Motors Motorcycle Mayhem

I suspect there's a significant annual spike in bikes needing an MOT in May, before their owners head off to the Isle of Man later this week.

 

Thank you, yeah I've had it for just over a year now.

 

Not just that, but it's typically the time that people start to dig the bikes out of the garage and start firing them up for the first time in 6 months.

 

Yep. That would do it alright.
My work colleague is trying to get his Triumph ready to catch the ferry to IoM at stupid o'clock Friday morning.
Over the bank holiday he managed to free off the locked back brake, but his bike has now forgotten all about gears above first!

 

Really enjoying the motorcycle, the social aspect, bike nights, group rides, random biker interactions and such it’s done a world of good for my mental health. I think in the past 22 days of ownership I’ve put around 600 miles on it and met tons of new people/friends.

The soul destroying bit I find is just thinking it’s going to be stolen all the time, fair enough it’s what fully comp insurance is for, I pay £260 a month for the luxury, not including tracker monthly fees, cctv, the outlay for the other security north of £700, I feel like I can’t leave it alone at the gym because it’ll get thrown into a van, it can’t be left outside a supermarket… It has no storage so lugging a large chain around seems impossible.

Obviously the insurance helps, but if it gets stolen I’ve got 3 other policies which will go through the roof next year and the bike will probably become uninsurable. It’s rather annoying that we live in a world full of scumbags and we can’t just have nice things.

 

As much as you love it, I'd find that exhausting, have you considered buying something less valuable and desirable for scum?

That, or move of course

 

Another motorcycle?! That’s a fantastic idea, I’ll keep my eyes open for something less appealing.

 

Did a 280 mile ride the other day with a very nice bunch of bikers, my back was in absolute pieces, think I can appreciate cruisers a bit more now. I did want to do the groats to lands end, but that's not going to happen on a sports bike.

Also fitted a tail tidy, which was easier then I expected! headers next!

 

Can definitely see why nakeds have taken off - all the madness, none of the scrunching

 

Most of a week messing about in north Wales

2023-07-26_11-31-20 by MrLongbeard, on Flickr

 

That colour scheme is bad fkin ass mate! And I'm not even much of a bike person but I love this!

 

Quick question. I have a KTM 390 Duke which is up on paddock stands. The front wheel doesn't rotate easily and only spins about 1/2 turn when you manually spin it. It feels as the the pads are touching the disc slightly. Is this normal?

 

Sounds like the calipers aren't quite lined up correctly, does it have a radial-mounted caliper? (I'm assuming it does). The workshop manual will have a procedure (which you should follow, especially torque settings), but roughly it means loosening the caliper bolts slightly, then holding the brake on while nipping up and then torquing the bolts back down - this makes sure the pads are perpendicular to the disc face.

 

That sounds like an easy thing to try. I do have a Torque Wrenches but it hasn't been calibrated for many years so that's my first task

 

Unless it's been submerged in seawater it'll be close enough - torque wrenches are very durable under sensible conditions, unless you're building something with incredibly tight tolerances you don't really need to worry. All workshop manuals are +/- 10% assumed variation anyway. The only thing I would caution is that if a bolt says it should be greased it should be, if it's not greased then *don't* add grease, or you seriously over-tighten the fastener if you use a torque setting.