luhbo

Please elaborate! What exactly works now? The new Valeo starter or the diode cheap trick? What was the cheapo starter consumption and how much does the new Valeo starter/Solenoid combo suck off in comparison? What is the average ambient temperature now, also in comparison to your winter problems? @Tom M: If you realy measure 12.9V with the key off, at the battery I assume, then you have a perfectly and 100% charged battery. What more do you want? Hubert

It makes no difference whether the el. petcock works or not. You wouldn't notice any difference. If your pump sounds strange get another one in reserve asap. No pump no bike, so to say. hubert

What exactly is the priming sound? Hubert

Grumman Goose, for free until March 24th: Hubert

Can you feel enough play at the lever? How does the lever feel? Somehow I don't think that the problem has to do with the disks. I'd start searching at the lever and maybe loosen the adjuster screw there for a half or even one complete turn. Hubert

Maybe I just expect too much. I wouldn't have seen this as normal, to be honest. This picture requires an engine run well on the lean side I'd say. Hubert

Thanks for that. Could it be that crusty particles are caused by too hot plugs? Why not. I think I will go back to the standard BPR6ES and look for the difference. Have you tried the plug finder on their page? For the 850LM engine they recommend a BPR7, for the 1100 Breva a BPR8 even. Funny. Hubert

No, not really. You'll have it always under the valve covers and even much more of it accumulates inside the timing housing. hubert

I actually have the Iridium ones built in, they also have the '5' as heat range. Although I see no remarkable difference in engine behaviour I see that those 5ers are too cold for European use. The islolator always looks crusty and tends to get sooty. Never experienced this with the BPR6 cheapos. Hubert

Different sources, different qualities maybe? The water doesn't come through the hose, it bypasses the piston rings during combustion, something you can't avoid. Hubert

I thought it was a ZF-Sachs problem. Anyway, Europeans might like to send theirs . He does a very good job on these Sachs parts, probably for other makes as well. Hubert

It's on my list ever since I came in contact with it for the first time. My problem is that most of the things a small compressor can do could be done with a pump or other simple 'blowers'. For all the rest like 'real' varnishing, sandblasting, cutting or grinding tools etc such a cheapo is just lost money. And the bigger ones not only are expensive but equaly big also, both things a nono when not used on a regular basis. Hubert

Could you give an estimation what percentage of total battery capacity this loss would mean? I mean, if starting the bike might need 1,5 Ah, how much of that would be regained after 20 minutes of average commuting at 4000 rpm under standard winter conditions? Hubert

A helicopter availabe now:

Last batch of freebes (unless you want to buy a Magic Key): Avro Flying Saucer and (between others) a nice Albatros DVa If you're more after these go quicker: available 'till 2-23 only. Hubert

The unit has only one single downside, which is the part in the middle, the part. From where do you get the 80 psi if you don't have a compressor at hand? Normaly the standard tools are easier to handle, less accurate maybe, but a working starter is all you need.If I had a compressor I'd propably go for Chucks thingy. Hubert

It's in fact not a big thing to remove the manifolds and bore them 'offline'. The idea of adding a bit of grease to catch most or hopefully all of the resulting flakes is not one of my ideas but more or less common practice when it comes to repair torn plug threads. You better stay on the safe side, it's your engine. Hubert

Aprilia? You can read this quite often actually. BFG posts pictures from time to time with this in the context. Nice landscapes, nice flowers, colourful boaties, never found out what Aprilia was refering to on them

Nice approach. Pushing it onto the heap is an affront to the bike and to your heirs. Hubert

Man, I'd like to have the fairing alone Hubert .. and the pegs

You probably know, that you are downhill on the bodging route, don't you? This said I say that I once went for option 3, having the tools and inserts, without removing the manifold. Put a little grease on the drill and cutter and you'll catch most of the flakes. The rest will go straight through. In case I had to buy this expensive Helicoils I'd probably go for option 4, using slow (8h min.) curing epoxy stuff (UHU Plus it's called over here f/i). If it comes loose not very much will happen. You'll notice it quite directly at idle or transition. If not (noticing) nothing bad will happen either, should things become really bad the engine will start to ping before any failure. You'd check this point from time to time anyway. In my eyes the 'Oh my God, it's running lean, the piston's melting' approach is a rather theoretical approach, maybe based on 2-stroke racetrack stories. You have an EFI engine, used most of the time at 25% of its full potential only. The real bodger tries things out first and asks for absolution afterwards, btw. Hubert

That reminds me of some similar business back in the 80ies with Morocco. They virtually weren't allowed to import used cars or spares there, so some blokes specialised on Daimler travelling. They organised Daimlers (and similar cars) and drove them over the border where their partners immediately cross transplanted everything useful with worn out parts. Only thing important was: the frame number HAD to make it back out over the border, otherwise you had to pay the extraterrestrial import taxes - what could be somewhat difficult from inside a medieval Moroccan jail. Hubert

How does motorcycle trading work across the USA then? Could you bring a bike to Ohio, get it road legal there and then trade it to California for instance? Hubert

Good that you mention this in time. The Europeans actually are redoing their outer frontier policies anyway (Africa and stuff, you know). Your containers should come on these lists, too, I think. Cultural heritage or so ... Might be a tricky business anyway: London Bridge Hubert

Be serious. What is nice with them? Especially for that money? If it were bent parts, as QuatD for instance, but not such a crude backyard broilery. 250,- would be paid enough for it. Hubert