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On one of my rides during a holiday in Auz I refueled in Melbourne. When I went to pay, I saw someone carrying a helmet in the reflection in the glass doors. As there were no other bikes in the servo, I turned around to see a young guy put my helmet in the back seat of his car. I
confronted them (two young guys) & got it back.

I took their registration details and threatened to report them to the police. I’m not 100% sure it wasn’t a prank, they were quite immature young men – but I was angry at the time.

bottom line: don’t leave your helmet unattended, even for a minute.

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Suffer from punctures on your scooter?

I like to have Tyre Shield in my tyres in the hope that it will seal any puncture before I even know about it. I have not noticed any punctures on my bike tyres so far but I did use Tyre Shield recently to repair a basketball that my 3yo Lab pup managed to puncture with his teeth. When it was deflated I wrote it off, assuming I would have to buy a new one, and let him and some other dogs play tug-of-war with the deflated ball. As a result it ended up with about half a dozen teeth puncture holes in it. I put about 30ml of Tyre Shield in it and pumped it up and was surprised a just how many little white blobs started coming out of the ball. It stayed inflated for about a day the first time but after pumping it up a second time it has remained inflated for many weeks now and the dog plays with it every day. This was a great test of just how good Tyre Shield is at fixing a puncture.

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Having a Universal Medical ID: UK will help patients find peace, knowing that in an emergency situation, responders will have their critical medical information.
Offering a broad line of medical ID alert jewelry, Universal Medical ID: UK makes sure you’ll find a style just right for you.

This idea is great!
Say you have diabetes or a risk of heart attack – then how are you going to tell the doc/ambulance geezers that? This has been a major problem as many different diseases have the same symtpons which can make it that much harder for the doctor to treat the patient. Thankfully a company has come up with an idea called Medical ID which has the all the critical medical information a emergency doctor would need.

I may look at getting one, so when i next wrap up my scooter, they will put the right blood type in my veins.

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Many of you will remember that a few weeks back I mentioned that a long time ago, I vaguely remembered that a study of auto/motorcycle accidents was done where the auto drivers said that they had not seen the motorcyclist. And yet, witnesses said that the auto drivers had looked right at the approaching motorcyclist and proceeded in spite of the oncoming cycle. That, combined with some actual test situations, led the researchers to the conclusion that the auto drivers actually didn’t “see” the motorcyclists because they were looking for cars and thier minds were screening out the motorcyclists. Their brain told them it was safe to proceed.

This video, although not of a motorcyclist is a good example of how this works for all of us. Watch it and see what you think.

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The yorkshire missing school girl has been found alive and well in a bed in dewesbury.

This is shocking news to me, as i expected her to be found dead. The police smashed into the house this morning and carried the girl out. Her parents where informed as soon as they got to the police station.

Rumours are now circulating that the girl was abducted by her grandparents but this has yet to be confirmed by police.

The fact that she is alive and well is great news for her parents. I will post more news as it happens.

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I’m a firm believer in ABS which is why I updated to a 650 Exec only a year newer than my 2004 650. I believe both of my accidents would have been prevented with ABS. The first when the kid made a left in front of me. I never hit him, just locked the brakes and lost it. IN this case ABS would have allowed me to come to a safe stop upright

In the second I was going on to the gravel median due to gravel all over my lane on a turn and was very easy on the brakes, I thought. Never the less the wheels hit the gravel, locked, dug in and I went down sliding along for about 10 to 20 feet on my and the bike’s side. I think ABS would have again prevented the lockup and I would have been able to steer back onto the road.

In my case I think the price I paid for the bike with ABS was well worth it. I think of ABS the same way I think of any insurance policy. You hope you never need it but are very glad to have it when you do. In a way it’s cheap insurance.

Another cheap insurance policy, for your kids, is after they have had their driver’s license for about a year, send them to a good Skid School. What they learn there for a few hundred bucks may save their life many times over their driving life. Most programs only take two days.

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As it’s now getting a lot colder and few of my friends have been asking if there is a danger that the battery in their Vespa might freeze.

My understanding is that a battery will not freeze as long as it is charged. In the past I have had motorcycles that had to stay outside or in unheated storage facilities. As long as I was riding them periodically I left the batteries in them. If I knew that I wouldn’t be riding at all for a month or two during the Winter, I would take the battery out and put it on a smart charger in the house. But I have had motorcycles left outside for several days in single digit temperatures with the battery in them without it freezing or losing its charge.

My car sits in the driveway no matter how cold it gets outside – the battery doesn’t freeze. My scooters are in an unheated garage. I leave the batteries in them – every once in awhile I get to ride during the Winter (depending on road conditions). I used to keep them plugged in to smart chargers, but the last couple of Winters I’ve just started them and let them run for 1/2 hour or so a couple of times each month. I’ve ridden for many years, and I’ve always lived in places that could get seriously cold in the Winter – I’ve never had a frozen battery.

With the old style batteries that had water in them, if you let them discharge completely there was a danger of freezing. If that happened, the frozen water would expand and the battery casing would probably crack, resulting in a serious mess as Tom mentioned. With these new jell filled no maintenance batteries, I’m not sure if that would still happen. But even though battery technology has changed, I think it is still safe to say that as long as you maintain a charge in the battery – it won’t freeze.

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 I have a Givi E52.

For my money it’s the best as it is the biggest available with the soft backrest attached by wife finds it much more comfortable to ride with me than without a backrest.

I bought the black one that comes with the lights installed because you get the lights with it already installed for less than the coloured boxes without lights.

However, I discovered that you can’t depend on the lights. Apparently they are incandescent mini bulbs instead of the LEDs I was expecting and don’t last. One of them was burned out or broken within weeks of me getting the box. The connection to the wiring system – so you can easily remove the box from the bike – isn’t the best either as people would often tell me my brake lights on the box weren’t working, so when I transferred the box to my Exec I didn’t bother with connecting the lights.

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My Kymco 250 made a whining noice when it started and I had to replace the belt at 12,000 km. It had started squealing every now and then when I applied throttle to accelerate from a stop. It didn’t make the noise when starting the engine though.

The issue was due to the belt stretching. The belt width was still fine. Someone else reported the same problem at about the same time. You could check by removing the belt cover – the silver painted cover below the black air cleaner case. If you can pinch the top & bottom of the belt together in the middle (or come close), it has stretched.

If the issue you are having is due to the belt  it is fairly easy to check.

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First try the fuses that are hidden behind the cover to the left of the Lockable Glove Box. There are several fuses in there and one of them is for the horn. It may be either blown or missing.

Otherwise just getting at the wiring is somewhat of a nightmare. Among other things the largest single piece of plastic on the bike has to be removed. To do that you have to take off the following: the handlebar covers; the part of the dash under the handle bar covers;  the surround around the rad; the centre piece on the front of the nose of the bike; peel back the floor board covers on both sides. Do not try this without the proper shop manual.

All of that takes two people about two hours. Then all you have to do is fix the wiring problem and then put all the bits back on.

Recommendation: if you’re going to do all of that anyway to fix the horn, buy a Stebel Air horn and install it while you have all that stuff off. The 650 horn is pretty poor for normal use.

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