I remember with my Triumphs and Nortons the hassle of getting the timing cover off when the Philips screws got corroded in situ. It was a case of drilling the head of the screw(s) removing the cover, then getting a Mole wrench onto to the protruding bit of screw.

To avoid getting into the situation again, the usual practice was to buy an Allen screw kit. Why the hell the manufacturers could not have used Allen screws in the first place, even if it meant adding £1 to the price of the bike is beyond me.

That was fifty years ago, but today I was in the same situation, when removing the air filter cover. They are not Philips screws, but the Japanese version, JIS which are supposed to be better.

One was rusted and would not budge even using a specially bought JIS screwdriver.
It is a M5 self tapping screw, 1.6mm pitch (I measured another of the screws – the others came out fine) and it screws into plastic. But it would not budge.

As in days of yore, I had to drill the screw head off. A drill the same size as the shank is needed, in this case 5mm

After removing the cover it was easy to get to the bit of screw that was left and to remove it with a mole wrench.

I did not want the same thing to happen again, so I tracked down some Torx head stainless steel screws on Amazon. I only needed 8 25mm long screws but I got 25! Plus 25 of each 16mm, 20mm, 30mm, 40mm and a Torx driver bit for £6.99 including Vat and delivery.

Here it is in situ.

And, of course I replaced all of them. Maybe JIS 5mm 1.6mm pitch screws are used elsewhere on the scooter. I’ll replace them as I come across them

The post Address – Seized Screw appeared first on Twenty Forty Five.

My BMW R65LS
Wet weight: 207Kg,
Power: 50bhp,
Max Speed 95mph

I am thinking about selling the old girl. We’ve been together for quite a while but she is not getting ridden much these days. At 207Kg wet weight (or 458lb) She is classed as a middle weight but I am finding her a bit heavy to move about, especially compared to the 97Kg (214lb) Address.

The Suzuki Address 110

My Suzuki Address 110
Kerb weight: 97Kg,
Power: 9bhp,
Seat Height:755mm
Max speed 60mph

It would be nice to have a bike that I could take on the faster roads two-up, but I don’t think my ideal bike exists. I’d need a low seat, ideally a step through, a weight of under 130Kg, a power of 25+bhp, a narrow body and seat plus sensible storage space.

The Address fulfils all of these apart from the power. It has only 9bhp. All of the more powerful scooters I have looked at are very heavy and usually very wide. I guess the width is partly because of the strive to fit full face helmets under the seat, but mainly for fashion. The Address will take an open face, but not my full face helmet. My old Givi top box fitted easily onto the standard Address rear carrier and takes two helmets, but the Address also has two helmet holders under the seat. This means I can have a full top-box, full under-the-seat storage, and still be able to secure two helmets securely. I also still have the compartments and hook on the leg shield for odds and ends.

Yesterday we went for a short run, around 60 miles round trip on the Address down ordinary Cornish roads. I was two up, but still kept up with the usual traffic traveling at around 50-55mph. I could not really overtake anything, (not that I wanted too) and occassionally I was conscious of lack of power on inclines.

The Address has only 9bhp, and to keep going up these inclines I’d have needed around 15bhp. Over 90 minutes of riding, these I would have liked more power for maybe 2-3 minutes.

But 15bhp would not be enough to allow safe overtaking, especially two up. I’d need over 25bhp for that.

The BMW has the power, the narrow body and seat, and either pannier will take a full face helmet, but it’s heavy (to me) and non step through.

Other options

I prefer the style of retro bikes and Royal Enfield Meteor looks wonderful, but I’m not happy about the speed limiter at 70mph. I have often been in the situation of overtaking a vehicle doing around 65mph, and when I am along side they accelerate! With the BMW a blip on the throttle and I am out in front, but with a Meteor? I can comfortably travel at 70mph on the BMW but riders reports on the Meteor mention 50-60mph as the ideal cruising speed. Not much faster than the Address, well under half the power of the BMW and almost as heavy.

Royal Enfield Meteor 350

Kerb weight: 191Kg
Power: 20bhp
Seat Height:765mm
Speed limiter set to 70mph

Maybe another scooter. At least I could get on them.

Royal Alloy 300

Royal Alloy TG 300 S LC ABS
Kerb weight: 152Kg
Power: 25bhp
Seat Height:770mm

But I’m not sure about that airscoop or whatever it on the bottom which looks like it could easily hit a curb. But the stated ground clearance is 40mm more than the Address. I’m also not too happy about the 12″ wheels, the sloping carrier, and the lack of underseat storage.

Lambretta G350

Kerb weight: 173Kg
Power: 26bhp
Seat Height:790mm

This will be expensive when it comes out and it’s heavy, almost twice the weight of the Address. 12inch wheels again, and the seat is quite high.

I think my recent hip trouble is telling me that my days of riding anything other than a step through scooter are coming to a close. I suppose a 59 year run isn’t too bad.

For pootling about in Cornwall around 45-60mph (70-95kph) the Address is perfect and this is most of my riding. For longer drives on fast roads the BMW will cruise at 70+mph all day. but I have not done these rides for a number of years.

Would I replace the BMW? Probably not. But it would be nice go down to being a single scooter man – as I was when I began my motorcycle life on a Lambretta LD almost 60 years ago.

Lambretta LD 150

Dry weight: 87Kg,
Power: 6.5bhp,
Seat Height:760mm

Strangely I never really noticed a lack of power, (at that point it was the most powerful bike I had ever had) although I remember being down to 25mph going over steeper parts of the Pennines. But the weather was cold, and the Lambretta was designed for Italy. I really loved that little scooter. It was the only bike I’ve ever got a speeding ticket on. 55mph, down hill, around 12:30am in a 30mph zone. I got a ticket for the speedo not working as well!

Conclusions

• I will probably not ride the BMW very much again.
• I don’t believe there are any scooters available that would suit me better than the Address (even the newer Address 125 is wider with no more power)
• It’s probably time to get the old girl MOT’d and get a few more rides.

If I sold her I’d let someone else enjoy her, but I’d hate to see someone turn her into a brat bike)
I’m wasting my time looking at other bikes.

The post Motor cycles – time to rationalise. appeared first on Twenty Forty Five.

My main two wheeler now is my Suzuki Address 110. Maybe it’s because I have always had bigger bikes, that I keep looking at other bikes that I would like. The Royal Enfield Hunter is the main contender.

But, I don’t know why! I keep reading glowing reports of the Hunter but when I analyse them I can’t help comparing it to my wee Suzuki scooter.

• Owners say it is light. But the Suzuki is a little over half of it’s weight (98Kg vs 181Kg)
• Owners say it is frugal. But the Suzuki is even more so (110mpg vs 85mpg)
• Owners say it is most comfortable between 45, and 55mph. This is the Suzuki’s cruising speed too.
• Owner say it can manage 70mph. OK, the Suzuki is really only good for 60mph.
• The Hunter has no luggage space as standard. The Suzuki has a big under seat storage space, and comes with a rack which
• takes my 45 litre topbox (which I have had for decades). It can also carry bags on the footplate.
• I live in Cornwall. Not many roads are good for speeds over 60, and traffic mostly goes around 30-50. Some rural roads are very narrow and have grass growing down the middle.

I don’t think a Royal Enfield Huntr is going to make it into my garage.

Update: April 2025:- Honda now have a 350 single.

Doing the comparison above

• Owners say it is light. But the Suzuki is a little over half of it’s weight (98Kg vs 178g)
• Owners say it is frugal. But the Suzuki is even more so (110mpg vs 94mpg)
• Owners say it is most comfortable around 60mph . Thats around 10mph faster than the Suzuki.
• Owner say it can manage 80mph. OK, the Suzuki is really only good for 60mph.
• The Honda has no luggage space as standard. The Suzuki has a big under seat storage space, and comes with a rack which takes my 45 litre topbox (which I have had for decades). It can also carry bags on the footplate.

Better than the RE, but not enough to make me change. I have a BMW R65 sitting in the garage waiting for me to get an MOT. Let’ try the comparison:-

• It is slightly heavier than the Honda or RE at 207Kg
• It is not frugal. 50mpg is about normal
• It is most comfortable around 60-70mph . Thats faster than either of the 350s..
• It can manage 95mph. Much faster than either of the 350s
• The BMW has two large panniers, each one can take a full face helmet. It also has toolboxes under the seat and at the rear of the seat.
• The Suzuki has a big under seat storage space, and comes with a rack which takes my 45 litre topbox (which I have had for decades). It can also carry bags on the footplate.

The only reason I would change the BMW for the Honda would be the weight. But I don’t think it’s going to happen.

The post Address Vs RE Huntr appeared first on Twenty Forty Five.

But I thought wrong:-

From the gov.uk site:-

Vehicles that do not need an MOT

You do not need to get an MOT if:

the vehicle was built or first registered more than 40 years ago
no ‘substantial changes’ have been made to the vehicle in the last 30 years, for example replacing the chassis, body, axles or engine to change the way the vehicle works
If you’re not sure if there have been any substantial changes you can:

read the full guidance on MOT exemptions for historic vehicles
speak to a historic vehicle expert

And again from the same site:-

Eligibility
You do not need to get an MOT if the vehicle was first registered more than 40 years ago and no ‘substantial changes’ have been made to the vehicle in the last 30 years.

So, built or registered?

From the historical vehicle expert:-

Please note: While the DVLA notes say that a vehicle is eligible to tax as a historic vehicle if it was “built or first registered more than 40 years ago”, this statement can cause confusion. The two instances are NOT interchangeable. For vehicles sold new in the UK and first registered in the UK it is the ‘first registration’ date that is used to determine eligibility. The phrase “built more than 40 years ago” refers only to vehicles that were sold new and first registered in another country (and therefore have been imported secondhand into the UK). In this case, the front of your V5C will say ‘Declared manufactured in 19xx’, while the ‘1st registration’ date on page 2 will show the date when it was registered in the UK.

Currently, a vehicle “first registered” on/prior to 7 January 1983, will be classed by the DVLA as having been built in 1982, therefore it is tax exempt from 1 April 2023.

If your vehicle was ‘first registered’ after this date, up to 31 December 1983, you will need to wait until 1 April 2024.

So she was built in 1983 in December, but she was first registered on 1st Feb 1986. So I will need to wait until 1st April 2027 to get Classic status.

So I have to tax and MOT her for another three years.

She has been off the road for well over a year and all I have ridden in that time is the Address. It will take me a little time to get used again to using the clutch, and using my feet for changing gear and braking. If she passes I will get her taxed again from 1st April (Hmm all fool’s day). Then I intend to get a few more rides in this year, while I still can.

The post The Old Girls MOT appeared first on Twenty Forty Five.

She felt strange after riding almost nothing but the little Address for two years, but I soon got used to it. The bit I kept forgetting was to change down gears as I approached a junction or roundabout.

She has a little peculiar quirk which may help the mpg:-
The twistgrip pulls the throttle cable via a gear mechanism. The mechanism has a tight spot at what seems like half throttle. So when I open it up to the tight spot I’m probably generating around 20-25 bhp which is easily enough to cruise at around 75mph and ample acceleration for normal road use. But open past the tight spot and I get more acceleration and a top speed of around 105mph.

I had a problem when I got home though. Our house is built on a steep hill and there are wooden gates that need to be kept closed to keep the dog in. I pulled up in the street facing the gates with the hill descending to my left. I put the prop stand down, and leaned the bike over, and over! Because of the hill she went over a long way, but the prop stand held. Then I had to get off! Because of the hill, and the lean of the bike my left foot hit the ground about 3″ lower than it would on the flat. Although I am 5’10″I only have a 29″ inseam this extra 3″ made it really difficult to get off the bike. My right leg just doesn’t go that high nowadays. I finally made it, and got off and opened the gate, and just managed to get back on the bike again. But because my left foot was further away and further down I could not lift the bike off the prop stand. So I had to dismount again (with difficulty) and push the bike upright from the side, then push it through the gates. I must have looked a complete idiot.

For the past two years I have been used to stopping with the wheel of the scooter up against the gate, leaning over the handlebars, opening the gate, and riding through. I have also been stepping through the scooter to mount and dismount so I must have lost some movement in my hips without noticing.

I will find a way around this, and I intend to do some exercises to get some flexibility back (I guess swinging a leg over a motorcycle would have retained that flexibility), but this episode may be a foreboding of the end of my motorcycling. But that day is not this day.

I decided to give the old girl a wash. When I was restoring her I got some cleaner degreaser called POR 15. Despite claims, it hardly at any impact on the dirt on the bike. I then tried using Muc-off which worked really well. Almost as good as the Gunk degreaser of forty years ago (modern Gunk is nothing like as good).

I also fitted some Barkbuster Storm hand guards. Fitting was OK after I wrapped some aluminium car body repair tape around the bit that goes inside the handlebars. Before that I could not get the fitting to grip.

I took her out for a short (1 hour) ride today. Air temperature was about 9C but the hand guards in combination with the Oxford heated grips (at 75% setting) kept my hands warm. The bike started well and ran very well. But I felt a bit stiff when I got off the bike. This was along Cornish A and B roads. I think my days of long rides on the old girl are over.

The post R65-Not so easy rider appeared first on Twenty Forty Five.

I usually get the information I need from Snowbums website. He writes in great detail, and in great depth, and is incredibly verbose. The site is a wonderful resource for BMW owners.

From Snowbums website

13. It is very easy to loose the TEENSY TINY paper-clip type of springy-thingy that clips into the float NEEDLE …at a hole in the bottom of the float needle…and it wraps around the TANG of the floats bridge. Those are used only on the float needles that have a plunger with a hole sideways through it. It is typically lost when you are replacing the float needle. DO NOT LOOSE IT. I suggest ordering half a dozen & keep them on hand. Some put an old white bed sheet under the carburetor, to better find the parts that otherwise disappear. May not be a good idea, considering static electricity and potential for fire. Do NOT work on carburetors in the dirt; or on a grassy lawn.

14. For the STOCK one-piece floats: After you re-assemble the carburetor (without float bowl), ADJUST the tang on the float assembly (do NOT forget the float needle & its TEEEENSY spring, if used on your carburetor). The need for any tang adjustment is done with petcock ON, tang NOT twisted during adjustment. It must remain flat and horizontal… so that as you lift the float very gently & slowly the fuel cuts off as the float JUST passes the point where the float TOP is exactly PARALLEL with the BOTTOM METAL of the carburetor (where the bowl gasket fits). Don’t lift the float hardly much past that point. You should be doing all this with a fingertip! Now that you are wet with gasoline (why didn’t you wear plastic or rubber gloves?), you SLOWLY lower the float. The fuel should JUST BARELY start to flow with the float top just exactly parallel or a teeny amount lower. Not that way? Adjust the tang, and re-try.

(Why do Americans use the word gas instead of petrol, but still refer to a petcock?)

So, here we go. I am going to try to do this while the carbs are still on the bike.

I mentioned in my previous post that the fuel hose looked past it. I bent it a little to see if I could encourage the air to come out of the filter and it broke! It offered no resistance at all.
As I need to be able to turn the petrol on to check the float levels I decided to replace the fuel lines first

I don’t think the hose is very old, I think it was new when I did the restoration around 4 years ago. I can’t remember where I bought it. Neither can I remember where the fuel hose clips came from. According to Snowbum, BMW do not use them, and they do not appear on the on line parts list.

I had to unhook the carbs from the engine in order to remove and replace the fuel hose. and there is the hose weeping as it joins the carb. The other side was cracked, but not leaking yet. All of the hose was perished!

When putting a hose onto a spigot it is much easier if you put a little engine oil on the spigot first. When removing a hose it is much better to push it, rather than pull it. I have an old screw drive with a groove cut in the end which works well for this.
I decided to follow BMWs recommendations and assembled it back together without fuel clips other than on the aftermarket fuel filter.

Those hoses were an accident ready to happen.

While the carbs were hanging loose anyway I changed the floats.

From Snowbums site

6. Float level: The original method of adjusting the float level (single piece floats) is to have the carburetor upside down & the float structure NOT doing anything but lightly kissing the float needle (certainly not being finger-pressed to move the float needle spring loaded tit, used on all later models). That method is NOT needed, but can be done on the workbench if the carburetor is being overhauled or otherwise worked on off the bike. A good method, when the carburetor is already on the engine, is to turn the gas off, remove ONE bowl, then turn gas on. Lift the float slowly & gently, until the gas JUST BARELY shuts off. At that point the top of the float should be parallel with the bottom of the carburetor casting. Double-check this by LOWERING the float quite slowly …until the fuel just BARELY starts to flow. The approximate same parallelness should exist. You should do this second step (or, do it as the first & only step) due to the spring loaded plunger at the lower end of some of the float needles; as well as some variations in the sloppiness of the float needle & floats hinge pin. It eliminates errors. In a rare case that you find the float needle plunger tit (most models have that type of float needle) frozen up, fix that, usually with a new float needle.

If you experience surging or similar running-out-of-fuel effects at FAST and high throttle cruising, & you open the gas cap …with no help after 10 or 15 seconds, …& fuel filters & actual fuel flow HAVE BEEN PROPERLY CHECKED to be OK …then you may have the adjustment of the floats for fuel level to be too low:

Actual bowl fuel level check:
Turn the fuel off, remove one float bowl, empty its fuel into the tank (look for globules of water, if any, toss the fuel someplace, like your cleaning tank or can), replace the bowl, turn gas on, allow bowl to fill (10 to 15 seconds), turn gas off, THEN remove bowl quickly & squarely. Measure the fuel depth from the center bottom to the fuel top. I suggest using a thin, narrow, machinists steel rule. Do your best to have the bowl sitting flat & level on its base, & estimate the best you can with #1 eyeball (yes, will still be meniscus errors), the exact height of the fuel from the bottom. For the 32 mm carburetors (except early /5 motorcycles, which have their own article, https://bmwmotorcycletech.info/earlybingR75CV.htm, use 24 mm fuel height. For the 40 mm carburetors, use 28 mm fuel height. If your find your gas level quite high, and you DID set the float adjustment properly for fuel flow/stop, float top parallel with the body, then the one-piece white float unit may be bad. Information on the floats is posted in a companion article on this website, https://bmwmotorcycletech.info/bing-floats.htm. Refer to that article for information on removing/replacing the float. The stock floats last about 30K, sometimes considerably more. ALWAYS replace the float needle at that same time.

I’m getting doubts about this.

The old floats weighed 13 and 14gms. The new ones are 12gm – not 10gm as Snowbum suggests.

The old girl has 32mm carbs and her new floats were not parallel to the carb body. The float had to be too high to stop the flow. So I adjusted the tang with a bit of leverage from a screwdriver and that was fixed.

But having set the floats as recommended, I measured the level in the float bowl. It was 22mm not 24mm as Snowbum suggests. Now I have a feeling that had I NOT got the floats parallel, then the level may have been 24mm? Maybe BMW set the tang to cater for heavier floats?

Time for a sanity check

Fuel is sucked through the jets by virtue of the vacuum in the manifold (for the pilot jet) and in the volume behind the butterfly valve for the main jet (modified by the needle). Vacuum levels are of the order of half an atmosphere or around 3 metres of water. Plainly, the pressure of a few centimetres of petrol will have no virtually no effect. As long as the level is high enough to keep the jets covered and low enough to not slosh out of the breather, when the bike is running and vibrating, that’s all that is important. The actual height doesn’t matter a damn.

I’ll keep a check of the mixture by the time honoured method of checking the colour of the spark plugs and not worry about carburettor floats. Hopefully the new needles will stop the intermittent flooding.

But the bike would not start because the battery was not up to it. It fired a couple of times, then the turnover got slower, then the solenoid started dropping out. I did mention in a previous post that the battery was something to keep an eye on. Well I have done and it’s goosed. I suppose 5 years life isn’t too bad. Some posts on Adventure Rider say that six years is OK but the posters have there battery on a “tender” in the garage. Well my bike starts fine when I’ve just disconnected the charger. It did after two hours on a 5 amp charger. . But I want to be able to leave it for a week or two if I visit somewhere.

(This reminds me of the folk who post on motorhome websites that their leisure battery has lasted for ten years if it can keep the lights on for an overnight stay in-between charging from the engine while travelling or a hook up. I want it to last 1-2 weeks!)

My heated grips controller is connected straight across the battery. I measured the standing current drawn by the controller when in the off position. I measured 50uA. So that adds uo to under 0.5Ah in a year. It’s not a problem.

I can get another Euoroline for £54.95 + £7.97 delivery from Tayna. It is 20AH and 100A cranking. Motobatt batteries get a good press. The MB51814 fits the bike according to Motorworks and its 22AH and 220A cranking, but it’s £95.50. Tayna are selling it for £79.99 + £7.97 delivery. £15.51 cheaper than Motorworks but £25 dearer than the Enduroline. I’ve ordered the Motobatt from Tayna.

Update 25th March
Battery ordered, but I new there would be problems when Tayna chose Yodel as the courier. Yodel has a reputation for abysmal service, at least here in Cornwall.
I was told that delivery would be 23rd. We would be out that day so I changed it to 24th.
24th came and went – no battery
Tracking says the parcel is at the depot and expected delivery will be yesterday
I tried to use Web chat to get an answer:- useless as expected.

Hi xxxxxxxx,

Thank you for contacting Yodel. Please find the details of your webchat conversation below.
Lekhni 09:16:47: Good morning, xxx.
xxxxxxxx 09:17:08: Hello.
xxxxxxxx 09:18:12: According to the tracking my parcel is still at the Depot and the delivery date is yesterday.
xxxxxxxx 09:21:42: Is anyone there???????????????????
Kind regards,
Yodel

So I tried again
This time I got an answer saying the driver was on his way, despite the tracking site saying the parcel was still at the depot. They could give no idea of a delivery time and the driver could not be contacted. So they have not heard of mobile phones.

I finished my chat at 9:47 and at 10:34 I got an email saying it was on the way. I was delivered at 15:43, which was right in the middle of the 14:55-16:55 time slot, so the delivery driver did a great job, and he had 70 deliveries before mine.

Oh well, 24 hours late, the new battery is here now.

New Hose fitted.

In the meantime the bike was rideable. I took it for a ride and it went very well. Strangely it started better on half choke rather than full choke, and when warmed up the tickover was a little slower than I remember. But the air temperature was around 14C. I’ll adjust the tickover and keep an eye on it.

There was no sign of leaking from the carbs. I am not convinced that I actually needed to change the floats, but I think that the needles were the issue. Certainly had I not looked in that area I would not have known that the hoses were about to fail at any point.

Good result

The post R65 Float Replacement appeared first on Twenty Forty Five.

Not really a modification, but I do like to know the time. I’ve had a watch on the keyfob ever since I got the bike

The orginal handlebars are quite low. I prefer a more “sit up” position on the bike, especially as I (my hips really) get older. So I have fitted some different handlebars. I think they are for a non LS R65.

I have also fitted Oxford heated grips – my circulation is not what it was either.

I fitted a charger point straight across the battery. This not only allows me to quickly connect my charger, but also lets me power my electric tyre inflator.

I have added a couple of LED daytime driving lights. They come on when the ignition is switched on. I think they may make me more visible.

I have a USB connection for an Android phone, but the phone holder is on the Suzuki.

The previous owner has fitted stainless steel exhausts to the bike.

Other than that, the bike is pretty standard. It is not a showroom bike.

She has a few bumps and scrapes, but she’s in good shape for a 39 year old working bike.

Future work is:-

• fitting new floats and needles into the carbs
• Cover the handlebars with black heatshrink (the black paint looks awful) – or I could buy some black handlebars
• Fit LEDs into instruments
• Fit LEDs into turn signals
• Sort phone mount.

The post R65 Minor Mods appeared first on Twenty Forty Five.

I got the old girl MOT’d and taxed today. I had to stop on the way to the MOT station to do the “Bing Dance”.

This happens when some dirt gets stuck in the needle valve and petrol starts dripping out. You don’t notice until you slow down and the bike does not idle properly as one side is too rich.
So, turn off the petrol, bike on centre stand, remove float chamber, empty into petrol tank, wiggle float up and down, replace float chamber, turn on petrol and away we go.
Sometimes it can be cleared when riding. Turn the petrol off and keep riding. After a while the bike will lose power, of course, then turn the petrol on again. The needle valve will have opened wide, and the rush of petrol into the float chamber may clear it.
This is a regular occurrence.

I have a fuel filter fitted, but still the dirt from the tank may be getting through. Maybe I need a better filter. There are hundreds of them on line.

The font of all BMW knowledge, Snowbum recommends a Napa 7-02323, which (of course) is not available in the UK.
The one I fitted is a BOSCH 0 450 904 058 fuel filter. I think it’s OK.

It is probably not dirt in the needle valve which is causing the problem. I had a look in both float chambers and there was no debris.

The bike was made in 1983 so it’s 39 years old, and, to my knowledge they are the original floats and needle valves in the carbs.
Snowbum reckons they should be changed every 30,000 miles and the bike has done 47,000.

So I have order two New floats at £24.60 each from motorworks and two needles at £17.40. That is £84 total. It could be more cost effective in the long-term to get an ethanol resistant float bowl kit for £204.74 from Motorworks, but these are NOT recommended by Snowbum.
My fuel hose looks past it’s best too so I have ordered a new one at £12.12. Total order including P&P was £102.58. (Update, see below)

I also noticed that the fluid level in the brake fluid chamber was a bit down. Now has that just settled since the last time I used the bike (two years ago thanks to Covid) or have I a leak?

I topped it up and I’ll keep an eye on it. The chamber is not vertical so here are the views from either side

The day before the MOT I went out to start the bike for a test ride. (illegal actually – as it wasn’t taxed! So how am I supposed to check it out before an MOT?). It would not start. The starter solenoid would not engage as the battery did not have enough oomph. I put it on charge for a few hours and then it started fine, but the battery may be on the way out. It is an Enduroline 51913 from Tayna and is five years old. It has never gone flat, but it has sat in the garage with months between top up charges. The last one may have been a month or so ago. Something else to keep an eye on.

The MOT station also gave me an advisory on a dent in the bead rim of the back wheel. These things have a tendency to change from advisory to fail as the rules get tighter. She will not need an MOT after 2024 but I suppose I had better get it fixed. The MOT tester recommended Maidstone Motoliners. Maybe when the bike is off road again for the winter, probably in November, I’ll get it sorted.

The post R65 On the road again appeared first on Twenty Forty Five.

Price £2500

I bought the SH300i in March 2021 for I wanted a reliable scooter that I would ultimately become my only bike.

But that would mean selling my beloved BMW R65LS which I’ve had for twenty five years. I just can’t do it, and space dictates that the Honda has to go.

The Puig screen makes travelling in poor weather comfortable.

There is room to store your helmet or any other luggage in the top box or under the seat (where the manual and the toolkit live).

The control for the heated grips is in the left hand storage box.

The mileage may be a bit higher as I’m continuing to enjoy it on these fine days.

The ABS braking is superb and the LED lights are very bright.

It’s a fine scooter. It will easily cruise at motorway speeds and can top 80mph. It’s very comfortable and ideal for commuting or long trips.

It finally went via facebook for £2300 – someone got a bargain.

The post SH300i – sold appeared first on Twenty Forty Five.

Well, it’s not the Honda, it’s me.
First, it is considerably more awkward to paddle backwards out of the garage due it’s weight and seat height.
Then on the Cornish roads where most cars travel at between 30mph and 60mph it has no advantage over the Suzuki. It does not have enough power to do a really fast overtake like the BMW.

On the really bad roads it is not as good as the Suzuki as it does not flip quickly to avoid the potholes.

On the faster roads, it is much faster than the Suzuki, being able to maintain 70mph up hill and down, even two up. So If I were doing long trips on Motorways it would work very well. But I don’t do that anymore, and if I did the BMW would do it as well or better.
I have to fit blocks onto the passenger footrests to accommodate my wife. This is not a big problem, but when fitted it makes paddling the bike around even more awkward as I keep catching my calf muscles onto them (and they do not look pretty)

SO, the Honda is not getting used for tootling around Cornwall as the Suzuki is better suited for me. And it will not get used for longer trips as I’ll probably use the BMW.

It has been good to experience the Honda, and I have some idea now of why riders are attracted to Maxi Scooters. It would have been wonderful in the days when I had a twenty mile commute to work along dual carriage ways. But now I don’t.

If it were two inches lower and maybe 20-30Kg lighter it would probably have been my ideal bike. Ah well!

So it will be up for sale soon.

The post Farewell SH300 appeared first on Twenty Forty Five.