What have you done with your bike/s today?

[Worty]

Not got out much on the bike due to domestic issues.   However, went out to Holmfirth on Sat for a bit of a picnic with the family.  Pulled in to a car park and two minutes later two old boys (brothers) thumped in on a large Matchless single (500cc?) - sounded proper.   Got chatting and the fella said he'd ground in the valves and was testing it out.  Was very impressed with a recent ride of his, got up at 5am, rode over to Cumbria, back across the Yorks Dales and back to Holmfirth.   Got back at 10pm after covering 390m.   I asked how his back stood up to that sort of riding as my back and bum start to fade after 200m.   He replied, "Aye lad, I reckon me back's med o' wud."

[coater87]

 I only shift into 1st from a standstill.
 Lee

Other than for trials or hill-climbing, that's a given, isn't it?

 No, I dont have a round-about here on every intersection. Still have many 4 way stops that people never truly stop at, for some reason its called a California roll.

 You come up to a four way in second, shift to first (hope it does not crunch too much) and creep along at 2-3 miles an hour. You might be number 4 in line, and nobody really stops moving the whole way through. I imagine if you made a habit of stopping some angry soccer mom in her giant SUV would run you right over and never even know it- busy as she is on her cell phone and such.

 I think if I go to a 23 tooth engine sprocket I am going to have to avoid those entirely. Or maybe if I have to stop for real to change into first I can start waving my arms around like I am a lunatic and hope people take pity on me.

Lee

 

[duTch]

 Lee, do you match the revs with a throttle tweak as you change down- kind of like double clutching but not necessarily using the clutch but can do as you go through neutral...? I've always done all that as a matter of course anyway, and if I don't it doesn't feel good 

 I like the idea of the Cali-roll if safe to do so- coming to a dead stop for no reason is fairly pointless and just a potential revenue raiser

[coater87]

 Dutch,

 The law is everyone must stop. They just dont.

 4 ways are terrible,  you are supposed to yeild " right of way" to the person on your right hand side.
 The way it really is, is nobody wants to wait for anyone. Unless a cop is right there, nobody stops for anybody.
 If you show the slightest hesitation, someone else will boogie right through in front of you, than the horn blowing starts from the people behind the person that stopped.
 The best is when 2 or more people decide to go at the same time, the most aggressive usually wins out. Very dangerous place for motorcycles.

 Lee

[coater87]

 Dutch,
I have tried blipping the throttle and slipping into first, the gearbox will have none of that nonsense.

In just the last few complete stops it has popped out of first gear twice on me, but only when everything is well up to temperature. I really think something is getting too tight when hot and causing me troubles.

 Lee

[Peter in Aus]

  so- coming to a dead stop for no reason is fairly pointless and just a potential revenue raiser

I agree, all stop signs should be made "give way signs". It seems to be the world over that if you stop at a stop sign you run the real risk of been shunted.

[Sav]

Collect the tinware from my damaged A7SS and start reassembling again.

[Falconer59]

A10 put to one side while I’ve rebuilt forks on Trident T150t, it’s nearly done now after top end rebuild as well, so hope to start running it in this weekend

[Worty]

Went for a 220m or 293m ride (depending on whether you believe the odometer or trip meter).  Brilliant day (over 30C) and bike only spluttered once when it got very hot going through Lincoln.

Will need to do a fixed mile check on what is happening with the odometer as I'm convinced it is under reading whilst the trip meter keeps skipping over 10m every now and then (may have to go back to Russell).

Rear AM26 was a godsend, performed really, really well at 36 psi.

Just wish the winter months were less inclement as next summer is a long way off!

For those that know, the home situation is now improving - thanks for your support!!!

[RDfella]

At 36? Good grief. Having read recently that we should increase our pressures, I was sceptical. After all, the compound may have changed, but the tyre structrure is the same. So recently I tried around 28 / 30. Very hard ride, so I've dropped back to 22. Even less on the M21 rear, otherwise the spine takes a bashing.

[Greybeard]

Maybe he had a pillion

[Black Sheep]

Nipped down to the chippy this evening. Road closed, surface dug up. Didn't stop me. All adds a bit of fun to the ride.

[Worty]

Nope, no pillion GB, ride was perfect.  I have the suspension on the middle setting, so maybe RDfella uses a different overall setup.  I only weigh 12.5 stone, so not squashing the tyres with my weight.  May experiment with slightly lower pressures but can't really see how that'd improve things, especially round the corners - it was excellent!

[Black Sheep]

36 seems a bit high. I run 25/28 or thereabouts solo, but I'm only a 10 1/2 stone weakling. The 1913 Douglas pressures are 35/40 but that's because it has beaded edge tyres which need higher pressures to stop them coming off the rims.

[Worty]

I have tried lower pressures on other tyres but get wallow on corners, which is a bit unnerving.  I found having 36 in the AM26 allows the bike to naturally roll into corners, although it's entirely feasible that a lower pressure may do the same.  At the end of the day, I guess its the feel of the bike to the rider, and their own, particular preferences.  I may try lowering to 32/34 but doubt it'll make a huge amount of difference.