Reply With Quote>>Beautiful<<Originally Posted by learningtofly
Going to be a lovely day today, so I'm going to take a ride out to Ivinghoe Beacon.
>>Beautiful<<Going to be a lovely day today, so I'm going to take a ride out to Ivinghoe Beacon.
That’s gorgeous Tony, hope it wasn’t too cold!
I thought one of the requirements was no unnecessary journeys🤔
Anyway good day today, just short of 200 miles round trip. Bike felt a bit unstable so with the rear tyre near the wear bars, I think I’ll fit the spare pair I have... . Might even give it a clean as well.😈
It's been a few years since I was in Matlock.
Fair do's, that's a good run out this time of year.
I've been thinking about buying an old nail to hack around on over the winter months, to save the pain in the arse job of washing away salt after every ride. Considering a cheapo single for the job.
Well as I said above, bike didn’t feel quite right yesterday, unstable and lack of feeling. I put it down to a pretty worn rear tyre, and the cold weather, so I took it pretty easy..
Good job I did👍 5psi.. Not worth repairing and I’ve got a pair of new ones on the shelf so I’ll get em fitted😎
Bugger,glad you made it back OK.
They’re tubeless and pretty stiff side walls, so I suspect that they’d run flat for a fair distance, so long as you went steady.
Isn't it a bit early in the season to fit studded tyres?
'Against stupidity, the gods themselves struggle in vain' - Schiller.
We’ve had a couple of frosts this week🤪🤪Isn't it a bit early in the season to fit studded tyres?
This NX650 has cost me less than the service on a BMW/Ducati/Triumph.
It`s ideal for exploring and blatting around the B road backlanes of my locale and the small, light nimble nature of the bike makes a nice change from large, hefty and unweidly motorbicycles..
I think it`ll be a keeper (for the time being...)
Oil change on a 1200 water cooled triumph for anyone interested..
nice straightforward video on the oil change with a good tip regarding the seal, i could never do anything like this as i'd need 30 mins to edit all the swearing out of a 5 min video :P
Rather frustratingly, I have had to strip down the carbs on my Pegaso again, I had missed some wear to a needle when cleaning them first time around.
I tried to start it after a week idle, and the relay switched in the motor, and it went nowhere, like it was trying to move the world.
Tested the battery voltage, good, and removed the starter motor, which span up very well when remote, so the problem was clearly the engine.
Tank off and plug removed, it was clear that it was hydraulic-locked, the cylinder was filled with fuel. Into gear and a few spins of the engine by moving the rear wheel spat almost all of the fuel into rags over the plug port.
I had left the fuel switched on, but I have often done this for a few days to no ill effect. So, the diagnosis was that the carbs were passing, so likely either crud on the needle (unlikely, new fuel filter in place) or a worn needle.
Carbs off and stripped, needles (twin carbs for this single) inspected, this time with a decent magnifying glass. And there was the telltale slightly depressed ring around the PTFE needle tip. Doh! Should have spotted that before.
Quick walk round the corner to see a mate who fettles his son's racing jet skis, he agrees and looks at the needle a little closer. Mikuni carbs? As it happens, yes. He rootles in a drawer, and picks out a perfect example of exactly the same needle. What a result. Thanks very much, I owe him a pint.
I have ordered a replacement starter anyhow, as the old one span the engine a bit slower than I would like, and a quick strip whilst it was on the bench showed worn bushes and some temperature damage to the coils.
The BMW F650 uses the same starter motor, so spares are relatively easy for many parts of the Aprilia. I have one coming that has been stripped from a 12000 mile F650, so the motor (which looks pristine) should be fine.
Hopefully back on the road next week.
Dave
I was out on the bike a couple of days ago, and stopped to enjoy my surroundings and have a vape. I noticed, though, that what had been some very, very light "pitting" near the top of the headers had become quite a lot worse. I have no idea why it's happened but is there a likely reason and/or anything I can do now to stop if progressing? You can see it - its the same on both pipes, incidentally - in the photos below.
Weird - is it just discolouration or is it actually rough to the touch?
First thoughts are that it’s fling from the front tyre or aerodynamically directed road sandblast (if you’ve ever ridden an unfaired bike in traffic at speed in a t shirt you’ll know how that feels).
No harm in coating the headers in ACF50...apart from the initial smoke on startup so make sure you’re outside.
IIRC, both the F650 and the Pegaso use the same Rotax engine?
It looks to me like the chrome was just very thin and the steel is now showing through.
Time to raid the parts department for some stainless steel headers me thinks!
They just gradually turn blue due to the heat.
Triumphs suffer from discolouration of the stainless pipes due to contaminants getting on them. If you Google it you’ll see it’s not uncommon so putting any anti rust products on them will likely make things worse.I was out on the bike a couple of days ago, and stopped to enjoy my surroundings and have a vape. I noticed, though, that what had been some very, very light "pitting" near the top of the headers had become quite a lot worse. I have no idea why it's happened but is there a likely reason and/or anything I can do now to stop if progressing? You can see it - its the same on both pipes, incidentally - in the photos below.
Started out with nothing. Still have most of it left.
The R model header pipes are brushed stainless steel (whereas the standard model has chromed pipes). I love a bit of blueing but that's not what this appears to be.
Eeek! Maybe when it's completely covering the top of the pipes it'll look better
It’s definitely not blueing Tony!
If the exhausted are polished steel (presumably with a protective layer over them) rather than stainless steel then it’s looking like corrosion.
Even though the headers get very hot, it’s not unusual for exhausts to corrode from the inside out. Having said that, I’d be surprised if it is rusting through from the inside at this age.
I meant brushed stainless steel, Dave. It's completely smooth so pretty sure it's discolouration rather than corrosion; the bike's only done 3000 miles from new and spent it's life garaged, so I doubt there's anything going on inside the pipes.
When British bikes used to get heat colouration on the chromed header pipes the Japanese bikes didn’t usually because they had two layer pipes. Remember stainless is ‘stain less’ not ‘stain not’. Contaminants in the brushed surface can cause staining. Highly polished stainless suffers less as any contaminants have less places to gather on the surface.
Started out with nothing. Still have most of it left.
I suspect the only answer is a few minutes with the Solvol.
Probably worth asking on the Triumph forum(s).
One chap on the Triumph forum(s) is doing a good job of keeping his nice
Should have noticed that you already have.
A quick look at mine shows pretty much the same. I'll grab a photo in a mo
Last edited by Gyp; 7th November 2020 at 10:53.
That's interesting - shall we try the Solvol and see where it gets us?Should have noticed that you already have.
A quick look at mine shows pretty much the same. I'll grab a photo in a mo
As an aside, that black plastic thing is very ugly. Why not send it to me, and i'll dispose of it for you?
Well, I've used it on the downpipes of the R1200R with great effect. Somewhat disappointing though that the stainless pipes on my 2015 BMW have needed polishing up as they looked awful, whereas the stainless pipes on my 1989 BMW haven't yet needed to be touched.
Funnily enough it's already off the Triumph as it is horribly ugly and also where the spotlights are likely to end up.
It is however slowly edging towards the R1200R which, as I've fitted the Denali CANSmart system, has a horn loom all ready to go.
Black headers Tony....that’ll do the trick.
For better or worse I treated the Scrambler 1200 headers with Harpic 10x Powerplus...
This removed some surface pitting and some discolouration. The pitting has not returned but the headers have regained the brown discolouration - albeit it is now a more uniform colour, which I have grown to like (code for can't be arsed to worry about).
I’d take that.For better or worse I treated the Scrambler 1200 headers with Harpic 10x Powerplus...
This removed some surface pitting and some discolouration. The pitting has not returned but the headers have regained the brown discolouration - albeit it is now a more uniform colour, which I have grown to like (code for can't be arsed to worry about).
I gave up worrying about my Akrapovic headers a long time ago it does no harm and isn't effecting anything,its the nature of the beast and I just wanted to ride my bike.
Yep, me too.
The marks are heat stains, more or less impossible to stop.
On chrome pipes it helps if you wrap the headers with a very thick wire (about 2mm) used to do this on the headers on an old Bonneville I had in the 70's. It slowed down the blueing of the chrome.
Harpic Extra strength and a bit of scotchbrite will sort most stainless systems...but keep it off the paint and aluminium...and hands!
I applied it to the headers of the R1200 using a pair of my end-of-life underpants that make up roughly 100% of my garage rag collection.
If you have none of my discarded, holed boxers to hand, a tea towel should work nicely.
I would use an old tea towel first. The scotchbrite pad is going to impart its own brushed effect. You would be better cleaning up the finish first before you create a finish , if that makes sense.
Steve
I’d like to pick something like this upThis NX650 has cost me less than the service on a BMW/Ducati/Triumph.
It`s ideal for exploring and blatting around the B road backlanes of my locale and the small, light nimble nature of the bike makes a nice change from large, hefty and unweidly motorbicycles..
I think it`ll be a keeper (for the time being...)
Autosol is the one Tony, and stick to clothes as above. Pads are too abrasive I find. If you use Beas, can I have your bike after the painful death you would no doubt suffer?
I use an old tooth brush sometimes as well into corners.
This week I tried my old vibrating tooth brush (bring on the puns) no more effective,you need patience and elbow grease its mildy abrasive anyway.
I would use a scotchbrite pad with the autosol as the tubes are already brushed.
But make sure you get it all off and do not add any anti-corrosion stuff like ACF50 to the stainless, it is not meant to be used in such hot environments as header pipes.
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