The friendly "dumb" bike questions thread

[cbmotorsport]

horsemeatscandal said:

MotorsportTom said:

I don't enjoy doing it and don't plan too but I have done and have no problems.

Had a bridgestone S20 (I think?) on the front and a pirelli angel touring tyre(again I think) on the rear. Spanked it in the dry, rode it in downpours in the wet. Commuted and did tours and it was never a problem.

Maybe a good combination by chance but on an old fireblade in Ireland on a bank holiday I couldn't be fussy about what rear tyre I bought.

Surely though just replace with whatever tyre doesn't need replacing? I.e. the front is a Michelin pilot road and rear needs replacing.... buy a Michelin pilot road?

Problem is, the front is OE, as is the back. Back is coming up for a replacement, front has got plenty left on it. If I replace the back with an alternative, they then don’t match unless I do both at the same time or until the front needs replacing. I could obviously change both at the same time but that’s more outlay.

The tyre performance is fine for me, but the longevity is poor. Hence, I want to go PR5 based on many recommendations but the bd tyre is twice the price of OE.

Swap both for the tyre you want. Stick part worn front on Facebook marketplace/gumtree. Someone will buy it. Get a bit of money back.

Or keep it, and stick it on when you sell the bike if your tyres are shagged when the time comes.

[Moulder]

Surely like most questions the answer here is an additional bike.

The purchase will take your mind off this issue, and if the new one has the same tyre size then with two bikes there is more opportunity at some point to switch tyres round to get a matching set on one.

[Bob_Defly]

cbmotorsport said:

Krikkit said:

On the subject of tyres, if the OE ones are still available would you fit them, or try a different one?

Need a set for my Monster, it's on Pirelli Diablo at the moment which is the OE fit. I'm a novice riding road only, so they're way beyond my abilities anyway.

Pilot Road 5's are what you want. Excellent mileage, great wet or dry, would even do a track day if required.

This. I put PR5's on all my bikes, they are way better than my ability will ever test.

[BrassMan]

Hello again:

As we're talking about tyres, earlier today I locked the front while braking for a pedestrian crossing. It didn't feel rough and the surface was in decent, but wet, condition. Is it more likely that I'm a monkey or that the anti slip surface or the anti slip surface isn't all it's cracked up to be?

[RizzoTheRat]

Also possible that your suspension is set a bit soft and you bottomed out the forks, the jolt when you do that is usually enough to lock the front.

[Jazoli]

BrassMan said:

Hello again:

As we're talking about tyres, earlier today I locked the front while braking for a pedestrian crossing. It didn't feel rough and the surface was in decent, but wet, condition. Is it more likely that I'm a monkey or that the anti slip surface or the anti slip surface isn't all it's cracked up to be?

Most probably that you are a monkey, but grip levels change all the time, especially when its wet.

[BrassMan]

Jazoli said:

Most probably that you are a monkey, but grip levels change all the time, especially when its wet.

Fair enough. I shall endeavor to suck less.

[gland]

Last year I put a pair of wires directly onto the battery terminals so I could trickle charge the bike. This year I put another pair of wires on (with the same 'o' shaped ends) for a heated jacket. It was a real fiddle trying to get the screws back on but I managed it: they wouldn't latch onto the little free-floating bolt thing on the battery terminal.

If I want to add a third item to the battery should I just get two longer screws or are there better solutions out there?

I hope that makes sense. Thanks!

[crofty1984]

gland said:

Last year I put a pair of wires directly onto the battery terminals so I could trickle charge the bike. This year I put another pair of wires on (with the same 'o' shaped ends) for a heated jacket. It was a real fiddle trying to get the screws back on but I managed it: they wouldn't latch onto the little free-floating bolt thing on the battery terminal.

If I want to add a third item to the battery should I just get two longer screws or are there better solutions out there?

I hope that makes sense. Thanks!

You'd be better off running one set of wires to a little 4 gang fuse box and running your accessories from that. They're about 7 quid.

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2...

Edited by crofty1984 on Thursday 14th March 21:14

[Bumblebee7]

I've got an NC750X and I'd like to attempt to change the front pads and discs. Firstly how do I lift the bike up so the front wheel is elevated? I don't have anything to raise the bike up, only a side stand fitted to the bike. Happy to buy whatever stand necessary as the bike is out of warranty and I'd like to learn to work on it myself.

Secondly, though on the same subject any recommendations on brands of disc and pad to use? And where to buy from?

Lastly, I tried to adjust the chain recently and couldn't loosen the bolts so gave it to Honda to do. How to you loosen a stiff bolt? Is it possible to get a bar extender for more leverage or is there a certain knack to it?

I like to do things myself, but I'm very much still learning so thanks for any advice!

[dern]

Bumblebee7 said:

I've got an NC750X and I'd like to attempt to change the front pads and discs. Firstly how do I lift the bike up so the front wheel is elevated? I don't have anything to raise the bike up, only a side stand fitted to the bike. Happy to buy whatever stand necessary as the bike is out of warranty and I'd like to learn to work on it myself.

Secondly, though on the same subject any recommendations on brands of disc and pad to use? And where to buy from?

Lastly, I tried to adjust the chain recently and couldn't loosen the bolts so gave it to Honda to do. How to you loosen a stiff bolt? Is it possible to get a bar extender for more leverage or is there a certain knack to it?

I like to do things myself, but I'm very much still learning so thanks for any advice!

To lift the front end up you'll need a paddock stand for the rear that holds the back steady and then one for the front. The front can either be the type that lifts the bottom of the fork leg or one that goes under the headstock. The latter will be a bit more expensive but will allow you to remove the forks if you ever decide to service those yourself. Either way this will enable you to remove the front wheel once you've removed the brake calipers and then you can replace the disks. You don't need to remove the wheels if you just want to change the pads.

I use ebc double-h sintered pads on my hondas and they work well. The best choice for disks is OEM but I've also used Rezo discs which are a lot cheaper but I can't say whether the quality is any good as I sold the bike before I put a lot of miles on them. They worked fine from new though with new pads.

Undoing nuts/bolts and doing them back up again without damaging you or the bike is the most important skill in working on cars and bolts imo. If it's an axle nut then yes, get some leverage on it. If it's a smaller nut or bolt then there's a risk of shearing the bolt if it's seized. Unfortunately you'll only get a feel for this when you've sheared a few but if it doesn't come off straight away then use some freeing lubricant. WD40 is no good at this and you want to buy some stuff made for the job. Leave it on for a bit and then try again. Heat can help a lot but obviously be careful around brake and fuel lines and the like. Sometime shocking stuff helps get it undone so you could use an impact driver but there's the risk of shearing the bolt if you go too mad. Doing things up if you don't yet have a feel for it is best done with a torque wrench.

[RizzoTheRat]

Trolly jack under the headers and lift so it tilts over on the sidestand. The stand will be plenty strong enough to support it. Once you have the wheel off I usually put the axle back through the forks and drop the jack slightly to rest the axle on an axle stand so it's relying on the jack alone. Obviously slacken all the bolts before jacking the same as you would with a car wheel.

[Bumblebee7]

Many thanks for the advice Rizzo and Dern! Any recommendations on paddock stands or where to get them from? All my car hydraulic jacks and stands for the car are from SGS who I've found are decent quality and well priced.

[DuckSauce]

Bumblebee7 said:

Many thanks for the advice Rizzo and Dern! Any recommendations on paddock stands or where to get them from? All my car hydraulic jacks and stands for the car are from SGS who I've found are decent quality and well priced.

I bought a Q-Tech one on Amazon for £30 and it's been fine for me

[cbmotorsport]

Bumblebee7 said:

Many thanks for the advice Rizzo and Dern! Any recommendations on paddock stands or where to get them from? All my car hydraulic jacks and stands for the car are from SGS who I've found are decent quality and well priced.

Just a word of warning, some front paddock stands stop the removal of your front axle, so you can't actually remove your front wheel. It really depends on the bike, my stands were fine with my fireblade, but i can't get the front wheel off with the front stand in place on my S1000R, I have to use a block of wood and jack under the exhaust.

The best ones are the headstock stands.

[RizzoTheRat]

The front stands that hook on the bottom of the forks never look very stable to me, the headstock ones look a lot better. You can't do head bearings with a front paddock stand though if you think that's something you might be tempted to try yourself.

There's 2 types of rear paddock stand, cups that hook under the swingarm, and hooks that go bobbins you screw in to the swing arm. For the former check you don't have any cabling under the swingarm, mine has the ABS wires there which I don't want to risk breaking.

A more expensive option is an Abba stand, very stable and let you get the front or rear wheel off the ground with a single stand.

Alternatively I prefer the Heath Robinson approach

[Krikkit]

That's a surprisingly neat solution! Like it.

While we're on the subject of stands, can you get a headstock stand for all types of bike? Had a quick look at my Monster and couldn't see a hole for mounting one.

[dern]

I don't like jacking up on the headers as I bent one and the stability leaves a lot to be desired if you're going to start removing bolts with gusto.

Like the step ladders approach. I use an electric which I got cheap from aldi to suspend the front of the bike from the ceiling. Brilliant little thing I got for next to no money. Used it to lift bikes off the floor and engines out of cars. Just like this one... https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Scaffold-Winch-Electric...

You do need something substantial to mount it to though.

[RizzoTheRat]

I thought about getting a winch or even using a ratchet trap but wasn't sure my garage roof was strong enough.

The stepladder worked well, it's only really providing stability although I did drop the jack a bit so there was a fair bit of tension on the ropes.

I wedge a bit of wood between the headers and the engine so it's not loading the header mountings, and have a bit of wood on the jack to spread the load a bit.

[Bumblebee7]

Thanks for all the advice and tips. I'll have a look at what's available and try to give it a go next weekend.