My bike has been really messed up

depends on the bike as to how you wire it, im a motorcycle mechanic by trade, so i do it myself. maplin sell switches, anywhere like that really, all you need is a soldering iron, a bit of wire and the switch, put it in the ignition circuit, so it needs to be on for the bike to run.

 

**UPDATE**

I agreed £950 payout from the insurance company, with excess of £200 to pay and the reminder of the policy i'm left with £650 which isn't too bad all things considered.

Now, I'm looking at other bikes, out of a Honda Innova 125 and a Piaggio X8 which one would you buy?

I've been offered the X8 for £700 and I could maybe get the Innova for £650.

 

honda....

 

I bought the Innova for £600, not in too bad condition, tidy enough and only done 7,500 with service history to back this up.

However, I have never rode a manual bike before and earlier I spent a lot of time looking down at my feet as I was struggling and I was jerking it and shifting at the wrong times etc, it has an automatic clutch but I'm worried I might damage the engine if I keep jerking and reving it too much by mistake.

Any tips? I seem to struggle with downshifting much more, what to do when slowing down, should i jump from 3rd or 4th straight down to 1st or slowly go down through the gears?

Everyone has to learn, I just didn't expect it to be such a chore, hopefully I will get it right soon.

 

when setting off - don't rev anything yet. Select first gear holding the brake in slowly apply throttle.
when shifting up - release throttle, kick it up a gear slowly apply throttle, keep doing that until your in a gear your happy with, you don't have to rev the bollocks off it either, youll get used to shifting at revs you are happy with but the most important thing to remember is, release throttle, shift up, slowly apply throttle.
downshifting - don't block shift, this is where planning a head comes in to play. release throttle, click down a gear, apply a tiny bit of throttle then release again, click down another gear, tiny bit of throttle, release throttle, click down another gear, tiny bit of throttle, release again, click down and repeat until in first.

slowly down the gears is the best way, avoid blockshifting.

Get yourself onto some quiet side roads and practise it. just try to be calm and smooth with everything. when shifting up or down always release throttle. im better at explaining it in person but hopefully that helped a bit.

The best tip I ever got when I first learnt to ride a manual (yes believe it or not I have been in your shoes before lol) was to treat the bike like a virgin woman, nice and smooth with everything, slowly does it. Slow and calm until you've a bit more experience.

 

i can understand this totally, i have unresticted bike licence and ride bikes every day, but recently bought myself a C90 with semi auto box, i made the mistake of being a bit harsh on the gear shifts and lifted the front wheel a few times!
but yeah, you will get used to it, try not to rev it out totally, i like to shift gears before im even half way through the rev range of the gear....

 

Thanks for the replies, very helpful. I need to learn how to ride a manual bike as if I ever want to ride a bigger bike or do my full bike licence I can't avoid it forever and I don't want to keep riding automatics plus geared bikes sound better hehe.

I know Hondas are very reliable, I feel like I downshifted from 3rd to 1st way too quickly without dropping into 2nd first etc etc but I doubt it would do too much harm to a bike like that.

 

Couple of pics, the top box is tatty and I will take it off at some point and maybe get another one but it's ok for a 12 year old bike, been regularly serviced and under 8,000 is good for it's age.

The gear range shown in the Speedo doesn't seem to match my experience of when needing to shift gears when I rode it today.

Also regarding downshifting, whats the best gear for corners? Also if i'm in 3rd or 4th and need to stop suddenly, what's the best way to do it?

 

i prefer riding with a clutch, its something that will come very easy after a while, you wont even think about it. nice bike

 

regarding a emergency stop and downshifting - IF you can, try to get it into neutral and slam on the anchors, if not just slam the anchors on, get it to the side of the road or your lane and then blockshift.

regarding gear for corners, it really does depend, youll find a way of it being comfortable for you, there is no right or wrong gear for a corner but generally on a corner coming down to say 10mph 2nd would be OK. Its different for every bike and every rider. youll develop as you go.

 

Had a little ride today, was a bit better, didn't jerk as much but slipped from 2nd to 3rd instead of 1st when going just over 10mph and it made a horrible noise, I accidentally revved it a little bit not as much as yesterday.

The only issue I am having is when to change gears up and down, the gear range on the speedo is nowhere near accurate as you wouldn't be in 1st gear at 20mph.

It says in the Honda manual that you can drop straight from 4th to 1st but I don't plan on ever doing that.

 

I've added one extra lock to my bike but I do have a better thicker chain and basic alarm coming hopefully next week.



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is there no way it can be taken inside?
I could easily have that bike away in two minutes with a van and the right tools.

 

No, there is no access to my property so it has to be kept there, I have no choice, I have to make it as secure as possible, I've also got a cheap hidden GPS tracker in the bike.

I've got an alarm coming and another disc lock alarm and a thick Oxford chain plus a croc throttle and brake lock. Oh and i've bought a secure marking kit off ebay for about £15 i think, it's an acumen one.

 

I've just looked at all the service/MOT history paperwork and come across a Smartwater registration receipt from quite a few years back.

Also been reading the bike manual regarding gears it says:

Upshifting at speeds higher than the upper limit speed can cause damage to the engine.

Downshifting at speeds higher than those in the table below may overrev the engine and can cause damage to the engine and transmission.

I have over revved it quite a few times but I haven't shifted up gears at speeds higher than the upper limit speed, hope I haven't done any damage to the transmission or engine in a couple of days.

It says downshifting acceptable speeds:

4th -> 3rd 56mph or less
3rd -> 2nd 40mph or less
2nd -> 1st 25mph or less

Thing is if i go above 10-15mph in 1st it sounds horrible.

 

fuck the manual.
RIDE TO HOW YOU FEEL COMFORTABLE
if you don't want to rev that high, don't rev that high. for pootling about my rule I stick to is -
1st = 10mph
2nd = 20mph
3rd = 30mph
4th = 40mph
5th = rag the fuck out of it because its not pootling around above 40mph.
just like you would in a car.
YOU will find and learn what is good for YOU once you've been riding it a while. Spend time getting comfortable with it. don't worry TOO much. Shift when you feel you need to shift not when some manual tells you.

 

one tip with the locks.. get them up high, where they are now, someone can use bolt croppers and lever tjem against the ground and use just their weight, if you get them up over the seat and park next to the post instead of in front of it, it will be much more difficult for them to cut the locks.
but yeah, you are way over thinking the gear thing, it will come, just give it time and patience

 

No one steals with a van anymore...everyone who did is in prison. The idiots who used to do that got knocks on the door from the police because they chucked a bike in the van that has gps trackers.

 

Get a rain cover it's an extra form of security. Thieves want to be away quickly not piss about for a long time, chains should if possible not be on the ground as it can be used for leverage when cutting a chain. A disk brake lock is a good choice without a can of co2 and a hammer they are very hard to break without damaging the brake disk which stops the wheel turning so they cant get away anyway. Get an alarm as well even a cheap one is better than nothing.

Cover stops them seeing what's under it and delays them as they have to get it off, alarm further deters them from trying, it isn't a sports bike so they won't see it as worth the hassle. Chain and disk lock further deters them. Any good thief will ignore anything they can't ride away on.

 

actually vans are used quite often.
in Birmingham at the moment its the best method, turn up with big angle grinders etc, cut the main locks, chuck the bike in the back and piss off. a VERY small percentage of bikes have GPS trackers and thieves are willing to take the risk.
Best alarm weve ever had is a rape alarm. Stick a few of those buggers on tied to a cover, as soon as the cover comes off trust me they will shit themselves and leg it.