The friendly "dumb" bike questions thread
Discussion
Speed addicted said:
Seems ok to me if you want a new bike and the monthly costs are ok.
I’d make sure that the transalp is something that would keep you amused before buying it.
I’d also add that many bikes are pampered toys, doing little mileage in nice weather.
You may be able to get something 3-5 years old with minimal mileage for much less while still giving you a warm fuzzy feeling about reliability. More so if the current model has been facelifted. Then you could just buy it outright and have no ongoing costs.
Assuming a three year PCP you’re still dumping £8k into the transalp with potentially no return, best case it only costs you £5k.
If you’re more worried about cash and know you won’t be using it much a paid for bike in the garage could be a better long term option.
My Triumph Explorer (for instance) is now 10 years old, I’ve got 4 other bikes so it’s more a long distance bike.
Apart from servicing and tyres it’s needed one fork seal. Older bikes may be perfectly fine rather than the maintenance nightmares you imagine.
Sound response, cheers. I’d make sure that the transalp is something that would keep you amused before buying it.
I’d also add that many bikes are pampered toys, doing little mileage in nice weather.
You may be able to get something 3-5 years old with minimal mileage for much less while still giving you a warm fuzzy feeling about reliability. More so if the current model has been facelifted. Then you could just buy it outright and have no ongoing costs.
Assuming a three year PCP you’re still dumping £8k into the transalp with potentially no return, best case it only costs you £5k.
If you’re more worried about cash and know you won’t be using it much a paid for bike in the garage could be a better long term option.
My Triumph Explorer (for instance) is now 10 years old, I’ve got 4 other bikes so it’s more a long distance bike.
Apart from servicing and tyres it’s needed one fork seal. Older bikes may be perfectly fine rather than the maintenance nightmares you imagine.
Monthlies are fine, though I don't necessarily *need* a new bike, it just happens that the bike I want isn't really available used yet. The closest used one is a 5hr round trip, with about £500 off new. I'm happy to buy the bike 'blind', I've done it before with cars and bikes, following plenty of research and that hasn't went wrong for me yet. But obviously it is something to consider.
My Auto Trader search isn't really throwing up anything I like; there's a Tracer 900 and a Tiger 800 XR, but neither have much 'want'. There's some decent Tiger 1050s for £7-8k but I'm struggling to see the value if I'm honest, that would be the very top end of a used bike budget. A fully-loaded VFR1200X, bit too much of a unit.
I'm kind of contradicting myself to be fair, as my car is 22 years old and I'm happy to use that as a daily. Though it is also a white Honda, I wonder how good they'd look parked next to each other....?
Anyway, if anyone's got any suggestions I'm all ears. I'm gonna have a ponder over it, look at insurance, maybe have a spin through to the local Honda dealer. If anything does happen, I'll be right on here to tell you all.
Krikkit said:
The transalp looks good but very dull, it's a tool for a job really.
This is the thing though, I want a tool for a job. I don't want a hooligan, and I don't want something that I look at and polish more than I ride. I want a bike that meets it's brief completely while still being something that stops, gos and turns pretty well. horsemeatscandal said:
Krikkit said:
The transalp looks good but very dull, it's a tool for a job really.
This is the thing though, I want a tool for a job. I don't want a hooligan, and I don't want something that I look at and polish more than I ride. I want a bike that meets it's brief completely while still being something that stops, gos and turns pretty well. I have OEM auxilliary lights on my 2021 BMW GSA.
I tend to ride with them switched off unless visibility is poor.
Recently though, one of them comes on as soon as the bike's ignition is on and can't be switched off independently of the ignition.
The other one is working perfectly.
They are, in theory, both controlled by the same switch, so I'm assuming it's not a faulty switch ('cos one's switching on & off OK).
The other clue as to what's going on is that on bike start up and power down, the aux light that is working properly sort of brightens (start up) and dims (power down) while the mis-behaving one just instantly goes to full brightness and instantly goes off.
I can't see any obvious damage to the cable running from the switch to the back of the light, but it's quite hard to track without taking bits off the bike which I'd rather avoid at this stage if I can.
The only think I can think to do is to take the aux light off, take the cover off, and re-seat the cable connector in the back, but if I'm honest this is more because it's something to do rather than because there's any logic in it...
Any ideas what's going on and if there's anything I can do about it prior to getting a professional involved?
I tend to ride with them switched off unless visibility is poor.
Recently though, one of them comes on as soon as the bike's ignition is on and can't be switched off independently of the ignition.
The other one is working perfectly.
They are, in theory, both controlled by the same switch, so I'm assuming it's not a faulty switch ('cos one's switching on & off OK).
The other clue as to what's going on is that on bike start up and power down, the aux light that is working properly sort of brightens (start up) and dims (power down) while the mis-behaving one just instantly goes to full brightness and instantly goes off.
I can't see any obvious damage to the cable running from the switch to the back of the light, but it's quite hard to track without taking bits off the bike which I'd rather avoid at this stage if I can.
The only think I can think to do is to take the aux light off, take the cover off, and re-seat the cable connector in the back, but if I'm honest this is more because it's something to do rather than because there's any logic in it...
Any ideas what's going on and if there's anything I can do about it prior to getting a professional involved?
Fullook said:
I have OEM auxilliary lights on my 2021 BMW GSA.
I tend to ride with them switched off unless visibility is poor.
Recently though, one of them comes on as soon as the bike's ignition is on and can't be switched off independently of the ignition.
The other one is working perfectly.
They are, in theory, both controlled by the same switch, so I'm assuming it's not a faulty switch ('cos one's switching on & off OK).
The other clue as to what's going on is that on bike start up and power down, the aux light that is working properly sort of brightens (start up) and dims (power down) while the mis-behaving one just instantly goes to full brightness and instantly goes off.
I can't see any obvious damage to the cable running from the switch to the back of the light, but it's quite hard to track without taking bits off the bike which I'd rather avoid at this stage if I can.
The only think I can think to do is to take the aux light off, take the cover off, and re-seat the cable connector in the back, but if I'm honest this is more because it's something to do rather than because there's any logic in it...
Any ideas what's going on and if there's anything I can do about it prior to getting a professional involved?
Doesn't seem to be anything to do with connector - took it off, no sign of dirt or water, reconnected it, same result.I tend to ride with them switched off unless visibility is poor.
Recently though, one of them comes on as soon as the bike's ignition is on and can't be switched off independently of the ignition.
The other one is working perfectly.
They are, in theory, both controlled by the same switch, so I'm assuming it's not a faulty switch ('cos one's switching on & off OK).
The other clue as to what's going on is that on bike start up and power down, the aux light that is working properly sort of brightens (start up) and dims (power down) while the mis-behaving one just instantly goes to full brightness and instantly goes off.
I can't see any obvious damage to the cable running from the switch to the back of the light, but it's quite hard to track without taking bits off the bike which I'd rather avoid at this stage if I can.
The only think I can think to do is to take the aux light off, take the cover off, and re-seat the cable connector in the back, but if I'm honest this is more because it's something to do rather than because there's any logic in it...
Any ideas what's going on and if there's anything I can do about it prior to getting a professional involved?
I also swapped the light units around and was still the right hand side light with the problem, so it's not a problem in the light unit itself - must be something in the cabling, maybe?
snagzie said:
If the switch mechanism turns the earth on and off, then probs a damaged cable making an earth causing the right lamp to complete the circuit.
Not a fan of those aux lights but I'll refrain from any further comments!
If I can locate the damage, presumably a good wrap of insulation tape could solve the problem?Not a fan of those aux lights but I'll refrain from any further comments!
Wouldn't disagree on the lights btw - why I tend to mostly keep them switched off.
Depends what's wrong in the wiring, but you could get a temporary fix that way yeah. If they're OEM it might not be straight forward, could be integrated into the loom and be a switch problem, relay problem etc. The only real way to tell is get at it with a multimeter and chase the wiring through.
Any ideas what this may have been ?
I’m coming home from work today and slowed to 30 as was passing a speed camera , anyway it felt like my bike was losing power on the throttle . As I was turning it to speed up nothing was happening and then all of a sudden it seemed to spring back to life and I was then twisting the throttle more than was necessary and it revved like a man possessed
All of this was over in a few seconds and I’m sure I wasn’t imagining it ! Rest of the ride home was just fine
I’m coming home from work today and slowed to 30 as was passing a speed camera , anyway it felt like my bike was losing power on the throttle . As I was turning it to speed up nothing was happening and then all of a sudden it seemed to spring back to life and I was then twisting the throttle more than was necessary and it revved like a man possessed
All of this was over in a few seconds and I’m sure I wasn’t imagining it ! Rest of the ride home was just fine
HybridTheory said:
It's a 2001 Fazer 600 and yes it was pissing down on my way into work !
There should be a rubber flap attached under the tank that drops down from the frame and tucks between the back of the exhaust (frontmost) cam cover and the spark plugs/leads. Check that is in place.There's also a plastic junction box under the front left of the fuel tank that is meant to house all the various block connectors. Make sure an idiot previous owner hasn't moved the connectors outside, that, or failed to clip the top shut.
Properly assembled, I rode mine in some biblical conditions. It took me a couple of similar experiences to yours to track down what previous idiots had done wrong with all the water protection parts.
A known issue with TDMs, being a Yamaha of a similar age, is the HT leads shorting on the frame when it's really wet. The usual fix being either new HT leads, or wait until they're fully dried out and wrap them with self amalgamating tape. If the problem has gone away in the dry the seal amalgamating tape is a cheap temporary fix to see if that is the problem
Gassing Station | Biker Banter | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff