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greg_in_london

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Everything posted by greg_in_london

  1. greg_in_london
    The proportioning valve is bolted to the rear master cylinder. It's job is to reduce the braking force to the back brake when you are slowing down (so that the rear wheel does not lock up.) You can see above what problems Prairehammer had with his last September. It might be possible to reverse a seal in the mechanism, but that wouldn't explain why one would suddenly stop working, so maybe an air lock around the weight would cause a problem. Generally people can forget these things and just ride, though. You can try using a syringe full of brake fluid and pump fluid through from the bleed nipple, possibly just loosening the banjo as you do so in the hope of forcing air out through another orifice. Me, I took the thing off and threw it away years ago. The bolt that holds it on is the same thread as a banjo bolt. The metering valve is still there to stop you over-pressurising the front.
  2. greg_in_london
    #33) One for the English speaking audience: A woman walked into a bar and asked for a Double Entendre so the barman gave her one.
  3. greg_in_london
    Bah - well Silva messed up that count good and proper didn't he.... #32) So this bear walks into a bar. "I'd like a pint of IPA please," he say. "I'm sorry," said the barman, "but we don't sell beer to bears in bars." Well this confused the bear, so he thought a moment, not quite sure what he had heard and he tried again; "I'd like a pint of Hofmeister then, please," he said. "I'm sorry," said the barman, "but we don't sell beer to bears in bars." Well, this did begin to annoy the bear, because, after all, he was thirsty, so he asked again, "I'd like a pint of Guiness then please, if it's not too much trouble." The barman still remained adamant, however. "I'm sorry," said the barman, "but we don't sell beer to bears in bars." Well now the bear was annoyed and he looked the barman straight in the eye, which surely would have unsettled anybody. "If you don't give me a drink right now, I'll climb over the bar and rip your head off." Now the barman whitened slightly, but stared that bear right in the eye. "I'm sorry," said the barman, "but we still don't sell beer to bears in bars." Now bear was not going to be so easily defeated. "Well," he began, looking around the bar. He saw a lady sitting at the other end of the bar by herself on a stool. "If you don't care about yourself, if you won't serve I'll go up that end of the bar and eat your only other customer." sniffed the barman, "As if I care, we don't sell beer to bears in bars." Well the bear was steaming now and he stomped to the other end of the bar where the lady had not even noticed, engrossed as she was in doing her lipstick in the bottom of an upturned beer glass. The bear knocked her from the stool with a single swipe. As she lay on the floor, too stunned even to scream, in one movement the bear reached down and wrenched her leg free of her body and swallowed it whole. The the bear tote off the other leg and it went down the same way. In short order the whole of the poor unfortunate woman was consumed by the angry bear leaving only a bloody stain on the floor to mark where she had fallen. The bear, now somewhat fuller, but anger unassuaged again approached the barman, who was visibly shaken by what he had seen. "Now," said the bear, "If you won't give me a beer you'll go the same way." Somehow, the barman managed to return the glare of the angry bear, although there was admittedly something of a tremor in his voice now, "I'm sorry sir, but we don't serve beer to bears on drugs." Confusion now fought with annoyance as the bear spluttered, "What do you mean bears on drugs http://images.proboards.com/huh.gif" "Well," said the barman, "That was the bar-bitc*-u-ate."
  4. greg_in_london
    It's a little bit skinny. There should be a numerical load rating - check what it is and look it up on a conversion table, then you can decide if it's a heavy enough duty tyre to last any time on the bike. With the wrong rear tyre (140/90H16 Kenda - claimed to be ok for up to 1000lbs) I killed it in less than 1000miles with my sidecar and trailer. I used to use the Conti Tour which was rated 77 for weight, which is about as high as you get. If the Elite 3 is rated 78 that's even better, although I don't think it's available here. If what you're looking at is only about 60, unless you only ride solo I wouldn't bother.
  5. greg_in_london
    Tut tut tut.... I couldn't possibly comment. Anyway, #11.. So this bear walks into the bar. The bear says, "I'd like a pint of Hofmeister ... and .......... a packet of peanuts please." The barman says, "Fine, no problem, but why the big paws ?" ************************************************** 12)A duck walks into a bar and says "got any sandwiches?" The barman says "No" So the duck asks again "have you got any sandwiches?" The barman says " no, we don't serve food" The duck asks "have you got any sandwiches" The barman is getting pissed off and says "look, if you ask for a sandwich again I'll nail your bill to the bar" The duck asks "have you got any nails?" The barman says "no" The duck asks "have you got any sandwiches?" ************************************************ 13) So this skeleton walks into a bar. The skeleton says, "Can I have a pint of Guiness....... .... and a mop, please." http://images.proboards.com/grin.gif
  6. greg_in_london
    I'd have been the guy in the middle on this one, but I know when I've got a good deal and when to keep quiet. You won't believe the political arguments over here (not political argument, just fact stranger than fiction) as our right wing (for us) government is limiting the amounts people give to charity because they think it could mean they avoid paying some tax ??? That's like the barman above refusing to allow the well off guy to buy drinks for other people because he might then drink less himself !
  7. greg_in_london
    I like the joke, I want to comment, but don't want to see the thread pulled. Ooh ooh decisions...
  8. greg_in_london
    9) So, an Englishman, and Irishman and a Scotsman walk into a bar. The barman says, "Is this a joke ?"
  9. greg_in_london
    aka MSII (Roman 2) or MS2 grease
  10. greg_in_london
    It works
  11. greg_in_london
    I don't know if you wired it up correctly. If you just plug it into the headlight H4 socket, then the computer notices that it is not drawing enough power, assumes the bulb is blown and switches to high beam. How to do it is on other threads - I can't remember how I did it right now. If you wired it right though, then it sounds like a fault.
  12. greg_in_london
    If you're getting a strong smell of petrol, have you ever checked the o-rings on the emulsion tubes. It's hard to be sure, but I'd almost swear I had been able to see petrol flowing down the carb wall from the emulsion tue/needle jet before I replaced them. Downside is that you have pull the cars and dismantle to get at them
  13. greg_in_london
    1) So this horse walks into the bar. The barman looks at him and says, "Why the long face ?" 2) So this sandwich walks into the bar. The barman looks at him and says, "Sorry, we don't serve food here." 3) So this termite walks into the bar. He looks around and asks "Is the bar tender here ?" 4) So this bear walks into the bar. The bear says, "I'd like a pint of Hofmeister ... and .......... a packet of peanuts please." The barman says, "Fine, no problem, but why the big paws ?"
  14. greg_in_london
    A priest, a doctor, and an engineer were waiting one morning for a particularly slow group of golfers. The engineer fumed, "What's with those guys? We must have been waiting for fifteen minutes!" The doctor chimed in, "I don't know, but I've never seen such inept golf!" The priest said, "Here comes the green-keeper. Let's have a word with him." He said, "Hello George, what's wrong with that group ahead of us? They're rather slow, aren't they?" The green-keeper replied, "Oh, yes. That's a group of blind firemen. They lost their sight saving our clubhouse from a fire last year, so we always let them play for free anytime." The group fell silent for a moment. The priest said, "That's so sad. I think I will say a special prayer for them tonight." The doctor said, "Good idea. I'm going to contact my ophthalmologist colleague and see if there's anything he can do for them." The engineer said, "Why can't they play at night?"
  15. greg_in_london
    I use molybdenum disulphide grease (the grey-black stuff). By the time I get a bike, whatever Yamaha put in has gone a filthy yellow colour and dried up, so I've no idea what it looks like new. In fact, some places put so little in it seems that you'd struggle to see it anyway.
  16. greg_in_london
    Now just because I've done this doesn't mean it's a good idea.... I also have an old XJ550 which I've recently put back on the road. That has a four brush starter motor, but the body is steel, rather than aluminium. I also changed the brushes at the same time, so can't give a direct comparison, but with what I'd heard about the Venture starters I wondered if the floating brush plate gave the best possible connection (as it's over 30 years old...) so I carefully welded the plate to the housing where one of the indents is and then filed it flat so the cap fitted back on. It certainly seems to provide a good earth, but then I had three starter motors in bits so could afford to make a mistake..
  17. greg_in_london
    SkyDoc - I bought some of this off you before, but they disappeared down that big crack in the settee (or somewhere similar) before I could use them, so fitted washers instead. I'd still rather have the nylon washers, so I've just ordered another set. Let me know if you need more for the postage. Greg
  18. greg_in_london
    And I melted the standard connector with a standard bulb. I had to bodge it up at the side of the road and kept it like that for years. Porcelain bulb holders ???? I didn't even know they were available.
  19. greg_in_london
    A couple of the screws in the casing have a copper washer under them and omitting them or reusing a damaged one can lead to a surprisingly prodigious leak too. It's worth checking anyway.
  20. greg_in_london
    Mmmmm.... I'm well aware that we go through fads in any any forum with different views coming to the fore at different times and I hesitate to doubt anything Freebird says (not least as i want to find time to ask him about discussion forum settings..) but... The views over many years seems to have been that many VR's run too rich, surely. It's possible that some of this could be due to age and leaking o-rings around the emulsion tubes, but blackened sooty areas around the exhaust pipe ends can testify to over-rich mixtures (so if you don't have this, then an over-rich mixture might not be your problem). Many people talked about drilling holes in the top of the airbox or keeping it slightly open, but I don't recall any great successes being reported and it didn't work for me. What seemed better for some (but not all) was replacing the throttle needle shim with a thinner one (or washers) to weaken the mid-range mixture. I did it with washers and may have a slight mpg improvement. Part of the moral is that the only way to an ideal conclusion is to diagnose your own vehicle appropriately - I just queried whether the VR was generally set up too weak. NB - the VR was set up differently in different markets and different years so experience in different areas may have varied. [EDIT - I've just realised that this post in in General tech and not First Gen. How did I stray in here by mistake ???? I have no idea how Ventures other than first gens were/are jetted.]
  21. greg_in_london
    Lol - so was I. I reckon it depends on what you've used as the mating gasket between the collector box and silencer and how many miles the parts have done already. Some of the gaskets are a really tight fit, expecially with old parts. I don't move mine if I can possibly avoid it.
  22. greg_in_london
    Trailer tent behind a mark I and sidecar. We've two, a Raclet Minto (unbraked) and Texas Comanche (braked). The trouble could be the amount of extra luggage we can get in... I'd worry about stopping with such a big trailer (which wouldn't be legal here anyway) behind a solo, and cautious of brakes that are only used occasionally (in case one bites first, twisting slightly). That Aspen looks pretty nifty though.
  23. greg_in_london
    If everything is working okay, it's personal taste. If you swap between other bikes that have normal brakes, you'll find the linked brakes horrible, but now that modern bikes are getting linked brakes and ABS, we might to see the opposite with just old-timers used to operating brakes independently. Linked brakes are supposed to be more idiot proof, which benefits most of us when we get tired. De-linked brakes give you more immediate control. I haven't heard of any back-back tests on stopping distance, but I prefer de-linked. I refuse to comment any more on this thread.
  24. greg_in_london
    Stir the pot all you like - I began using synthetic oils around 1990. I was despatching around London on an XJ550 and covering 500-1,000 miles per week plus weekend mileage. The battering the engine took in continual heavy traffic (not sitting in it, working a way at speed through bumper-bumper traffic - we change lanes here) meant that wise men changed their oil every thousand miles or very soon after. By that time you could feel the drag on the gear change. Changing to Shell Gemini meant doubling the oil change intervals, so in quiet periods it might be a whole month before the oil needed changing. I found it helped (and cheap oil did not !) (I still have the xj550, but it's a bit like Trigger's broom) I wouldn't argue with the idea that more expensive oils have more additives which take longer to be used up, so it's hard to judge what benefit is due to base oil and which to the additive. Nowadays I can change my oil as a precaution and can stay away from the very heavy traffic, so my engines get an easier time. I think I've had good results with diesel oil, but I don't take it to the limit so I'm not sure. I'm not convinced that 10W-40 viscosity breaks down any more than 20W-50, 10W-60 or any other grade. Thicker oils will give more protection, but cause more drag and heat build up, lighter oils will give good service on lighter used engines with close tolerances. For cold starting I've been using a synthetic 5W-40 this winter in my Tenere and it doesn't hurt. Anyway, I'm rambling now. The clutch on my venture has always slipped at full throttle at 3000 revs but has become no worse over 10-15 yrs (many different oils used) and the clutches on other bikes (xj550, xj750, dr400, xtz660) never slip, also regardless of oil.
  25. greg_in_london
    I think I've posted this before, but I have two REALLY GREAT anti-theft devices... http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/hh10/greg_in_london/sidecar%20rally/DSCF2071.jpg
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