Author Topic: What have you done with your bike today? (Read 239110 times)

mr_diver · « **Reply #2220 on:** July 24, 2021, 20:59:42 »

Finished off the recent work with an oil and filter change, clean and lube the chain and a good scrub.

Had a blast around the block... I've missed this bike!

Steve T · « **Reply #2221 on:** July 24, 2021, 21:35:17 »

A little 300+ mile wander today, taking in the best section of the NC500 before heading south on a lesser used road along the side of Loch Shin.
Drizzle to start the ride from near Elgin, with no blue sky visible till I’d past Contin, heading towards Ullapool. Then nothing but blue skies, reet warm roads and not too many tourists = BLISS

A small map to clue you into where on the west coast I wandered . . .

Racked up over 2k miles on this wee thing in the 6 weeks I've had it. Novelty is taking its time to wear off

Steve T

Asmith61 · « **Reply #2222 on:** July 24, 2021, 23:13:20 »

Sounded like a great ride and lovely pictures Steve

Loved Ullapool when I went about 20 years ago

Mr Nick · « **Reply #2223 on:** July 28, 2021, 01:34:57 »

Today I decided to sort out the new set of tyres for the 990 that I started looking at last year, so phoned the garage who'd quoted me £230. It didn't go well.
There's a real shortage of 150/70x18 rubber it seems - Michelin don't know when they'll have Anakee Adventures again, and I didn't find a reliable source for them. I can find fronts no problem though, so I'm having to decide between replacing the front only (it's the one with the cut anyway) and wait for stock to re-appear, and going a different route. I've found that it's not just Michelin with supply issues, as a few places I've looked have either front or rear in a tyre, but not both.
I did find Pirelli Scorpion Trail 2s though, and they were on my list of options, so I'll phone again & get a fitted price for those. I'm happy enough with how the current mk1 Scorpions have been so I'm not upset if that where I have to go. The cut shouldn't be an MOT issue as it's not down to cords, but the tyres are 7 years old & the rear is becoming a bit square, so they could do with being changed.

On a plus, I received the new tubes I'd ordered to go with whichever tyres I buy, and the front Wemoto sent is the ultra-reinforced version, rather than just the heavy duty I'd ordered - the ultra part is that the tube is 4.5mm thick while the rear one is only 3mm. I think the tubes I put in the TS are maybe 2mm thick at he most. Maybe it will help keep the front tyre closer to the ground...

kwackboy · « **Reply #2224 on:** July 28, 2021, 06:23:19 »

Supplying tyres right now is a real ball ache, personally, I've I've got a Michelin front tyre on back order since April, it's one of nearly 100k tyres Michelin has on order with NO due date

TLPower · « **Reply #2225 on:** July 28, 2021, 06:32:11 »

It's not just tyres, I was looking to buy some more summer gloves and did the usual searches. Sportsbike Shop didn't have any decent gloves in stock and they weren't expecting any deliveries for two to three weeks.

The Continental Trail Attacks I fitted are rather good in the dry and not shocking in the wet.

Rusty Nuts · « **Reply #2226 on:** July 28, 2021, 06:38:59 »

Hmmm, tyres indeed.
Just had a new Tourance next front fitted. 110/90r19. KTM dealer. Supply, fit, balance, dispose of old.
What would one expect to pay for all that?
TLPower is not permitted to answer. He knows.

mr_diver · « **Reply #2227 on:** July 28, 2021, 07:29:00 »

It's not just tyres.

America is hoarding all the wood,
China is keeping It's steel.
Turkey's glass matt (required for work) is mostly going to China.

And prices have gone through the roof.

kwackboy · « **Reply #2228 on:** July 28, 2021, 07:49:47 »

@ rusty ..

In-stock

£103 fitted , balanced and old tyre disposed of.

Any good ?

Rusty Nuts · « **Reply #2229 on:** July 28, 2021, 09:09:29 »

Damn. Just had it done. Their quote was £196.

I didn't pay that.

Mr Nick · « **Reply #2230 on:** July 28, 2021, 10:50:05 »

I can get the 21" Michelin front fitted for £120 if I so desire. £103 for a Tourance is very good: that's not much more than I can get one delivered - £196 is laughable.

TLPower · « **Reply #2231 on:** July 28, 2021, 11:00:44 »

...they did fit some random piece of orange tape though...

mr_diver · « **Reply #2232 on:** July 28, 2021, 18:29:48 »

£110 for a pair of A40's from M&P's, or at least they were a while back.

A mate fits them, £15 a wheel.

I may just do enough miles this autumn to require them changed before the new year.

Tourance (original) on atm they were £140 a pair from M&P last time I looked.
Fitting with them was something like £45 a wheel ride in, ride out last time I looked.

Mr Nick · « **Reply #2233 on:** July 28, 2021, 19:57:44 »

I have given up on Michelin for now and even Pirellis are like hen's teeth: most places showing them on their sites are assuming they can get them from their suppliers, but they don't have any and no restock date. We managed to track down a Scorpion Trail 2 pair so I've been & dropped the wheels off at the garage to get fitted over the next couple of days. I'm having to part with £240 fitted, which felt a bit sore, but I found that the current tyres cost me more than that a few years ago, so I'm less troubled by it. Tourance Nexts were coming in a bit more.

Mr Nick · « **Reply #2234 on:** July 28, 2021, 23:40:40 »

With the front wheel out, I'm taking the chance to have a good look over the front brakes. All the pistons seem to move easily, the slides are sliding fine, and the pads are perfect. I went over the calipers with cleaning wipes I have and they took all the old grease & brake dust off with ease.
There's always some dead flies stuck on the fork uppers & various other places so I tried the wipes on those as well, and they came off with almost no effort, so I'm pretty impressed with them. They're Everbuild Wonder Wipes that you get from Toolstation at £9.43 for a bucket of 300. I can see myself spending some time over the next couple of nights doing some cathartic cleaning.

mr_diver · « **Reply #2235 on:** August 01, 2021, 07:45:43 »

Packed the Varadero and headed off for a nights camping in Andy's gaff.

And here's proof, contrary to popular belief, that it does very very occasionally rain in Wales.

Mr Nick · « **Reply #2236 on:** August 01, 2021, 19:44:47 »

Picked up the wheels on the way home this afternoon:

I had a slight concern that these may have been the dregs found at the back of some warehouse, but the dates on them are fine: front made end Feb and rear was end Mar.

All fitted back together so I'll have to go out sometime soon & scrub the shiny layer off, although they are pretty sticky to the touch.

And those Wonder Wipes are also really good at getting the residue from the old balance weights off the rims too.

Rusty Nuts · « **Reply #2237 on:** August 01, 2021, 20:25:45 »

Do the Wonder Wipes have alcohol?

Asmith61 · « **Reply #2238 on:** August 01, 2021, 20:33:04 »

Got out this afternoon for a couple of hours a few showers
Firstly I stopped off at The Flitch way (which follows the old Railway line for 15 miles from Braintree to bishops stortford )
Then on to Andrewsfield Airfield a former RAF base in stebbing
The picture with the Aircraft was taken very quickly as the side stand was sinking in to the soft grass and I did not fancy picking the KTM up

Asmith61 · « **Reply #2239 on:** August 01, 2021, 20:54:14 »

I really don’t know why the pictures are on there sides would someone in admin please put them right for me ?