Motorcycle and Scooter appreciation

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Looks like a great adventure, nice weather for it too. Found out the hard way the petrol gauge on the SRAD has an intermittent fault, had to join RAC after being stranded. I'll investigate what's going on with the fuel level sender but lesson learnt, will now be going off the odometer instead of waiting for the fuel light.

Yikes!!

On the XJ a week or two ago I had knocked the trip counter. I assumed that I had another 30 miles until hitting reserve, and then just as I went to pin it on a dual carriageway it went thudthud thuuuud.

Couldn’t reach the tap and switch to reserve quick enough and had to pull over.

Would hate to experience that without a spare few litres to dredge!

Ha, I ran out in Sheen Friday, too! Little YBR passed its MOT and I'd stuck a Chinese dash on to get it through. Just assumed the petrol gauge would be correct and had forgotten when I last filled up. Was showing half a tank when it died as I slowed at a zebra crossing. Hooray for reserves!

I ran out in the Mojave Desert on a Harley Ultraglide.

Not today obvs.

A few months ago dad ran out of fuel on the exact same bit of road he’d ran out 40-odd years earlier. Only difference was it was his son, not his dad, that brought the jerry can!

Hooray for reserves!

Call me a luddite but when stuck at the side of the road contemplating my fate I realised having a reserve tap, instead of a fuel gauge has its advantages. At least you can manually switch it over and you're never stranded. Technology is great when it works eh. Having to hand over £220 (plus fuel) to the RAC leaves a bitter taste, but looking for a positive glad there's nothing mechanically wrong. I'll probably carry an external reserve in the SRAD's rear hump as it's big enough.

£220!!!!!

Now I was a little upset handing £50 to my instructor when he rescued me, after the nail went through my brand new tyre and UHD tube, on my first proper ride on the DR. I think it cost me another £50 or so for the Bikesure recovery plan when I got home and called them.

£220 I’d be spitting feathers.

I have one of these 2L with the smaller top which is unused thanks to needing a funnel to fill it. Normally I strap one of my two normal sized 5L plastic jerry’s if I need to rescue someone.

Definitely recommend sourcing a Fuel Friend or similar. The Givi looks great value.

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£220 I’d be spitting feathers.

Don't. I've just about managed to mentally (and emotionally) move on. The only saving grace is I now have an annual membership, but that's not much comfort. Because it was such a silly breakdown makes it even worse, at least if your engine seized that would feel like a worthwhile reason to call the RAC. Cheers for the jerry can links, will look at the measurements and buy accordingly.

The Givi is available for under £16 inc post on ebay. It is the largest.

I paid £16 through my mechanics for a 2L with the smaller spout and it’s sat unused. You need a funnel to fill it up, which is my main reason for leaving it at home. Send me a message if you want exact specs.

Edit: the Fantic owner friend was planning to use an alu 1L (camping) fuel bottle, but I think on anything bigger than a 250, 1L is nigh on worthless.

Much appreciated for the info, and agreed on my 1L and 0.75L bikes having a slightly larger reserve is probably sensible.

I've used a Sigg camping fuel bottle in the past. Whatever they used as a gasket didn't like premixed petrol so I replaced it with one cut from nitrile rubber - been ok so far.

The extra 1L is worth it for me -gives an extra 40+ miles range, but then my machines barely count as motorcycles.

The DR does around 14-15 miles to a litre, I think. 60-something mpg, depends on riding environment.

So minus spillage, idling etc, I’d need to be sure I can safely reach a garage within 10 miles. That feels way too limited, especially on a byway where you might waste half that fuel just getting out to the nearest main road.

The XJ is less efficient than that. Can’t remember exactly, I think mpg was in the low 50’s with how I’m riding. 2 litres on the road would guarantee a Shell, or at worst a Texaco garage.

So far, the DR will get to 200 miles on a full tank (Acerbis 16L) so I just refuel around 160. Similarly, the XJ hits reserve at about 150 miles, so I flip the tap at 140-odd and aim for the petrol station.

I'm not really sure what mine will do - somewhere around 180mpg for the Bown and a claimed 240mpg for the Trojan - certainly more than a day's worth of riding per tankful.

I was thinking more to avoid a 'trial and error' approach with something intended for camping stove fuel - or at least confirm suitability before inadvertently filling a pannier with petrol :)

Miles per tank, surely?

Edit: looked up what that motorcycle is, ignore me!
(and forgive my ignorance please)

Barely mopeds never mind motorcycles ...
The Trojan only has a 1/2 gal. tank - I suspect more evaporates than passes through the engine.

Only 240mpg?

"Up to...". Could be less.

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Meh, still haven't got a 6th gear on the little bike. Knew it wouldn't be an easy fix - bloody pain in the arse. I'm going to up the gearing a tad and have one more outing at the track before I split the cases. I hope at this point, the previous owners spiel about 100cc, supermini top ends was as much baloney as everything else. The oversize piston is stupidly expensive next to the stocker.

Amazing the outright lies that people tell about stuff here. We're not talking the sins of omission but flagrant, stinking porkies. So annoying.

Do you have any more photos of the supermini? I started searching for them for a bit, then got bored and went back to pining after electric trials bikes.

Yes it is quite astounding how ‘honest’ people become incredibly dishonest when shifting a bike (or other marketplace item). Dishonest people turn into caricatures of themselves.

The more I dived into the GN, the more I learned that every “ask this before you buy” question was answered incorrectly. Not so much a can of worms, just a steady trickle of lies being uncovered. Made me feel nervous when selling, trying to be sure to cover everything as honestly as possible to the next guy.

The DR guy was quite honest, but still failed to point out a few things; possibly he didn’t know, likely he simply didn’t mention.

The XJ, the friend was as honest as possible and I can’t fault him for that. He had barely put 200 miles on it since resurrecting it to MOT standard. When I picked up a few things they were clearly impossible to know about until you put 500 miles into it and start asking it to work hard.

Daft thing about the XJ is that he is a little upset that it already handles and rides much better than the one he kept. He’s really pleased to see it used rather than sitting in a garage, but clearly a little sad his one rides like a sack of shit in comparison!

Ordered one of these magic little things, basically a very high quality battery powered bluetooth controller for a phone/tablet. Has two regular buttons and a 4 way + centre joystick, can be programmed to do many things, but mostly works with their evolving self developed maps/guidance/roadbook/media overlay for android.

https://carpe-iter.com/carpe-iter-control/
Around £150-200 I guess with brexit duties, will see when it lands.

Essentially I don't use bike enough to warrant buying a new MC satnav (£250-500) which will age quite quickly TBH (ever seen a ~2010 tom tom, urgh), so normally just use my phone, its waterproof enough, however when charging with USB-c as soon as water gets crammed into the charge port it stops charging obviously. And using it even with gloves off, once wet or with cold hands = just about impossible. So was looking for something thats a physical button controller for a mounted phone (in a clear phone box mount thing). And can use it for when its in car as well, makes much easier work (and technically legal in UK) of utilizing maps while on the go.

Sounds pricey for what it is, but the guys who develop it have put all the money into the firmware/app compatibility , think they offer lifetime (or 5 years maybe?) on the controller too. Most of their gear is aimed at pro riders/rally type folks and quality of it reminds me of when I briefly worked in motorsport (ford).

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carpe iter

Often used with Drive Mode Dashboard app, which was recently redeveloped as a more subscription-per-feature type service.

Too expensive for me, but I like the look of them. Tried lots of cheap ebay controllers and nothing works easily enough. Probably by the time you sort new waterproof bits to a case, you’re at the CI money anyway.

So I’ve had pain in my right shoulder on and off for years, caused (I thought) by tensing up during urban riding with a twitchy throttle. I’ve made a big effort to consciously relax my arm and more recently started putting the bike in rain mode to soften things up but it hadn’t really made any difference.
What has made a difference is fitting adjustable levers and not having to stretch my hand to cover the brakes - all of a sudden no pain or tightness and all that practice relaxing means my arm is actually relaxed and tight right turns are significantly smoother!

Edit: This has been going on since my DAS, I just thought it was a new muscle movement thing that would go away, amazing what 10-15mm of lever reach can do!