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As a teenager I was finishing a painstaking re-assembly of a Villiers 2T two-stroke twin and was about to mount the cylinders when I dropped a circlip into the crankcase. Horror! Take it all to bits again! Crikey! (or similar) My dad said “ the crank cheeks in a two stroke have to be a close fit in the crankcase to force the necessary gas flow. Turn the engine by hand until the crank cheek appears in the cylinder hole beside the conrod, and put a glob of stiff grease on the cheek. Then slowly turn the engine 360 deg until the crank cheek reappears, the circlip will be stuck in the grease

Gentlemen i think that i will follow the recommendation of the dealer although i am not convised of the outcome and that the most of you suggest and it seems logical to do. I bought this bike new for not to have any kind of trouble and you understand that this was kind of dissapointment for me. Except this the bike runs great and it suits my needs perfectly for a daily commuter and a Sunday ride at the beach with my wife, you know Greece in summer time has great places to go and get wet !! So today a big YES i would have bought it again if i had to make a choice for a new bike. As said above t

The ridiculous price for servicing is the main reason I don't change bike. I can do the valves, change the coolant, air filter and oil and filter in less than 3 hours. The oil and filters around £55, halfords silicate free coolant about £15. I don't enjoy spannering but hey-ho if I want to ride I don't have a choice.

I would agree strongly. My skeleton objects to any other position than lying down, standing or sitting. I constructed and installed a bike lift even before returning to biking. The table is completely flush with the garage floor until I want to raise it. The detachable front wheel clamp simply bolts to the table with 4 x M16 screws, so I just drive the bike into the clamp, and get off, no centre or sidestand required. The table rises hydraulically to a maximum of 1.5 m on a telescopic, heavy-wall square 120mm x 120mm tube that prevents rotation or any other movement. In any position the t

No one can know until it is either taken apart or fails completely. They certainly believe it's worth a look and that they can probably claim it back from Honda or they wouldn't offer. How can it turn out? 1. They fix it. 2. The new one is exactly the same, works but is a bit noisy. Run if for a year then sell it back to the same dealer. They lose all claims that there is any reason to reduce the value. 3. They stuff up the repair, it fails a week later. Their fault, they fix it or replace it. I don't trust dealers mechanics to put air in tyres pro

That’s on my mind too. I’ve already started to get rid of things that I rarely use. It is a sad process, each item has a story to tell, but only to me, to others it is just junk. I still use hand tools that I bought when I was sixteen, usually from shops in Sheffield, that felt like Aladdins cave to me, like Marples chisels, Moore and Wright micrometers and even a rare Joseph Rogers penknife. My lathe is an old but cherished Myford ML7, still in perfect working order. It is small for heavy jobs, a modelmakers machine really. I can’t bear the thought of such things going to landfill or to peopl

May be worth changing again in 1-2k miles as way of a flush.

Best tool I ever bought Andy. Makes working on the bikes so much easier. Mines a 15 year old ARE hydraulic one. Its been worth its weight in aching joints.

The valve clearance checking and adjustment in itself is straightforward but it's easier to swing the radiator out of the way. I changed the coolant at the same time when I did mine. The only real PITA in terms of access is the air filter. The amount quoted is not out of order, provided they actually do everything they should. A dealer would do the job more quickly than me because they work on these bikes often. I didn't keep mine long enough to do the work automatically like I have done with the bikes I liked and kept. Even so the hourly rate and hours needed by the workshop will cost,

I guess that main dealers have a fixed price for a service or each job. I bought by NC new a couple of years ago and the first service was at a main dealer. I think the charge was around £200 for what I consider to be a minimalist job. Dealers are not a charity but there is a limit to what we are prepared to pay. I do all of my own servicing. Most of the servicing jobs on an NC are not too difficult although they may take you a little time especially if you have to remove panels, etc. Plenty of information 0n how to do these jobs on the Internet. Try a search on youtube.

Ouch. Mine is fast approaching, I am going to take it to my independent garage and will see what the quote is.

Battery changed without any drama's. Happy Gringo

All this talk of Optimate overlooks that they are not necessarily the same thing; there are several models and iterations. Mine is an Optimate 4 (but not the current (ahem) one) and is quite old (bought in 2013 when I bought a BMW F800 with Canbus electrics) but it can charge Canbus and non-Canbus systems but has to be changed between the two by some arcane process that I can't remember now. IIRC not all Optimates maintain the battery as well as charge them and attempt recovery. I have always charged mine over the winter layup about once per month. At least that way I can establish

Same as Rocker I've used a couple of Optimate's for years. It's worth noting that they are not plug in and forget. Depending on result of the charge indicated by the LED's the instructions state to disconnect for 12 hours and start the process over again. Case in point, my 2016 CB500F on original battery got a bit low over winter, after charging on the optimate LED 6 was flashing, normally would be static when fully charged, disconnected for at least 12 hours and started again, this time LED 6 was static and battery all good.

Looks like chain lube residue to me.

Manufacturing discrepancies and expansion/contraction might stress the radiator if both sides were bolted. If one side is secure, but still free to "float" slightly, no stressing can occur.

I have a few bikes on optimates, and the cheapo old Oxford equivalents, and have had one of two batteries go dud over the years. The last couple of years I've had the optimates on old fashioned plug in timer sockets (mainly as I had some lying about and the bikes are at my lockup where I'm paying 45p per kW) and have had no issues. Probably coincidental but I now use most of mine with timers. Another +1 for Tanya batteries, I've also used Motobat and found those ok but quite expensive. My older Enfield 500 ran a lithium battery just fine and I'll swap any 'keeper' tomorrow when

From a main dealer, yep that’ll be the ballpark. Even with an independent you’ll be north of £500. 16,000 miles is the valve clearance check.

Valve clearance check due at this mileage. I’d need to check the manual to find out what else is required. Thats a steep price though imho. Valve clearances are screw and lock nut adjustable, rather than shims, so if you’re okay on the tools, a relatively straight forward job to do. Might be worth shopping around for a few other quotes. Good luck.

Bit late now but google just found an article on best fuel to put in yr petrol tank before you lay up yr wheels for the winter: "It’s worth remembering that E10 is not the only option. E5 is likely to remain on UK forecourts for another five years, but even better for owners of historic cars could be investigating ethanol-free fuels. At the time of writing, there is no requirement for ethanol to be included in super unleaded (97/99) grade petrol, so if you’re driving a cherished older vehicle (or putting one into long term car storage), consider a switch to the UK’s only ethanol-free fuel

might have done, the optimate is a trickle charger. The tracker would certainly have impacted the chargers effectiveness. You need a certain voltage and current “pressure” from the charger to effectively maintain the charge. Ma not have been charging effectively, see above. I do the same, and it seems to work well for me, Just my experience and thoughts.

No such thing as a silly question, if we’re not sure, always better to ask👍

@Defender he sent me tyre decals that I never got round to fitting to the NC. It took me several years after his passing to be able to part with them even after the bike had long gone. a generous guy, full of friendly chat and so knowledgeable on the mechanics.