Joined Apr 2008
1K Posts | 0+
Sunny Bournemouth
So you wake up, the frost is set in hard but the sun is rising fast and beaming brightly in a clear pale blue sky. A slight nip in the air, but brisk and fresh, enticing what the day might bring.
So you sit, you wait. Patiently watching the sun climb ever higher and brighter, watching the frost lift from the roof tops, from the cars, watching as the road clears, drying minute by minute.
The patience turns to excited anticipation. Texts and phone calls build the excitement further as the opportunity of clearing the cobwebs, being free with the sound of thunder beating from two cylinders delighting your ears, becomes more than just a post Christmas wish, and grows into a reality.
So on with the thermal top, bottoms and socks, on with the leathers, the overjacket, the boots, the latex gloves followed by summer gloves, the helmet.......you turn the key, waiting for the whirr of the fuel pump to end, taking in a deep breath as your thumb reaches ever closer to the starter........double checking the fast idle is fully set......the silence.....then......... thump thump thumpety thumpety thump :biggrin You look up to the sky and smile with a wry grin, you have a started RSV :doug
Off you head onto the open road, the dense cold air forcing those cylinders to sound crisper than you have ever heard before, the urgency baiting you at ever opportunity to wind the throttle on harder and harder. The front wheel arcing towards the sky as you give in to temptation, grinning wider than any cheshire cat ever had a right to (including the one that was fed lsd by Lewis Carroll, bad man that Carroll chap), consuming each of your favourite roads, clear and empty as the masses continue to feed or beat one another as they ravage through the sales, not noticing that the sales are actually full of the rubbish that they refused to buy at full price just a couple of months ago and yet are so very much more appealing now :devious
All is right with the world yes? Well......you glide effortlessly around a right hander, slowing as you exit to pull to the side for a well earnt cigarette and a natter with your riding companions. Yet as you slow, it is as if someone has just taken a tin opener and cut through the front header pipe and opened the gates of hell and invited a lancaster bomber to take residence under your tank
You pull the clutch in, confused as to what has just happened, the bike roughy idles for a moment.......and then dies.
Silence...:dowhat
:roll
Hmmmm. Time to take a walk around the bike. No visible fluids coming out, which is nice. Exhausts still firmly in place, also nice. Peer in through the fairing, both header pipes still attached, nice, but hmmmm. After the self arguing as to whether lancaster bombers have taken residence or whether you are in fact suffering from self delusions possibly from some slightly undercooked turkey combined with someones attempt at mimicking a TV chefs recommendation for stuffing "well it looked alright on the telly", you once again thumb the starter just to check. BAH BAH BA BA BA BA......BA.....BA....clunk. The buggers are in there, you definately aren't hearing things :angry
A quick shuffle through the wonderful Aprilia tool kit sees the fairing panels, side panels and belly pan off with a flurry of allen keys which start to bare more than a passing resemblence to the brie that got left out since Christmas day. Alas it reveals nothing more than you have seen before, exhaust springs and clamps all suitably in place. You thumb the starter again, and by christ the feckers are getting louder :rant of course whilst your fellow Japamasookey riders are chuckling away to themselves as they warm their hands on exhaust pipes, muttering away to one another "ah, good old Italian machinery eh" :laugh :jack
Seeing as the smell of unburnt petrol is getting ever more present, time to whizz the tank up as the sun starts to make its way back down below. The clock is ticking......so, tank propped up, you check the left side, all as it should be. You make your way round to the right side, everything seems ok, and yet.....ah, would you look at that, if it isn't an HT lead with a spark plug inside it. Nothing particularly odd, other than the fact that it really should actually be in the front cylinder head and not dangling around the place as if it is next in line for a bungee jump......:rant
After much &*^% and &*^%$#% and ))*&^$## it was back in the very top, above its firmly situated friend the second plug, and we were back to thump thump thumpety thumpety thump thump thump :thumbup :biggrin
The question is, has anyone else ever experienced a front cylinder head spark plug working it's way completely out? :dunno The plugs haven't been touched since the last service 4500 miles and 4 months ago, and for the life of me, it isn't something i've ever seen or come across before.
My tip for the New Year coming for everyone.....add to your tool kit whatever you personally need to be able to reach and tighten those f&ckers that are the front plugs when you are out and about, you never can tell, it may just happen to you! :nana
Oh, and by the way, HAPPY CHRISTMAS, I hope everyone is having a good one :thumbup :biggrin
So you sit, you wait. Patiently watching the sun climb ever higher and brighter, watching the frost lift from the roof tops, from the cars, watching as the road clears, drying minute by minute.
The patience turns to excited anticipation. Texts and phone calls build the excitement further as the opportunity of clearing the cobwebs, being free with the sound of thunder beating from two cylinders delighting your ears, becomes more than just a post Christmas wish, and grows into a reality.
So on with the thermal top, bottoms and socks, on with the leathers, the overjacket, the boots, the latex gloves followed by summer gloves, the helmet.......you turn the key, waiting for the whirr of the fuel pump to end, taking in a deep breath as your thumb reaches ever closer to the starter........double checking the fast idle is fully set......the silence.....then......... thump thump thumpety thumpety thump :biggrin You look up to the sky and smile with a wry grin, you have a started RSV :doug
Off you head onto the open road, the dense cold air forcing those cylinders to sound crisper than you have ever heard before, the urgency baiting you at ever opportunity to wind the throttle on harder and harder. The front wheel arcing towards the sky as you give in to temptation, grinning wider than any cheshire cat ever had a right to (including the one that was fed lsd by Lewis Carroll, bad man that Carroll chap), consuming each of your favourite roads, clear and empty as the masses continue to feed or beat one another as they ravage through the sales, not noticing that the sales are actually full of the rubbish that they refused to buy at full price just a couple of months ago and yet are so very much more appealing now :devious
All is right with the world yes? Well......you glide effortlessly around a right hander, slowing as you exit to pull to the side for a well earnt cigarette and a natter with your riding companions. Yet as you slow, it is as if someone has just taken a tin opener and cut through the front header pipe and opened the gates of hell and invited a lancaster bomber to take residence under your tank
You pull the clutch in, confused as to what has just happened, the bike roughy idles for a moment.......and then dies. Silence...:dowhat
:roll
Hmmmm. Time to take a walk around the bike. No visible fluids coming out, which is nice. Exhausts still firmly in place, also nice. Peer in through the fairing, both header pipes still attached, nice, but hmmmm. After the self arguing as to whether lancaster bombers have taken residence or whether you are in fact suffering from self delusions possibly from some slightly undercooked turkey combined with someones attempt at mimicking a TV chefs recommendation for stuffing "well it looked alright on the telly", you once again thumb the starter just to check.
BAH BAH BA BA BA BA......BA.....BA....clunk. The buggers are in there, you definately aren't hearing things :angryA quick shuffle through the wonderful Aprilia tool kit sees the fairing panels, side panels and belly pan off with a flurry of allen keys which start to bare more than a passing resemblence to the brie that got left out since Christmas day. Alas it reveals nothing more than you have seen before, exhaust springs and clamps all suitably in place. You thumb the starter again, and by christ the feckers are getting louder :rant of course whilst your fellow Japamasookey riders are chuckling away to themselves as they warm their hands on exhaust pipes, muttering away to one another "ah, good old Italian machinery eh" :laugh :jack
Seeing as the smell of unburnt petrol is getting ever more present, time to whizz the tank up as the sun starts to make its way back down below. The clock is ticking......so, tank propped up, you check the left side, all as it should be. You make your way round to the right side, everything seems ok, and yet.....ah, would you look at that, if it isn't an HT lead with a spark plug inside it. Nothing particularly odd, other than the fact that it really should actually be in the front cylinder head and not dangling around the place as if it is next in line for a bungee jump......:rant
After much &*^% and &*^%$#% and ))*&^$## it was back in the very top, above its firmly situated friend the second plug, and we were back to thump thump thumpety thumpety thump thump thump :thumbup :biggrin
The question is, has anyone else ever experienced a front cylinder head spark plug working it's way completely out? :dunno The plugs haven't been touched since the last service 4500 miles and 4 months ago, and for the life of me, it isn't something i've ever seen or come across before.
My tip for the New Year coming for everyone.....add to your tool kit whatever you personally need to be able to reach and tighten those f&ckers that are the front plugs when you are out and about, you never can tell, it may just happen to you! :nana
Oh, and by the way, HAPPY CHRISTMAS, I hope everyone is having a good one :thumbup :biggrin
