KirriePete

Let's see ..... Carb - evilbay, local breakers, the lads up at Breaking Point (Clicky Link wossname here) have a good stock of this sort of thing and are quite quick on the postage front. Or you could try filling the stripped thread hole with JB Weld or similar and drilling/tapping a new thread - it's not as if it's under any great stress, is it? Front brake - difficult to make out from the pics (nice looking wee bike, by the way), but the cable looks to be near the limit of the adjuster, so it could be your shoes are nearly knackered (or the cable's stretched beyond reasonableness!). Inspect and replace as needed. Or it could just be a rubbish brake - half-width hub an' all that! Speedo - start with the cable and work up to the speedo - probably a snapped cable. Tyres - I popped one of these on the lad's TS - looked OK and gripped well enough for him to scrape the pegs (on a trailie 50 - yikes!) - Clicky Link to WEMoto. Oh yeah, on a 'ped you only need visible tread to pass the MOT, so as long as the pattern could be seen ..... HTH

A 60cc big bore kit (yes, they do make them, dunno why when 70 or 80 costs about the same ...) would give you a bore of 43mm against the standard 39mm, so a quick lift of the head will easily check that. As for the legality, play dumb, as far as you know it's a 50, that's what the guy sold it to you as, that's what it says on the log book, you've got no reason to suspect anything different, no idea how to check anyway, etc ...... When my lad started out, the first thing I did was to put a 70cc big bore onto his Suzuki TS50 and set it up to pull 55-60 (with my fat ar$e pinning it down) - as far as I know it's still doing the biz now, 4 years later ... last seen smoking away from the traffic light grand prix in Aberdoom. No way on God's green earth would I let anyone out on to the roads with only a strangled 35mph machine under them - it's dangerous enough out there even when you can (just) keep up with the homicidal maniacs in cages, but wobbling around in the gutter ..... shudder!

The only thing a flashing indicator tells you for certain is that the bulb and relay are working. All else is guesswork and conjecture - far better to practice reading the 'body language' of the vehicles around you ... every time I avoid an incident before it's developed (in the car) my missus keeps asking me how I knew THAT car would pull THAT particular stupid stunt, and she's an Advanced driver! Some phrases that went through my head on a 60 mile drive just yesterday afternoon: "I've got no idea what you're up to sunshine, so I'll just hang back a bit" "Blind lefthander, lots of 4x4's on the road, let's just move a bit left ..... ooh look, he's cut it, quelle surprise!" "Slow, erratic, keeps tapping the brakes at every junction ... he's lost, watch for the sudden stop/U-turn" "Pleasant Sunday afternoon, Doris and her pals are out in force, let's play 'Dodge the Micra'" Build up a repertoire of thoughts like this and you'll survive longer, be less tense on the road and be able to do a Stallone Judge Dredd impression every now and then .... "I knew you were gonna do that!".

The clutch should be pretty light on these - what state is the cable in? Also check the routing of the cable, get it wrong and you're fighting physics all the way.

Voice of sanity here - why not just replace the 100/90 with a 90/90? Bound to be cheaper than replacing the wheel with all the unknown hassles involved there. Or is it just me that thinks this way?

Gel pads are the way to go, popped one in to my old XBR500 when I recovered the seat a while back - lovely squishy botty comfort, good for a full tank (200 miles) with no aches or pains. If you don't fancy building one in, you can always get her a strap-on (ooer!). Got mine from here, good prices, quick service You're welcome.

Doctor, doctor, I've broken my arm in 2 places. Well, don't go to those places!

Ariel Arrow (field bike) Puch Maxi (x2) Gilera stepthru with teeny-tiny 10" wheels (larf? I did!) Garelli something-or-other stepthru Suzuki FR80 Honda CB200 MZ250 Supa5 (Red, new, SMIDSY'ed at 5 weeks old) MZ250 Supa5 (Blue, 2nd hand, Honda TLS front brake so it wouldn't get SMIDSY'ed so easily) Honda CM250T Yam XS250 Yam XS750 . . . 5 year gap while doctors figure out my inner ear problem . . . Honda CX650E BMW K100 Honda NX650 } Honda XBR500 }Can you tell I went through a 'singles' phase? Suzuki GN400 } Honda NTV650 plus Yam SR125 currently in the shed. 19 Bikes in 35 years, one write-off, the rest left me in running order ... even the horrid XS250 which should have been crushed straight out of the factory gates!

Random thoughts on a Thursday morning .... Gas overflowing - recheck the float heights and take a good look at the float needle valve(s) - the tips may be worn allowing gas to seep past even if the heights are OK. Power - the symptoms sound like a major misfire to me, probably on the left pot. It is running on both cylinders isn't it? The safe test is to splash water on the exhaust downpipes when it's running (badly) and see if both steam off - the unsafe test is to touch the downpipes to see which one doesn't take the skin off your hand. How fresh are the spark plugs? When it's running like a dog, try pulling the left plug cap off (wear rubber glovesjust to be safe) and see if it makes any difference, if it doesn't then you've got a 200cc single! White smoke - I'd normally associate the white stuff with water-cooled motors, you sure it's not just steam from exhaust pipe condensation as the left pot chimes in? Overfuelling usually gives black smoke, burning oil is blue but you can occasionally get white smoke from bad valve seals/worn stems where the oil isn't burnt so much as vapourised and spat straight out the exhaust. Just pray it isn't that! HTH

A few random thoughts: 1. Balancing the carbs without first setting the valve clearances is a waste of time - once you've done the valves you'll need to recheck the carb sync again. b. An electrical breakdown when the mill gets hot would surely affect the bike regardless of uphill, downhill or whatever, so I'm dubious about that. iii. Fuelling - could be some crap in the fuel tank blocking the outflow when you go uphill? Or something blocking the cap vent? Try running with the cap loose/open & see what happens. x. Check everything that could move when going uphill - HT leads, LT wires, fuel pipes etc to see if something may be shorting out, or kinking a fuel pipe or anything like that. Loose choke flap? Bit of rag or similar under the seat covering the air intake? Like I say, just some random thoughts .....

From the top down: Warm(ish) & dry(ish) weather: Caberg Justissimo flippy lid Rayven leather jacket Frank Thomas unlined gloves Draggin' Jeans Altberg Hogg Boots (highly recommended, very comfy) Plus a one-piece Lidl wet weather romper suit in the topbox to go on top if it rains while I'm out. Cold(er) & wet(ter): Same lid Frank Thomas textile jacket (plus inner liner if really cold) Spada something-or-other lined gloves Lidl's finest padded troos Same boots Works for me .....

A grand for a glorified C90 engine? I haven't paid that much for a whole bloody bike, let alone an engine! If it were me I'd go down the DT125/175 route if only for the look of the thing - you do know that the pitbike engine will hang down around your ankles and leave a huuuuuuuge gap up to the tank, don't you? As for reliability, as others have mentioned, these hopped-up engines are designed for short bursts of speed, not prolonged road use .... it may prove to be as reliable as the Cagiva engine mentioned further up this thread. Or .... blasphemy time .... get your hands on a Suzuki GP125 mill, the last of the great aircooled stinkwheels, did a realistic 80 out of the crate and could survive the hamfisted attentions of most teenage bodge artists of the time .... or a Kawa KH125 - they made them for bloody years so there's thousands of the wee buggers laying about and they're tough as old boots .... or a Yam RS/RXS 125 .... All of these stinkwheel singles were the sort of motors the Japs could churn out with their eyes shut, simple, rugged, reliable, easy to work on and tune, vast amounts of spares lying around, oh yes, they look good as well. Go on, you know you want to!

Was away to type a 'War and Peace' rant on the difference between Chequebook Riders and OilyFingers, but I can't be ar$ed - I'm away out to the shed to hammer the front brake on the wee SR125 until it frees up, then I'll bodge it with gaffa tape sort out the seals and pistons, replacing with new parts where necessary. Some people don't want to know or don't have the aptitude to learn, others do. People are different, get used to it.

Battery got a good charge? If in doubt, whip it off and stick it on a decent charger for an hour or two. If it's been sat for 3 months with fuel in the carbs it's a fair bet that some of the jets will be clagged up with that lovely varnish-like residue. You might be lucky and get away with a good blast of aerosol carb cleaner down the intake and up from the float bowl - if not then a good soak in carb cleaner/paraffin and a blast through with compressed air should do the trick. HTH OH yeah - the choke is working OK, isn't it?

Came home yesterday to find this in my back garden: PDIL (Prospective Daughter-In-Law) dropped it in for a wee fettle, how nice! Since getting through the MOT last November, the poor wee thing has sat in her (mildly damp) garage and not turned a wheel! So ..... flat battery, stale fuel, stuck throttle cable and more nibbling by the ferrous fairies: Battery charged, fuel drained and a squirt of carb cleaner, throttle slide turned round the right way (no I don't know how that happened either!), ready to start ..... Errr, where's the button? Looking on the devil's own auction site comes up with a lot of late model right side switches, but they don't have the light switch. However there is one from an SR250 that looks like it's a match - anyone know if that's the case? Or can I just Araldite a lump of plastic (old rawl plug or similar) and walk away? Apparently she's thinking of selling it anyway - anyone care to put a value on it? BTW - a prod with a screwdriver got it fired up on the first attempt, no worries!

Downside is when you get to A&E and 3/4 of the staff leg it .....

Have to admit my first post (Link here for the curious) was seeking advice, but it had a whole lot more background detail and info (plus pics) than the recent influx of "My bike's broken, tell me how to fix it" posts. So here's a template for all newbies with a problem: Hi, I'm Luke Skywalker from Tatooine. I've just started training as a Jedi and need a bit of info on light-sabres, coz my MkII green'un is a bit limp, and I was told this is the place to come. I hope you don't mind me picking your brains, but if it all works out I will be a full Jedi Master in short order and will be more than willing to help train novices in future. See? Polite, bit of intro, inferred promise to hang around and add to the forum, plus you get to air your problem(s). Seemples!

How clear is the exhaust? Might be worthwhile giving the pipe a decoke so the engine can breathe out as well as it breathes in. If the baffles are removable, take them out and clean off all the black crap (wire brush, copper scraper, poke screwdrivers through blocked holes etc..), then take the entire pipe off the bike, block the outlet with half a potato and fill it with a (fairly strong) solution of caustic soda - you should be able to get it from B&Q and the like. Be careful with this stuff, it's won't do you any good if/when it gets splashed on your skin and it eats some alloys, keep a bucket of water handy to wash off any splashes. While the pipe is off, take a look up the exhaust port and see if it's coked up - wire brush on a Dremel is your friend here - just make sure the piston is covering the port so no crap can get into the barrel. Leave the pipe standing full overnight, empty the crap out the next day (in an environmentally responsible manner, naturally), flush the pipe through with clean water then squirt a load of WD40 down it to clear the water. Reassembly is the reverse of the removal procedure (as they say in Haynes-speak).* See Note below Definitely get the oil pump leak sorted, you could be getting air bubbles in the feed which will mean starving the big end of much needed lube - this is not a good thing. HTH Edited to add Note * - don't forget to take the spud off the end of the pipe - don't be tempted to make chips with it afterwards, they would not taste nice or do you any good.

Too much Red Bull? Maybe donky is related to this young man? Donky, a wee point to note, if you're promoting a product it's a good idea to get the name of the product somewhere in your verbal explosion ....

Sorry to piss on your chips, but ... not absolutely false, but not the absolute truth either - Snopes is your friend. Hat, coat, exit stage left .....

Nor would I, the front brake does most of that (80/20 in the dry 60/40 in the wet) To do what? Tighten the adjuster? Nope, just twiddle the nut on the end of the rod (righty-tighty, lefty-loosey). Check the shoes? If you want an actual look at them, yes. Shouldn't need to remove the arm from the spindle unless you're looking to move it round. To get the back wheel out, just: a. Undo the torque arm (that bar linking the brake plate to the swing arm) 2. Undo the brake rod adjuster nut all the way and off, the rod will slip out of the arm when you pull the wheel back. iii. Undo and remove the spindle, whip the chain off and wiggle the wheel out from under the mudguard (TIP - put the bike on the centre stand on a plank of wood to give a wee bit more clearance). Once the wheel is off the brake plate just pulls straight out (may take some wiggling if a lip has built up over the years). You can then inspect the shoes for 'meat' left and also give the drum a clean out - a wipe with a clean rag and some brake cleaner is good - do not inhale any of the dust, they stopped using asbestos years ago, but any fine dust like this is not going to do your lungs much good. If you really, really want to take the arm off, undo and remove the pinch bolt then pop a BFOS (Big F*** Off Screwdriver) in the gap and lever it open a bit, you should be able to wiggle it off the spindle OK, take a note of the position it was in first so you can put it back the same way. Legal disclaimer - any advice given here is on the strict understanding that if it all goes FUBAR it's not my fault. If you're big enough to ride motorcycles, you're big enough to make your own mind up and I ain't holding a gun to your head, am I?

Is the 'bendy bit' the bit in the middle of the ring I've drawn (badly) here: ??

Within ½ an hour of MK - kinda restricted there - most online shops are actually run by humans you know and these days it's pretty much the only way to go, unless you've got a good local dealer (who will probably source all their parts from the same online shops anyway!). WEMoto are as good as you'll get for most stuff, online but you can phone them as well - Click me or phone 0845 0292929. Or there's always Fowlers in Bristol - again online Clicky Link or phone 0117 977 0466. HTH

A few random thoughts: So your spark is good - you've got good compression? Thumb over the plug 'ole when kicking will give you an idea, drop a teaspoon of 2T oil down the plug 'ole and try again - if the compression improves you could have sticky rings - a squirt of WD40 down the plug 'ole may improve matters in that case, or it's a top end strip. Modern unleaded is shite - leave it sitting for a while and it turns to cat's piss. Some engines don't care, but others (generally the more highly-strung ones) just can't use it. So, empty the fuel into your lawnmower (unless it's electric, which would be A Bad Thing), drain the piss out of the carb and then get a gallon of fresh stuff into the tank and carb. Choke on, ignition off, one kick to prime it. Ignition on, choke on, kick & pray. Still not running? Air intake boot off the carb, drop float bowl, squirt carb cleaner into and through the carb. Pour a bit of Redex carb cleaner into the float bowl before putting it back together, then try a restart. If it goes the Redex will give you a smoke screen to hide a WWII battleship, so don't do it if the neighbours have their washing out on the line! (Unless you hate them in which case give it the full Dr Evil maniacal laugh) If it still won't go then you're looking at a proper carb clean - know anyone with an ultrasonic bath big enough for your carb? HTH

Lots of travel on the pedal? The actuating rod has an adjuster nut on the end, just tighten it up until you get the pedal travel you feel comfortable with, or tighten it until the brake locks on then back it off a couple of turns. You should also note the angle between the rod and the brake arm, for maximum efficiency this should be as near as dammit 90 degrees (right angle) when the brake is applied - if it goes beyond this then it might be worth having a look at the shoes to see how worn they are. If the shoes have got plenty meat on them but the arm angle is still wrong, you can move the actuating arm round on it's spindle until it's right, but ONLY if the shoes are OK! HTH (Edit for spooling mistoks - damn my fat fingers!)