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Messages - Albert Herring
1
« on: 19 August 2016, 11:04:02 am »
Silver Foxeye on the gravel section of the A6 southbound between Matlock Bath and Ambergate yesterday around 11 am. I was going the other way.
2
« on: 19 August 2016, 11:01:13 am »
Other way round, IIRC (since petrol kills diesels far more effectively/expensively than vice versa)
You can certainly get one in the filler cap of an Aprilia Pegaso, anyway. Ahem.
3
« on: 19 August 2016, 10:58:22 am »
Seconded on ear plugs for extended motorway/dual carriageway bashes; they're worth about 10 mph. As far as covering miles goes, I find that quite frequent stops (fag-break length every hour or so, actual smoking optional and not recommended), make quite a difference to the length of time I can sit on the bike for. Stop and look at stuff and don't obsess about distance, though - you'll get somewhere. And get off the motorways for a bit on the way up and down where there are reasonable alternative routes, as you're doing it for fun (e.g. if you are hacking up the M1>A1, consider talking the A68 north from Darlington over Carter Bar, or if you're going up the top of the M6 you can use the old A6 from north of Preston. It's a bit slower and you'll get stuck behind the odd tractor and maybe have to do a little bit of map reading, but so be it. And if a side road looks fun or you spot something interesting to stop and see, go (back if necessary) and have a look rather than thinking "next time", because next time might be a while and you might have other things to do then.
Also, Avon Skin So Soft (available from every small shop in the Highlands) repels the midges (so yes, you'll need something to clean your visor with too...) and keep a small towel in your tank bag for the wet times, as it's a bank holiday weekend. If you're in the far north-west, keep your tank full on a Sunday when you get a chance because places may well be shut or only have very limited hours (I had no trouble going round the top on a CBR6 with a 130 mile tank range and no gauge, though).
4
« on: 18 August 2016, 09:05:46 am »
Rounded off the head of the pinch bolt on the gear change linkage. So I can't go and check on my sprocket-changing handiwork. Any (a) good ideas for getting it out and (b) reasons why a common or garden M5 or M6 screw out of the bits tin shouldn't be used as a replacement, and the proper part number if so?
5
« on: 25 July 2016, 11:54:50 pm »
Sunday 24/7/16, two silver boxeyes, one in Nottingham station car park a bit before noon, one being ridden past outside Forest Hill station in that London late afternoon - if you're on here, I was the bloke in the panama hat who waved and that. Both looked a lot smarter and better kept than the third one parked up in my back yard.
6
« on: 21 July 2016, 06:37:48 pm »
Local shop did this to mine as a cheap fix when it was running rough and not starting last year, seems to have worked.
Its very rear that they get so bad that this happens.Or to say they have to be very bad before this happens
My bike is about one step above "barn find". Or at least, it's spent a few winters outside, put it that way.
7
« on: 21 July 2016, 10:07:51 am »
Local shop did this to mine as a cheap fix when it was running rough and not starting last year, seems to have worked.
8
« on: 21 July 2016, 09:53:28 am »
Prepaid cards are a bit of a lottery with automated machinery in general, but it seems that fuel pumps in particular never take them - I think they were OK on French motorways though, and no problem for paying in petrol stations with a cashier. Didn't use Italian motorways on my last trip (FR/DE/AT/IT and back) - AFAIK they still charge you the same tolls as a car and there are almost always more interesting routes anyhow (short bits of urban ring road are usually free though).
9
« on: 21 July 2016, 09:33:36 am »
Speedo cable can easily become dislodged from its guides or misplaced when the wheel or brake caliper are removed and foul the brake disc; cable is built into sensor and replacements are something like £125 new (and second hand ones are rare as hens' teeth)
10
« on: 14 July 2016, 08:59:54 am »
The symptoms are definitely what you get when the cable rubs on the brake disk and it starts slicing into the wires. It seems that when the front wheel or brake caliper is removed and replaced it's very easy to miss something that holds the cable away from the disk; I now have mine routed round the outside of the caliper to be on the safe side, since finding replacements for the cable is a bit of a mare.
11
« on: 11 July 2016, 07:16:12 pm »
The automated booths that are marked for cars only will charge you the car price only. The bike price is definitely lower; if you can't see anything specifically mentioned for bikes, go to the one marked for trucks/caravans/whatever. Get into the habit of putting the ticket in the same pocket each time...
13
« on: 05 July 2016, 02:31:29 pm »
Started making some horrible graunching noises in the latter stages of a quick 500 mile bimble over the weekend, so I gritted my teeth and looked to see if the front sprocket might need changing.  I think that's a yes. Whether that (and the small rockery that was embedded in the oily gunge under the sprocket cover) was causing the bumping and grinding remains to be seen, though. At least I now know where to look for dropped battery terminal screws, anyway. And the bike is half a kilo lighter. And I get to change that dodgy nut (I think it's the thin one, at any rate).
14
« on: 05 July 2016, 02:26:04 pm »
In theory you need reflective stickers on your helmet. In practice, the flics have plenty of more interesting things to do, so you'll never get done for it unless you really piss them off in some other way and they're looking for a laundry list of charges.
15
« on: 28 June 2016, 12:06:45 pm »
Thanks very much to OP for this; hoping that my speaker wire & crimping kit work is up to practical use.
(I used a new H4 connector from Halfords; it's got the wires coming out in slightly suboptimal directions but I didn't think it was worth struggling with the existing one for £3.50)
16
« on: 03 October 2014, 09:47:31 am »
Bloody hell, I've only gone and done it again. Anybody got another one?
(installed by somebody who is a far more proficient mechanic than me, as well)
17
« on: 18 June 2014, 08:10:44 pm »
I'm in front of you in the same queue...
18
« on: 18 June 2014, 10:31:34 am »
Can't help with the electrical bit, but if you've had the front brake caliper off, check the sensor cable for damage first - there is an easy to make* error when refitting the caliper that leaves the cable liable to foul the brake disk, which produces the berserk needle thing on the speedo; however, the correlation with the indicators suggests it's probably the electrics.
*I found it easy, but I'm a bit of a mechanical numpty.
19
« on: 18 June 2014, 10:26:03 am »
I can verify empirically that problems with the sensor or at least the wire to it cause affect both speed displayed and mileage counted in an apparently consistent manner, whether the result is speedo stuck on 0 or going berserk, so that sounds a reasonable assumption.
20
« on: 14 June 2014, 09:38:33 am »
Thanks, let me know in a week then.
21
« on: 12 June 2014, 07:40:36 pm »
Yet another one of these threads, it appears. I'm in need of a speedo sensor for a 99 Boxeye, and probably of some advice on fitting it. Not just the rotor in this case - the problem was caused by some numpty misrouting the cable after changing the brake pads, leaving the brake disc slicing into it. It's been working OK for a year or so since I put it back the right side of the caliper, but now seems to have given up the ghost. I'm a bit unenthusiastic on spending about 15% of the bike's value on a new one, but they do seem a bit rare second-hand. Anyone got any leads?
(Or advice on repairing a badly nicked cable, I guess...)
22
« on: 12 June 2014, 09:34:46 am »
Just used one of those hole saws with a central drill bit, looks perfectly neat since the edges are covered anyway and took about 10 seconds. Admittedly, the infill was already a bit knackered so I didn't worry too much that I might need to replace it if I focced it up.
Only thing I might do differently (if you don't actually need full-on 12V supply) would be to consider getting one of the kits that just provides a USB socket instead, if you just want to charge phones, or a satnav that uses a compatible bit of wire. I can count the number of times that mine has been used for anything other than a USB adaptor on the fingers of one foot.
23
« on: 11 June 2014, 02:56:09 pm »
Another vote for lft fairing infill panel (mine's a touch further to the rear than Fizzy Pies').
My barn-find of a bike lives outside and gets wet a lot, and it did corrode the terminals a bit despite the same "MARINE USE" cover which I may not have always have bothered doing up, but still works after I cleaned it up a bit. Mostly used for charging phone in tank bag.
(I also had it on an unswitched connection for the first 18 months it was fitted, so if it got damp it was able to happily electrolyse away while parked up. Never caught fire or flattened the battery or owt like that, though)
24
« on: 23 April 2014, 02:56:37 pm »
Two (I blew one of the 20A ones at an earlier stage of proceedings). Or a small mixed bag of them, probably. It's on the list of things of things to do once I've resolved the problems caused by doing something almost as stupid to my internet connection/LAN settings.
25
« on: 21 April 2014, 11:31:31 am »
Ah, Cheers Geordi, - I hadn't spotted the second 30A fuse that is a bit hidden behind the connector there - I'd checked the accessible one which was fine but that one had blown. Cross fingers...
OK, so it appears that in fact the accessible fuse (on the front side of the solenoid nearer the battery) is just a spare. Stuck it in on the other side, and everything works! Yay etc.
Now I can go back to trying not to blow anything up while installing an intercom. Or possibly just go and do something safer, like riding the thing
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