I've decided it's time to move the Fazer on! It's a great bike, and has served me well, but I've a hankering for something older and quirkier - I love my classics in general, cars, bikes...


So, it's a 1999 with a smidgen over 30K on it, thanks to having barely been ridden before I got it a few years ago! She's been everything to me though, as my only form of transport. A solid commuter, and a fun bike on my 3500 mile road trip to Norway and back. I'm not currently riding her as I'm recovering from a snowboarding injury, so the mileage will stay the same for the next few weeks.


She's MOT'd until Nov 2016 and for the last one only needed a flasher relay (I'd just fitted the new indicators) and front brake pads - they've done less than 300 miles. The only advisory was for the rear tyre, which is low. the front has loads of tread left - a Michelin Pilot Road 3.
There's plenty of history with the bike, and it even comes with the standard tool kit! Another rare sight these days on a Fazer!


Yesterday I removed the downpipes, cleaned and painted them with Granville black engine paint, refitted today. They're the original downpipes, and were not at all rusty (for a change!) I also changed the oil and oil filter.

As she was in the summer!



Mods:
Naked conversion! Aftermarket headlight in a Honda headlight bowl, custom clock mounts etc
Renthal ultra low bars
OnTour heated grips
Aftermarket indicators
Fork gaiters (worse for wear now)
K&N air filter
Aftermarket oval end can (welded to the stock rear pipe, so easily replaceable to stock or other)
Rear hugger
Rear swingarm powdercoated matt black
Engine bobbins
R6 rear blue-spot caliper (small conversion plate was made, along with some 'massaging', and it fits fine)
Stainless radiator shield, sprayed matt black
Numberplate mount chopped smaller
Scottoiler (Needs new vacuum hose, I accidentally wore through it)
Aftermarket bar-end mirror
Double 12v socket under the seat


The chain and sprockets are in good condition, the chain is a gold 'CZ Chains' chain, heavy duty and reliable! The previous owner had a problem with the fuel tank at some point, and so it requires a different key. The screen is currently fitted (with zip ties, the plastic is really fragile) due to this being winter, the bike looks far better without one.
The bike has been dropped previously, consequently there's a small dent on the right side of the tank. The paint in general is a little tired and worn - again, a previous owner sprayed her, originally she was gold. The horn is a non-standard item, as that had died, and I had it laying around. Good manly sound to it, not a little 'peeeeep'! Previous owner did the steerer bearings too, they've not needed touching.


I'm looking for £1300 ONO, and I'm in Oxfordshire.


For no more than a little cleaning (I suggest steam!), polishing, and a new rear tyre soon, you can have a great FZS600 to get yourself started in the fazer world!

Any questions, feel free to ask! Got an offer? The worst I can do is say no!

















Dent:

I had muffs 2 years ago. They work. Well. Especially with heated grips. BUT you need to get ones that are rigid enough (or that you modify) so that they don't blow into the brake lever/clutch, which mine did. I had the Givi TM418's.


I also had Alpinestars WR-V GTX gloves. Which weren't good. By the end of the winter they leaked, and would weigh a lot and take forever to dry, and all the way through winter they were nowhere near as warm as I had wanted.


Oh, and no heated gloves, I won't always have a power source.



I'm now looking for a new pair of winter gloves that are waterproof, and keep my hands warm at motorway speeds. Does anyone have any suggestions? I'm not wanting bar muffs right now, my old ones are laying around. I want winter gloves, and I want people to say 'I had these, and they were great' or 'I had these and they were crap' (like I did with the WR-V GTX's)


Thanks guys, could be good to have a topic that says what is good, and what isn't...

It was what my MOT tester was most concerned about with my bike. If you put the bike on the centre stand and lifted the rear wheel up at down, the movement is at the bolt at the bottom of the rear shock, where it goes through the pivot arm.


It's got 1-2mm of movement, and a little off-putting. Are they all like this?


I've taken the bolt out and looked, but it's a metal sleeve through the pivot arm, so I cannot see any way it could be rectified (I did try putting some sealant in there to see if it'd fill the space, but it hasn't worked). It was tight when I came to it, so not caused by slop. It's only a 25K bike, so it shouldn't be 'worn out' already.


Any suggestions?
Thanks

So I got myself a thunderace rear caliper the other day on ebay, nice and cheap. I need new rear pads anyway, so it seemed like an ideal time - the bike is a 1999.


Except it doesn't fit, absolutely nowhere near. What years Thunderace calipers were meant to be right (I did a LOT of hunting through this forum trying to find that out before I bought it, but found absolutely nothing from anyone stating any years). Mine was listed as being 1998/1999.

There's no chance this will fit at all, please see the pic. Even if I ground 1/2" out, the bolt holes still wouldn't line up! Does anyone know what caliper this bike is from? If it's a Thunderace, what year should it have been? And is there a bracket out there I could fit that it'll fit to? (e.g. TRX bracket)


Thanks for any help.

So, obviously I've got the right bike for the job haven't I? A FZS600. Upright, comfy, smooth etc.


Well, except for the noisy end can, lack of faring and 'ultra low' bars! (mine has been converted to naked...)






So, I'll be riding to Norway later this summer, then down into Germany, possibly then further into Germany, and maybe all the way to Barcelona before I come back home. Besides a Satnav, what essentials would you all recommend taking? Certain tools? Luggage carriers? Particular service items?


Thanks

So over the weekend I fitted a different end can to the bike, as show on the 'headlight finished' thread, and I fitted a K&N. Now the can flows VERY well, and when I fitted the K&N I hole sawed 3 holes in the airbox. (possible oops. I was careful to put some drainage in the bottom though).


Now she runs really badly, she's obviously not getting enough fuel as she bogs down all the time. I'm being extremely gentle, as I have owned cars where DET is a proper problem, and I know what running lean can do to her. I don't want to replace an engine, afterall!




I spoke to a garage earlier who do bike setups etc, and after describing a few things, they said 'you'll need a dynojet kit, that'd be £125 on top of setting up'. To which I thought 'GULP'.






Has anyone got any advice? I'm prepared to buy a dynojet kit, but fit it myself and then possibly get it tweaked later - I am mechanically proficient. But I can't afford to be shelling out lots of money.


Could there be something else causing it to run so lean? It's never been fantastic, always a very dead through the mid range until about 7K, where it really opened up.

Ok, so I saw this photo the other day, and I just thought 'wow, that looks very cool'. Now, unfortunately it's a photoplop, so there's no real help to be had!




But it got me thinking - how COULD we get a tail anywhere near that tidy and neat? Obviously not with the stock, bulky, seat faring. So what could fit? Anyone got any idea's? (by fit, I mean tweaked to fit, I don't mean making a new thing out of fibreglass)


And has anyone got any other suggestions of nice ways of modifying a Fazer's appearance? (I fully accept that people's opinions differ, but if you're of the impression that a fazer looks best stock, and the standard faring is pretty. You're probably not a useful asset to this conversation)

I've got a 1990 MX5 in red that has been slightly fettled with, but all in a nice, positive subtle way, but I also have a project car, and can't afford 2 cars and a bike.



So I want a Fazer (again) so I can have cheap transport, and endure the rain and horrible weather we'll get very soon, and continue to save money towards going to America next year.




This is my 1990 1.6 Eunos. I purchased her in March, and really, really like her. She handles very nicely, and has really shown me why these cars are known as 'B-road blasters'! She was imported in 2001, and has MOT till end Oct 2014, Tax till end March 2014.


She was almost completely standard when I bought her - just some horrible halfords alloys fitted. Since then I have:
 

• Given the car a full service - oil, filters, and spark plugs
• Replaced the thermostat and coolant
• Had some very neat welding to one sill
• Sorted all the problems for the last MOT (split balljoint boots etc)
• Cleaned with a wire brush, and gone over the chassis rails with underseal

And done these modifications, which have transformed the car and made it significantly nicer to drive, and moderately faster too!
 

• Fitted Bilsteins with lowering springs (personally I really like this combo, firm but low enough and handles great)
• Advanced the timing to 14 degrees
• Fitted a stainless steel decat
• Fitted a VLSD
• Fitted a 4.43Mhz crystal in the ECU (I have a 4.19Mhz crystal sat around too, if someone wants to change)
• Fitted decent 8mm ignition leads
• Fitted Dare SP20 alloys - 8J ET15 with 195/50/15's on.
• Rolled the inner lips on the rear arches flat - I own a professional arch roller.
• Fitted the front lip from a 6N polo
• Fitted a 150mm gearknob from Yoshibits
• Fitted a OMP copy deep dish steering wheel (original MOMO available instead, the OMP is quite well used...)
• Fitted a chunky style/rollover bar - also made and fitted a wind deflector on this
• Removed the carbon cannister and brackets
• Drilled the airbox on the cold side - this has genuinely made it quite throaty
• Fitted a stereo - the seat headrests have JVC speakers in, not the original aweful items too

We also mopped the car the other day, restoring from slightly pink, to a lovely bright red. The roll/style bar fitted is a completely unknown brand. It's very chunky, and very nice quality, although it was advertised as a style bar, and doesn't really mount anywhere properly structural, it's well enough mounted and is strong enough I'd trust it in a light roll-over, but not multiple spin/roll down a hill or anything!


The car comes with the standard jack, but there's no toolkit unfortunately, and has the spare wheel in the boot. The parcel shelf carpet and door trims will be included, but can't be fitted with the style bar fitted. The seats are in great




Problems:
 

• The drivers side headlight can be slow sometimes - I haven't managed to track the problem, but have a spare headlight motor and relays for the car. Generally works though!
• 1 small dent in the front of the drivers side arch, 1 small dent on the rear left wing, at the top of the bumper. Both happened before I bought the car.
  
  

She does not come on the Dare SP20 alloy's, but on a decent set of standard Daisies. Otherwise, she is as you see in the photos.

 I am based near Oxford, Oxfordshire, and my number is 0779 089 5556.

The title really sums it up! I've basically ended up with these black wax finish RST kevlar lined jeans with a 32" waist, and I'm a 28" waist, so own a pair in 30" too, which I wear. The 32's would benefit someone else, so I'm letting them go for a pretty good saving on the retail price! I don't think you'll find them sub £85 ANYWHERE (except 2nd hand, and these, as you can see, are brand new).


They come with the knee armour, as standard.


And I've been riding with the 30" waist pair for a while, worn them at work, day in, day out. They are COMFY, and don't have any annoying stitching lines across the legs, but still have the standard kevlar lining. As above, they're the black WAX finish. Although they're not gay and shiny or anything.


Oh, and they come from a clean, neutral smelling house. I got a pair of trousers the other day that STANK of some nasty sweet perfume thing. These don't. That and they've been in the plastic wrapping and bag since I bought them.


If you want any more photos, just ask, but this should cover it! £55 posted 1st class.











Thanks