Campaman

Right thinking about the petcock, could it be that its not original and is a replacement that is not giving you the range that a standard one does. You could fill the tank then drain it into cans to determine that you are getting the 4.4 US gallons in it. If the tank is original and holds what its supposed to then you either have crap miles per gallon and that means the bike needs attention, or the reserve is kicking in at the wrong time = wrong petcock. What are the positions available for your petcock? Mine is down for on, up for reserve and off in the middle, has yours got similar markings or does it have a prime position?

If you think its the gasket, then replace with just a new one and new bolts, I wouldn't put an extra one in that's just giving it another extra gap through which it can blow again.

Go to your nearest Mc Donalds, look out for a very large Mc Donalds eater and get them to sit on the back, might help.

Have you tried a comparison site such as MCN Compare ? And an introduction in the New Members area will probably yield more help.

Yeah I am in Harborough, and the wife opened me a Facebook account but I don,t use it.

Hi I am in Leicestershire, where abouts are you? World of Bikes at Corby have a Dragstar Classic in at the moment, its not far over the border dependent on where in Leics you are.

As I said above giving out any information regarding removing an alarm on a public forum is not the done thing, even if you have removed the actual alarm the fact that you can not easily re-connect the existing wiring is also the point of a security system.

4.4 gallons full, 0.8 gallons as reseve, so you should be able to get 3.6 gallons in when you fill from reserve so you seem to be around a gallon out. Are you filling to the bottom of the filler neck by looking into the tank, or just shoving the pump nozzle in and letting it auto stop?

I would think the wiring with the black & white squares is the datatool wiring, and the idea is that someone can't easily remove the alarm, I think you may need to get a official datatool dealer to sort it, unless someone can help her via PM as it wouldn't be a great idea to put up on a public forum how to disable and remover an alarm.

A quick google search clearly finds that the standard tank on a 1100 Virago will hold 4.4 Gallons (16.8 litres), so unless your bike does not have a standard tank then it should hold that.

Hi and welcome you lucky sod, being given a free bike. I had an XJ600 from new when they first came out, one of my favourites.

Yep I like that. Are you keeping the rear pegs as an alternative foot position?

I have to wiggle my bars as I turn the key in the steering lock to get it to engage

I have a 650 engine, but I can't let you have it as my bike wont go without it.

Same here, Firefox 98% of the time and google chrome the other 2% mainly for my Googlemail account and Google docs. I try to use as little Microduff stuff as possible, Ubuntu at home on the laptop, have to use Windoze at work, but use LibreOffice and other non Microduff software.

You need to put either a threaded insert or a helicoil into that hole to sort the thread out. A decent mechanic should be able to do this fairly cheaply for you.

And you leave a bigger gap so not as much spray, but then you get another nob overtake you to fill the gap because they have to drive attached to the bumper of the car in front, so then you leave a bigger gap and some nob.........

Might not be this as you have already had it running, but on my old one from new, you had to make sure that the choke was all the way out, sometimes it felt as though it was all the way out but there was a little bit more. Would also take out a plug and check for a spark to rule out ignition problems.

Don't think its the A series engine, the car looks like an early Triumph Spitfire so its probably the Triumph 1200 lump.

Need to see some pictures of this bike, I like my Dragstar but the XJ600 is the favourite of the other bikes I have had, and was wondering what all this check the drive shaft was about as I clearly remember mine had a chain. When I first got is my mates had 750's, and the joke was who was going to tow me up to 120 on the way to the Isle of Man, well they got a bit of a surprise on that one :-)

Yeah but you fell off, surely that's a fail? :-)

Unfortunately there are so many scum bags wanting to rip people off its always wise to check everything is correct your self any way. And don't get me started on scrap dealers...

Mudguards are only part of the MOT if they are fitted, but to be road legal you need mudguards, the police can pull you for not having any and I would assume that it could make your insurance invalid. The MOT is a safety check and does not always check everything that makes you road legal.

Looking good, think you may need mudguards of some sort though as the bike is not road legal without them

Definitely new pads required, then send the bill to your neighbour. Mind you I have seen worst, one of my mates was changing the pads on his Peugeot 106 and he put copperslip on the face of the pads, luckily he only got out of his drive before he realised he had zero brakes.