Category: Maintenance

Polishing Clear Motorcycle Screen

Post author By Arthur
Post date July 31, 2013
No Comments on Polishing Clear Motorcycle Screen

The clear screen on Mary’s ZZR400 was really showing its age when we bought it. It was incredibly misty, scuffed and well, just not very clear. Ideally, we’d like to swap it for a nice new screen, But in the meantime, I went at it with some Meguiars PlastX polish. This is a fancy plastic/acrylic polish with microscopic abrasive particles, designed specifically for all kinds of plastics. Perfect for lights, screens, indicators, I even used it to good effect on my turntable lid!

It’s no good against deep scratches, but it will sort out tiny scuffs and get plastic looking shiny, glossy and transparent again.

As you can see from these before-after shots, it has made quite a difference. I’m sure if I removed the screen and polished up some more it would look even better.

Tags Cleaning

Maintenance

Replacing Clutch Lever

Mary replacing the clutch lever on her Kawasaki ZZR400. Still got the skills after all these years.

Was an embarrassing drop, but thankfully very little damage, just a scuffed indicator, mirror, bust clutch lever and slightly bent bars.

Tags Repairs

Hardware Maintenance

Fixed Broken Meta M357T V2 Alarm Immobiliser

Post author By Arthur
Post date July 11, 2013
16 Comments on Fixed Broken Meta M357T V2 Alarm Immobiliser

Last week the Meta M357TV2 alarm and immobiliser on my Fazer started playing up. It refused to make any sound when arming and disarming, just silent flashes of indicators. When deliberately triggering the alarm it remained silent and I just got hazard lights flashing. The immobiliser did however continue to work. Then later in the week, it started to make a noise again, just extremely quietly. Very odd. Obviously I kept my lack of alarm hush hush until I had remedied the situation.

Reading up, it seems that after around 10 years the internal battery on these alarms starts to give up the ghost and causes these kinds of issues. I also came across accounts from those who left it and it deteriorated further to the extent they couldn’t disable the immobiliser – eeek!

Tags Security

Maintenance

MOT Passed!

mot-test-cert Big sigh of relief, bike passed MOT without issue. Top stuff. Big yearly service sorted too, filters, oil, plug, brake fluid, carbs balanced etc. The Fazer is running super sweet now. Thanks to the top chaps over at Pole Position (London), very reasonable price. Really must bone up on some of the basic service items myself though.

The mileage history on the certificate is quite telling, barely 100 miles was put on the bike between 2011-2012, however I’ve clocked up 6000 since last July! Definitely not a fair weather biker, the Fazer is most certainly being used. Was advised the rear pads have only got about 2000 miles life left in them. Must not forget about them.

Maintenance

MOT & Yearly Service

It’s that dreaded time of year, the Fazer is going in for it’s yearly service and MOT tomorrow. Due for a reasonably major service. Fingers crossed there’s no problems, nothing glaringly obvious is wrong with the bike. Just the cracked belly pan, which maybe deemed a sharp hazard to public. I’ll just gaffer tape that over.

Really must get myself onto a bike maintenance course, so I can do some of the service myself and keep costs down.

Hardware Maintenance Riding

Another Fricking Puncture

Post author By Arthur
Post date July 2, 2013
No Comments on Another Fricking Puncture

There I am trying to make a quick getaway from work with an afternoon off to watch my daughter on her sports day. But something is wrong, bike is all wobbly as hell. Back tyre totally flat. 🙁

A lot of crap stuck in the tyre, but crucially a big hole with lump of glass in it. Tried to pull it out, with a view to repairing it, but I can’t get it with the pliers, just ends up crumbling. The hole also seems bit big for emergency repair. Breakdown recovery it is. At least I’ve got some this time.

Well that’s my afternoon off work scuppered.

Maintenance

Clean Bike, Numb Fingers

A chilly morning and just cleaned the bike. As recommended, I used cold water to not accelerate rusting, but damn my fingers are numbs now! Why cold water? Well hot water provides more activation energy for the oxidisation process, thus increasing speed of corrosion. Chemist geeks can read up on the details of reaction temperature dependency and the Arrhenius equation that governs it.