Date: 28-03-24  Time: 23:11 pm

Show Posts

This section allows you to view all posts made by this member. Note that you can only see posts made in areas you currently have access to.


Topics - Hedgetrimmer

Pages: [1] 2 3 ... 9
1
General / Where have I been on my Fazer...
« on: 05 November 2018, 05:21:08 pm »
...since I bought it  :D
Sorry, just bored  :o


Luke delivered it all modded up, and I took it for a first spin up onto Uffington Hill, above the iron age fort:





Carbon-dip panels caught in the summer evening light:





Next place it went was just up the road to the Cassington Bike Night. Always well attended, this is just part of the main parking field:





And a couple of interesting bikes seen there, used to have one of these:





Two cylinders from a radial aero engine:




5cyl KH Kwak by the same builder:





Nice example of one that used to be a favourite of mine, very rare these days:





A LOFOs ride around Oxfordshire and Wiltshire:





And another ride when we finally actually made it to Sammy Miller's  :lol  :





A visit to Pendine Sands on the 95th anniversary of Sir Malcolm Campbell's 150mph record setting run in Bluebird:















Also ran, 1933 Napier Railton Special, a Brooklands lap record holder:





Brief break on Uffington Hill on the way home:





Enjoying summer evening light on the "Charlbury TT" course:










3 go nuts in Wales:





Always liked to visit interesting historical sights. Raglan Castle:





Stokesay Castle:





Did quite a few rides to Wales for great biking roads and scenery:















Went to Cornwall for a few days. At Rame Head:





Somewhere on Dartmoor:





In front of Truro Cathedral:





Obligatory:





Saw this on one of those Welsh trips, another rare one these days:





And this on a last Sunday run to H's cafe:





Visiting old haunts shortly before moving oop north:





One last visit to High beach, Epping Forest:





Loads more to come!  :b

2
General / FOC-U Tourers
« on: 18 September 2018, 04:26:32 pm »
Anybody done a good tour this year? Lack of funds has meant I haven't been able to do anything, but I'm always interested to see where others have been, especially if accompanied by lots of pics, and especially if lots of those pics include stunning mountain views!


So where you been this year (mountains or otherwise - Fazers only though  :D )? Let's see/hear about it  :)

3
General / Happy Birthday Unfazed!
« on: 02 July 2018, 08:03:00 am »



I'd just like to say, as well as being a very knowledgeable foccer when it comes to all things, er, foccing, Pat was very helpful with tips and advice when I was looking to buy my house a couple of years back, and it's much appreciated, not forgotten.


So have a great day, Pat!  :thumbup

4
Fazer 1000/FZ1 corner / EBC pads best deals?
« on: 28 July 2017, 09:41:02 pm »
Anyone know of anybody doing good prices on EBC pads at the moment?

5
General / Off to Euroland again
« on: 04 July 2017, 12:54:24 am »
Heading off on Friday. Trip to include the B500 through the Black Forest and a few days in Switzerland. All booked to that point, will see what comes next. Maybe Italy, but depends on the weather. Too hot could be as off-putting as too wet!

6
Diesels and Lawnmowers (Bike racing n things) / Road racing on ITV
« on: 06 May 2017, 12:12:24 pm »
Series, Oliver's Mount on ITV4 now, or catch up on ITV player:


https://www.itv.com/hub/road-racing-series/2a5089

7
I asked the dealer who looks after my bike to replace the rear wheel bearings before my Euro trip last year, including the needle roller (gen. Yam. only part?), but they said that on inspection, the bearings were fine. They did the trip ok, and many miles since.
The reason I had asked them to do it, is that I have had them fail on a previous gen 1, at a similar mileage to what this bike was on then. I was a bit annoyed with them, as even if they didn't need it at the time, they didn't carry out my instruction, which I was happy to pay for.
On the recent service, one was discovered to be on the way out, so it was replaced. But should I have asked them to replace all of them? Would a failing bearing have put strain on the others in the wheel? The upcoming trip could extend to more than 3000 miles, so I'm a little concerned.

8
Diesels and Lawnmowers (Bike racing n things) / Road Riders
« on: 20 April 2017, 08:58:29 pm »
Profiles of amateur road racers on BBC iPlayer:


http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08mp802


A bit too focussed on the dangers of the sport if you ask me, but interesting.

9
Fazer 1000/FZ1 corner / Gen1 black frame and engine paint
« on: 20 March 2017, 07:04:27 pm »
Anyone found good matches for these? Had a quick search, but couldn't find anything. Mine needs a couple of spots touching up. Seems like more of a very dark grey graphite-like finish.
Would be useful for PieEater's FAQ section too.

10
General / Down the pub - the thread about nothing and everything
« on: 11 March 2017, 03:06:45 pm »
One thing I don't much like about internet forums is how every thread has to have a subject, and people can get annoyed if you stray from that topic (sometimes understandably, if you're after specific technical advice for example). So I wondered how a thread about nothing in particular might work, where you can digress in whatever direction you choose, like a real conversation face to face might do over a pint or three of an evening.


Your round mate  ;)

11
Been looking at all us old gits reminiscing about all the bikes we owned in the past, and I got to thinking about some of the characters I've known through biking. Motorcycles do seem to attract a, er, colourful brand of person!


One that most sticks in my memory was a cat who I shall just call Steve, who I used to knock about with for many years. A few things I remember from back then:


I first knew Steve through my brother. We were all into heavy rock music, so that’s what brought us together. We all used to get the bus to Manor Park on a Saturday night for the rock disco at the Ruskin Arms, the place Iron Maiden started out, although I never saw them there. Steve was ahead of me in getting on two wheels - he had a CB125 twin that he thrashed mercilessly everywhere…well, we all thrashed our learner bikes mercilessly didn’t we?

I wound up with a CB100N, and started going places with him. His antics at that time were a bit more, er, interesting than mine. He’d do things like seeing how long he had the bottle to ride with his eyes closed. When he finally crashed from doing this, his eyes were closed cos he’d actually fallen asleep after a night shift at the petrol station he worked at then - ploughed straight across a roundabout, which I guess probably woke him up.

Steve was a big guy, about 6’ 4’’ and heavy with it. He liked his junk food and was the only guy I ever knew that could eat a 16oz Blowout from Jake’s burger bar, then he’d nip across the road to Maccy D’s and chase it down with a couple of cherry pies.

He got a Suzuki GS550 after he passed his test, he still dwarfed it though. I remember one night heading back from the pub, I was pillion on his GS and he loved to just go round and round a roundabout with the pegs dragging and great showers of sparks flying out behind.

Then he graduated to a GPz1100, and at the same time I got myself a Kwak 750 Turbo. These two bikes were well matched and we hacked about everywhere together. We both liked to ride fast, but he was a nutter. He’d try to bait cop cars into chasing him, other times he’d wheelspin that thing along the pavement outside people’s houses. One time, he wanted to hear what it would sound like if he took the complete exhaust system off, and the flames were shooting out of the block about a foot, but he quit that when he realised it was burning all the paint off the frame front tubes.

One time we both went to this party, fancy dress. I just put my dad’s old brown dust-coat on with string tied around the waist, and an empty bottle wrapped in brown paper and called myself a tramp. Through the night, I was pouring drinks into this bottle and just taking swigs from it now and then. Steve didn’t see me pouring the drinks in there though, just me getting them at the bar and every time I ordered he thought I was downing it right there. Unbeknownst to me, he was trying to match me drink for drink and knocking them straight back one for one - whisky I think it was we were ordering. Man, was he a state by the end of the night. I think I was too for all that. We couldn’t get a lift back to his place (I lived miles away), and we were so trashed they locked us in the bare, freezing cold bike club hut over night, left us a message saying they’d come let us out in the morning. I don’t remember being dumped in there, but we woke early, couldn’t get out, waited hours for someone to show up with the keys. I couldn’t even put a bottle of whisky under my nose after that night, never have since.

He was quite into the occult, I think he really believed in all that shit. Him and another mate went out to this old desanctified church out in the middle of nowhere in the dead of night. They saw weird lights and heard all this chanting inside as they crept up on the place. Then they heard footsteps approaching the door they were listening outside of and the pair of them turned and hightailed it from there. He kept telling everyone about it in awestruck tones after as if they’d stumbled upon the very lair of Satan himself. I think even his folks used to wind him up about that stuff.

Anyone else got stories of people they met through bikes, funny, interesting? Go on, I've got time to read em.

12
General / Picos de Europa, Pyrenees and Alps Trip
« on: 04 December 2016, 04:10:40 pm »
Thinking about doing this late April/early May next year, basically the N260 all the way down, possibly doing some short detours for scenery/places of interest, maybe back up on the French side of the range. Anyone got any hotel recommendations for that route? Anyone fancy tagging along?

13
General / A Few More Days In Scotland
« on: 08 October 2016, 11:25:46 pm »
Tuesday to today. 1415 miles.


Kintyre western coast:






Looking across the sound to Jura:





Campbeltown harbour:





Davas(?) Island:





Arran from Kintyre eastern coast:





From the bridge at North Ballachulish:





Invergarry viewpoint:





Loch Cluanie:








Five Sisters of Kintail:





From Gairloch, and points north on the coast road:














Ullapool:





Still going north:




















Pools, lagoons and lochans:











A sense of scale:











North coast:








Looping around Loch Eriboll:











Kyle of Tongue:





Couldn't let red98 say he's been further than me!








And the obligatory:





Heading south again:











Castle Urquhart, Loch Ness:











Around the Cairngorms:














Braemar castle:














Schiehallion, Tay Forest:





Loch Tay at Kenmore:





Alongside Loch Tay, heading for Crianlarich:





I stayed in B&Bs for one night each at Ardrishaig, Ullapool, Thurso and Nethy Bridge. Just had to grab the good weather, but this'll be the last time this year for me, I reckon.

14
Fazer 1000/FZ1 corner / Peculiar 'chuffing' noise.
« on: 18 July 2016, 11:17:55 pm »
This has been going on for some time now, but damned if I can pinpoint it  :\  The bike rides perfectly, and I have covered several thousand miles with it doing this. It's almost like a sawing noise, heard at lower speeds. It speeds up as the bike does, and I thought it might be pads rubbing on the discs, but it doesn't seem to speed up enough to be that, and I can see no evidence for it - discs are fine, brakes work fine. Plenty of material left on the pads. No evidence of anything rubbing on the tyres that I can see. Only does it when accelerating at these lower speeds (say 10-40mph approx), doesn't do it with throttle off. The chain has been adjusted a couple of times since I first heard it, made no difference, neither did a thorough service, which also didn't turn up any problems. It seems quite loud too.


Anyone got any clues what it might be, what to check?

15
Fazer 1000/FZ1 corner / Nope, Not Tempted
« on: 18 June 2016, 11:57:15 am »
With all the talk about the new MT10, and folks "moving on" from here to ZX10s, MT09s etc, here's a list of bikes I'm not tempted to replace my Fazer with:


BMW S1000R
GSX1000S
ZX10SX
FZ1
MT09
Tracer
Speed Triple
MT10
CB1000R (don't make me laugh!)
CBF1000 (now you're just taking the piss!)
Triumph Tiger 1050 (in any guise)


I'm sure somebody'll get there one day.


So why not then? Well, the Fazer (Ivanised, Full Monty) has plenty of power for me. I don't find the weight to be an issue. Handles beautifully and predictably with the mods it has, and no more need be spent on this. Tank range is pretty good, never feel the need for more. Fuel consumption seems reasonable when not caned. I don't feel the need for gadgets, having not experienced most of them (ABS, TC etc). Easy to pile on the luggage for touring, and still the bike handles well and performance barely affected. Comfortable over long distances - I don't even find the standard seat much of an issue on longer rides, and it seems to suit my 6' 2'' frame well.


So is it still the best all-rounder ever, bearing in mind whatever else you buy, you'll likely do some mods to? And if you are one of those who has moved on but still lingers around here, what were you looking for when you traded your Fazer for a new shiny thing? Did you find it?


Or maybe I'm more easily satisfied these days. I bought the Striple because I felt the need to try something newer, and there were so many people raving about how good they are. The idea was to have it for a year or so, then trade it for something else again, but I really don't know that I can be bothered now I have it. I find myself more inclined to just jump on the Fazer, although when my mood is right, the Triumph is still fun. But I can always get along with Old Faithful. And there's still no doubt, if I could only keep one of them, it'd be bye bye Street Triple!


Perhaps I've just got boring, and the Fazer makes for a comfortable "pipe and slippers" solution? Although I find it anything but boring to ride. Still puts a smile on my face every time I go out on it, be it a blast to a local cafe, a day in the hills or a tour taking in 1000s of miles and varied roads.


Nope, not tempted to trade in for a newer model yet  :)

16
General / 4 days in Scotland
« on: 13 May 2016, 04:33:52 pm »
Sunday to Wednesday; took advantage of the weather and booked some B&Bs.


Above Loch Long, Glen Douglas:





The Cobbler:





Rest and be Thankful:





Inverary Castle:





Loch Awe and Ben Cruachan:





Kilchurn Castle, Loch Awe:





Loch Linnhe, Fort William:





Loch Eil:








Invercaddle Bay, Loch Linnhe:





Loch Linnhe:





Loch Sunart:








Moidart:





Sound of Arisaig, Rum and Eigg:








Glen Finnan:








Glen Shiel:








Eilean Donan Castle, Loch Duich:





Black Cuillin, Isle of Skye:











Waterfalls and Sgurr nan Gillean, Skye:





Near Staffin, Skye:








Climbing to Quiriang, Skye:








Five Sisters of Kintail from the climb above Loch Carron:





The road to Applecross:











Liathach, Torridon:





Beinn Alligin, Torridon:





1220 miles in total  :)

17
General / Slimwilly's older...
« on: 26 April 2016, 06:50:03 pm »
...maybe no wiser, but you can't have everything  :lol


Happy birthday you old bugger!

18
What is it about these gen 1s that they supposedly run so badly if you remove the EXUP? Is it the way the ignition timing is set up, the carburetion, a combination of such things? I mean, there used to be plenty of carb bikes that ran perfectly well without having any kind of valve in the exhaust system. Or is it that they just lose some of the low down oomph without it?


More than one reason I'm asking this. A little bit of history. On my 3rd gen 1, I occasionally used to get the 7k EXUP warning, but didn't notice any effect on performance when this happened. After a short while, the warning would just clear itself.


On the Hedgetrimmer, it turned out it never had an EXUP valve at all  :eek  Luke discovered this when he built the new bike for me, and took the foliage-lover off my hands. Now, that bike ran like crap at lower revs when I first got it. Glitchy, especially on small throttle adjustments, and most noticeable when coming off throttle in small increments in the rev range up to about 3k. After Ivanising funnily enough, there was hardly a problem, you could just notice it. Even Luke failed to spot it after Mike worked his magic.


Now, on the current bike, it's like it's running on 3 cylinders below 3k. The EXUP appears to be working fine, get the little whirring noise when I switch the ignition on, and no 7k warnings (btw, I did notice the extra grunt after the Hedgetrimmer, but I wouldn't call it a huge difference). When this first happened, the bike got a full service including carb balance and was fine for about 5-700 miles or so, then quickly went back to this poor low rev running. At first I got suspicious about the vacuum take-off fitting for the Scottoiler, as it is very loose, but taping it over with plumbers tape has made no difference, and anyway, I've been told since that it's such a tiny amount of difference this would make as to render it very unlikely (true?).


Something else - these are the same carbs that were on the Hedgetrimmer, in their Ivanised state, but as the manifolds were in nigh on perfect condition on this bike, but quite deeply cracked on the Hedgetrimmer, the ported ones were not transferred over (not noticed any adverse affect on performance due to this when all was running well). So these carbs probably have something like 40k miles on them in total.


The bike is booked in for a thorough service, this time also to include a valve clearance check, carb balance, EXUP service (Luke did this thoroughly about 15k miles ago), and I will be disconnecting the Scottoiler and putting a proper cap on the vacuum take-off - I've never found them to be any easier than just using chain lube or oil, even if this has nothing to do with the running problem.


All of this history has been explained to the chaps who will be doing the service, and they also seem to find it a little odd that after a service, things would be fine for a few hundred miles, and then rapidly deteriorate again. Can anybody enlighten me as to what might be going on here?


19
General / Shiny vs Filthy
« on: 05 April 2016, 10:35:03 pm »
Just a little ramble I posted on another forum, might stimulate a bit of conversation, or just kill a couple of minutes for you:


(sorry, I'm bored, it's raining, and my bikes are clean and shiny in the shed).


Who gets more enjoyment out of their bike; those who keep it cosseted in the garage as long as there's so much as a little, fluffy white cloud in the corner of the sky; so polished, spotless and shiny that to look at it puts you at risk of burning out your retinas; or those that think, feck it, who cares about a bit of dirt, and get out on it come rain or shine until it gets so you can barely tell what the original colour of the paintwork is supposed to be, and people to start to say to you it looks good in the landscape, and you have a sneaking suspicion that's because half of the landscape is splurged all over it?


Ok, I ride less in the winter these days. I can make excuses about having done all the shit weather riding when I was younger, can afford a car now so no need to go through all that with the layers of gear etc. But it's all bullshit really. I don't ride much in the winter because I can't be bothered with all the cleaning of the bike I feel the need to do when it gets covered in road shit. Yes, I could clean it once before the onset of crap weather season (isn't that all year round in Britain? I hear the cynics shout - cheer up, for feck's sake!), then drown it in ACF and forget about it until the northern hemisphere nods towards the sun again, letting layer upon layer of grime build up like the deposited sediments of an ancient river bed.


 The thing is, I do have a certain pride in the appearance of my bikes. And it's not even really connected with the idea of maintaining it's value. I don't care what it's worth when I get bored with it and want a change. I buy bikes for me to enjoy, not the next feckin sod who might want to sniff round it if it's got a price on it's head. If, when I do decide to sell, it's not worth much, then I'll scrape together some more cash to add to the proceeds for the next thing that takes my fancy.
 
But over the winter, I do seem to develop a bit of this over-protective mentality. I begin to treat bikes like they were some kind of rare artefact from a long-lost era that need to be preserved as close to their original state so that distant generations might benefit from the knowledge of "this is what once was." As the temperatures rise in the spring and I feel more like getting out on two wheels and exploring again, I have to break through this hibernation state, and accept that the bike will get dirty if I use it, and I may need to throw a bucket of water over it once in a while. And then you notice that enabled a bit of paint to catch the light once more, so you start to think, well, I'll just give the bodywork a quick polish.....but now, that looks a little odd when the rest is still a bit dull, so out comes the plastic cleaner or whatever else you use, until eventually, there's not a spot of dirt left anywhere on the bike, and it burns it's after-image on your eyeballs if you so much as glance at it.
 
And you think, I can't ride it now or it'll get dirty again, and all that work will have been for nothing!   :eek    :wall

20
General / Bike shed solutions/ideas?
« on: 29 February 2016, 02:32:20 pm »
Got the new shed installed today  :)


So now I need to figure out the best way to actually make it accessible for the bikes  :rolleyes  (yes, I knew this was coming). Here's the problem that needs solving:





As you can see, there is a rise of about 2-3 inches on the bottom jamb that needs to be bridged with some kind of ramp. The gravel at the shed base as it stands is almost level with the edge of the existing patio slabs, maybe just slightly higher. I'm thinking of extending the paving slabs right up to the shed base, but they can't be sloped to the top of the door jamb obviously. So I'm going to need some kind of ramp. Should be enough room that it doesn't need to be a particularly steep incline, but will need to be easy to move around. So before I just go and get someone to make me a wooden ramp (crap at DIY myself), I wondered if anyone might have seen anything readily available/be able to come up with some ingenious solution?

21
Looks like it'll be another chilly but sunny one, anyone out and about?


Also, I've found the Hartside (but was closed when I was up there - are they seasonal?), and The Filling Station in Keswick, but I'm sure I've heard about other popular biking haunts up here. I need ideas of where to stop for a coffee and a warm-up to actually encourage me to get out in this cold weather!

22
Fazer 1000/FZ1 corner / Gen 1 short link pipe
« on: 26 February 2016, 10:27:30 am »
Has anyone replaced the standard link pipe with something shorter for an aftermarket can? It's the one thing that annoys me about the look of these bikes.

23
General / Accommodation in Switzerland
« on: 02 February 2016, 08:13:03 pm »
Is there actually any such thing as reasonably priced accommodation in this notoriously expensive country? Hotels/B&B/hostels? Or is there a border region that is close enough to travel from on a daily basis to explore the heart of the Swiss Alps? Or should I just face the fact that if I want to go there, it's gonna cost?

24
General / New Year Approacheth - What're Your Biking Plans?
« on: 31 December 2015, 12:33:40 pm »
Everyone loves a good touring thread!  :D


Come on then Foccers, what are you planning for your biking year? Dreams to reality? Or just dreams? Get it down here!


Now my move is done and i'm happily settling in, my mind is turning to Europe again....still gotta sort the passport though  :rolleyes  Midden, will be in touch re. this shortly  ;)

25
Fazer 1000/FZ1 corner / More Praise For The Gen 1
« on: 30 December 2015, 11:10:28 pm »
Another sparkling write-up in Jan issue of Classic Motorcycle Mechanics.


Suspension criticised as being a bit under-damped, but otherwise, the article has just good things to say  :D 

Pages: [1] 2 3 ... 9