South West Bikers | Motorcycle Forum

ummm Hello everyone…long time no speak…sorry Been a bit busy sorting me life out n that…

Anyway - hope you're all well and looking forward to…well, you know - I won't tempt fate!

Soo… Me n Vern (to remind you, Vern is my bike, not a bloke!) haven't been out with you guys since June last year, so apart from a very sort trip in August, he's been stuck in the garage since then. And I'm not the tinkering type, so I LITERALLY haven't done anything to him at all. I am just about to attach a battery charger and see if I can wake him up, but I need some advice - can I just start him after all this time, or are there things I should do first? I'd be grateful for any help…

Thanks, love you lots xx

Ummm.....probably apologise to Vern ;) ....oh and fresh fuel might be helpful too !

Other than that, check tyre pressures and worth checking your brakes haven't got a bit sticky. A modern bike like yours though should be ok after a reasonable lay off like that.

Try starting it a couple of times without the choke on first, or if you do use choke keep it to a minimum so the engine doesn't rev much at first, letting the oil get around a bit. Other than that, just let it warm up gently.

Check tyre pressures, chain, etc., and ride gently at first (none of that full throttle, mono-wheeling lunacy )

If its been standing that long, it wouldn't hurt to give it an oil & filter change fairly soon.

And treat poor Vern a bit nicer and let him out the stable a bit more often

Thanks guys - will do as you say…

I will try and have some playtime with Vern very soon, but tis quite probable that he will be looking for a new home soon and I will be looking for a cheap 125 to get to work on…

Rather than a 125, try looking for something like a Kawasaki z250 Scorpion/Gpz305, or Honda CB350s - reasonable seat height, light weight, but still got reasonable performance and not much more expensive to run than a 125, and should give a reasonable amount of pennies in the piggy bank after selling Vern ......

cb250, like kims

Ok - sounds good - I'll have to have a look around

TLS-Moose wrote:Rather than a 125, try looking for something like a Kawasaki z250 Scorpion/Gpz305, or Honda CB350s - reasonable seat height, light weight, but still got reasonable performance and not much more expensive to run than a 125, and should give a reasonable amount of pennies in the piggy bank after selling Vern ......

Z250/305
Any of these still on the road? I would have thought they've all blown up and spread their oil all over the place by now.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Kawasaki-GPZ- ... 3cdcb33505" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Kawasaki-Gpz3 ... 4acefdb7cc" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Quite like those actually - funnily enough I looked at them a few weeks ago after a discussion about the GPZ900R in Top Gun! This one is v nice:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/KAWASAKI-GPZ- ... 4d14f90fc8" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

And I like the blue one - but tooooo far away!!

What's the deal with a belt drive though - why belt and not chain?

Can't help but feel the full-faired ones a bit pricey, plus the fairing is likely to impact performance on a smaller bike.

The belt is actually much better than a chain - less power loss, very little maintenance, Last much, much, longer than a chain. Most Harleys use them. Can get pricey when they do finally require replacement, but would need to check prices.

Mechanically I don't think they're bad little engines, and as a bike they're reasonably light weight and because they're quite narrow the seat height feels lower than the measurement might suggest. I had one for a while many moons ago.

And it looks like a proper bike too

Vern is a proper bike! Hornets are the best!

It's just that where I'm moving to I'll have to get a bike in and out of the back garden via a narrow alley with a right angle turn in it, so I need to get something I can manage that with. Just thinking of getting something narrower that will work for that. Agree about the bike with the fairing though - I'd probably only scrape it...

Save Vern and just buy a big sledgehammer ;) ;) , walls are just a nuisance anyway !

seriously though I don't reckon a small cc bike will be any easier to get round a right angled corner than a Hornet, they're pretty small and compact anyway, so give it a few test runs before you make a decision you later regret, or Smiler gives you grief about for ...well forever really ;) .


Or even easier, find somewhere else that suits your bike and sod any other practicalities you may have

Grease/Oil the chain, as old grease will dry up.

Good luck

I would probably stick some redex into your tank when you next fill up too.