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Starting to get warmer... any other motorcyclists gearing up on here?

This is completely normal! Yes your forks are adjustable. But within careful limits. Proper, genuine zero rebound damping would be dangerous, so the parameters you have for adjustment are constrained by the manufacturer. Otherwise you could adjust your suspension, injure your self and then sue the manufacturer...

I'd be mightily relieved to hear that but..if you go to 1:26 in this tho - our man Moss demonstrates what happens when you wind the damping off on his MV F3:


It definitely allows you to go underdamped.
 
I sold my Triumph Street Triple last summer thinking I'd never ride on the road again after a work colleague was paralysed from the chest down after an accident.
Now being tempted by the likes of a vintage Matchless, AJS or BSA as a bit of a project. Just got to find one at a fair price.
 
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Good to get back in the saddle.

Re older bikes btw, hey're fun to work at and fiddle with, but the dynamics are pretty awful when compared to anything from the modern era.
I sold my older '72 450 twin a little while back as I had more near-death experiences on it than I've ever had on any modern bike :)
 
Yesterday visited bike shop to pick up a few bits, matey came and had look over bike tyres, rear is a Bridgestone T30 Evo and dated from 2019, the front is a Dunlop which he said was 9 years old, the receipt I have says was fitted in Sept2014!!!
Both tyres look barely used, the rear still has most of the little bobbles on from new. So I should really change the front, I guess I should fit something similar to the rear, was thinking T31 or maybe the T32 if its available.
I want good wet weather grip, anything else I should consider or best to stick with same front/back so profiles are the same?
 
I'd be mightily relieved to hear that but..if you go to 1:26 in this tho - our man Moss demonstrates what happens when you wind the damping off on his MV F3:




It definitely allows you to go underdamped.
Fair enough - if you’re worried get it checked out. Fork oil tends to give less damping when old and going off though, not more.
And think what you’re asking - I’m concerned that I can’t adjust my bike so it’s unrideable?!..
 
Ah I think it's fine Rich. What you said about limiting the adjustment so people can't fk it up makes perfect sense. The MV is Eye-talian after all, and with their machinery as with most other things, they often have their own peculiar brand of logic for things..

The reason I wanted to test the full range was to be able to see the effect the damping adjustment had just bouncing the forks - and understand how the change was related to the adjustment. I set all of the damping adjusters to a compromise between the official Triumph Manual recommendations and those suggested by Dave Moss for road use (he used to own an early 675, and knows his way round them). Fiddled with the tyre pressures too - checking the difference between hot and cold pressures, settled on 32F / 34 R cold with a 2-3 psi rise, which is probably ok for road riding at this time of year. The fork oil is an unknown quantity, so I'll probably replace it as the next job on the bike.

I went out for an hour's run today, and it feels absolutely fine. If there's anything wrong in the overall scheme of things now, it's down to the organic lump on the seat, and not the bike :)
 
Anyone here use any ABBAstand products?


The SV only has a sidestand and I generally wont have anyone else about to assist with a `paddock` stand, this looks like a `tool` worth investing in, bonus also seems to be the amount of space taken up when not in use.
Thoughts or alternatives? (I did watch the vid with the poor guy having brown trousers moment with his Ducati)
 
I use one of these (or an unbranded one very like it) :

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With a little bit of practice, it's pretty easy to operate single-handedly holding on to the top / rear of the seat with one hand, and maneouvering the stand in under the bobbins using the big handle. First time's a faff - trying to adust it to seat properly on the frame bobbins, but after that it's a simple thing to use. I just make sure to keep me one one side, the side-stand down on the other as a precautionary measure. That one I find particularly useful as with the handle and wheels you can manoeuvre the bike about a little to help place it closer to walls or wherever you want it.

I wouldn't worry too much about the space with a paddock stand - it's either on the bike, or you are generally :) Besides, if you do need to store it, it's lightweight aluminium: just stick a nail or a hook on the wall or a roof-truss and hang it up out of the way.
 
Track day was cancelled today :( Went for a spin with a mate to get over it. Rough enough oul bike he has, but I said he could bring it anyway..

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4-1-4 pipe:

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He had to put two of the four baffles back in the tailpipes after the neighbours had a quiet word with him.

201bHP. 1000bHP/tonne. 'kin'ell :)
 
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I popped out to Morrisons on Sat afternoon and was met with bloody snow when I came out. Thankfully it was light and the road was warm enough for it to melt but I didn’t waste any time getting home as it was following me!

Strangely, where I live it’s normally two or three degrees cooler than the main routes but it was dry and stayed dry till I got home.

Must admit I had a sigh of relief when I got to the house, heavy bike in the snow ain’t fun!
 
Mate of mine got caught out on the Woodhead on Saturday afternoon. Had to bail out when the shower turned out to be a bit more than he thought and the road started turning white. I got snowed on yesterday while cycling, but it just wet the road.
 
Anyone here use any ABBAstand products?


The SV only has a sidestand and I generally wont have anyone else about to assist with a `paddock` stand, this looks like a `tool` worth investing in, bonus also seems to be the amount of space taken up when not in use.
Thoughts or alternatives? (I did watch the vid with the poor guy having brown trousers moment with his Ducati)
I used on on my hayabusa. Much easier to use than a paddock stand and take up less space.
 
Anyone here use any ABBAstand products?


The SV only has a sidestand and I generally wont have anyone else about to assist with a `paddock` stand, this looks like a `tool` worth investing in, bonus also seems to be the amount of space taken up when not in use.
Thoughts or alternatives? (I did watch the vid with the poor guy having brown trousers moment with his Ducati)

I made a simmilar thing for mine but with front extentions that fit on so with the help of a strap I can get both wheels of the ground.

Pete
 
I managed to get the little MSX125 that my son had accidentally filled with diesel running again. Invested in a cheap siphon pump and used that to empty the tank, then refilled with unleaded. It started after a bit of cranking and there was a lot of white smoke at first, but it seemed to settle down after a couple of minutes. I'll give it a run this evening to check it out but fingers crossed it'll be ok.;
 
I managed to get the little MSX125 that my son had accidentally filled with diesel running again. Invested in a cheap siphon pump and used that to empty the tank, then refilled with unleaded. It started after a bit of cranking and there was a lot of white smoke at first, but it seemed to settle down after a couple of minutes. I'll give it a run this evening to check it out but fingers crossed it'll be ok.;
Sounds like you will be OK, this is the less disastrous way round. White smoke from burning diesel in a petrol is normal but I remember a mate doing this to a car many years ago and it was fine. You might want to think aboyut an oil change sooner rather than later, the diesel might have contaminated the sump oil and unlike petrol diesel does no evaporate from engine oil via the breather system. If there is diesel in the oil the lubricant properties will be reduced, not what you need in a little 4 stroke with only 1 litre of oil in the thing working very hard.
 
Sounds like you will be OK, this is the less disastrous way round. White smoke from burning diesel in a petrol is normal but I remember a mate doing this to a car many years ago and it was fine. You might want to think aboyut an oil change sooner rather than later, the diesel might have contaminated the sump oil and unlike petrol diesel does no evaporate from engine oil via the breather system. If there is diesel in the oil the lubricant properties will be reduced, not what you need in a little 4 stroke with only 1 litre of oil in the thing working very hard.

Good point. I'll check and see if it's due a service anytime soon and either book it in for that or just do an oil change anyway.
 
I used on on my hayabusa. Much easier to use than a paddock stand and take up less space.

Thanks Guys,
Will order one today, It will be easier to work on the chain than scooting the bike up and down my parking space like I did yesterday, needs to be stood upright to see the contents of the little oil window too.
 
I bought another 125 yesterday - an old 2006 Yamaha YBR125 for my son to use:

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Where he lives there is a high chance of a bike left on the street getting stolen and the insurance premiums reflect that (£250 third party only for him compared to £750 TPF&T and £800+ comprehensive) so I needed something cheaper than his Mum's MSX125/Grom that he's been using up until now i.e. didn't cost a lot so not a big deal if it is stolen. The mandatory excess on the TPF&T policies (£500+) made them pointless anyway, for a bike that's only worth about £800.

It's somewhat tatty, although not really as bad as I'd expected and everything seems to work (even the fuel gauge) and it rides quite well. It's quicker than the Grom as well, so if we do a 125cc ride out together I'm going to have to work to keep up!

I've given it an oil change and will change the air filter and spark plug (as these sorts of bikes don't tend to get a lot of maintenance) plus stick a top-box on, but no real plans to do any more than that.
 


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