What did you do with whatever else you've got?

[fazerscotty]

It's that time of the year.
Had to MOT these two - both normally ridden by SWMBO.
However, having had it pointed out by the MOT tester, that the Honda VT750 had only managed 8 miles since the last test, I took that for a spin along the A44 between Worcester and Bromyard. Cracking road - never been along it in that direction. Took a while to get used to arriving at corners feet first, but I still left a Z series BMW behind  .


Next up was the 600 Diversion. Bought in 2019 as a daily ride for her indoors, she did about 900 miles that summer. Haha lol.
If I hadn't gone the long way to the MOT station, it would have also only done 8 miles since last year. Nevermind - took that out along the same road and had even more fun.


Both bikes have now been fuelled with E5 - the last time they saw a petrol pump was possibly in 2019!


Next up will be the Fazer.

[robbo]

Fired the Speed Triple up yesterday, in preparation for todays trip to Brighton for the Ace Reunion. Can't believe how long this has been going now. My Triumph was new in 1994 when Mark Wilsmore organised the first reunion at the Ace site when it was home to Just Tyres . Now, 28 years later and there's Ace Cafes dotted around the world.
The weather played ball, plenty of bikes and happy people together with some live rock'n'roll. Caught up with a few fellow old rockers, that for the most part I haven't seen for quite a while. Certainly was a good day for me, that's for sure.

[robbo]

An oil and filter change was the order of the day for the Speedie on Saturday morning, in preparation for yesterday’s toy run from Whitstable. I was inundated with LOFO’s wanting to go on this annual trip…..not , so set off with my all year riding Versys pal on an overcast but dry morning. Yalding had seen some flooding which meant a diversion quite early in the ride, but soon got back on track for our destination, The Airport Cafe, at the far end of the A20. Only two other bikes in the cafe car park which was swamped with cars. It was good to get in the warm, although the heated gloves had done a sterling job, but knees had been suffering a bit.


With a well deserved breakfast tucked away, it was off and onward to Whitstable. Favourite B roads got us to just below Canterbury, then jumped on the A2 for a quick blast up to the outskirts of Whitstable. Traffic in this town is always heavy, mainly due to the narrowness of the roads, which meant we arrived at the departure venue minutes too late, as the lead bikes were already beginning their procession, but this year in a different direction, making it too difficult to execute a U turn to join them. Never mind the thought was there, and plan B fell into place, the Spoonies in Herne Bay. The twilight nature of the day made it dark quite early, so no point in retracing any twisties, so took the easy option of the M2/M20/M25 and home, with another 180 miles clocked up on the old girl.

[robbo]

Took advantage of the sunny forecast today, and took the Speedie fot its first whizz of the year. First stop was The Chalet for some breakfast. My initial plan was to head west to Loomies, thus keeping the low sun behind me. However, I thought I'd save that ride for when the Fazer comes out of hibernation. The A272 was still the chosen road, but eastwards towards Rye. This route would take in some well known B roads, that would be fairly traffic free. The wail from the race system, still puts a smile on my face. Can't believe I've owned this bike 29 years next month, as the day I collected her is still so vivid in my mind.
Beryl's cafe at Rye was as busy as ever, with the accompanied slow service, which is a direct result of its popularity. There was no rush, and it was very pleasant sitting in the sun. After a rip across the marshes to Brenzett, the road homeward was closed. Whilst pondering my next move, quite a few cars and bikes ignored the signs and took the road to Appledore anyhow. Nothing like a bit of local knowledge, so followed my intended route. Other than a narrowed section, the road was fine.
The car park at the Three Chimneys was heaving, but there's always a space for a bike. After a slow pint it was homeward bound with the bonus of getting home in daylight, clocking up another 137 miles on my old faithful.

[red98]

Not today but yesterday. Had a local ride out to H cafe in Dorchester .10 miles south of oxford, Good turn out for this time of year. 74 miles for the day.
You know your a proper biker when you pass a gritting lorry on the way home...

[robbo]

A red Speedie . Next bike Mr.Red....go on, you know you want one.

[noggythenog]

Got it out of the garage for a pre mot shakedown


the garage was smelling nicely of fuel.......it had dumped most of a tank of expensive Alkylate fuel everywhere


Noggy mechanics 101............just take it for a spin and clear the cobwebs out........result...........fixed!


That's why Yamaha bikes rule and why red ones are the best

[fazersharp]

Alkylate fuel--- had to google it. I guess you wont be putting E10 in anytime soon 

[noggythenog]

Alkylate fuel--- had to google it. I guess you wont be putting E10 in anytime soon 

Not taking any chances with this old beast and the new fuels Cai. Already had to replace a fuel tap and have the carbs refurbed,  i store over winter. We have it on ships in the port i work at, high octane blend stock basically mega petrol, they use it in chainsaws and stuff when in storage. Its done the trick the last few years over winter storage. I’ll happily chuck E10 in when riding and running it through….well maybe happily isn’t the right description but it runs ok on it.

[fazersharp]

I don't put E10 in my bike, I have a big problem when a goverment go's out of their way to tell me things are safe and effective. I don't always put it in my much newer car either and when i put in the zero E stuff in my car I am sure that I get more MPG out of it

[unfazed]

Went away for the long weekend on my Serow with a group of 15 to do what we call the Grumpy Run in memory of a friend to died 18 months ago.It is a mixture of Irish Boreens, Lanes and scenery. Bikes on it were Bmw GS 1100 1150 1200 standard and adventurers, Yamaha T7, Honda 500x, Kawasaki KLX250 and my little Serow.
1180km in 4 days including our trip home of 388km Monday. Took us 8 hours with 3 fuel stop for the bikes and riders .
Serow didn't miss a beat and my friend on the KLX250 was with me for the full 1180km. Happy at 80km and the odd burst to 100k.
True all rounder, but slow. Sore now, but delighted I did it.Took out the Fazer 1000 Tuesday morning and spent the first 5km trying to reorganise my brain to cope with chalk and cheese differences.

[Grahamm]

A few days ago was the first time I'd driven my car at night and whilst that holds few problems for me, I did feel that the headlights on my car were a bit underpowered.

On checking, I found that a) the car uses the same bulbs (H7) as my FZ6 and b) due to a mis-reading of an advert, when I thought I was buying two replacement bulbs for the bike, I didn't realise I was actually buying two *pairs*.

The new bulbs are Osram Nightbreaker 200s which are brighter and give a longer "light path", so they seemed to be an ideal choice to switch for the existing ones.

According to the videos I'd seen, it was a simple matter of opening the bonnet, removing a rubber cap and twist to remove the holder to replace the bulbs.

Except, twist, press or turn as much as I was able, I couldn't get the damn holders to come out and I didn't want to start using excessive force in case I damaged something.

Also they have little sharp edges at certain points, but there wasn't enough room to get a gloved hand in there to protect my fingers

Ok, it's not vital, but I can't get a clear enough view of the mounts to see where I might squirt a bit of lubricant, WD40 or contact cleaner spray to help things shift and I really don't want to pay a garage an hourly rate for a job that will probably take five minutes...

Anyone got any ideas on how I could proceed?

[mtread]

Halfords do a cheap bulb swap, but I think you need to buy the bulbs from them

[Grahamm]

Halfords do a cheap bulb swap, but I think you need to buy the bulbs from them

Thanks, but since I've already *got* the bulbs...

When I've got time in a day or two, I'm going to see if I can get in there with the fibre optic scope and get a better look, then maybe I can target a bit of contact cleaner or Plusgas in the right places.

[Dave48]

I assume you didn't get an owners instruction book with the car? They usually show you how to change bulbs. Otherwise why not try you tube? I have always found it useful for "how to" advice.. Good luck!

[Grahamm]

I assume you didn't get an owners instruction book with the car? They usually show you how to change bulbs. Otherwise why not try you tube? I have always found it useful for "how to" advice.. Good luck!

I've downloaded the manual and looked at YouTube, as mentioned, but the holder just doesn't want to move

[Gnasher]

What car is it?

[Grahamm]

What car is it?

2012 Skoda Fabia Mark 2 HTP

Annoyingly, although I've downloaded the manual, it's very generic and has lots of asterisks on various parts basically saying "this might not apply to the model you have"...

[Gnasher]

What car is it?

2012 Skoda Fabia Mark 2 HTP

As far as I'm aware there's 2 types of headlight unit on the MK2 one with a standard reflector, the other with a projector lens.  They have different bulbs fittings, the former is a spring lever/clip, very similar to the H1 in the Fazer Boxeye.   The latter is a spring plate that bulb is mounted through, which is turned by holding the black wire plug, turn anti clockwise to undo, clockwise to lock in.  These can be really stiff sometimes, especially when some hand fisted Halfords individual has been playing with it.  They often don't get them to mount correctly and jam them, in these cases the bulb isn't in the correct position either, hence the amount of cars with one or both headlights blinding us all.

To fit and release these latter types should be very easy, if it's not something isn't aligned correctly.  Stop and realign before twisting. 



   

[Grahamm]

The car has separate headlight and beam (the headlight is an H7 bulb) and it got through an MOT before I bought it, so the lights must be properly aligned.

It's not a spring clip like on my FZ6, so it is a twist out one, but it's probably not been moved for ages. I just don't want to risk damaging something by using brute force unless it's absolutely the last option.

Here's a picture of the inside:

[Gnasher]

Yep it's the twist type. Look at 12 O'Clock and you'll see the locking tang there's the same at 6 O'Clock.  Grip the down each side of the black plug where you can see it's locked into the metal tang (each side) twist anti clock wise, you only need approx 1/8 of a turn, just enough to get the locking tang out from behind the prong. 

They can be stuff as mentioned. 

[Grahamm]

I just thought I'd round my Skoda Fabia Mark 2 HTP stiff headlamp holders thread off in case anyone else ever has the same problem and finds this topic from a search.

I've been a bit busy, so today was the first chance I had to have another go and I found that if I squirted some WD40 Contact Cleaner spray onto the bulb holders and left it for a few minutes, it got rid of whatever crud was stopping them from turning and I've succeeded in putting in the new bulbs

(It's still a bloody fiddly job getting in there with a pair of mechanics' gloves on to protect your fingers from sharp edges and then making sure everything is lined up properly, but at least it's done now!)

[mtread]

WD40 is usually the answer to everything 


Think you yourself lucky. For a number of cars you need to take off the front bumper, in order get at and change a bulb 

[Grahamm]

For a number of cars you need to take off the front bumper, in order get at and change a bulb 

Yeah, I've heard of nonsense like that.

There again, according to the Hayes manual, to change the plugs on an FZ6 you've got to take off the tank, airbox, battery box, drain the coolant and remove the radiator...!

[robbo]

Took the Triumph to the ULEZ emissions test centre this morning in Deptford. They operate a no pass no fee regarding the test, so now being £175 lighter it is ULEZ compliant.
If the weather stays dry I might have a crawl round the North Circ. to the Ace on Sunday for “ton-up” day. Plenty of rock’n’roll and hopefully plenty of proper cafe racers.