Noise

Im with Gizzy on this, the XVS is a much better bike. Better looks, better motor (albeit near enough the same) The XV535 just suits tassels studs and all things ugly Just my opinion

Well folks. Betty is not well she has developed a tappy/knocking sound under load (first start up then only when i accelerate) I have check all of the external areas of the engine and frame to see if its a loose bolt or a dead rabbit in the warp drive system but nothing so the rattle / tappy/ knocking sound is defiantly internal. I done an oil + filter + spark plug change yesterday and i have to say it i have been a bit of a twat to old Betty. when i stripped her down i was going to do the oil and filter then but didn't for some reason and when i drained the oil it was jet black and there was only 3/4 of a liter of oil in there, not the 3ish liter that there should be. So, now that Grouch has Grouched me Betty will be coming off the road in the next two months when her Tax runs out so i can strip the engine to figure out whats gone groucho on me. So anyone got any ideas what could have gone on? and any thing i should keep and eye out for? like tale tale signs of any thing else that could blow Many thanks N

yer i agree its a nice mod, but its not with out its flaws. Sadly even tho the amount for rubber that will be on the road is minimal it will still be more than what was designed for the bike to handle and the grip will be a lot more. How big are you thinking of going? If your only going for a few inches wider then you should be ok, but with the extremes of changing the swing arm, sprockets etc etc it really will not be worth it mate. Better off getting a bigger bike with more grunt to cope with the extra every thing this mod will bring

Hi mate, it's probably more work than its worth especially for a 125. With the extra grip and weight of the wheels you will loose acceleration and top end speed as the motor will not have the grunt to pull the bike along. Any who if you really wanted to do it then the swing arm needs to be wider, sprockets need to be pushed out on a proper arm, as for a bigger front wheel then wide slab yokes needs to be bought and possibly new steering head bearings. But again with such a small engine the loss out weighs the gains

Noise was my nickname when I served in the army as everyone pronounced my last name as racket. but it's actually French and is spelt Raquet and if you think of Mrs bucket from the show keeping up appearances when she pronounces her name poshly thats how my name is said. Also my bike is a noisy thing

Looks like a quality build there mate! keep up the good work

That seat looks more comfy than mine on the draggy. lol

Happy Birthday Merv.

Mmmmm candyflooooosssssss also on the subject of food. watching TV there is a chief on and advert who sticks a CHICKEN stock cube onto a CHICKEN breast!??? Now correct me if im wrong but i thought CHICKEN tasted like CHICKEN and required no extra CHICKEN in order to make it taste like CHICKEN. Where on the instruction Manuel does it say "Add chicken for a chicken flavor" Its like the next Horse meat scam, just with chicken that you have to add extra chicken in order to get that chicken taste!

Keep calm, have fun, and keep your head up. Put it this way, you can ride a bike as your going to have to ride to the test station, you just need to have a ride out with some other bloke in order to pick up your certificate And good luck.

What do you call a dinosaur with one eye? Doyouthinkhesoreus How many woman dose it take to change a light bulb? Best not to ask as it will take a week for them to tell you the ins and outs of how they done it on emmerdale.

Mohammad has started his own business selling bombs disguised as prey mats, he says profits are hitting the roof!

If i had the money id get a Brough Superior. Such a sexy mechanical looking bike. But sadly at £250,000 i would need to win the lottery http://www.bikeexif.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/brough-superior-2.jpg But as the same a Foamy (yet again) id build my own but using a 2013 Vmax motor with a supercharger

Just so that i don't forget (like i normally do) happy birthday for tomorrow Bip, hope you have a good day, o and if you get sick of the Foamy chocs i have some strategically placed strawberries and cream Hey foams shall we do a surprise ride to Bips house in the buff? but im not following you on the Blade, not really up for staring at your crack when your hunched over the tank

No Mate just a bit too much red bull after karate last night, still pissing green now lol

Well guys and Gals, When Mallory1 posted his thread titled "not dead yet" (or similar) he raised a good question which was "whats the purpose for blue belly button fluff?" So this got me thinking?? what are the other life's big questions and could we answer them? Seeing that we are bikers and men of men (or the ladies) and as Al Murry the pub land lord rightly proved after 2-3 pints we are able to tap into the 90% dormant brain cells and can answer pretty much any thing. SO............. My question/s are: Can you boil an Egg in a kettle? And why do boogies look like crap but taste OK?

How long you been doing that for? where about's in Hampshire are you? not pompy are you! Yer it wasn't too painful just started to sting a fair bit when it popped. Still i have achieved what i set out to do and that was to get Purple, granted getting a black belt would be good but i wanted to set my goals lower so anything higher would be a bonus.

Mallory cheers for that rule book! will be using that when my daughter is old enough. tho i have told my wife that my little girl is not dating until she is 35.

Yer some times i wonder how she's lasted 9 years with me, i try my best to revolt her but she just stands by me shakes her head and carries on

Hi Grave, Just checked the VOSA check list and if your pipes "had" the E mark one them and do not exceed 99DbA then you'd pass. im not saying try and get a E stamp and stamp your pipes and check that they don't exceed 99DbA with the DB meter on apple / android app market Its a shame you have to find a set of standard pipes just for this one test as the MOT stations don't check for the amount of noise they produce as they know as soon as you get home your take the stock pipes off etc. Have your tried Ebay?

thankfully she wasn't badly hurt, and that the wheel locked up other wise i would think she would have come off a shit load worse.

Also let them know when your going to give it some shit so they can prepare............ Not like this guy. Poor girl! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GU_edukfngE

Im no where near 40 yet and when i get there im not going to be grumpy, just a whole lot more annoying than i am now! As for life insurance, im with a company called Friends for life. I used to be with Aviva when in the Army but canceled it after i was discharged but now i have a daughter and a wife i re took one out for there sake, also have critical illness insurance and another insurance (can't think what its called) but if i loose my job or im off long term sick they pay up to £1000 a month for 12months towards my mortgage etc. Well worth looking into for those............"YOU NEVER KNOW" moments in life. PS blue belly button fluff is there to shut the wife up for a minimum of 5 minutes when she see's you stick it in your mouth! bit gross for you but feck me is it worth it!

also helps if they are lighter than you! my first pillion was my best mate, im only a smidge over 10 stone and he is a rugby player coming in at about 18-19 stone....................was an interesting ride all be it only round the block. also i agree with Kirrie Pete

Well a little non motorbike related topic (but i did use the bike to get to the location) Last Sunday i traveled down to Taunton in Somerset to Grade for my next belt in Karate which now makes me a 4 kyu purple belt in godu / shotocan Karate. My next belts will be Brown, then next will be black where i will start learning all over again. Bit of a painful one this time as on the ride down i managed to burn a hole in my combat trousers and grow a blister on the back of me Knee which soon popped when i was kicked in the back of the leg. Still was a cracking day out and managed to shave a few more mm off the bottom of my foot pegs which was both fun and shit scary at the same time. Was also told off by another biker when i stopped at the shop for a drink who's words of advise was "you ride a cruiser not a sports bike, so start riding it like one"