'm stuck at work for another hour or so - I'm grumpy!

Would that be this one? Clicky link to Stumpy (well he is now!) the Gixxer owner Don't like blood? Don't click the link.

Stroll in to your local bike shop(s) and start trying on all the helmets in your price range. You may find you've got a Shoei shaped head (or an Arai/Caberg/Bell ......), the only way to know for sure is to try. As has been said, the intial fit should be almost too tight, but it should be equal pressure all round, no tight spots, no jabby bits - remember you're going to be wearing this for a fair old while. Do you wear specs (or sunglasses)? You'll need to be able to get them on and off without jabbing your ears. Extras like anti-fog inserts, built-in (Top Gun stylee) sun visors and so on may tip the balance between two otherwise identical helmets. Any decent bike shop will help you decide and should have someone on hand to give advice on fit etc. so get out there and shop around. HTH

Karen, All that time spent studying engineering, physics, quantum mechanics and the breeding characteristics of the 'Charm' quark, and no time at all studying Monty Python just tells me that your life has been wasted! Your punishment exercise is to learn all the words, cadence and tonal inflection for the Camp Square Bashing sketch. I expect to see a video of you performing it on Youtube by Friday or you will get an 'F'. (Just be thankful I didn't set Mr Creosote on you .....)

In other words: You're welcome *Crawls back under rock for another month or 2*

1. Get a Photobucket account from here: Click Me 2. Follow the instructions in Photobucket to upload your pics to their site 3. Pick a picture from your Photobucket and copy the , include the tags. Best to put it on a separate line all by itself. 4. Preview your post to be sure it's OK, if not check it over and see if anything is missing, then try again. Once it looks OK in preview, post it. Like this: Seemples!

For anyone that cares, here's how it went: 90 bikes, £1700 for the charity, loadsa toys for the kiddies, loadsa waves from the peds - good day despite the weather.

Before leaping in to a specific area (valves, coil and so forth), just step back and check the basics. For an infernal combustion engine to run it needs, fuel/air, spark & compression - if any of these are missing or in the wrong quantity it ain't gonna go, so .... Sparks are easy to check, big fat blue jobbies all round I assume? If not work backwards from the plugs to the coils, checking & swapping known good components as you go, duff components will reveal themselves sooner or later. You say you got it to start by spraying starter fluid - did it keep running or just 'brruumm' and die? When you turn it over, do the plugs get wet? If not, there's no fuel getting through and you need to look at that system next: Is there fuel in the tank? Sounds simple, but we've all been there (sure there's plenty gas, look ...... oh dear!). Is the fuel getting out of the tank and into the carbs? Switch tap to Prime or Reserve with the hose off - anything trickling out? If not suspect a blocked filter/tap. How long has it been sitting since last used in anger? If it's been a while then with modern fuels being the cr*p that they are, it would be a safe bet that the carbs are clagged up. Drop a float bowl and see if it's got a coating of brown (possibly gooey) varnish in it. A blast through with a can of carb cleaner and an airline may just do the job if you're lucky - unless you know someone with an ultrasonic bath.... Check all the carb rubbers (carb/airbox & carb/inlet) for cracks & possible leaks - easy if the engine's running (just spray WD40 or EZ-start at 'em and see if the engine revs up), but a visual check would be OK at this stage. That's a fairly basic diagnostic walk through, apologies if I'm "teaching Granny to suck eggs" .... HTH