Another vote here for fitting the airbox lower (and rubber flap in front of it), it seriously messes with the bike if you remove it.

bikemonkey wrote: Fitted Rick O's choke conversion as my choke cable was fucked too.

I have the same choke from Rick, good gear. It's a neater install if you turn the bracket up the other way, the choke knob then sits closer to the top yoke, example pic below.

Well in-between a job interview and work I've managed to get a couple of things done.

Re-positioned the choke cable (cheers cammo ).



Replaced the mish mash off bolts I had in the carb top plate with some M5x20 bolts that turned up yesterday.



Changed the airbox base plate as advised.



Installed my new battery.





New battery weighs a lot more than the lithium one I had, but the lithium one is fucked which is most likely due to the bike effectively running total loss for I don't know how long. New battery cranks lovely and the bike fires on the button, not like the bump start I had to do last night to get home from my mums. Idle is better too with the new battery, pretty much dead on.

As for the carb settings, I haven't really had much opportunity to get a proper ride in to feel how things are over the rev range. But so far the bike feels much much crisper, low end revs feel a lot smoother, throttle response is bang on, bike feels like it has more power and pulls like a train

Well time for an update.

Been using the bike to get to work 20 miles away each day and it hasn't missed a beat apart from a small electrical upset.

But it's just had an MOT. And bugger me it's not going to be cheap.



Looks like I'll be getting the train to work for a couple of days then....

I've got a second hand rear disc if you want it. I bought a complete swingarm to get the chain adjuster, it might even have good bearings?? I know these are advisories but might be worth sorting.

Cheers Andy, but I've just ordered a load of stuff from Rick O including a new rear disc.

I'm not sure about the rear wheel bearings to be honest, I changed the hub over winter for a good used one, might just be worth getting new bearings for it when I get the money/time.

All I know at the moment is the train fare is going to be expensive for the next few days while I wait for new tires.

to be fair - it doesn't really have rear wheel bearings..it has hub bearings...and so what was wrong with them? noisy? free play?

Seems like the failures were all stuff you might have known yourself..like tyres, discs and non working brake lights.

I''d get that sorted, clean it and take it somewhere else!

He said the rear wheel had slight free-play. Front tyre fail was something I had not spotted at all. Most of the tyre was 3-4mm tread depth with one small section nearly all the way round down below 1mm. Must be the camber of the A1 or something.

Discs were an advisory last time, for the front at least anyway and I have new front discs to go on, plus a rear on it's way.

Non-working brake lights were a surprise to me. I have an LED unit thunderace made for me and it's been faultless so far.

The tester knows his stuff, I've always gone there and he's a nice guy, but very picky. At least he let me ride the bike home even after finding the dangerous rear valve.

I'm currently looking for a car or maybe a second bike to use while I get this sorted because the train fare to grantham is extortionate. Plus it'd mean getting the bike done properly, and I don't like putting so many miles on it.

Been beavering away over the weekend and this evening, got a few things done and another wallet denting problem has reared its head.

Got a goodie box from Rick O plus a fancy ass voltmeter and front discs




To go with the new brake lines and caliper brackets will be 929 blade calipers and M/C. A friend got me thinking after he offered me some Firestorm brakes for cheap and I managed to get the blade bits for £65 including postage via a couple of well placed bids on the eBay

Got a nice pair of good RVF discs off Graeme France and have sprayed them a darker gold as I think it looks better than the faded colour on there before. Also sprayed the rear from Rick O as it has to match or it'll bug me, unfortunately when taking off the masking tape I pulled up a bit of paint, but I can live with that for now. Will bake these in the oven on Wednesday when everyones at work and I'm not









Fitted Rick O's earth upgrade kit and now my front left earth point looks like spaghetti junction. Also fitted a new vacuum line as for £3 it wasn't worth risking the old brittle one much longer, didn't get a picture though, you've all seen that shizz.



Got the voltmeter wired into the kill switch and a ground wire from my low beam relay. It flashes a cool little dance when you flick the ignition on





Then I had to find why my brake lights weren't working. This was a pig and I made it harder than it had to be....
Tore into the loom looking for a short/shitty connection and it turned out to be corroded connectors in the rear brake switch and knackered spade terminals which were hanging on by a dirty strand on the front. I also ran out of black electrical tape, so now I have a funky multi-coloured wiring loom





Now here's the new problem. Got the exhaust can apart today, as the new wadding and my new riveter arrived, only to find the perforated tube inside to have disintegrated and the carbon sleeve itself to be a bit worse for wear.





I can't get the outlet end apart to get a new tube in so I may have to send this to a professional. Any recommendations?

I've got a blueflame can in the shed your welcome to for a couple of beer tokens. Its got a dent in it from where i dropped the bike off the axle stand so really could do with a resleeve but it doesnt leak at all and the wadding was replaced last year. it sounds pretty good too.


You can pop over and collect it if you want.

Thanks for the offer but I just got a rough quote from PJengineering (weirdly at this time of night) of £85 for new inner tube, new carbon sleeve and re-packing. Also includes sending back to me.

Will just have to badger Porndog for an Ethos sticker now