A few months back I tried to start the CB500 in the cold, and stupidly switched on the choke before switching in the engine on. This little mistake turned into a big nuisance as the engine started, coughed and stopped and left me standing outside my office, repeatedly trying to start the bike again. However as the engine had got flooded with excess petrol, nothing happened. I ended up parking the bike overnight, in order to get it fixed the following day.

As I told the mechanic what had happened he explained the following: Once the carbs flood with fuel, the spark plugs will get wet and basically become useless. After that, the points of the spark plugs (even if you do take them out, wipe them dry, and sand off the dirt from them) will never be clean enough to give a reliable spark.

It’s not all that bad though. Replacement spark plugs come for around £6, and if you have the original tools that come with the bike, you will already have all required tools to replace the spark plugs yourself.

Here’s what you do. Once you get two replacement spark plugs, take the side covers (shrouds) off the tank. On the top of the engine you will see black rubber plugs which go all the way inside. This is a little fiddly, especially if you have big hands, but it’s just about possible to pull out the plugs from the engine and take them out entirely, put the spark plug socket inside the cavity you just removed the rubber plugs from. Open the spark plug by twisting on the tool with a spanner going anti clockwise. This may require quite a bit of force!

Once the spark plugs are unscrewed, just take them out, if you can reach make sure the area round the spark plugs is clean and dry, and put the new one in. Repeat this process on the other side of the engine. Once you’re done, simply push the plugs back in, make sure they are properly tightly connected - you might feel a subtle click when they push in, after which they won’t move around anymore. Then put the shrouds back on and you should be up and running!

Just wanting to look something up I did a quick search for an online version of a service manual, well here is the full thing:

Honda CB500(S) 93-01 Service Manual

There are few things you’d enjoy less on that bike ride you’ve been working towards for months than being stranded in some foreign country, on a motorway, with a broken down motorcycle! However it is surprising how many people take a very passive approach to preparing for such situations! For instance, most motorcyclists I know, will just up and go one day without preparation or even proper packing, and if they break down somewhere, they get stuck. They’ll laugh it off if it happens to someone else, and mostly tend to get lucky during their trips. But if something does happen, personally I’d rather be sure that something can be done about it.

I wouldn’t want to rely on my linguistic skills in a foreign country, firstly trying to find a mechanic, and then trying to arrange for transport, furthermore trying to explain the problem. I’d much rather have these things sorted for me.

So for exactly that reason, when we went to France over the Easter Break on our Moto Guzzi California EV, we got some Breakdown Cover
before leaving, to cover our entire trip.

The process of signing up for European breakdown cover with the AA is fairly straightforward. You just get a quote on their website, and pay with your credit card. Then within moments you will (if you opted to) receive an SMS and an Email with the policy details and contact numbers in case of a breakdown.

We were very glad that during our entire trip nothing whatsoever went wrong with the bike, but just in case it was a good decision to get the cover beforehand.

However: if you’re serious about covering yourself against breakdowns in a foreign country, you should make sure that you opt for the level of support you would like. For instance, the basic breakdown cover can only do so much, if you have children with you, or other important obligations, it may make sense to get some extra level of cover added on to your policy.

And in case you need to travel abroad more than once a year, why not get annual cover and save some money on the premium as well…

If you’re looking into repainting your motorcycle (or other vehicle) yourself, depending on the skills and budget you have, there are various options for you to consider. They inevitably are divided by cost constraints, as you will see.

“The $50 repaint”

This method was conceived to be done on classic cars, if all you’ve got is lots of time, willingness to get your hands dirty and elbow grease to spare - but a very low budget. For a motorcycle, $50 may be a huge exaggeration, you could do it way cheaper than that.

Basically this method involves sanding, sanding and more sanding, painting the bodywork with a high density paint roller and Rustoleum paint (but you could probably use any other metal paint as well). Since the finish from a paint roller might not be perfect, you need to sand properly in between various coats to achieve a good finish. Why not head over to this site here: RickWrench.com and have a look at the entire process plus end result.It’s really quite impressive what a lot of time and painstaking effort can achieve!

The rattle-can

A much more widely used method for repainting motorcycles is doing it with a can of metal paint. With this method, it is a bit closer to the professional finish since both are sprayed on; however cans don’t necessary spray very evenly and you may have runny paint because you cannot adjust the viscosity of the paint. Nevertheless, if you are still willing to invest some time cleaning up the paintwork before giving it some clear coat over the top, you can achieve a pretty good finish. Don’t forget however that you will require more than just your colour of choice! Depending on what state the existing paintwork on your bike is like, you might need Adhesion promoter or primer before putting the final colour on. If you want the paintwork to really pop with shine, a clear coat will be required over the top.

How much paint you’ll require and therefore what the budget should be, would depend on the state of your motorcycle’s paintwork, and the amount of bodywork to be painted. But since a can of paint comes for around £5.99 at Halfords, it shouldn’t really break the bank. Add to that sand paper, masking tape and such, and perhaps £50 should cut it for most bikes.

The Semi-Pro

If you have a big budget, lots of enthusiasm and would like to repaint bikes more often, you could go down the semi-pro route of buying an air compressor, a proper spray gun and real automotive paint. Mind you though, you will need a lot of space, and if you aim to get a perfect finish, lots of practice plus a non-dusty yet well ventilated area to do the spraying in. For equipment costs alone, think several hundred pounds for this paint method - it really is not suitable for those on a tight budget!

Air Compressors : People often wonder how much they should spend on an air compressor. The opinion amongst fellow hobbyists seems unanimous - as much as you can possibly afford! In any case you should buy a compressor which has an air tank attached to it, otherwise the spray will not be even, but pulsed. Also, depending on the type of spray gun you would like to use, your compressor needs to be able to cope with the air flow. (HVLP Guns require a lot of air displacement but less pressure, conventional spray guns require more pressure but not so much flow).

Spray Guns : A regular spray gun is basically a big sort of air brush with a fairly large paint container mounted to it. The paint container is either mounted at the bottom (suction fed spray gun) or at the top (gravity fed spray gun) and could be made of either metal or plastic. The advantage of a suction fed spray gun is that it usually has more paint capacity - so it’s better suited for larger projects, whereas a gravity fed spray gun is usually lighter and easier to use around smaller items (over head spraying).

What’s HVLP? Many spray guns are HVLP guns - this stands for High Volume Low Pressure. Basically what it means is, the air is fed through the gun at a relatively lower pressure, but the flow is much higher. This makes the finish better than with a conventional spray gun, and reduces overspray. However, it does mean that this type of gun will only work with a good, high power air compressor that can sustain a lot of flow over a longer period of time.

Keep in mind that if you’re using an HVLP gun with any DIY/Hobby air compressor that can fit in your garage, chances are that the tank of the compressor will empty more quickly than what the compressor can sustain. This means that if you’re spraying for extended periods, you might need to take breaks to allow the tank to refill.

Accessories : In order to make your set up work, you need to be able to connect the spray gun to the compressor properly. Also you need to make sure that your paint remains clean. Because air compressors generally have screw on connections in standard sizes, you have to make sure that the air hose is appropriate for your spray gun (the connector might be non standard, depending on the type of gun you buy. Then get an adaptor or converter to fit your compressor. Also keep in mind that at times you may need more than one spray gun, so it might make sense to look into quick connectors that allow easy exchange of spray guns. And another thing that is extremely important is ensuring the air from the compressor is clean (water / oil free) so a filter is absolutely essential! While mounting your water / oil trap, make sure it is connected closer to the spray gun rather than directly to the compressor - in case warm air comes out of your compressor opening and cools down inside the air hose, condensation may occur if the water trap is mounted too close to the compressor.

Safety : Depending on the type of paint you intend to use, it may become extremely vital to use an appropriate mask, suit and glasses. Please consult with the usage instructions of the paint or the shop where you’re purchasing it from regarding appropriate safety precautions.

Well the title says it all doesn’t it. The Ucom Twintalker 6800 I’m describing in a previous post, has been tested on the road, while riding from London to Dover on one bike. After that we put it in the bag, and throughout our 6-day trip through France we didn’t look back or regret it even for a moment!

All of the fiddling around with the thing to make it work on the first day after buying it confirmed the very strange truth that this intercom system is really only useful if you are stationary, there is absolutely no wind noise, and the two walkie talkies are kept very close together.

As walkie talkies they work, sort of, although their range of supposedly 5km (”depending on surroundings”) in a normal urban area is reduced so much, it won’t even work until the end of the road. Another set of walkie talkies we have, by Motorola, at least worked for about 1.5km in the same town, in the same conditions, and they cost way less than these useless devices. The only problem is they have no jack to plug in a head set.

Oh and the headset is the next problem, the speakers worked fine for me, but the microphone is horrible. As soon as you ride faster than 5 mph the wind noise distorts everything you say into a muffled impossible-to-understand mumble. While testing the intercom off the bike, we could work around this sound quality issue by precisely positioning the microphones in front of our mouth, but any little wind just makes the system an absolute nightmare to use.

Riding even at 30mph through the city distorts the sound so much that even the most ridiculously articulated phrases are so torturously difficult to understand that you just don’t feel like talking anymore.

The verdict should be very clear, this is going straight into the bin!

If you like to take a pillion along for motorcycle rides, communication can become an issue. As soon as your speed crosses 40 mph it becomes difficult to talk to each other without outside help. So an intercom is the natural solution to that problem. However: what type to go for, a very basic wired intercom, or a wireless walkie talkie type?

Wired Intercoms

When you buy a wired intercom, chances are you’ll get a very basic, extremely cheap one. There are plenty available on Ebay and such. They usually consist of a little plastic box with some jacks to hook up head sets with. Usually they also have an Audio-in line to plug your mp3 player or satnav into.

The headsets that are supplied with these types of intercoms are usually the type that clip onto one ear, with the microphone sticking out towards the front of your head (so they’re not attached to the inside of your helmet!).

Mostly they’re powered with AAA batteries, and are always on (so you need not press any buttons in order to transmit). They do not tend to have an AC or Cigarette Lighter adapter, so you will rely on battery power only - carry some spare batteries if you’re going on a long trip!

Cost: starts at less than £10.

Wireless (PMR) Intercoms

If you choose a wireless option, chances are you’ll need two walkie talkie type devices with plug in head sets. Each person keeps a walkie talkie on their person, plugs in the head set, and even if you need to get off the bike for any reason, you can still communicate with each other. Now because it’s basically a walkie talkie, and cannot transmit and receive at the same time, you need to initiate a transmission before the other person will hear it. This is either done by pressing a button (on the side of the walkie talkie or a separate plug in one) or through VOX ; Voice Operated Transmission (means you talk and it automatically switches on the transmission). For this reason also, walkie talkies don’t tend to have Audio-In sockets so you cannot plug in another device like an mp3 player or satnav.

The sound quality is not as clear as a dedicated wired system, because walkie talkies are affected by outside disturbances. It might even be possible that somebody else in the area is using a similar device on your frequency and you might hear each other. However to counter this, walkie talkies usually have numerous channel and frequency settings so you can find one that is clear.

For powering your walkie talkies, usually there are two options; you run them on batteries (AAA) or in case yours comes with an adapter, plug it into the battery of the bike through the cigarette lighter. Make sure that if you’re using yours plugged into the battery, either you take out the batteries in the walkie talkie or ensure they are rechargeable.

Cost: Starts at £25-30 per walkie talkie. (You’d need two for two people!)

Overall Verdict:

Of course the cost factor might make the decision for you, but if cost is not an issue, consider the following:

If you need something in order to communicate with a pillion only and would both like to enjoy music or satnav instructions along the way, the only way to go is a wired intercom. However: if you do not like to be stuck to each other with wires (when the pillion gets off the bike, he/she would have to unplug the intercom first!) and you might want to communicate even if you are not on the same bike together, get a Walkie Talkie type system for yourselves. An example of one I’ve just bought can be found in another post of mine: Ucom Twintalker 6800 - Wireless Intercom.