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Mallory, BLOODY CHEEK!! We had good bikes Francis Barnett AJS Triumph Norton oh actually when I think about it they were a load of old crap, leaked oil everywhere and broke down in the wet/dry/sunshine/windy & even the thought of thunder made them tremble a bit, so yes we had bikes but they were and still are only good for looking at not for riding. Now horses that's a whole other story!! :biglaugha:

Ok Children this is how it is, if you don't wear a helmet your to dumb to survive and the rule of survival of the fittest comes into effect, so if your really dumb and get the chance to NOT wear you lid then anything that happens to you is your own fault, in the 60s YES that's 1960s we did not have to wear helmets in fact there was a campaign to stop the law that would force m/cyclists to wear one in the UK, if you can belive it. So ALWAYS wear your lid it might not save you from a trip to the hospital and it might not even save your life but you stand more chance with it than without, I never ride without a full lid armoured jacket and proper boots plus decent gloves plus of course when you my age if you fall off it REALLY hurts and things stop working for a lot longer. Moan over!!

Hi, This is I'm afraid NOT an answer to your question but a suggestion, if you don't do an INTRO (new member section) then most people will not talk to you, it's only polite to say Hi to strangers BEFORE asking for advice. We're not grumpy or stand off'ish just like people to say Hi first, quite a lot of ONE HIT WONDERS appear asking for advice and then disseapear never to be heard from again, unless of course they want something, not a good way to make friends and share.

Hi Nick, Welcome to the YOC, if you want advice try "THE BAR" and post this again, this area is for intros. LOTS of banter on here don't take it personal!!

Hi Murben, It might not be as bad as you are thinking, it's possible that one of the 4 floats has got stuck down and is pouring fuel into the engine via the carb inlet, sounds horrible what your describing but I think that it might not be so bad, You will have to replace the oil in the engine (contamination) before you can use it again but that is just like any other service plus you will need to replace the oil filter. What I don't understand is why the carb overflow is not working ie if your float gets stuck it should come out of the top/side of the carb and not fill the engine so check to see if one of the overflows is bunged up with crud, other than that it should be a straight forward fix to remove the carbs ( horrible job) and check that the floats are ok and the valves are working ok, don't forget to check the valve seating up inside the carb as sometimes they wear out and you will have to replace the whole thing (small pointy plastic bit with metal end and seating) that should see you up and running again, hope some of this is going to help. P.S see this is your first post on this site, we like to have an intro from new members (New members INTRO SECTION) so perhaps you would be kind enough to do that next? just say who you are where your from and what bike you got. Always nice to intro your self before asking strangers for advice don't you think?

Right on REV your only as down as you want to be!!! :biglaugha:

Hi, you should be able to start the bike with the PRE charge that it comes with, even on tickover it will charge the battery, if you leave it for a week or so the battery can run down a bit but regular engine running should be enough to keep the battery charged up, about 10/15 mins should see you alright if you do it 2/3 times a week. Also it gives you a chance to check what the alternator is putting out in the way of a charge.

Hi, NO you CAN'T, that's the simple answer cos a car charger has a different amperage to a bike charger, if you look at your car charger you will see the OUTPUT is about 1.3 to 4.5 amps but a bike one will be about 500 to 650 milliamps so if you use your car one it will cook the bike battery into a pile of crud, even if your CAREFUL it will wreck the battery cos it will be to much input for the battery to cope with. If your new battery has the seperate container of acid/distiled water pack with it then fill it as directed and connect it to your bike (it has been pre charged but the manufacturer) then start your bike and take it for a run of about 40/50 miles that should be enough for the battery to get fully up to power, that's all you need to do anything else is a waste of time. Hope that helps?

Just a quick question or 3, How are you scratching them? and how often? as mine are the same as the day I put them on, 3 years ago after respray, oh and which panels are you talking about? Do you go off road with it cos that will scratch the shit out of any panel & the only way you will avoid it is to take them off, more questions than answers I'm afraid.

Hi Karl, Would be nice if you did an intro before asking strangers questions but perhaps you would do that now? It's nice to know something about the person your talking to. Anyway your question has loads of different answers unfortunately, some cheap filters are pretty useless either not the right material or worse still badly made, K&Ns are ok but they are expensive and to be honest just because you can wash them don't make it ok to keep shoving the same filter back in you engine even they fail after a while, Yamaha filters are made for your bike and you know they will do the job plus they are not that expensive to replace, so spend a few extra quid and fit what's intended if you want your bike to run properly and stay in reasonable order, it's a false economy to buy cheap and K&Ns are for those engines that get a right hammering on a regular basis, provided you change the oil and filters at each service your bike should be ok for years. Hope that helps? P.S. NOW do your intro please.

Welcome to the YOC Dave.

HI Paul, You can tighten the head down TEMPORARILY by hand just remember to do it in sequence, opposite and across and do each nut up just a little at a time, get it pinched enough to run you home and then do a proper job when your there, DON'T be a gorilla at it you just want to get home on it and just tight enough will work for a short journey, hope you make it ok!

Welcome to the YOC chchoc.

Hi Duggy, be nice if you were to do an intro first old mate . As to your question about the spokes I think you will find that you HAVE to take ALL the spokes out and then rebuild it from scratch cos of the tension on each spoke, it's a long time since I did a rebuild but seem to remember that the only way was a complete strip and then rebuild, you CAN replace a single spoke if one get's broken but not all of them. it's something to do with keeping the wheel rim true as you tension each spoke into position, no easy answer or fix I'm afraid.

HI Jmartin, I have a Maxim Midnight 750 and an XJ (SECA) 750 and I get about 200 miles on a tank plus about 25 on reserve, it all depends what tank has been fitted to your bike, for instance on the XJ it has a large tank but the Maxim has one of these stupid little things that looks like a tear drop and only holds about 2.3 gals so as a consequence I have to fill it more often than the XJ, you can fit any of the PRE diversion tanks to your bike to increase the milage, but you will have to put up with filling up more often if your have one of the daft chopper tear drop things. My suggestion for what it's worth is to go for a bigger tank off of one of the 750 models I believe in the US you call it the SECA, that is about the only other option you have I'm afraid. If you have the manual for your bike look at the mountings for the tank, at the front you have 2 either side of the frame near the headstock ( with rubber covers) and 1 at the back under the seat with a mounting bolt, so if you go for a larger tank just make sure it has the same 3 mounting points and you should have no problem. Hope that helps? P.S. you should be getting about 60 to 65 MPG when you don't thrash it!

I have watched this on MGP for years and can honestly say that when Stoner and the other aliens do this I am in awe of their skill, the ONLY time I have done this is when I am actually falling off!!

This is sexist and abusive to women in general --------------------- do you have any more?

HI Russell, Welcome to the YOC.

Welcome to the YOC BW, nice to have new people on board.

Ok Mike it looks like you need to look at the jetting on your bike, as the years are a bit different between the bikes there will probably be some differences in the jet sizes so look in your manual (hope you got one!) and see what the recomended jet is for your bike then have a looksee in the carb and see what you actually have if it's different to the standard one there is the probable end to your problem but if it's spot on then try adjusting your ignition to make it run a bit leaner, not to lean or you will burn out your piston, other than that you could try a slightly smaller jet to reduce your consumtion but after that I suggest you swap bikes with your son in law, he might not like it but you will save a bundle (joke). Honestly after all that you might try talking to your local Yam dealer to see if he has an idea as to what your next move might be, perhaps if you lay flat to the tank you can reduce your fuel consumption, you'll look a total tit but think of the money your saving, (ok that was another joke. I shall stop now). Ask your son in law to ride your bike and see if he has a lower fuel use, he might coast down hill's and such thus saving wear and tear and fuel, you never know it's the small things that make a difference some times. Hope some of that helps and you fogive the bad jokes at your expence? :biglaugha:

You could always lookup REEVU helmets, believe it or not they make a helmet with built in rear view mirror. it's all internal so you don't look like some twat with horns on your head, just a thought. P.S. they are a bit expensive tho, their carbon fibre one is 2 grand WTF! thats outrageous.

Take the plug out, do you have compression? Take the head off is there a piston and what does it look like? Take the barrel off is there a con rod? You can work it out from there on your own I expect. No simple answer other than what AIRHEAD suggests, your just gonna have to get your hands dirty/oily. P.S. not taking the piss, this is just the wonderful world of motorcycling.

Might be your style of riding that does it, if your heavy on the throttle then you will get less mileage but 20 mpg more on your son in law's bike might mean that you need to adjust your carb settings, it might be running a bit rich and that would make your mileage worse as you use more for every mile you travel. Just a thought but what do you weigh? It could just be that your bigger than him so more weight to move means more petrol/gas to get it shifting, plus do you have a windshield or some other thing attached to your bike that he does not that could make a big difference to how the bike runs, just a thought really as with out a comparison just shooting wild as to what the problem if any might be.

HI Cyl, Some do offer insurance with new bikes but it's not always the cheapest deal, get a quote BEFORE you go and see what they can offer, if all else fails then try for a few freebees, helmet/gloves/boots/jacket anything you can swing out of it will be a bonus, so go in with the idea that your NOT going to buy unless there is a sweetener and make it plain that there are other dealers out there and see what he says, the worst that can happen is you end up with just a bike and that's what you went for anyway.

Ok I see what you mean now, I would suggest that you look for a second hand cluster or as I said before look for some thing off of another bike, if you go for another bike cluster you can make up a bracket to fit and then mount the new one onto the bracket that shoulkd give you loads of room to find one you like rather than pay 400 bills for something that is right but expensive. I would phone round your local breakers or use the net to see what's out there, I happen to have a full set of clocks for an XJ900 in my garage but as we are 3000 miles apart not a lot of good to you. So to recap make up a bracket that spans across the original holes/mounting points that has a 90 degree bend in it so you can drill it to fit anything you like the look of, then go find said clocks and connect them up. It might be an idea to ask your local Yammie dealer/mechanic what he/she would suggest as an alternative to the originals, he/she has probably seem all sorts of horrors that people have done to their bike and might be able to suggest an alternative, one thing you need to do is make sure the speedo cable thread that goes to the clocks will tighten up ie it has the same thread, as theres nothing worse than getting it all fitted to find that that damn things have different fittings. Hope some of that helps mate and perhaps you would let me know how you get on as it's always nice to find out if your ideas are great or total crap, ride safe. P.S. DON'T forget to do an intro, some will not talk to you till you do, they like to know who they are talking to.