beef

when you got the bike was it second hand, reason i ask is i think you are now suffering from the few years of abuse it has had at the hands of young learners who dont give a shit about their bike. i have seen some shocking small bikes and scooters over the last few years, all mainly owned by young lads or new riders who just didnt give a shit and who had an attitude of 'so fucking what' its the old one of fix one problem and two more pop up.. you obviously do care and want the bike right. so get your tyre sorted and then as you have said in the other thread do the basic maintenance, weekly checks, and minor repairs as you find they need doing. you have to be over the hill with the major issues now. and remember we are all here to help, advise, and take the piss, and congratulate you

there are flexible paints available, depends what colour you want. http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_trksid=p5197.m570.l1313&_nkw=flexible+spray+paint&_sacat=0&_from=R40

to be honest i have not refitted this master cylinder. i have fitted a brand new unit i got of ebay. but the rebuild kit is £18 delivered, it contains all the bits needed to replace the internals. this master cylinder was off my cx500. and i needed a new brake light switch, couldnt find the one i need and found the replacement cylinder for £20 delivered.

it may or it may not, but the guy who showed me to strip and clean carbs always said one at a time

not sure about that but i was taught to do one body at a time to avoid mixing the parts up and putting them back in the wrong body.

go have a look at the 'are you willing to help thread' there are a couple of us in manchester willing to help. where are you? am in oldham

its also very similar to the one on the z. you can see the z hiding under the cover in the back ground. have had a look and all i can see is the it in the 2010 section where it says how it started. then i cant see a write up or any more info on the rear end or seat unit fitment. or am i just missing it?. i have already cut the rear end down at the rear of the loop, just not cut the loop out. i have offered them up, and it will be a lot of work to get them to fit, buuuuuut i know a man with a shop. mmmmmm i think i might oh and i dont think the are aprilla forks just some chinky 250 ones that my mate had in his yard and was going to bin..

well i aint done much to the xs, reasons being have been sorting out a few bits with my recently aquired cx500, have been helping my mate sort his gt550 and have had no money. i have received the seat unit and sat it on the bike and had a measure and figure out of what needs doing to make it work. it will need triming and a base making to make it work just right but it is the unit for the bike have decided on the colours, red and black. the red will be for the grafix, that are currently gold and white, and possibly a racing strip on the tail unit. i think i might also metal flake the red. the frame, fork lowers, yokes, swing arm, risers, side stand will all be powder coated black engine will be painted silver. seat pad will be black with red piping. and i am undecided on the wheels. dont know if i should powber coat them black or paint them black and red?

they have done the work, let them look at it before some one else. that way they cant say it wasnt them.

is it just the throttle cable?? if so local bike shop. take the old one with you and they should find a suitable replacement might not be a xvs one but they should sort you out. where abouts are you?

a guy i played rugby with had one of these on his car, put his keys in the valuables bag and then it got put behind bar, something in the bag must of pressed his key as it started the car and it was running for ages as he only discovered it was running when we came off the pitch at the end of the game and walked back to the changing rooms..

do you mean the ones that are clamped to the bars next to the hand controls.. http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_nkw=harley+davidson+indicators&_sacat=14780&_odkw=mini+indicators&_osacat=14780&_from=R40 if you do then they are just standard indicators that are mounted on clamps on the bars. i had them on my ironhead. were ok but made the bars look very busy. as there was a clamp and then the wires as well.

2wheels, i never reuse brake fluid, even if its just been bled through new lines, for the cost of the fluid and the fact it could pick up any dirt as it passes through and then re-enter the system just to save a couple of quid.. i put that line about you can reuse if you want because there will some one who will say 'oh reuse the old stuff, i have for umpteen years and never had any issues' i will post a pic of the old and new fluid later. and these little how to's are ment at the novice home mechanic and to try and save a few quid,and learn a little bit to look after their bikes. it is mainly in response to some recent threads on here and other foums about ''how do i....'' so as i do some of the things to my bikes i will post them on here. i will be doing a coolant change, an oil chainge, a drive shaft oil change, handle bar swap and some other bits over the coming weeks as i prep the bike for the euro road trip.

there is another rubber cap over the end ot the spring to get this out i put a long allen key in the far end of the slide and gently tap it until the cap pops out. watch out for the spring. and as you can see its all a little bit crusty and rotten. now you can clean these parts, i use brake cleaner and a tooth brush and a rag. give it a good spray and brush and wipe. i also cleaned inside the M/C and the slide husing. note the holes at the bottom of the M/C. dont stick a nail or pin or what ever in there. use the straw that goes with the cleaner to blast the crap out of there. along with the tooth brush. and yes i noticed the spring was the wrong way around. thats why i take step by step photo's. it went back in the right way though. now you can re assemble the slider. dip the parts in a little clean brake fluid prior to reinstalling them. put them back in the right order and then as you put the circlip on you will need to push the bits in as the spring will push them back out. then put the top half of the master cylinder on and then put it back on the bike and then bleed the brakes..

this is a how to clean a master cylinder. firstly protect the bike with a rag, in case of spillage. empty the M/C. I use a syringe. then remove the banjo bolt, note the washers. the undo the handle bar clamp and carefully remove from the bike. now this is where things will vary, get yourself the correct haynes manual for your bike and follow the instructions. now remove the brake lever. mine had a nut underneath. red arrow. and one on top, red arrow next step for me was to remove the top half of the M/C. undo the two screws, arrowed with the green arrows. this took some pulling and a little gentle prying but it did come off. now its time to remove the slide assembly. remove the rubber dust cover/ boot. mine wasnt there as it had rotted, if you are not replacing the parts carefully remove it, if you are replacing the parts then just grip it with some pliers and pull it out ensuring that you get the wire ring that is at the bottom of it. remove the circlip, red arrows show the ends, for this you will need some long nosed circlip pliers. then with a little pull of the end of the assembly it should come out

this is a how to on bleeding front brakes. firstly put a sheet over the bike to protect it in case of spillage, this was a brand new master cylinder. so was empty. and sheet is not in these pics as these are from when i fitted it. 1 remove the top of master cylinder. mine has two screws, careful not to chew these up. 2 then remove the top and any other bits inside. like these. 3 remove this rubber diaphram 4 connect the bleed pipe to the nipple and loosen off the nipple about one and half turns. be careful not to chew up the nipple and if it aint moving then squirt it with some penetrating spray and go for a brew and then come back note the fluid that is in the tube as the pressure was released. thats why i connect the hose before loosening the nipple. 5 this is the bleed set up. its an easy bleed thing from ebay. the bleeder is in an old sports bottle, and as you squeeze the brake lever the old fluid is deposited in the bottle you need to gently squeeze the brake lever and watch the bubbles in the tube keep doing this until there are no bubbles in the tube as you squeeze the lever. you may even be able to see the colour of the fluid change as you get from the old fluid to tthe new, this will depend how long the old fluid has been in the system and how poor it is. keep an eye on the fluid lever in the master cylinder. as you pump the lever the fluid level will drop, so top up as is neccessary then fasten the nipple up, remove the tube and wipe up any dribbles of fluid. and if like me you have two front disks then you have to repeat on the other disk. once the brakes are bled, you need to put the top back on the master cylinder and jobs done. this is the type of bleeding kit i have http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/motorcycle-car-brake-bleeding-kit-tool-/221195900132?pt=UK_Motorcycle_Parts&hash=item33804d94e4 i know people do it with just a straight length of tube and put a kink in it and it works, but this thing makes it easy if you are doing it on your own, as you can connect it, stick it in the bottle and then pump and watch another note is to say that if the fluid in the system is good then you can reuse it, just use a clean container for catching the fluid and then pour it back into you bottle. i was unsure of the quality of the fluid and i always use new fluid.

the replacement unit clamp new unit to handle bars. not copperslip, anti seeze or what ever you want to call it. fasten banjo bolt up, i got a new one with my ne unit. then make sure you hook up the spade connectors to the brake light switch. fill unit and bleed the brakes.... dont know how to do that?? then see the how to bleed brakes thread.

i thought that seeing as there has been a few 'how do i ....' type threads recently that i would do a thread on changing a break master cylinder. firstly let me explain why i am changing the master cylinder.(M/C from now) when i got the bike a few weeks ago the front brakes where a bit iffy. worked some tiems, worked really well others and then hardly at all. so i was going to bleed the brakes and see if it sorted the issue but upon opening the M/C i saw there were some crusty floaters in the fluid, so a strip and clean was needed. 1 wrap the area around the M/C with a rag. 2 remove the top and drain the fluid, i used a syringe. and dispose of fluid 3 slacken the banjo bolt, green arrow, then loosen the clamp bolts, red arrows. 4 then completely remove the banjo bolt, taking note of the two washers, green and red arrows 5 then undo clamp bolts and remove unit from bike, carefully. and empty out any remaining fluid into a container

ebay, easy, type bar end indicators in the search and ...... http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_trksid=p5197.m570.l1311&_nkw=bar+end+indicators&_sacat=0&_from=R40

have you tried to get it running with the orginal air box, as the pods may have mixed up the fueling/ jetting.

have a watch of that and see what you think.

unfortunately it is one for the garage, but more importantly why has the seal failed? is the leg pitted? bent? some thing has causd it, you need to find out what. and you should do both at once really, looking at about £100 all in. and while legs are off how bout sticking some gators on the legs to protect the forks.

grouch your post was one of the ones that prompted me to start this. yours couple with a few others on here and other forums.

so will the diy be starting with the reflectors and chain guard?? and i think you done alright there money wise. my only concern is your replacement battery, you said you bought it last year and its been sat around at home doing nowt... it may be shagged, dried out and wont hold a charge now, for the sake of another £30 i would be getting a new one. and then every sat morning i would be out there cleaning and checking, and tightening things all basic maintenance. two hours tops....

mmm i think this is bollocks and the tester trying to generate more income from retest fee. i thought it was a legal requirement to have a speedo in mph it was not a testable item. i drive jcbs and they dont have speedos and but have to have an mot every year... mine has a speedo with just mph on it and built in idiot lights but had no cable connecting it and the wheel for the last mot and it passed.... i would ring a couple of other mot stations and ask. and if its not required then go back to where you had yours tested and point out the error to the tester and see what comes of it.