badmotogoozer

Yup! Just watch "The Long Way Round" - when Charlie and Ewan are wrestling and dropping their mammoth BMW's through Russia, their cameraman is happily booting it along effortlessly on his little Russian thing. Until it blew up... Rj

Years ago down in Oregon my '70 Triumph decided it was time to shear the woodruff key holding the drive gear for the cams to the crank. Carved up the keyway beyond use too. JB'd the sucker back on behind a hardware store and rode it home the next day. It is still like that today. JB is stronger than you'd think. Rj

It's just you. Tires are on correct. As tire rotates water will be moved from centre to outside. Rj

Tony good thinking - but don't worry about "cooking" the sensor. It's just a thermistor. cheers, Rj

Pinky Laurel? Not nearly as good as my real porn name (Lord Purple Helmet) when I appeared in "Moses and the Burning Bush IV". Rj

Amazing what you can find by the side of the road... Rj

Abide! Rj

No deal! I know a bad trade when I see one! If she comes with a boat and motor... maybe. Rj

If we do that, we'll also need a section dedicated to "Ask the Rat". Rj

I've always heard them refered to as bobbins here in Canada too... Rj

Yup. And WD-40 claims to be a lubricant... We are lied to every minute of every day... Rj

Did it come via UPS? I've just gone through the shite with UPS over my HyperPro steering dampener (I call it a dampener because the bloody Bitubo POS did a fine job of dampening my steering - with hyd fluid!). UPS charges a $50 fee just for crossing a border - they don't tell that to the people who use them!! Apperently they call themselves "Brown" for good reason! This is above all customs and duty charges! Sent the dampener back and had to have it redelivered to a Washington addy. Bastards were holding my package hostage. Homey don't play that game! No other shipping company does this... Rj

Leak there will present as oil seepage - I meant up around the adjusters, top cap etc. This is where there may be an air leak... cheers, Rj

Photo contest over. Sweet! Rj

If you are truly set on having white face gages - just paint a white face and some black numbers on the glass of your black ones. Then paint an orange needle somewhere in the middle of each. These gages will have a great advantage over the white Veglias in that they will at least always be accurate at some point in the range. Rj

She's none too happy about having to drag a pillion around! She'll be a racer... cheers, Rj

@#%$# Internet Exploder!! Halfway through downloading browser freezes. Now they're telling me I've reached the limit of free downloads. Mozilla time. Rj

Motel outside Logan Lake, BC three summers ago. Seven of us, three rooms. $45. No TP, found empty condom wrapper in bed (better than finding a used condom I guess), breakfast eggs came with a side of salmonella. By noon those of us who didn't have fully cooked eggs were laid up in another motel while the others rode local roads. Good thing we didn't indulge in the Chinese buffet the night before... Meow mein anyone? Taught us that perhaps calling ahead for the best price may not always be the best course of action. Rj

Grumpy myself this weekend. Long weekend and I'm stuck home hacking up green stuff. Rj

If you've noticed a sudden change you may have blown a seal and are getting an air leak. Any fluid leaks? At 162 you shouldn't be getting that much dive on stock springs. Especially the Ohlins. Make up a solution of a bit of dish detergent and water. Dribble a bit at each sealing point, compress forks a few times and look for bubbles. I've never played with the Ohlins so can't offer much direct support... Ohlins forks are notorious for needing new seals @5000mi. Rj

My bike was showing conflicting symptoms. I knew it was running lean. Asked my dealer about it and he said "You wouldn't believe how lean it's running." That's when I knew I had to stop going to that dealer. The conflict is that it was also getting horrid mileage. And running like shite. As if the choke was on full time. TPS was found to be 460mV. Explains why it was running lean! Replaced the temp sensor with a brass one - spun up a bit of brass to fill the air gap in the sensor and a bit of thermal compound (used in electronis to transfer heat from component to heat sink) so as long as sensor is working it has to be reading temp correctly. Immediate difference! TPS set at 520mV and new sensor housing in, and mileage is leaps and bounds better! Best as I can figure, the low TPS was creating a lean condition in the low revs and at higher revs poor temp sensing was telling the ECU to dump gobs of fuel in. Just a theory but makes sense... Granted I did make two significant changes - but I am sure that getting a correct head temp reading is a big part of getting the bike running right. Ignore the naysayers, Pete. Some folks just have to be argumentative about everything! Public recognition needed to feed their egos. You are certainly right about the sensor. Not referenced to ground through the housing. It is just an RTD of some sort, likely a thermistor. cheers, Rj

Specifications ain't worth shite if you can't put the power to the pavement. Not that the Great Rat could ever, ever, ever possibly be wrong... Heaven forbid! Dave, you gotta realize that you're arguing V11 performance with a self proclaimed "Road Geez" who uses a Kenworth mud flap as a hugger. Rj

More like warm and stinky. Rat - take your sarcasm, innuendos, and insults and stuff them up your arrogant ass. Rj

I'm quite pleased to report that my original Spark 500 battery from 2001, even after sitting idly in the corner for nearly 2 yrs (no charger - nada), is working just fine. I fully expected to have to buy a Hawker this spring. It would seem that, in my case anyway, it is quite happy to be completely ignored. Measured across the terminals, expecting them to be quite terminal, to be 12.5V. Stuck it back in the bike and she fired right up! Haven't put a charger on it since I bought the bike... of course, now that I've said that... Rj

Johnny Walker? I was sure it was Glen Fiddich. Rj