Motorcycle and Scooter appreciation

If only there was a liquid you could spray all over the parts that are affected by moisture. Then you could choose, cover or no cover. :)

With the promise that it'll end all my bike issues, double my wages and enhance my tolerance to alcohol? SOLD!

scottoiler fs365?

acf-50

Kinda put off by reading that for acf-50 to work properly it needs to be applied properly - ideally professionally.

The fs365 sold me on the fact that it was biodegradable and was easy to reply - which seemed to make sense on an open bike like the Triumph.

fs365 is also water based so washes off.

Acf50 is super easy to apply. If you can spray a bottle and swoosh a cloth around you'll be fine. No different to cleaning the bathroom. Professional needed my arse; only for lazy people.

Professional application is probably a requirement if you're maintaining a helicopter!

My bike has been under a bad cover all year. The only thing to corrode was the new head bearings, which are almost rotten solid, obviously the "high quality waterproof marine grease" supplied with the bearings was maybe not so high quality... Almost constantly wet out there

fs365 is also water based so washes off.

Well yes. Sort of.

It's oils suspended in water. So once it's dry you get a layer of oil that acts as a barrier. You can wash it off, but it's not like it just gets washed off by a bit of rain and normal riding.

I'm still tempted to try acf50 but I've got tonnes of fs365 to get through first.

My understanding was that you had to make sure that the surface is properly clean first otherwise you risk trapping contaminants against the surface. That was one of the things I wasn't 100% confident about doing.

The thing I really need to do re cleaning is work out how to get the marks off the fins on my engine casing.

I just clean my bike well, apply acf then just wash it every now and again through winter. It has protected my ktm, no corrosion at all.
Acf stays on ages, like all winter.
You're over thinking it. Just clean your bike and then apply it.

^ your probably right.

Had a bit of shit end to the day and then topped it off by I slipping as I pulled out of a parking bay... then fell over and knocked the scooter over next to me.

A kind guy helped me and my bike up.

Haven't been able to properly check out my bike, but seems OK.

The scooter seemed OK as it had one of those knee cover things, but the wind shield was totally smashed and fucked up on one side. I left my email and a note to contact me.

How much am I looking at for a replacement?

Whatever price you're told it's always available cheaper. Just depends who's paying.

Well it'll be me paying.

A quick Google shows prices ranging from £20-200.

Obviously I don't want to be a dick (hence leaving contact details) but equally I don't want to pay more than I need.

Best is to offer to take it somewhere yourself.
I got reversed over by a range rover about a month ago, split peg rubber, cracked brand new (10 day old screen) and scratches but not bent lever. I tallied up a grand total of £70 from them (screen is 45 and has to come from Germany, levers are £25 and peg is £6, labour myself), and now they have gone all "not sure I caused that much damage, if you want that prob have to take us through insurance"

As bike crashed down, was very close to pinning and crushing my leg, where it fell it was less than a foot from a blinged up mclaren p1, would have defo been on their insurance for that!

Go through their insurance and Get a quote from a shop

My point was that the price you can get for the repair or "making right" is going to be greatly less than the price the owner can be bothered to get for the same job to be done. It would be good if you had pictures of the damage you think you caused as this might avoid the scenario that @BrickMan alluded to.

This morning's commute was interesting. Cracking the ice off my visor on The M25, visibility was fuck all without the ice. This fog is crazy

I know. Had to ride with my visor up almost all the way.

When I looked out the window it didn't look too bad, but by the time I was on the road it was brutal. Really surprised how bad London was. Should have taken the train!

Scooter guy came back to me sending me a link to a screen (£62.92) and saying he'd fit it. Although oddly he's quoted £28 deliver while the amazon link shows £20 - although "0" and "8" are close to each other on a keypad.

Seems ok, I guess - I know sometimes OEM screens can cost a ridiculous amount. Either way hopefully it gives me some good karma going into 2017.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B01FG09WI4/ref=mp_s_a_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1482842856&sr=8-4&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=faco+windscreen&dpPl=1&dpID=41Qa1N7DvAL&ref=plSrch

I would just go with that and cut your losses.

V.proud (but not in a proud way) of my GF last week, she reversed my car into another definitely causing damage, left a note in a bag and rang it into police 101 incase the note didn't make it. Didn't run off like 99% of folk seem to think its acceptable to do.

Why not call an aprillia dealer to see how much the screen is. Or look at better re cheaper aftermarket ones.

My wife has reversed into my motorbike twice and then my van last week popping the fog light. If she hadn't done it in front of our builders I still wonder if she'd confessed...

@lynx - Had a look on Aprillia's site, but it looks like they didn't do a standard screen for the SportCity Cube. Had a look for some other aftermarket ones. Givi do one, but just the fittings cost almost the same as the one he sent me.

The problem is he had a large one (chuckle) with hand shields. Cheaper screens seem to be smaller.

@BrickMan - I'm inclined to agree. I feel like he's been reasonable and at the end of the day I broke it. I'm just going to rationalise it on the basis that I'd have given him £50 so it's "only" another £30.

It has made me think more about lowering my bike a little. Not sure it would have stopped me slipping but I might have been able to whip my right leg back over faster. I've got adjustable Tec rear shocks which seem simple enough.

Going to do some reading, but I assume if I lower the rear, that will have 2 other consequences;

1) the bike will only drop in height a little because the forks are the same;
2) the handling will change because the front is now effectively higher with more weight on the rear/less on back.

Is that about right?

My real question is will say, 10mm drop on the rear, change the handling that much - like a shorter stem that you soon compensate for?

I've seen videos on lowering the front shocks on a Triumph, but if I'm just checking out whether there's any benefit to me, it seems easier to adjust the adjustable shocks, rather than messing about taking the whole front off.

Dropping the forks will make it turn in quicker ;) But go to far and the front wheel won't have enough travel and be stopped by hitting the frame.

Can you adjust the shock length?

If you're just lowering the back by unwinding preload for more sag, I wouldn't. It will make the steering vague and the bike wallow more than it should. If the shocks have a height adjuster that would work.

Dropping the forks won't make a lot of difference to the seat height.