Snakebite68

Yup, Wakefield...

Oh, I've done a LOT of miles on my Ace... Not only did I ride year round in all weathers just for shits & giggles, it was my daily driver for commuting too! I can't be far away from another gapping! lol But this time, I think I might give it a go myself. I'm trying to work out if I can afford a new garage / man cave, if so, I'm going to strip it down completely and do a full refurb. Aaah, I have a stainless exhaust system, exups aren't a worry for me! lol.

The really big cost I had with my Ace was having my valves gapped... 5 bucket type valves per cylinder, the price mounts. But it was well worth it performance wise. And I was spending an upsetting amount on chains & sprockets (three chains in the first two years! (I like my acceleration! lol)) But I solved that one by uprating my chain to a bigger size and haven't changed it in the last four years now. I've spent a mild amount of money putting things back to how they should be from strange upgrades from past owners. Right now, my concern is my radiator, it's rotting in the bottom corner and I've got reduced cooling. Finding a decent 2nd hand one is proving to be difficult currently, and a custom replacement is NOT going to be cheap. I'm looking around to see if anyone can re-core mine, but not everyone does curved radiators... P.S. Front tyres! For some reason, I go through front tyres more than back tyres..? I put it down to not doing burnouts & such, but taking every opportunity to get my knee down (not really, I'm a little creaky for that but getting it well leant over). My front often vaguely resembles the old V shaped racing tyres by the time I've finished with them! lol

Speaking as a 1998 Thunderace owner, meh, sometimes you pays the money... But that's probably going to be the most money you spend on it for the next several years! On the other hand, I see nothing against getting another bike!

Yeah, not too bad... I suddenly had the stupid idea of fitting them on the ends of your swingarm, but I'm not sure if there's laws about having rear lights that low lol.

I'm starting to sound like doom & gloom guy here... lol There's no way those red lights are going to be visible from behind past your legs! There's a possibility that they'll become visible as you turn, but that could cause other problems. There was a 'thing' years ago about the question of whether two bike headlamps close together looked like car headlamps further away. If you see what I mean. Gotta admit though, I quite like the spots!

Don't forget, you've got no weight on that frame, your suspension is happily sitting at full height! I suspect as you put more bits on, it will get better...

Are you sure that little 250 can carry you and all that Petrol? On the other hand, you could probably drive around the country with all that fuel! lol

What do you mean 'welcome back'? I never left! I check the site every day lol. After my version of your output shaft panic, a Yamaha dealer (I'll drop his name: Clive Padgett (ex racer)) told me that output shafts are pretty strong, and it's actually pretty hard to bend one. It's more likely to explode, which you'd be much more certain about! lol.

Told you it wouldn't be the output shaft!

No worries

This is what I've found so far... As it says, the first one is primarily to do with vehicles over 6 meters long... Side running lights should be amber unless they are at the rear of the vehicle, in which case they should be red. This rule primarily applies to vehicles over 6 meters long, such as trucks and trailers, to help other drivers judge the vehicle's length and width. Whilst this second one is specific to motorbikes, it doesn't really account for lights that aren't up by the headlight or down by the tail light... So I'd still go with amber... Motorcycle side running lights should be white or amber at the front and red at the rear to comply with most regulations. Front lights can be white or amber, while rear lights must be red. Blue lights are generally not road-legal for running lights as they are reserved for emergency vehicles.

Yes, ok, but... Why are they RED??? They should be amber, same colour as your indicators.

Well... The first question is: Why do you have red lights on the side of your bike??? And as for the 'pulling out on you' bit, meh, there's idiots everywhere lol My suggestion would be: Get uprated (but legal) headlight bulbs.

I have ABSOLUTELY no knowledge on these things and got confused quickly, but all I got is: it all depends on what year it was manufactured (and possibly other criteria)...

Also, we want bigger pictures! The thumbnail is the same size as the picture!!! lol

Looking good... I'm not sure I'd lower the back end. It's that height for a reason. Before lowering it, see if you can find a way to 'hide' the gap... Maybe some custom textile/leather paniers?

Is it actually adjustable? I'm not sure if it will make much difference. My eyes ARE however drawn to your primary drive. That's a LOT of wear. You need a new drive chain (primary, chain, secondary)..!

Try lifting the back wheel, get someone to lean on the front end, put it in gear and rag the wheel round with your foot. That should put a bit of strain on it.

I just work on the principle of: Attempting to make myself look menacing... Doing what I can to make them think "I don't want him to get off his bike and come for 'a chat'..!" Things like looking at them with my neck rather than just my eyes (points my helmet directly at them), squaring off my shoulders (make myself look bigger), stuff like that. I'd love to say I think it's all crap, that there's no way the average driver wouldn't be able to tell from whatever distance. But... It does strangely seem to work. I see drivers do a double take from time to time. You know when you're shopping and you feel like someone's looking at you, and after looking around for a while you catch some bored kid vacantly staring at you (because you've got purple hair or a biker jacket on or something)? Maybe it's like that? lol

The chain is still moving if your back wheel is... Take that chain off and spin it up!

I thought my output shaft bearings were going a couple of years ago. There was quite a bit of trepidation..! Turns out I needed a new chain... ... lol

Fairy Snuff..! 😁

Looking good, but I would have considered taking the swingarm off, how are the bearings?

Sounds like a goer!!! Get ON with it!!!