The Motorbikerist Thread

[Barry]

You could’ve met up with me and Barry in Chester, we’re just up the road.

I've been in Chester twice this weekend, and roaming around N.Wales both days. Sods law.

[mik]

I know someone that lives in Chester.

He’s a TAUC.

[evostick]

Chester was alright but I've never seen such widespread misuse of fake tan before.

Was going to stay in Wrexham but after riding through the centre we kept going for some reason.

[NotoriousREV]

Wrexham is the Stroud of north Wales.

[JLv3.0]

Jesus - that bad?

[evostick]

I wouldn't stay in Stroud either

[evostick]

Well my relatively expensive Yamaha heated grips have fallen apart after only a month due to piss poor construction.

Yamahas response was 'we'll only honour a warranty to dealer fitted parts'.

[NotoriousREV]

Yeah, I think they’ll find that’s not entirely in line with consumer law.

[NotoriousREV]

So my textiles finally dried out after washing them at the weekend. They look loads better, not quite brand new but I'd forgotten that there were different colours than black and yellow in them, as they'd been completely obliterated by 4 years of road grime. I got rained on going to work and there was no leakage, but it was only a shower. I need a proper deluge to decide if the Nikwax has worked properly or not.

[JLv3.0]

Well my relatively expensive Yamaha heated grips have fallen apart after only a month due to piss poor construction.

That's very odd - I fitted the OEM Yamaha heated grips to the S10 and they've been great - yes, it does get cold enough to use them here in the winter

[Barry]

I did my Wolf textile pants with nikwax earlier this year and so far they've kept water out, although I don't think I've been caught in a serious long downpour either. I tend to throw the Oxford rain gear over the top when it chucks down anyway.

[JLv3.0]

You guys not tempted to just chuck a Goretex jacket and over-trousers over the normal riding gear? Same layering principle as the hikey outdoorsey type. This worked a treat in Japan when it was either cold, or lashing it down, or cold and lashing it down, and you get the flexibility of layers to suit the weather.

[Barry]

I throw textiles over my work clothes, and water proof over jacket/pant over them in winter, to act as wind proof, rain protection and added bonus of limiting the crud clogging my textiles. Textiles cover most bases though, and are effectively layered themselves.

[JLv3.0]

The actual, correct response was - so why the fuck did you drop $1k on your wanky Goretex Klim jacket, James, you cock?

[NotoriousREV]

Exactly that!

I have a really nice Rev'It rain suit. It's spent the best part of 4 years in the garage where I couldn't find it. Then I found it about 6 months ago, gave it to the wife and said "put that with all my other gear" and it hasn't been seen since.

[tim]

I had the same trouble with all my money and all my possessions, but hey ho... :p

[NotoriousREV]

I had the same trouble with all my money and all my possessions, but hey ho... :p

Yeah, but my wife likes me. Most of the time.

[Barry]

James you c0ck, if you can afford Klim then by all means, I just don't think I need that level of garment, I'm happy slumming it with cheap waterproofs :p

[NotoriousREV]

So, after 3500 miles in just over 3 months on the KTM there’s just 2 things that annoy me:

The chain needs adjusting far more than any other bike I’ve had. I’ve always run my chains on the looser side of things and that’s always served me well with them lasting ages and not needing touching. On this bike, though, as soon as it gets even slightly loose (and even when still in tolerance) it slaps on the swing arm, which has plastic chain guards to protect it from this but it’s noisy and annoying so means you end up tweaking it every 3 weeks or so. Luckily, the adjustment is the best of any bike I’ve had: up on my Abba stand, undo the pinch bolt, use the supplied c-spanner to rotate the eccentric hub a few mm and do the pinch bolt back up. Edit: oh, and there’s so little chain exposed on the run that when cleaning and lubing it, it’s guaranteed that you’ll trap your fingers.

The other annoyance is the auto headlight. At this time of year it flicks between DRLs and the headlight constantly on the evening commute home, which annoys me and must definitely annoy other road users. There’s no switch to stop this, you can only override it via a menu that’s only accessible when you’re stopped. Not ideal on the motorway.

Other than that, I fucking love this bike. I still gaze back at it longingly whenever I park it up.

[JLv3.0]

Luckily, the adjustment is the best of any bike I’ve had: up on my Abba stand, undo the pinch bolt, use the supplied c-spanner to rotate the eccentric hub a few mm and do the pinch bolt back up.

Do Lightech make chain adjusters for it? Lovely devices. An odd way to tension it though, my quad is the same but didn't know bikes had it as well.