What have you done with your bike today?

[TLPower]

.......or you could disconnect the radiator, put a couple of "T" pieces in the nearest central heating radiator and run a feed and return back to the central heating for the five minutes that you have the heating on a day. 

Piece of piss.
 

[endintears]

Thanks to all for the constructive and ingenious countermeasures to my predicament
Decided the best plan of obvious action is to the call a pause to proceedings.
The 14mm box spanner I was hoping to use to get the plugs out is not long enough and I've decided to drain the system and remove the radiator (was going to change the coolant anyway) for better access.
Also even effin colder today so didn't need much of an excuse really.
@Rixington43
 Had thought of that but it would take [me] that long to dismantle it all from a startable state that the front cylinder would be back down to ambient again...


 

[Rusty Nuts]

Are KTM engines happy with Fernox coursing through their system, TL?


Plus, don't try dicking about with the central heating system in these temperatures - look what happened when 2112 tried it.


Also...."5 minutes a day" ? Rich show-off.

[Brockett]

I have a screen to fit on the V7Stone. However the screen is clear and I want to tint the lower portion.
What have others used ?

[kwackboy]

Spray the desired area matt black on the inside.

[Steve T]

F8GS getting its winter coat of sh1tty grit & grime . . .


Got to love a brisk winters day ride, now that the temperature has risen by over 20 degrees 

[Brockett]

I'll start with a well done for Steve T for getting out there and prodcing a postcard quality photo.   
Nice and warm in the garage so.... 
On the Black V7 Stone: today I trial fitted the screen in the hope of getting it in the right place before I paint it.
Also fitted the Givi rear rack which now provides a grab rail to help with pulling the bike up onto the centre stand.
Both V7s were covered and when checked were a bit dewy. So I pulled off the covers and put a fan on full power and set to ocillate and blow dry both bikes. The KTM has not been covered and did seem to have any damp patches.
I have not cleaned off the grit from the swing arm as I am still trying to work out how to make something that will keep off the filth. At present it really irks me and haunts my dreams.  It's not just unsightly, the clutch operating mechanism is right there in the line off spatter from the rear wheel.   Another chance to show off the Bagster tank cover and glimpses of the Givi engine bars which are a whole lot beefier than the Chrome bars supplied by Moto Guzzi.

[FinnDave]

I had a pair of Oxford heated grips fitted to my 650 V Strom today. They are so effective that the weather fast forwarded about three months!

[Brockett]

I decided to drain my bikes fuel tanks.
I haven't used the KTM since end of August and as the tank is some sort of plastic it occurred to me that  E10 might not be too good for it as I'd heard that some plastic tanks swell up and so when removed for a valve check or similar, they do not fit back too well.
The V7special not used since around the end of October.
The KTM and the Special will not be used until next April and I am worried that the fuel tanks will be damaged by that ethanol stuff.
I sorted out a few petrol cans (plastic)  and  tried out my new aquired cheapo fuel siphon gizmo. That's when I discovered that  although the five cans look identicle none of the screw caps fit any other.  And then I could only find three emptying spouts So I optied to dump the fuel into the Jazz tank. However now I have two cans full of ageing fuel and nowhere to put it until I rack up more miles in the jazz.
My intention is to visit an Esso fuel station and fill up with "super" as I believe it does not have any 'E' in it. I need about 50 litres of fuel to top up all three bikes.
Does this all sound silly to you? Should I be bothering ?

[2112]

Today I renewed the insurance, £243 which was nearly £50 LESS than last year. Happy 

[endintears]

@Brockett

Personally I think you're bothering far more than you need to and the bit that sounds worrying (silly if you like) is the number of times and the amount of fuel you're transferring between different containers and tanks.
Far too nice a stable of bikes to see go up in flames...
Bye the way which one are you thinking of taking to Wales next visit?

[endintears]

Got going on the valve check again.
All below bottom limit bar one and that's not much above.
Tolerances on the KTM half those on the Wee and besides increasing the chance of needing doing it brings the additional problem for me of needing shims in 0.025mm size increments.
Anyway managed to get the right shims ordered this afternoon so just a waiting game now for when they arrive.

[Brockett]

@ endintears
The KTM690 ( if the good Lord is willing and the creeks don't rise)

[2112]

Today I fired up the tigger for the first time in a few weeks. As you would expect, straight off the button and I let it get up to temperature. A few good blips of the throttle to ensure the fuel stabiliser is well & truly around the system. This activity will be repeated until the weather gets better and the salt is off the roads...

[FinnDave]

I took my 650 out for a quick 40 miles locally. The newly fitted heated grips proved a good idea. Roads were a bit mucky, but traffic mostly light. Bike needs a good wash now though!

[Brockett]

Todays little jobs: Fitted a Givi plate on the rack on the Stone and then fitted engine bars on the Special.

[2112]

The bars look nice 

[Asmith61]

Nice work Brockett 

[kwackboy]

As my Honda will be laid up for a while, I gave it a clean as it was covered in winter road salt, I also fitted some spot lights because recently I've had one or two "sorry I didn't see you" moments.. 

I had a couple of spot lights with no wiring so I found and old start button /kill switch which I had lying around and made some brackets to mount them to my frame.

My Honda doesn't have the best charging system so I had doubts it wouldn't cope because I didn't know the make or how powerful they are. After some testing, It turns out they have very little draw so the charging system will be happy and more importantly, the switch shouldn't burn out.

Anyway , happy with the result and hopefully the Blind drivers will see me coming ... 🤞🤞

[Rusty Nuts]

They run on Esso Blue?