Life on a Honda 2008 CBF1000A purhcased on Facebook Marketplace. A Flog's Blog

[facthunter]

And some of the first front brakes seemed to Make the Bike go Faster. Nev

[Jerry_Atrick]

Well, I still can't ride the CBF, but I can ride the little Yamaha YZF-R125 that belongs to the boy. The reason is it is a hell of a lot lighter than the CBF, and I can support the lean on my right leg to get the leg stand down. 

 

Unf, I took the rain cover off the CBF to show the boy something or other, and by the time we finished, it started raining and hasn't stopped since (crikey, it's wet!)

 

So, the poor bike has been rained on for about three days now. As soon as the leg is better enough, I will get it into the garage, which is at the bottom of our steep drive. 

 

In the mean time, the lad's confidence is growing and we are planning our first weekend ride to Exmouth, which isn't far, but has some great twisties. 

 

Hopefully in two weeks time we can do it.

 

 

[facthunter]

Borrow some trail Bikes and get into Off road. Nev

[Jerry_Atrick]

I have had a bit of experience on trail bikes.. mainly Honda XL's (75, then 250)

 

In time for the lad, as we want to do a fairly decent adventure.. DR650s (Suzuki) may be the order of the day.

Edited January 21 by Jerry_Atrick

[Jerry_Atrick]

OK.. here is the evidence of one of the most embarrassing moments I have had:

 

Thankfully I inadvertently put the gopro into timelpase. 

 

Weather has been ship.. Wait until the next vid from today's ride (as I can now handle the car, it is all from the car).

 

The reason the end is looking up to the heavens is because I had the gopro on a chin mount - on a flip front helmet, and obviously, I flipped the front up.

 

Edited January 24 by Jerry_Atrick

[nomadpete]

Aaah.

'Tis so humiliating when 'older & wiser' comes unstuck, whilst 'young and enthusiastic' is still upright!

[facthunter]

DID you have a bit of front brake on and How Old is the  front tyre?   Nev

[Jerry_Atrick]

The problem with time lapse is that in order to give the impression it is just sped up, the shutter speed is effective slowed down and it chops out bits. The bike came to a full stop and I leaned to the left, inadvertently moving the bike to the right. Foot down to hold it, onto loose stones in the wet and over it went. I tried to stop it falling. I guess I was thinking soft tissue injury will heal for free v. fixing damage on the bike. 

 

The front types are about 18 months old and have 1/2 life tread left in them - maybe a touch less. They handle and grip well in the wet - apart from my own stupidity in this case, I have yet to have an oh-ship moment and I have ridden the bike in all but warm conditions so far - including some fairly torrential rainfall. 

 

With any luck I will be back on it this week, as the leg  is healing quite nicely. I tried a lean on my right foot while sitting on the bike with the foce expected that would slightly exceed normal loads for city riding and I felt no pain. Of course, if my right leg is called for materially more strength/stretch, it will not yet end well. 

[nomadpete]

Good luck with your recovery.

[Jerry_Atrick]

Well, have been back on the bike for q couple of weeks, now. Leg is still a little sore when stretched. 

 

Back to London early Tuesday just gone. It was a much less dramatic ride in terms of getting lost in London. And the ttemperature was about 7 degrees which all but the gloves were coping admirably with. 

 

...

 Buuuuut... there was a problem. The heated grips have a small switch on the left grip and a LED light to indicate the heat seetting and status. When one switches off the engine, the grips detect a drop in vooltage, and they flash bright green for a short time before switchign themselves off to conserve battery. This started happening.. when the bike was pulling 5,500rpm doing about 75mph. It did this for a little bit - maybe 5 mins or so and I was praying that there was enough juice in the battery to get me to London. Then it stopped and I was thinking an intermittent drop in voltage could indicate the stator is about to soil its trousers. 

 

After about 1/2 hour, my left hand was getting quite cold - while the right hand was warm. I pulled into the next saervices, and sure enough, the left heated grip was stone cold. This is despite the power button and the LED on the left hand griup indicating all was OK. Flippin heck... I went on to the next services, about 30 miles away, pulled in and purchased a hot chocolate - to wrap my frozen left hand around and warm up. Once done, the cup and the hot chocolate went into the bin. Shortly after that, I was in London at speeds that didn't freeze the tips of my fingers. 

 

I parked the bike and went to woork. In the evening, I emerged form work looking like some alient traveller, and went to the bike to ride to the pub for the evening. I put the key in the ginition and started her up. Imeediately after, I put on my gloves (I use this time to let the oil flow around the engine before going anywhere. When I put my left hand on the left grip, it was already at peak temperature. Hmmm. that is odd.. this time, the right grip remained cold. Bloom nora.. this does not look like a stator issue, but wither poorly installed heated grips or, worse, a short. 

 

The next morning, I didn;t put the grips on as it had warmed to a balmy 8 degrees, and there was no real need to put them on. That evenng, on the way home, I put them on. They briefly warmed both hands, and then fell away  The LED light told me all was OK, but It wasn't reflected in the lack of heat coming from the grips. Thanks to the storm guards, my hands were only freezing and not frostbite, but with the M5 being closed reuiring me to take a further 30 minute diversion (detour) and feeling a little tired (left the office at 8:30pm), I figured if I could get a motorway services hotel (really sort of a motel) cheap enough , that would do as I still around two hours from home. I managed one at Membuiry Services, and hunkered down for the night. The next morning, the left grip was working again and then petered out. So it was freezing fingers all the way home. 

 

Yesterday (Saturday), the sun was shining - We have had consistent rain for over 40 days  and nights, apprently.. Some arcing, but no ark. So, I took the opportunity to clean both bikes; they were putrid. Although, I had a little too much concentration of snow foam and they looked like they had been snowed on in Northern Europe. It also took me an hour to clean the driveway from the excess snow foam afterwards. Spent over £30 on chain and brake cleaner, but buggah me, it does a good job on cleaning things up. Managed to lube the son's bike chain, but for some reason, didn't get time to do mine. Haven't ridden it yet, but of course, it rained again. 

 

Have to clear out the garage today of the rubbish in there to fit the bikes and be able to work on the,. Next weekend, I will be applying ACF50 to both of them.. which means a thorough clean and a half again. 

 

Son took his out last night.. Just as it started rainign again. it is dirty again.. Blimey!

 

 

Edited 17 hours ago by Jerry_Atrick

[nomadpete]

Our deep south sounds positively balmy compared to your riding environment.

 

Last year I folded to sensible behaviour and sold my bike. No sensible 70 year old would be so silly as to have a motorbike!

 

I finally gave in to my pining for a ride. Collected a little 250, (a lighter thing to pick up if it falls over). A pleasant enough 8 degree day. It's heated grips worked all the way home. Of course as soon as I hit the highway the clouds closed in and the previously nice winding roads had me nervous because I was still getting used to handling this light responsive bike, on wet roads. 

Home in one piece. Nice hot shower, hot cuppa and happy. 

 

For future adventures, I will include a weather forecast in my flight plan.

[Jerry_Atrick]

I sometimes qquestion the wisdom of buying a heavier bike, but despite the electrical issues, my last ride back from London, and its general handling characteristics in the current weather has confirmed it. I am doing a few more push ups and squats per day - not because I keep dropping the thing, either.. but I do know I need to have a bot more strength than I do, should I drop it again. 

 

Once the electrical gremlin is sorted, and/or the weather warms up, it will be a beaut!

 

Today, went to Yeovil - about 30 miles away to a brand new Infiniti Motorcycles store. It was in the car and took a bleedin' hour and a half. But, I picked up an opening deal on a diual set of intercoms; they were missing an adaptor plate for my helmet, so, on Saturday, we will be there on the bikes to get the intercoms fitted to the helmets. But, I was very thankful I took the car in the end. It absolutely hammered down for about 10 minute. It would have tested the best made motorcycle clothing. And the wind whippted up to about 20kts.. 

 

 

 

[Marty_d]

2 hours ago, nomadpete said:

Our deep south sounds positively balmy compared to your riding environment.

 

Last year I folded to sensible behaviour and sold my bike. No sensible 70 year old would be so silly as to have a motorbike!

 

I finally gave in to my pining for a ride. Collected a little 250, (a lighter thing to pick up if it falls over). A pleasant enough 8 degree day. It's heated grips worked all the way home. Of course as soon as I hit the highway the clouds closed in and the previously nice winding roads had me nervous because I was still getting used to handling this light responsive bike, on wet roads. 

Home in one piece. Nice hot shower, hot cuppa and happy. 

 

For future adventures, I will include a weather forecast in my flight plan.

Back on the road Peter!

Let me know if you'd like to go for a ride sometime. 

One of my favourites is to Richmond via Grasstree Hill then back via Tea Tree and Brighton.