Economical green laning

[dern]

Is there there an economical way in to green laning without risking breaking down all the time. Anyone know any bikes that would fit the book without breaking the bank?

Cheers

Mark

[dern]

Thanks for the suggestions, all good food for thought and I'll keep an eye out on ebay for a fixer-upper. A mate is getting in to this and it looks like a good excuse for getting out of the house.

Cheers,

Mark

[dern]

Anyone got any experience with the XR400 that a couple of people have mentioned? Anything I should look for if I went to see one?

Cheers,

Mark

[dern]

I know you're right but I have a honda shaped gap in my life and am half way through mondo safari

More seriously if I spent a wedge it'll have to wait until I've finished restoring my kx500 and sold that but for the price of a budget xr400 I'd be ok to do it now. Gues which wins?

[dern]

y2blade said:

fk it I'll ask the obvious.

Why not use your BMW GS??????

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=bmw+gs+offroad&a...

Because it's fking enormous and I'll give myself a hernia picking it up when I drop it and if I break it how the hell will I get to tescos?

[dern]

One thing to bear in mind is that I have no experience of going off road what so ever. I want to learn but I don't want to do that busting up my bmw bus (or me when it falls on me). Like every other gs owner I'm just one endowment policy maturation away from my world trip but in the mean time I want something small and light to dick around on the lanes on that I can pull out of a puddle that didn't turn out to be 'only a few inches deep' and still have the strength to lift a pint at the end of the day.

[dern]

Fats25 said:

That single line says to me that the XR400 is not the bike for you!

You need something with an electric start.......... trust me I know. Trust me Pete knows. Trust me Andy knows. Trust me Fleegle knows.

As a beginner get something light, easy to fix, dependable, and with a magic button. You have a choice of manufacturers, but don't make life more difficult than it is by picking a tool that makes it harder.

Ok, I'll give the kick starters a miss for now. Thanks.

[dern]

graham22 said:

Thought you sorted as you were asking about transporting an XR400.

It sold sooner than I was able to go and see it.

Cheers.

[dern]

Fleegle said:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/yamaha-ttr-250-enduro-/1...

Here you go. Bulletproof and cheap. It's probably not too far for you look at either

I've known quite a few people start up on these, moving on to a lighter bike once they've got the hang of it

Cheers, already got a watch on that one. I also PM'd bitwrx about his as I missed his post that he had one that might be for sale first time round.

Thanks,

Mark

[dern]

Took your advice...



Needs a tiny bit of love with cleaning the electrics in the kill switch and for some reason the clutch is quite heavy but maybe they're all like that. Won't take long to find out, doesn't look like there's much too it.

Then it's off out to play. Thanks for your advice, much appreciated

[dern]

hman said:

Clutch being heavy is possibly cable on the way out try lubing it first .

It's got a new cable as the old one broke so I'm assuming something somewhere is gummed up a bit. Will lube the cable too though.

Thanks for the other pointers.

Cheers

[dern]

It's only been up the road. Seems ok but feels pretty slow

[dern]

I've been reading a load of stuff while waiting for parts for my bike before I can take it anywhere worth going (nothing serious, brake pads etc). Do you wear all this body armour stuff for green laning? I was envisioning a quiet day out digging myself out of muddy holes rather than leaping 15 feet in the air and doing scissor kicks but are knee/elbow pads worth bothering with?

I was just planning on using some old textile kit I have which has a modest amount of padding in that I was happy to use on the road but having read the gospel on the net it looks like I should be dressed as robocop

Worthwhile precaution or a load of bks?

Will get a cheap mx lid though just to keep the road one in one piece I guess.

Thanks,

Mark

[dern]

y2blade said:

For greenlaning I wore MX lid (your face will get too hot in full face lid) and goggles, textile jacket (with liner removed so nice and cool), MX bottoms with knee pads underneath and proper MX boots.

Forgot about boots, am getting some 2nd hand mx boots from a mate. I'm sure I've got some old gloves kicking about somewhere too... had a clear out recently which is always a mistake.

Thanks,

Mark

[dern]

That does all sound very sensible. I'll suit up then.

Thanks

Mark

[dern]

Woah!

Well, I did ask I guess

[dern]

Picked up a shark mx lid today form a place in Swindon and ordered some armour. Getting some 2nd hand boots off a mate and that'll do for now. If I keep it up I'll replace the cheap starter stuff with better stuff as we go. Have 1:25000 and will get exploring.



From an earlier suggestion about the sprag clutch... stripped it all down but no obvious suggestion of wear on anything and all looks pretty new so just put it all back together. Changed the front sprocket (new rear and chain but front was obviously hard so it got left it on its fked state) and rear brake pads (ditto, siezed pin so got left until just on the metal, nice). Just need to change the acc cables (broken throttle in tube resulting in kinked cable which makes the throttle stick) and we're good to go. Anyway else unable to buy a bike without stripping it down 'just in case'?



Cheers,

Mark

Edited by dern on Sunday 27th April 21:53

[dern]

hman said:

next up, wheel bearings and speedo drive.

Heh, checked all that and it's fine. Will need a swing arm bearing set at the end of summer though.

[dern]

hman said:

check the lower linkage bearing (where the bottom of the shock connects to linkage)

Its a bushing and they wear out which gives a lot of movement in the arm (up and down) - easy fix - press the old one out and press the new one in with new seals.

Thanks, there's no huge movement in anything at the moment and I'm keen to get out of it. I think what I'll do it just use it this summer and then spend a weekend or two stripping it all down and changing all the bearings and bushes. Quite good fun on something so small I can manhandle around