RatBob

Sounds like someone shagged the threads at some point and had it bored and re-tapped slightly wider. I had the same thing happen to me after I bought mine, the threads were knackered so I had it helicoiled. Try iridium tipped plugs by the way - I've got some in mine and they're awesome!

Just so you know Noise, the classic has a wider front rim than the custom - if I was you I'd be so tempted to get hold of one so I could run a fat front tyre. Well done on the re-lacing anyways. Plenty of how-to videos on youtube, although I'm guessing you know that already.

My inlet manifold has perished as well, and I found an OEM replacement, but it costs £92. So I'm just waiting until I have the money to buy it. Here it is, anyway: http://www.yamahascooterspares.co.uk/spares/partImage.asp?GPN=Z:O]68:=;5555&model=&Image=&uID=0

I went through several sets of handlebars on my bobber, frisco bars, drag bars, Z mini apes, before I came across this set of Royal Enfield handlebars, and I absolutely love them! http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/ROYAL-ENFIELD-BRAND-NEW-7-8-HANDLE-BAR-IN-BLACK-/271241647885?pt=UK_Motorcycle_Parts_13&hash=item3f2743170d Very similar funky old school shape as bars on the old 1940s Harley WLs. Only bars I've found that actually have that authentic shape that you only see on the vintage bikes. They also clear the tank which is awesome. They've got a really nice feel and give a great riding position. Plus they're so cheap!

I'll have another look then, maybe I'm remembering it wrong. If it's just a single line for the fuel and a vacuum line then it will be a simple matter of blanking off the vac line. Also I've noticed that wemoto and a few others sell a part listed as a "fuel pump" - not sure why the xvs would even need one since it's a gravity fed traditional single carb motor. I'm sure it will be a fairly simple swap anyways. As for flooding, far as I know the carb would only flood if the float stopped working, so no risk of that hopefully.

I'm replacing the tank on my baby drag with one from a 1950s triumph tiger cub. I know the stock tap on the draggie is vacuum operated, and has three hoses connected to it. One of them will obviously be the vacuum line, the other one must be fuel, but does anyone know what the third line is for? Is that the prime supply? I haven't really had a chance to have a good look at where all these lines connect to the carb. As far as I'm aware, there isn't any reason why running a standard free-flow tap would be an issue, so long as the float does it's job - I believe the tiger cub tank's tap has an "off" position anyway just in case I park on a hill or at some silly angle. So I guess I'd have to blank off the vacuum line. I'm wondering though which of the two fuel lines I'd connect to the single fuel line from the tiger cub tank's tap? Or if it even matters which one? I'm assuming that one or the other would need to be blanked off. Would very much appreciate any assistance.

Not a fan of the design personally but looks like the paint was nicely laid - looks similar to a traditional Yamaha scheme from the 70s though. What sanding process do you use between coats? Are you using acrylic blue fine line masking tape for your edges or just normal white paper based tape? Are you planning on decaling this? I found my paint jobs looked a million times better once I started doing three things: 1. warming rattle cans in boiling water. (no air brush for me unfortunately) 2. sanding between coats using fine wet sanding paper and buffing with polishing compound. 3. using high quality fine line masking tape. At first the idea of sanding clear coat seemed a bit counter-intuitive but the professional look you get when it's done is amazing.

Ah well fair play then mate, 800 is bloody good heat tolerance! Oh well, now you can paint your exhausts AND your nuclear reactor. Best of luck with the pipes though. Do you have an overall design in mind for your project? I know last time I looked in on it you were going for a more traditional, timeless look.

Lets weed out the facts from the BS shall we? 1. You shouldn't be doing endos on the road anyway. A stunt bike setup should be left in the hands of professional/serious stunters, not some have-a-go-henry. The reason it's illegal is because you lemmings would be all out doing it otherwise. 2. So what if the ABS goes off? Why are you braking so hard anyway? All you're doing is gouging your discs and riding like a twat. The ABS is there to save your stupid ass when you think you're such an expert rider that you can push past your limits on a public road. 3. ABS bikes do not have a linked system, the front and rear are still separate - CBS and LBS bikes do. You don't "preload" the suspension by using brakes, that's utter bollocks. The preload is a fixed setting based on the rider's weight, not some kind of action you perform. If you're on the brakes when you enter a corner you're a complete noob. Brake THEN corner. 4. So no riding like a twat? What a shame. You want to do stunts, do it on a stunt bike in a stunt ring and save the rest of us our insurance premium. 5. You don't feel in control? So your definition of "control" is a bike that will allow you to more easily put it in a situation where you can lose control? No, sorry but that is the biggest pile of utter bollocks I've ever read. You control a bike by countersteering, body shifting, throttle and clutch, not by braking like a lunatic so that you can pull off immature stunts on public roads that give bikers a bad reputation. ABS doesn't affect your ability to wheelie, either. If your bike isn't powerful enough to wheelie on the throttle then you shouldn't even be attempting it as a stunt in a controlled area, let alone on the bloody road. ABS is there to save you on slippery roads and emergency situations. The research has been done and the technology works - just because some lawbreaking irresponsible berk thinks he knows best and he's the next Rossi doesn't change a thing.

Might be a weak/failing oil pump. When oil is cold it is thinner, when it warms up it becomes thick so that it will stick to the moving parts to lubricate them properly. If the oil pump is weak then it will not be pumping correctly and it might be that due to a lack of oil the engine is losing compression, therefore loses power and stalls. Do not run the bike in this condition, absolutely take it to a mechanic and have the oil pump checked and have a compression test done.

I dunno man, I know a guy who used to ride a Victory and he could throw that thing around! Mind you he did have an MT-01 prior to that, so that probably says something. It's not that you can't have fun on it, it's just not my type of bacon anymore. I went the other way around you see... started off loving cruisers and bobbers and realised that actually I enjoy sportier riding position and performance. I'm a bit biased because I absolutely loathe the OCC style, raked chops and fat rear tyres. To me if a bike is not really practical then it's not really rideable, but each to their own. Not everyone is as madly absorbed with purebred biking as I am. I have no beef with people who choose to ride on a fat tyre, they beat a car driver any day of the week.

Doesn't really matter how far it sits above the axle, because they have different wheel rim diameters. What matters is how far the crank is from ground, and they look about the same to me. A lower bike requires less movement to get the same angle as a tall bike, because it has a wider arc of movement. So you're a lot more likely to accidentally get the cruiser to an angle that you can't save than you are with a taller bike. I could show you the calculations for how much further in inches the FJ would have to lean to get to the same angle as the shadow, but I'm beginning to think that might be a touch pointless at this stage. This discussion has been distracted from the point and been drawn to revolve entirely around your FJ and how much of a lump it is. The general principal applies, not because I want it to, but because that's just science fact. Maybe some bikes are an exception, but mostly it's true. And no I'm not going to be giving any location information on the internet, not even to within 100 miles.

These things have a negligible effect when the majority of the weight is carried at the crankcase level. The additional weight of the heads makes little difference, because the more pistons you add, the more crank you need. If anything, a V-twin with it's shared crankpin arrangement will actually have a lighter crankcase than an inline four, where each rod has it's own crankpin. The effect of the weight higher up will move the centre of mass slightly higher, but not significantly. The weight of the engine is so massive that we're talking about perhaps an inch or two, no more. If they are both the same weight, that won't be true. The centre of gravity will be roughly the same, but the height of the FJ will give me a leverage advantage over the shorter cruiser. It will of course always be easier to lift a lighter bike regardless of how tall it is when you compare it to a heavy bike. The point is here that the only thing that is taller on a sports bike is usually the frame, seat, neck, and sometimes the tank is a fraction higher up than it will be on a cruiser. The ground clearance and engine mounting points are often roughly the same. Now compare that to a 600cc + supermoto, then we really are talking about high centre of gravity on a tall bike with a heavy engine, believe me you do not want to drop one of those. As for the video, I might actually cover it in a vlog at some point. I'm currently waiting on funds for a gopro.

Centre of gravity, or more accurately centre of mass, is calculated by using a datum point and using measurements of various weights on that object and their respective distances from that datum point. It is the unique point where the weighted relative position of the distributed mass sums to zero. It is effectively a useless calculation on a vertical mass, so it will only apply to a motorcycle within it's arc of movement. While the bike is upright on the Y axis, the centre of gravity is zero, and the number increases the closer the bike gets to the X axis, and further it gets from the Y axis. The higher the centre of mass, the more quickly that number will climb as it approaches the X axis, and the higher it's number will be when it is on the X axis. In order to measure the centre of gravity on a motorcycle, you must take the highest point of leverage, which are the handlebars, and the neck. A line can then be drawn between this point on the Y axis, and it's corresponding point on the X axis, to form the hypotenuse. This is expressed as a measurement. So if cathetus X is 44 inches and Y is 44 inches, the hypotenuse is the square root of the equation X squared + y squared, which gives us 62.2 inches. Now, let us take the FJ1200, which gives us another set of equal X and Y catheti, this time of 49 inches. This gives a hypotenuse of 69.3 inches. Since we know that the crankcase is the heaviest component of the bike, we can fairly safely assume that the height of the crankcase will dictate the centre of mass. The ground clearance of the FJ1200 is is 5.5 inches, and the ground clearance of the Honda Shadow is 5.7 inches. Since both motorcycles carry their engine on the frame, this means that the majority of the weight on both motorcycles is carried at roughly 12 inches above ground level. If we remove 12 inches from both X catheti, on the FJ and the Shadow, this gives us 37 and 32 inches respectively. This means that the hypotenuse of the FJ becomes 61.4 inches, and the Shadow 58.5 inches. As we can see, even though the FJ is a taller bike, it has roughly the same centre of mass, yet the hypotenuse is greater than that of the Shadow. This means that the Shadow has a higher relative centre than the FJ. The relative centre is actually a more important factor, because it dictates how much effort is required to keep it upright. It works in exactly the same way as a spanner, where a longer spanner requires less force than a shorter one, because center of gravity is a force that you are acting against. The pivot is your nut, and the bike is your spanner, and it moves through an arc of motion on the pivot. This is why it takes more physical effort to keep an XVS 650 upright than the equivalent weight FJ1200. The only difference is that having both feet flat on the ground allows you to distribute your weight more effectively and gives you a little more purchase on the ground surface.

I have only one thing to say to you, and that is FUCK SONNY BARGER AND FUCK HIS OPINION. He's a criminal scumbag partly responsible for founding one of the largest criminal organisations in the world. His organisation has killed, maimed and exploited tens of thousands of people since it's inception, and indirectly or directly negatively affected millions worldwide. This is an organisation that has systematically and almost single-handedly destroyed the reputation of the biker for over half a century. They have helped found a culture of refusing to wear decent safety gear that has arguably killed and maimed a vast number of people over the decades in the name of the "biker lifestyle" and aesthetics. He has absolutely zero credibility and is a blight on society, who deserves to be brought to justice for his crimes against humanity. So if you want to take advice from this Hitler-grade piece of shit, then you're more of a complete and utter bottom grade moron than I gave you credit for, Ttask.