On a serious note, I weigh about 12.5 stone in my riding gear and was on preload 5 or 6 of 9 on the OEM shock which was correct sag wise, so having it on 9 sounds way too much if you're 11 stone. If your rear wheel is "skipping" I would probably suggest you're down-shifting without blipping the throttle to match the RPM like fazersharp said which will mean the engine braking / drive chain will make the wheel lock. The standard rear brake would have to be applied pretty hard to lock the rear wheel noticably at near redline in 3rd gear speeds unless you had the fronts on very hard as well. Have you checked your swing arm bearings and shock bearings?

Put some bricks in your top box, that's what I did. Not a large Hawaiian dominoes though, that never ends well after a Raz.

Don't want to hijack his thread darrsi, but yeah I've read about some of their "quirks". I have always loved the SRAD suzuki sport bike shape and never heard of the TL until I saw one a few weeks ago, in a multi storey. Got talking to the guy and he started it up, full yoshi exhaust.... I messed myself. Big time. It's just a dream anyway, something to ponder along with all my other ponderings if I ever get the job I want. I'll probably never get rid of the FZS though if possible.

I bought mine when I was 19 and had it restricted for a year. Was awesome especially coming from a restricted GS500. I've done loads to mine, looks very different and has grown and upgraded with me along with my riding I would like to think. I would strongly recommend a bike safe course if it's your first big bike, they're pretty cheap and just keeps you that bit more aware of the dangers of the road and what having a powerful bike can mean. Police riders were really helpful and totally sound as well which has made me respect them a lot more.


Mostly though you will be having an awesome time I'm sure and they are truly excellent bikes. I must admit I'm always lusting after all kinds of weird stuff, currently my urge is a TL1000r but every time I go out I just think "I chose wisely, excellent bike". I did try and sell it once and am quite glad I was unsuccessful, for my budget I don't think I could have a better all round machine. I have a lot of good memories on this bike; first bike I ground pegs with, first bike I toured on (not been abroad yet but maybe one day), first bike I've serviced and did fairly substantial mechanics on, first bike I did 100 (kph  ) on however my favourite memory is the day I whacked out the restrictors and gave it its first handful on a big straight in second. Literally was a WOWZAAAAA moment and still is now, I barely get the chance so it still makes me smile and never gets old. My Dad's SV headlight just slowly fading in my mirror and imagining the quiet "bollocks" mumbled in his helmet still makes me chuckle.

If you're after a book to work through, Robert M Pirsig's "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" is a good read, if somewhat hard work in the second half.

I read that once Christo, it started well pretty interesting and some of the theories and stuff I liked. Then it got to a point where I could read a whole page and couldn't actually tell you a single piece of it in any sense if you asked me. The words were just nonsense so I didn't finish it.


Best trilogy I ever read was by Raymond E Feist. The first book is called Magician. I'm not a big reader, but my dad recommended them to me and at first just looking at the cover and reading the back I thought it looked a bit poncey but once I started I couldn't put them down. Excellent charachters and story in my opinion. Game of thrones is really good too, but quite long and ponderous at times. I like the series better because I'm a lazy foccer  [size=78%] [/size]

I used a drill and wire brush polishing attachment when I took my forks off to replace the seals then just some autosol and a cloth to polish them up. Cleaned up pretty well and have stayed pretty clean, I just wipe them over with some WD-40 when they get dirty and use ACF 50 in the winter. I didn't lacquer them or anything but you could if you want.

I've only read from page 3 (wheyyy) but can't really understand the issue. The bike runs a little RICH allegedly from standard (not lean, that would create possible damage and not produce good power which would make no sense). It was made in the era before emission policing grabbed bikes by the short and curlys.  You can smell they are quite rich, mine smells more fuelly from the exhaust than my dads SV yet gets better MPG. To cure this little bit of "richness", a lot of people (myself included) fit a K&N air filter for about £35 and an exhaust can of your choice. The K&N is pretty cost effective if you plan on keeping the bike a while, it's washable and has unlimited warranty. It's a premium product and fits much better than the standard filter I replaced which was black, gummed up and made a weird mayo sludge in my airbox (dealer claimed bike was serviced when I bought it....) Never had the problem since with the K&N.


As for the exhaust, I don't see how that makes much difference unless you have the baffle out and are over 8k or something. I guess the simple theory is with the K&N you are getting more clean air into the engine, and with an unbaffled straight through end can the exhaust gasses are being expelled faster than the stock can allowing for a more efficient combustion. I don't know how it all works other than basic knowledge, but that makes sense to me.


As for yours, 81bhp is definitely fine for a Fazer at the rear wheel. Some will be more, some less. You can spend hundreds on jet kits and dyno time but a lot on here have tried and not had good results. Standard is the best all round. There is a flat spot yes, for me its about 4500-5200 it just doesn't quite have the go but then after that it's off and pulling hard. Not sure what sort of advice "go and drill holes in your air filter" is, but no just no. If you mean air box, that is also not a great idea and pretty old school bodgery that is all the rage in your local macdonals carpark chav corsa drivers car, along with about £400 worth of halfords anodized tat.


Fit K&N, fit exhaust if funds allow, decide whether baffle in or out (out probs better for high rpm but can make commuting low rpm a bit fluffier), balance carbs again and go and give it a good blast to try and clear it out a bit. Keep it serviced well and all should be great. I'll go and read page 1 and 2 now.

exactly Mick, it is good practice and I can recall getting it done on my old VW's but I thought that the VW engines were possibly unique in this sense.......back in the day nobody used to do this they'd just replace a belt at a time but it seems most modern engines are like this now.

what I was getting at was trying to picture more what actually happened so if the garage actually suggested this work ie all belts and pump and then im guessing that they gave you a receipt detailing what work was carried out did they Kai?????........if so then you should have them by the balls so long as you take it to another authorised garage who can inspect the items and get serial numbers etc off of them just to prove how old they are or whatever......personally I wouldn't trust the original garage but it may be the case that they want the chance to rectify their failings.

Noggy I asked for the water pump to be replaced with the cam belt, like mick says it makes sense to do both together and the pump itself isn't that expensive it's the labour involved in getting to it which will be done when the cam belt is replaced anyway. So what I'm worried I got ripped off with is have they actually replaced the water pump at all? I would have expected the coolant to be done too, which is why I asked if that was common practice as I expected it would be. I do have a receipt and it doesn't mention coolant change, just engine timing belt and water pump, aux belt, air filter, fuel filter, pollen filter, oil filter, engine oil, consumables (??) and a bulb. Got some advisory notes too, most I knew about and rectified but a couple quite serious which I will sort by the next MOT in november.

Water pump is common to change when doing the cam belt as the belt often drives the pump and the bearings tend to go when the pressure is released after a long time.
Coolant should have been changed but can be very dirty very quickly if they didn't flush the system and unless you ask for this it's unlikely they would do it. Get an antifreeze tester from halfords as that will give you an indication as to whether it needs changing.

Glow plugs only ever come out when faulty. Never changed at service time.they are not like spark plugs that need adjusting, they are just heaters.

I did wonder if it could have got dirty from an old unflushed radiator or something, but it looks old...like old like my Fazers coolant that had never been changed for years. My Fazers coolant is still orange now after 2 years, granted I did fully flush the system. Is it possible it could have really gotten dirty that fast? How much would an antifreeze tester be do you reckon? I thought glow plugs were possibly not a serviceable item, no worries I'll get them changed anyway.

For anyone who CBA to read the whole thing - If a water pump is replaced on a diesel engine should / would the coolant also be replaced?? Also, are glow plugs part of regular servicing intervals?

Last weekend I picked up my first car (I know I know), well sort of van actually, it's a Renault Kangoo 1.5 DCI. I went for this because I needed something that can carry a full drum kit and bass rig and is cheap to buy, run and insure (I'm 22 and have no car claims bonus). The kangoo definitely ticked all the boxes. It's also really comfortable, has a lot of space (especially headroom) and it's quite fun to drive in a weird way. It has no creature comforts other than a cd player and a heater. It cost £950, has done 110k miles and has had the same owner since new. I bought it private sale from a genuine guy knowing it needed a service, that the cam belt hadn't been replaced for a long while and that the rear tyre was wearing pretty low.


I don't like to gamble with mechanical stuff so I booked it in to my local garage on Monday. They told me to get it there Thursday between 8am and 9am so I did.I agreed to have a full service done plus a cambelt and waterpump change. I also wanted the fanbelt doing as it was squealing on cold mornings. Al in this was £650.  I went past 4 times throughout the day, going to and from work then off to football and back at 7pm (garage was still open) and it hadn't moved once even though he said it would be done that afternoon... Odd I thought. Next day I went past and it was finally in the garage and on a ramp. They phoned while I was at work but I wasn't there to answer, this was at 12pm and I got home at about 4.30.  I'm wondering if they were trying to contact me about an issue but when they couldn't just went sort of went, ah sod it he wont notice and carried on anyway.


When I got the car home, I looked under the bonnet and there isn't a lot to see as most is covered but the coolant looked old and dark still, certainly not nice new fluorescent stuff. I thought that was a bit odd. Next, the fan belt squeal was still there on cold mornings but didn't last as long or as bad. I can't tell if the belt has been replaced, it may be one of the pulleys squealing so I'll have a look. Annoyingly though, a new light has now come on the dash which in the owners manual relates to either a glow plug or electrical issue warning. The car drives fine, but is hard to start when before I put it in the garage it was fine. Do you think something dodgy is going on or am I being paranoid? I don't know a lot about car servicing, especially diesel, but from looking online if changing the glow plugs and relay doesn't fix this issue then I am in a world of hurt chasing down umpteen electrical issues. Just plugging in Renaults computer diagnostic machine costs £90.... I really like this van so would love if anyone could help me out. My plan of action is to take it to a different garage locally, one a friend recommended and get him to do the glow plugs and relay and just give it a once over.

I have that exhaust, I drilled out the rivet that holds in the baffle and then spent the next few days searching for a bolt and nut small enough to put it back in! Thought the Balrog from lord of the rings was sat on my pillion seat, was making my helmet vibrate my skull and ear drums!

"I feel like I'm cheating on you guys!!!"


This shite weather is messing about with my head too, I now have a strange and strong interest in the original Bandit 1200?!?! I mean, to the point where I have looked up several reviews and had a scout on ebay.... Great value for money though and I love the thought of getting a completely standard one and making it into an actual nice, non halfrauds bolt on tat, bruiser. Not one with some random sport bike rear end bolted on at a stupid angle.


What's happening to me... I had to say 10 hail Mary's and an our foccer who art in heaven for every one I clicked on.