Leaderboard

This was supposed to be a ride report! first day for ages that the temp wasn't around freezing and I was at home and had nothing else planned for the afternoon. Quick ride I says to meself, get a few miles in before curfew... "Oh" said Pooh, " I'll just replace Tigger's broken rear indicator before going out, cos it's dangling and we don't like dangling, do we?" I discovered it Dangling a few days ago and had picked up a new one from Triumph in Dijon yesterday. Replace an indicator... quick job you'd think... I could do this on the transalp in about 10 minutes ( having had plenty practice at dropping the tralp and breaking them) It's fixed on with one allen head bolt threaded into an insert or a clip inside, and the two electrical connectors under the seat...right... WRONG! I lifted the seat to find that the wiring is all hidden away under the rear fairing thingy and I can't get to it AND the allen bolt is not threaded into a captive clip but into a nut that is clearly turning with it and that I can't reach either. "POO" said Pooh, "I'll have to take the rear rack / topbox carrier off to access behind the rear light." So, 4 bolts to remove the luggage rack, easy right... WRONG... 4 bolts ringed in red were so tight I fucked the 12mm 1/8" drive socked getting the second one undone, obviously you cant get a spanner to them and I only have my smallest socket set with me. " Bollocks" said Pooh, as he realised he was going to have to drive to work to pick up his toolbox. So 40km and 45minutes later, with a proper 1/2" drive 12mmsocket and 6" ratchet I managed to get all 4 bolts out but they were obviously heavily overtightened when fitted. That's the 4 bolts out then... yep, but wait...what's this? below the sliding rack for the topbox is the original rack, with 4 more bolts ( ringed in yellow) 10mm this time and though dry and tight they drew with some progressive force but only needed the little socket and drive. Lift off the rack and.... OH FFS! Another plate with 2 more 12mm bolts ( ringed in blue). remember this is all in order to access 1 electrical connection and 1 nut for the indicator. Big socket out again, first one waaaaaay tighter than it ever should be, 2nd one...I didn't even need the ratchet handle...? " FECK!" said Pooh, and swore loudly whilst throwing his toys out of the pram ? That's not normal! the bolt on the right came out first and the one on the left, from the marked hole, basically snapped as soon as I touched it. Not being a particularly patient bear, Pooh threw a wobbler at this point and sulked so hard that he didn't take any more pictures ? so I removed the passenger handle which left me with about 2mm of bolt proud of the frame, not enough to grab, or cut into, but luckily the broken surface was quite flat so a centre punch and a 3,5 and then 4,5 drill bit came into play, I only had a 6mm "easy out" in my box so that wasn't going to work but the easing oil I had applied earlier and the heat generated by drilling loosened it sufficiantly so that an old 4mm flatblade scredriver could be hammered into the hole I'd drilled into the bolt and used to twist the broken bolt end out. I was also lucky that I had an 8mm x 60mm stainless bolt in a box of bits in the shed that I could replace the broken one with. I replaced the indicator, checked it worked, and then put it all back together ( with a little grease on the bolt threads and not having a torque wrench, tightened to " contact + 1/4 turn" it was then nearly curfew time so I just managed to ride to the car wash and back, as I'd put it away dirty last time.

I think I may have already told you about the time they put a health testing machine in our town hall for a few weeks. I put my money in and stood on the scales. The instructions were in tiny writing and I bent down to see that it said to press this large red button which I did not knowing that this measured my height as it was pressed. The piece of paper it printed out said I was 12 stone but only 4 feet 8 inches tall and I was morbidly obese. I did it a few weeks later properly this time, a vast improvement and without even dieting or going to a gym.

I'm just going to agree with what glitch_oz is saying because it's exactly right. If you do a lot of motorway (freeway) riding get the DL, but if you like the backroads and gravel trails go for the DR. I've owned four DR650's now so I'm a bit biased but for me it's the best go anwhere dual-sport bike there is . 1996 UK model behind modded for overland riding and 2012 Standard model in front , that one is from Perth originally and still has some Aussie red dust on it

nope, just everybody hides whenever they see him coming.

I instantly thought of you when I felt that bolt let go! ?

CAMCHAIN? We don't need no stinkin cam chain!

Absolutely, how the hell do you get your helmet on when you're wearing that

This is Ryknild Street, a roman road in Gloucestershire. That's a KTM990 Adventure courtesy bike that the dealer loaned me for the day when my 950 was in for a recall issue. That track is not hard to ride but the 990 made it hard work as the fuelling was sooooooooooo jerky. When I took it back they asked if I would like to upgrade to the 990, I politely declined

Hi all, Thanks for the welcome. Definitely not a Bruce, Bruce, but I could hum a few bars...

Nor deos Pete, he just changes bike so often that on a more or less regular basis the laws of probability mean that the latest bike happens to match whatever lid he's wearing.

Got the engine back together tonight also adjusted some of the valve clearances which was quite time consuming without the proper tool for the job so just the rocker cover to go on and refill the cooling system tomorrow and then i'll find out if my efforts were worth it @Bruce the crows foot worked great for torquing up the cam sprocket bolts, would have had to remove the cam covers to do it with a socket

Tools would be in low earth orbit here if i was Moon.

well I didn't punch anybody ?

Talking of Noddy, he narrates a series on sky arts on a Friday evening called trail blazers. Good stuff.

Well it is nice to be thought of...... ?

Well make something happen you knuckle dragger! This isn't a variety show at the Palladium!

and me ?

Just bring Twoesme back, you'll have enough material for at least another 5 years ?

I'm quite happy with nobody about......the risk of Covid nosedives, and I haven't got to waste my time making small talk with people who are not particularly interesting.

I think we could do with a fake accident report though.

Im sorry, umm. lets see, le non twat pas button est ici...

Are we going to need tetanus shots now?

don't call it blood sausage Perdro mate, you'll have the philistines vomiting at the very thought, call it " black pudding" and they'll fight each other for it. ?

Yeh.....but I told you that riding to Great Yarmouth last year dressed as Noddy Holder wasn't a good idea Dave!

Flares on the kickstart era!

I've moved to the cam chain tensioner tonight. first job was to remove the cooling system thermostat and fill point relatively simple job which involved undoing some jubilee clips and then covering my garage carpets and socks in antifreeze ffs. after moping everything up and a clean pair of socks this is what i took off Removing that lot gave me better access to the rocker cover looks a bit scary in there i don't think I've done this to a twin cam engine before Didn't take long to get at the cam chain tensioner and only had to remove one of the camshafts. But you have to remove the two R clips and push the pins out to free it from the cam chain while over the cam chain tunnel what could possibly go wrong ? Got it out without dropping anything into the engine but still have to put them back in tomorrow From what I've read the bottom cylindrical part of the cam chain tensioner in the photo below is full of oil and stops the cam chain tensioner plunger from returning once the spring advances it, but when you drain the oil from the bike that part never gets drained and it gets a bit sticky usually around 50,000 miles. So the whole point of this exercise is to flush it out and refill with new oil because as far as i'm aware the oil has been there from when the bike was new which makes it 28 years old. Last photo with the cam out really not looking forward to putting this back together tomorrow might have to get the workshop manual out looks a bit complicated ?

i always seem to end up converting my dirt bikes to motards

Looking great Michelle! I like HJC as well......great value for money, and the fit is based very much on Shoei as I understand it. I used Shoei's for years......but the pricing was just getting ridiculous so I switched to HJC.

My new riding gear finally arrived. I am super happy with everything, the leather jacket already feels like I have had it for years. The helmet is quiet and I got a pinlock this time, so no fogging up! Much more comfortable in this gear on the Honda than I was in my ADV gear, and I was surprising warm in it all. The new jeans are cool too!

Duckduckgo* searched 'adventure motorcycle forum'. 3rd match. * Privacy browser for anyone that doesn't know.

I'ts alive. I don't normally like first time startup videos as i feel it jinxes things but i did it anyway and sure enough i was jinxed got a ohh noo feeling when it wouldn't rev and cut out ? my temporary fuel tank was empty so all's good With fuel in it seemed to run better sounds real quiet and ticks over so much smoother, it used to have a lumpy tick over i'm thinking the carb balancing has fixed that, hopefully it will still be ok after a run

I was lucky.

Nice recovery @MooN its such a good feeling when snapped things come out

Thats the sort of road I loved. Nice and simple riding with time to look around. I was always at the back.

As a rough description the part I've circled in the photo has a plunger in it which is pushed up by a spring and the space below it is filled with oil as it advances when the chain and guides wear, The oil stops the plunger from moving back once its advanced so keeps the chain tight, the oil in this part will only come out if you turn the tensioner upside down. New oil runs over this part when the engine is running but it does not replace the oil that's in there so hoping cleaning it out will fix it otherwise it's £150 for a new one

Flares with an open primary isn’t a good idea.

I feel your pain! ? The broken bolt blues is a little tune I was singing a few months ago! At least your bike is clean and ready for next time....

No, just that the tensioner is pushed by a dead end oil channel, as since it's a dead end the oil at the end doesn't get freshened up with the running engine or oil changes.

I have them but they won’t fit you to small.

Nice work there Fred, I've never worked on anything more than a twin , I don't really like multi cylinder engines. I'm slightly confused about one thing, you say that the oil hasn't been changed from new (28 years) , so does the tensioner run in a seperate oil bath to the engine ?

Hi, I know this subject is a common one but I'd like to know if someone can explain this in riding experience terms. I'm on the lookout for a new mount and I've owned a DL650 before so know its performance. I've always been perplexed by the fact that thumpers such as the DR650 and KLR650 being the same displacement as the DL, have almost half the power yet similar torque ratings, albeit at different rpm. I've been mainly considering buying another DL but like the DR from the reviews I've read. What I'd like to know since I haven't gotten around to riding a DR, in actual felt experience, how do these specs play out. Thanks.

I never change my gear though.......until I bought the HJC 5 years ago I still had the same helmet from Britain. And all my riding jackets are UK ones too......I have replaced one set of Winter and Summer gloves though cos they fell apart.

Your door knobs opinion me thinks!

Done that one.

I was thinking more up @Bruce's alley these days.....

What you taking about you no knees fucker, we can till manage the weight of our bikes not like you, ya gimp, your hairs white, pubes ginger, and knees are fucked.? what you say @Clive

It's a caramelized onion and cheese omelette sandwich, I was quite proud of it.