A picture a day... biker banter (Vol 6)

[airsafari87]

XRTInfraction said:

I've got a Triumph branded Optimate 2 Duo, but I'm not convinced it works correctly my Tuono. The yellow "charging" LED never lights up, and I've only ever seen it with the first green LED on.

Charger compatible with the battery? I’m assuming your battery is lithium?

I know my Optimate 2 isn’t compatible with lithium batteries.

[XRTInfraction]

Yeah, it's supposed to be one that works for traditional lead acid and Li chemistry batteries. It's this one:



EDIT: Ok, I lied. I just hooked it up and the yellow "charging" LED lit up straight away!

Maybe the battery level was never low enough for it to kick into bulk charging mode before!! I feel

Edited by XRTInfraction on Wednesday 22 February 10:15

[spoodler]

Had a small plumbing job to do in Swindon yesterday, what better excuse to get the bike out?
What with surgery, running in a new eye, Christmas and recent weather, I hadn't touched the bike since October. Thankfully, and as expected, all it wanted was a couple of extra pounds of air in each tyre. Erupted into life at the first turn of the starter and woke the whole village - I've missed it. Bungeed the tap spanners on the back, filled up at the local petrol station and ready to face the Royal Wootton Bassett school runners...
I will admit to it being a bit slippy in places, and I certainly didn't scrape the pegs... in fact, I felt quite rusty, unsurprisingly and erred well on the side of caution. Though, some of that may have just been down to hardly having been out at all recently, never mind on the bike.
Never the less, a thoroughly pleasant run into town and, of course, a long diversion on the way home.
Now, if I can just stop my eye from watering.

[Moopig]

Saw a glimpse of sun the other day so decided I'd get the bikes out of hibernation, just in case there are any issues, ready for the nice weather.
Track bike started on the button which is always nice as it had a new battery a few months ago after the last new battery lasted a few days before it was flat again, so good to know it was a dud battery and not a bike issue
Really want to try to get to Brands this year as its epic in a car, must be terrifying on a bike



The RGV surprisingly started about 5th kick, ran on 1 cylinder for a few seconds, then was perfect!? Very impressed.
Took it for a short run around the housing estate too.
Thinking of treating it to a detail and ceramic coating before the summer this year.



This did leave my garage looking rather foggy afterwards though.



Unfortunately I may have jumped the gun as the weather appears to have taken a turn for the worse now

[Birky_41]

Moopig said:

Saw a glimpse of sun the other day so decided I'd get the bikes out of hibernation, just in case there are any issues, ready for the nice weather.
Track bike started on the button which is always nice as it had a new battery a few months ago after the last new battery lasted a few days before it was flat again, so good to know it was a dud battery and not a bike issue
Really want to try to get to Brands this year as its epic in a car, must be terrifying on a bike



The RGV surprisingly started about 5th kick, ran on 1 cylinder for a few seconds, then was perfect!? Very impressed.
Took it for a short run around the housing estate too.
Thinking of treating it to a detail and ceramic coating before the summer this year.



This did leave my garage looking rather foggy afterwards though.



Unfortunately I may have jumped the gun as the weather appears to have taken a turn for the worse now

Shut that front door!?! I knew about the RGV but you have a FP as well...dammnnnn

When I had my Benelli Tornado 900 Tre this came out and was my dream bike

[Yazza54]

Birky_41 said:

Moopig said:

Saw a glimpse of sun the other day so decided I'd get the bikes out of hibernation, just in case there are any issues, ready for the nice weather.
Track bike started on the button which is always nice as it had a new battery a few months ago after the last new battery lasted a few days before it was flat again, so good to know it was a dud battery and not a bike issue
Really want to try to get to Brands this year as its epic in a car, must be terrifying on a bike



The RGV surprisingly started about 5th kick, ran on 1 cylinder for a few seconds, then was perfect!? Very impressed.
Took it for a short run around the housing estate too.
Thinking of treating it to a detail and ceramic coating before the summer this year.



This did leave my garage looking rather foggy afterwards though.



Unfortunately I may have jumped the gun as the weather appears to have taken a turn for the worse now

Shut that front door!?! I knew about the RGV but you have a FP as well...dammnnnn

When I had my Benelli Tornado 900 Tre this came out and was my dream bike

Looks like a zx6 to me..

[smifffymoto]

Moopig said:

Saw a glimpse of sun the other day so decided I'd get the bikes out of hibernation, just in case there are any issues, ready for the nice weather.
Track bike started on the button which is always nice as it had a new battery a few months ago after the last new battery lasted a few days before it was flat again, so good to know it was a dud battery and not a bike issue
Really want to try to get to Brands this year as its epic in a car, must be terrifying on a bike



The RGV surprisingly started about 5th kick, ran on 1 cylinder for a few seconds, then was perfect!? Very impressed.
Took it for a short run around the housing estate too.
Thinking of treating it to a detail and ceramic coating before the summer this year.



This did leave my garage looking rather foggy afterwards though.



Unfortunately I may have jumped the gun as the weather appears to have taken a turn for the worse now

You could get the Husky out if the weather is that crap.

[Soloman Dodd]

spoodler said:

Lovely Laverda, I knew a lady that had one. I don't know how she managed the clutch pull when riding through London.
My Jota was bad enough.

[XRTInfraction]

Moopig said:

Unfortunately I may have jumped the gun as the weather appears to have taken a turn for the worse now

Yeah, can't be bothered riding in crap weather / on wet roads. No fun to be had. I'm taking my time, no rush. March is on the horizon, should start to warm up. Just need a day or two of decent rainfall to wash most of the salt off the road. But there's a bit of a cold spell coming next week.

Bike's ready, new Rosso IV for the rear on the way, so I'll get that swapped over as soon as it arrives and my local fitter can squeeze me in.

Birky_41 said:

Shut that front door!?! I knew about the RGV but you have a FP as well...dammnnnn

When I had my Benelli Tornado 900 Tre this came out and was my dream bike

Don't think it's an FP1. The fairings and tail unit don't look right.

Edited by XRTInfraction on Wednesday 22 February 16:26

[DuncsGTi]

Had my first race of the season today, a 3 hour hare and hounds. After totally ballsing up the dead engine start (stalled it then it wouldn't start!!), I managed to work my way up to a personal best 4th in class and was in sight of 3rd place at the finish.

I'll feel it tomorrow though

[jjones]

DuncsGTi said:

Had my first race of the season today, a 3 hour hare and hounds. After totally ballsing up the dead engine start (stalled it then it wouldn't start!!), I managed to work my way up to a personal best 4th in class and was in sight of 3rd place at the finish.

I'll feel it tomorrow though

Nice work

[the-norseman]

XRTInfraction said:

Yeah, it's supposed to be one that works for traditional lead acid and Li chemistry batteries. It's this one:



EDIT: Ok, I lied. I just hooked it up and the yellow "charging" LED lit up straight away!

Maybe the battery level was never low enough for it to kick into bulk charging mode before!! I feel

Edited by XRTInfraction on Wednesday 22 February 10:15

I need to get one of these for my Triumph Bobber, it came with the lead attached to the battery already.

[spoodler]

Soloman Dodd said:

spoodler said:

Lovely Laverda, I knew a lady that had one. I don't know how she managed the clutch pull when riding through London.
My Jota was bad enough.

Cheers for the compliment.
I've heard of them having heavy clutches, I believe mine has a slightly longer clutch arm and has a lovely feel to it - certainly much lighter than my Evo' Harley or our T140 Bonneville.

[graham22]

podman said:

ThreadKiller said:

Yazza54 said:

ThreadKiller said:

Went out for second green laning trip on my DT175… broke a piston ring on way :-( At least it broke on the road and not in a ditch miles from nowhere!

Bit of an odd thing to happen unless it's been rebored/ported and someone's left a sharp edge on a port or not left enough bridge, has it just had a top end refresh? Bore knackered too?

Not been rebuilt to my knowledge.
I'm absolutely no expert, but it does look like it broke at the the port / ring interface.
Bit of the ring missing so cases need spliting.
Bore is scored.
I have genuine NOS first oversize piston and rings (+0.25mm) but thinking the rebore may need to do be bigger than that.

Pisser….had this happen to me last year on the wee YSR.

Unbeknown to me, the piston I bought didnt have the correct correct ring peg spacing so the ring turned, snagged the port and she spat the pieces of ring out of the exhaust. Worth checking for the peg spacing as well, something ive never had to be concerned about previously.

No genuine pistons are available for the YSR past 0.25 so its aftermarket or modified only.

Like you, I spilt the cases to be certain no pieces remained in the cases, glad I did anyway, as the crank was very worn.

Im sure the 175 will have better spares availability anyway, good to see one being used as intended, please pop some pics up next time your out on it.

Quite a common problem, the ring peg works it's way in, the rings turn until the ends snag in the exhaust port & break, usually working it's way between piston & bore.

Had it happen on a 350LC and TDR250 - still have the pistons!

[Benni]

Managed to adapt modern-ish tele fork tubes into 50 year old triple trees, with added turn signal mounts.
Lower clamps will be hidden under traditional gaiters.

[Yazza54]

Benni said:

Managed to adapt modern-ish tele fork tubes into 50 year old triple trees, with added turn signal mounts.
Lower clamps will be hidden under traditional gaiters.

Pretty cool, what are they off?

[Moopig]

Birky_41 said:

Shut that front door!?! I knew about the RGV but you have a FP as well...dammnnnn

When I had my Benelli Tornado 900 Tre this came out and was my dream bike

Yeah, its not a FP1, its just an old ZX6R, it is a great bike mind.
Just when I came to paint it (as it was scruffy and black when I bought it) I noticed the triangle intake and underseat exhaust and thought FP1, since I also liked the colour and it was a simple paint job, I thought I'd go for it

[Waynester]

Moopig said:

Saw a glimpse of sun the other day so decided I'd get the bikes out of hibernation, just in case there are any issues, ready for the nice weather.
Track bike started on the button which is always nice as it had a new battery a few months ago after the last new battery lasted a few days before it was flat again, so good to know it was a dud battery and not a bike issue
Really want to try to get to Brands this year as its epic in a car, must be terrifying on a bike



The RGV surprisingly started about 5th kick, ran on 1 cylinder for a few seconds, then was perfect!? Very impressed.
Took it for a short run around the housing estate too.
Thinking of treating it to a detail and ceramic coating before the summer this year.



This did leave my garage looking rather foggy afterwards though.



Unfortunately I may have jumped the gun as the weather appears to have taken a turn for the worse now

Your RGV should be flagged for porn! Just a gorgeous looking bike.

[Challo]

Bike lease had come to an end so had to say goodbye to the BMW F850 GS


But I did change for this BMW RNineT Scrambler. So much nicer to ride, and feels alot quicker. Excited for the warmer weather.

[Drabbesttunic]

DuncsGTi said:

Had my first race of the season today, a 3 hour hare and hounds. After totally ballsing up the dead engine start (stalled it then it wouldn't start!!), I managed to work my way up to a personal best 4th in class and was in sight of 3rd place at the finish.

I'll feel it tomorrow though

Nice, well done, where did you race?