Advice please

[richfzs]

iTS NOT TOO HIDEOUS (OOPS) a task, old washing bowl is good for catching the oil, cos it comes out so fast most of the "designed for oil change trays" just overflow (in my humble experience), and the drain plug is in a stupid place behind the frame. I wouldn't bother with plug gaps, in your case - as you don't know how old they are, they're cheap enough just to replace so you know their history. Oil & air filters too. (fiddly to get at the air filter, if I recall, but hardly a Haynes 2 spanner job ). I'd probably do the fuel filter too while the tank is off (again, so you know whats what).

Valve clearances are supppoed to be checked at (I think) 24,000 miles, sure somebody will correct me if I'm wrong, but virtually everybody who had done them, has found that they are bang on where they're suppoed to be, so I wouldn't bother with that!

Carb balancing, will be well worth doing, if you've gauges, or can beg/borrow/steal/buy some, there's an excellent guide on here somewhere on how to do that. I'll post a link when I get home, dont have it here.

[richfzs]

redex - not really got any experience of this stuff, so cant comment. Only time I've tried it was on the cage, and didnt make difference I could tell.

[richfzs]

@Fazerider, you keep talking about 'fresh' fuel as if it goes off over night like milk or something, and it clearly doesn't? Why is that, i'm intrigued? 

Some people are convinced fuel goes off, and that you must replace it if storing a bike, over winter say. Personally, I've never done anything of the sort, and went back to the bike after 6 months, tank half full, and it started and ran with no issue. As it does every spring. So, from my experience, its not anything worth spending more than a millisecond worrying about. Others experience may vary

[richfzs]

Found pointer2null's great guide to carb balancing on an FZS. This is on the old Yukky site, way before we moved here.

[Stuajohnson79]

Wanna swap bikes darssi? 

I do think the fuel in my bike has "gone off" as the old tax was May last year! I think the octane rating may have dropped somewhat

[Stuajohnson79]

Thanks for the link rich. One of the guys at work has already said I can borrow his carb tuner

[darrsi]

I only ever use super unleaded, but also use the bike daily, so fuel simply won't go off........and i don't 'store' my bike over winter, i wear boots with chunkier soles 


My bike is my transport, i've never driven a car in my life, and public transport is taboo to me......but never had issues with bad fuel.......


@Stuajohnson79, obviously 15 months standing about is a different story, you probably had a tank full of soup!! 

[Stuajohnson79]

Here's another one for you to mull over! Is there anyway to recalibrate the fuel sender? After 110 miles the gauge still reads full, then the light comes on at half a tank at 140 miles, then time for a refill at 160 miles! Is that good mileage? I don't ride like a prat as I don't know how to

[Fazerider]

Here's another one for you to mull over! Is there anyway to recalibrate the fuel sender? After 110 miles the gauge still reads full, then the light comes on at half a tank at 140 miles, then time for a refill at 160 miles! Is that good mileage? I don't ride like a prat as I don't know how to

As an electronics engineer I did consider making a circuit to compensate for the non-linearity of the fuel sender, but took the easier option of getting used to it instead.
Assuming you get mid-fifties to the gallon you should be able to get 200 to 220 miles from a tankful, the reserve light typically comes on very early though... I was sweating bullets the first time I exceeded 40 miles with it lit, but do so quite often now. A fill-up then is normally 18 or 19 litres which cuts down on time wasted at petrol stations.