The friendly "dumb" bike questions thread
Discussion
KTMsm said:
A500leroy said:
Would it be stupid to make a top box out of an old plastic tool box? Think holes in the bottom metal bar inside so the plastic dont shatter when bolted and u shaped bracket underneath to hold it bolted to the carrier.
That's exactly what I didI used a DeWalt drill box because I don't understand the fascination of fitting helmets in top boxes and hate the huge size of them
I just need to carry my coffee, snacks and a waterproof
I stuck a bit of alloy plate to the bottom and used big washers inside, I've have had no problems but I'm not a daily rider
When I was sixteen, I made a top box from a flip front bread bin - even resprayed it to match my sports moped. I thought it looked cool, alas... 'twasn't shatterproof!!!
Edited by KTMsm on Tuesday 31st October 18:43
trickywoo said:
A500leroy said:
Would it be daft to use a dremmel to cut the top of the pin off before knocking it out with the proper tool when removing a chain?
That’s the right thing to do, not daft at all.
And if you cut the heads of both pins you don't even need any tools as the plate will just pull off. trickywoo said:
A500leroy said:
Would it be daft to use a dremmel to cut the top of the pin off before knocking it out with the proper tool when removing a chain?
That’s the right thing to do, not daft at all.Onelastattempt said:
If you are replacing the chain then just cut it straight through with your dremel. Or just use an angle grinder, that's what I use,simple and quick
But messy with all those sparks, around a bike I'd go for minimal attack and probably use a carbide burr on the pins trickywoo said:
A500leroy said:
Would it be daft to use a dremmel to cut the top of the pin off before knocking it out with the proper tool when removing a chain?
That’s the right thing to do, not daft at all.A500leroy said:
trickywoo said:
A500leroy said:
Would it be daft to use a dremmel to cut the top of the pin off before knocking it out with the proper tool when removing a chain?
That’s the right thing to do, not daft at all.I’ve changed one chain in the past, it’s not a particularly hard job. Just make sure you count the links carefully as cutting the new chain one link short (as a random example) can really ruin your day!
When you’re pushing in the new link make sure the chain moves smoothly and there’s the same amount of pin showing each side.
Speed addicted said:
It’s one of those things I leave to other people, mainly because a good chainbreaker is quite expensive
A £10 or £15 chain tool will push a pin out and break the chain no problem if you grind / cut the head off first.It will also be fine for seating the link and flaring the new pin.
Hardest bit of doing a chain is usually the front sprocket nut. If you are doing a chain because it’s worn out the sprockets should also be renewed. If you have a good impact gun it’s easy to get off. Torquing up can be tricky but I’ve always managed one handed using the other to press on the brake lever with a bit of wood. If you don’t have a single side swing arm you can also wedge the rear wheel in the spokes with a broom handle or similar.
Does anyone have any tips how to quieten an exhaust ? I leave for work early in the morning and I’m conscious how when I put my choke on and turn the engine on the exhaust is feckin loud.the previous owner changed the exhaust to a racing one as was a loud pipes saves lives believer whereas I just don’t want to wake my neighbours .alternatively I can buy a new one but if there is a free option would happily go for it …cheers
trickywoo said:
Torquing up can be tricky but I’ve always managed one handed using the other to press on the brake lever with a bit of wood. If you don’t have a single side swing arm you can also wedge the rear wheel in the spokes with a broom handle or similar.
Positioning the bike so the front wheel is pressing against a wall has worked well for me.Hello all,
It is going to get quite cramped in the garage, this winter as all my projects come home for hibernation.
I wanted make life a bit easier by having the Ducati on one of those dolly things. My thought is to be able to move it out of the way easily to work on things, but also able to use the bike. Otherwise, it'll get pushed up against a wall, buried and not used over the winter.
It seems as though there are three schools of thought:
It is going to get quite cramped in the garage, this winter as all my projects come home for hibernation.
I wanted make life a bit easier by having the Ducati on one of those dolly things. My thought is to be able to move it out of the way easily to work on things, but also able to use the bike. Otherwise, it'll get pushed up against a wall, buried and not used over the winter.
It seems as though there are three schools of thought:
- Centre stand only,
- One wheel
- two wheels and side stand
sclayto2 said:
Hello all,
It is going to get quite cramped in the garage, this winter as all my projects come home for hibernation.
I wanted make life a bit easier by having the Ducati on one of those dolly things. My thought is to be able to move it out of the way easily to work on things, but also able to use the bike. Otherwise, it'll get pushed up against a wall, buried and not used over the winter.
It seems as though there are three schools of thought:
I’m in a similar situation, my bikes live in an outbuilding that’s 20m long, 4m wide and only has a 1m wide door so manoeuvring them is a pain. It is going to get quite cramped in the garage, this winter as all my projects come home for hibernation.
I wanted make life a bit easier by having the Ducati on one of those dolly things. My thought is to be able to move it out of the way easily to work on things, but also able to use the bike. Otherwise, it'll get pushed up against a wall, buried and not used over the winter.
It seems as though there are three schools of thought:
- Centre stand only,
- One wheel
- two wheels and side stand
I have a centrestand dolly, you could use it on a wheel instead if you wanted.
It’s handy but on the centerstsnd you still need to steer it about a bit using the front wheel, also if you hit a small stone or something while moving forward you can bump the bike off the centrestand accidentally (which is quite exciting).
The good thing is that once the bike is parked you can take out the dolly if you want.
I’m going to buy one of the ones that does both wheels and the sidestand so I can push the bike sideways more easily, I think a couple of them would solve my parking issues as I could easily move a bike out of the parking line to face the door rather than parking nose in and having to reverse out.
It’ll reduce the amount of room I need to manoeuvre so I can have more bikes!
Edited by Speed addicted on Thursday 23 November 11:40
A friend of mine had one of these two wheels and side stand thingies. Bought it as he was getting older and doing u-turns in his garage was getting too much for him. His drive was on a steepish slope so had to ride in and ride out.
It worked really well, and with the whole bike on castors you could easily move it forward, backwards, sideways and of course rotate the bike on its axis. And also move it hard-up against a wall. So absolutely no problems with the dolly, and seemed a far better bet than wheels only as the whole bike on the site stand was mobile.
But last year the bike itself was getting just to much for him and he sold it. He wasn’t too connected in bikey circles and wasn’t up to speed with eBay etc so I said I’d sell it for him. And now here comes the ‘issue’…that really shouldn’t be. Three ‘sales’ fell through as ‘I didn’t expect it to be so long’. Jeez if it’s going to support front and back wheels it’s got to be as long as the bike eh? Doh. (It did fold for storage). Another who came to view said felt it was unexpected heavy - jeez it’s got to support potentially over 300kg so it ain’t going to be made out of plastic, and it’s on castors so why try to lift it? In the end I did sell it and I understand the new owner (small lady with big bikes) is very happy with it. But they are bike-sized in footprint and heavy. It does seem obvious, but apparently not to a few of the folks who I got interested.
So don’t underestimate the length (got to be as long as the bike) and weight. But it worked very well for the required use.
It worked really well, and with the whole bike on castors you could easily move it forward, backwards, sideways and of course rotate the bike on its axis. And also move it hard-up against a wall. So absolutely no problems with the dolly, and seemed a far better bet than wheels only as the whole bike on the site stand was mobile.
But last year the bike itself was getting just to much for him and he sold it. He wasn’t too connected in bikey circles and wasn’t up to speed with eBay etc so I said I’d sell it for him. And now here comes the ‘issue’…that really shouldn’t be. Three ‘sales’ fell through as ‘I didn’t expect it to be so long’. Jeez if it’s going to support front and back wheels it’s got to be as long as the bike eh? Doh. (It did fold for storage). Another who came to view said felt it was unexpected heavy - jeez it’s got to support potentially over 300kg so it ain’t going to be made out of plastic, and it’s on castors so why try to lift it? In the end I did sell it and I understand the new owner (small lady with big bikes) is very happy with it. But they are bike-sized in footprint and heavy. It does seem obvious, but apparently not to a few of the folks who I got interested.
So don’t underestimate the length (got to be as long as the bike) and weight. But it worked very well for the required use.
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