Motorbikes

Nod said:
Tape a spare battery somewhere you can get at fairly easily. It will NEVER show as flat at home, just when you're 20 miles from somewhere you can buy one.

Don't ask how I know... (I did have a spare in the car and could unlock the passenger door with a physical key - I had been prewarned of the potential problem!)
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Good idea, thanks
 
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Nod said:
Tape a spare battery somewhere you can get at fairly easily. It will NEVER show as flat at home, just when you're 20 miles from somewhere you can buy one.

Don't ask how I know... (I did have a spare in the car and could unlock the passenger door with a physical key - I had been prewarned of the potential problem!)
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Sage advice @Nod. I have just had battery low warnings on both my car fobs and I didn't have a spare battery. I have now but it cost me a fiver at my local garage to get one fitted in short order.
 
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i dont like the idea of keyless bikes or cars, too many cars i hear about getting stolen have had the key cloned by someone with a laptop sitting nearby...i have a spare key stashed in my bike jacket with the fob for my tracker ...just in case
 
John ,you are a wise man . I still ride a motor cycle on occasions , as a member of a vintage M/c club, i feel safer in a group. The bike i ride is modern but you must stay alert . I have a1923 Raleigh I will not ride this bike on the road for obvious reasons.
 
engine driver said:
John ,you are a wise man . I still ride a motor cycle on occasions , as a member of a vintage M/c club, i feel safer in a group. The bike i ride is modern but you must stay alert . I have a1923 Raleigh I will not ride this bike on the road for obvious reasons.
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What do you ride?
 
BOB I ride a SWM Grand Milano, Not the best bike but it is ok for me ,it has been trouble free so far . I had a velocete LE but have given that to a friend. My main objective at the moment is to get my Smiths Motor Wheel on the road. I am at the stage where vintage [ like me] machines are more interesting. It is always a risk to ride on the road now days
 
engine driver said:
BOB I ride a SWM Grand Milano, Not the best bike but it is ok for me ,it has been trouble free so far . I had a velocete LE but have given that to a friend. My main objective at the moment is to get my Smiths Motor Wheel on the road. I am at the stage where vintage [ like me] machines are more interesting. It is always a risk to ride on the road now days
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If I were a twenty year old now, there are two things I wouldn't do, which I really used to enjoy - cycle racing and motorbiking. The roads are absolute chaos now.:confused:
 
engine driver said:
BOB I ride a SWM Grand Milano, Not the best bike but it is ok for me ,it has been trouble free so far . I had a velocete LE but have given that to a friend. My main objective at the moment is to get my Smiths Motor Wheel on the road. I am at the stage where vintage [ like me] machines are more interesting. It is always a risk to ride on the road now days
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A Smiths motor wheel..? What's one of them?
I have a vague friend who is really big on very old bikes and I know one has no clutch or gearbox so if the engine is running then he is moving (at least that's how I remember it). An amazing machine!
EDIT - Wow! Just googled it and that's no inline Jap 4 with fuel injection and a TFT screen is it!
 
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I remember (I think!) seeing a motor wheel on American Pickers. IIRC it's basically a small engine driven wheel that bolts onto the side of a bicycle like a hinged sidecar (anyone remember the Sidewinder?)
 
Looking at a few shots of the Wall version, I would guess that it's just a rebadged version of the Smith one. Mainly because by convention, sidecars in the UK (and other territories where we drive on the left side of the road) are fitted to the left of the motorcycle, as is the Motor Wheel.

As you say, Peter, rare beasts!
 
Nod ,the Wall was the first, eventually the Smith brothers became Briggs and Stratton and the later versions of the SMW had a Band S motor and flywheel magneto. What killed them in the US was the introduction of the Ford T ,it did not cost much more the SMW.
 
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Fingers crossed for it, Dale. I book all of mine in at hourly intervals and Chris slots others in in the 1/2 hour we allow for me to get home and back down with the next one. IF one fails, I take it home then take it back down to him (if necessary) to fix.
 
My mileage isn’t high either at this time of the year I’m always out with the camera, try to use the bike where possible though, lately though the weather hasn’t been brilliant don’t really want to ride when it’s wet to be honest anymore
 
Bobsyeruncle said:
How many miles between MOT'S?
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About 3 miles - the MOT station is a mile and a half away. A fair few more between the last MOT of one year and the first of the next though!!!
 
I have made a start re commissioning my ZX9R which has been idle since 2019, coolant, oil & filter, replaced the front indicator rubbers which had ripped, cables, pivots and chain lubricated,

I just need to change the brake fluid and then it is time to book it in for tyres and a MOT it also needs a proper clean, despite dry storing under dust sheets it is filthy.
 
Sad day... Having kicked Mrs Nod's bike over a few times (to get oil back up to the top end before 'leccy starting), I've realised that a "real" (ideally a '63) Bonnie is no longer a viable proposition - my hip doesn't like it! Never mind, at least the horizontally split cases on the moderns don't drip!!!
 
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Mrs Nod and I went out for a shortish ride together yesterday (first time) and we discovered that her speedo is reading significantly faster than she's going (30 on her clock is 24-25). Got a GPS speedo on order as a check before getting it sorted under warranty. My guess is that one of the other models has a smaller front wheel and the speedo came out of that parts bin!
 
Nod said:
Mrs Nod and I went out for a shortish ride together yesterday (first time) and we discovered that her speedo is reading significantly faster than she's going (30 on her clock is 24-25). Got a GPS speedo on order as a check before getting it sorted under warranty. My guess is that one of the other models has a smaller front wheel and the speedo came out of that parts bin!
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I had a similar thing with my speedo, as my bike is an import and reads in Km/h. It has had the conversion to MPH but I didn't trust it. I looked at the GPS speedos but found an app that does the job called Speed Box.

Just make sure you mount your phone safely to the bike if you go down this route.

My speedo was 2 mph out at 30 and 6 at 70, so my speedo showed 32 when it was 30 and 76 when doing 70.

I think that's pretty normal for bikes and cars.
 
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Dale. said:
I had a similar thing with my speedo, as my bike is an import and reads in Km/h. It has had the conversion to MPH but I didn't trust it. I looked at the GPS speedos but found an app that does the job called Speed Box.

Just make sure you mount your phone safely to the bike if you go down this route.

My speedo was 2 mph out at 30 and 6 at 70, so my speedo showed 32 when it was 30 and 76 when doing 70.

I think that's pretty normal for bikes and cars.
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Cars and bikes are allowed to be 10% optimistic but not allowed to read any slower than actual speed. I really thought that Mrs Nod was looking at the Km/h markings! IF the board that tells you you're speeding is set to the right trigger speed (and according to the MX-5's GPS, it is), my Speedmaster's speedo is pretty close to spot on at 30 - 31 on the clock triggered the warning!

Thought about using a phone and app but a cheap GPS unit is cheaper than a bar mount for her phone (and I have a couple of waterproof bar mounted cases that'll fit the unit already.)
 
Finally got my wheel back with a new tyre and wheel bearings. It was a real saga and involved me taking bit elsewhere as the garage that fitted the first set of bearings fitted the wrong ones and the wheel would fit with the spacer and abs sensor.
Fingers crossed it will fit tomorrow and I'll be back on the road after 4 weeks.
 
Many years ago, I had custody of a custom Shovel which (among its many custom touches) had solid (Fatboy IIRC) wheels. One of them needed bearings so, with them being expensive and the bike not mine, I took the wheel to the local main dealer up in Bridgewater. Who must have stuck an apprentice on the job rather than using the correct tools because they broke the flange on the wheel. I took the wheel straight to the MD's office and he threw a wobbly at the workshop staff! A week later, I had a brand new wheel and tyre back on the bike!
 
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Nod said:
Many years ago, I had custody of a custom Shovel which (among its many custom touches) had solid (Fatboy IIRC) wheels. One of them needed bearings so, with them being expensive and the bike not mine, I took the wheel to the local main dealer up in Bridgewater. Who must have stuck an apprentice on the job rather than using the correct tools because they broke the flange on the wheel. I took the wheel straight to the MD's office and he threw a wobbly at the workshop staff! A week later, I had a brand new wheel and tyre back on the bike!
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That kind of thing is why I do all my own work on my Harleys, the only thing I don't do is change tyres but I have a good place close by who I trust with my wheels for that. I especially don't trust the Stealerships and anyway mine are all too old for their diagnostic computers so they haven't got a clue.
 
I used to be a Suzuki fan but definitely like the look of this Aprilia:

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Nod said:
Mrs Nod and I went out for a shortish ride together yesterday (first time) and we discovered that her speedo is reading significantly faster than she's going (30 on her clock is 24-25). Got a GPS speedo on order as a check before getting it sorted under warranty. My guess is that one of the other models has a smaller front wheel and the speedo came out of that parts bin!
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Update on this...

GPS speedo and USB adaptor arrived this afternoon. USB lead (plugs into the charger port already fitted - might hardwire to an ignition switched supply if I can be bothered!) reaches nicely to the bars with the cable running in the tank tunnel beside the throttle cable and the unit itself is stuffed into a freebie phone holder I got a while back. At 36 on the bike's clock, the GPS reads 30 which is close enough to what my bike's speedo made it. I suppose we could probably make a fuss and get the speedo corrected/replaced or we could just keep the GPS unit on there. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Display-Di...d3-8a24-be507fb45d82&pd_rd_i=B0BTYTLWW7&psc=1 is what I got - seems to work OK!
 
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