audiomick

The bike looks good, but someone should explain to the bloke who wrote the ad what the word "punctuation" means, and why the same is a good idea.

Under the seat, I reckon. If you look closely at the fourth picture, three-quarter view from the right rear, you can see a plug hanging out from under the seat / tailpiece in front of the rear shock spring. That looks a lot like the plug for a C-Tek battery charger, and the cable comes out of the tail-piece.

That was most likely done by, or for, someone who thinks that "streetfighter" is a good look. Personally, I have never seen anything going by that description that looked even close to good. Mostly just ugly, and silly into the bargain.

To get back on the topic of Kawasaki triples (that was the topic here, wasn't it?), have I posted this here yet? I gather it is one of these: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kawasaki_H1R Watch how many he passes, and how often he gets passed. So, and now back to the irrelevant stuff about old cars...

My mother always told me to trust my feelings.

Not original, but doesn't have to be a bad thing if they work well. There was a bloke in the area of Melbourne that I lived in with the 400 version of those Kawasaki 2-Stroke triples. Done up like a racer, and with expansion chambers on it. I saw him regularly on the street. It sounded great. And went like shit off a shovel. Or he was slightly unhinged. Or both. Whatever, I would have loved to build one myself. I had a 250, complete but dead, and a 400 as a basket case, but I left Australia before I got around to doing anything with them. It'll probably never happen now, but building up one of them would be fun. Edit: one mate of mine had a 350 which I'm sure I rode, and another had a 750 which I definitely rode a few times. I love them.

Bump. Next story, please.

Yes, the CBX looks nice. A mate of mine in Melbourne had one of those. Great fun. And while you're at it, grab this as well. Cultivated insanity at its best. https://www.mecum.com/lots/1115784/1974-kawasaki-h1-mach-iii/?aa_id=576255-0

It's a different bike in the facebook ad. Here is the link that @fastaussie posted: https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/1414697602487585 Referring to the picture that @docc posted further up and the first picture from the facebook ad Different headers (with a crossover), no belly-pan, different brake discs, and no red alternator cover. EDIT: and the front mudguard is different too...

and feel free to buy me the E-Type whilst you are there.

Well go on, pull your finger out. You know you want the bike yourself.

Thanks for the pictures @docc. As I already wrote, mine seems to be oily all over the final drive case, so I reckon the breather might be the candidate. We'll see when I find time to have a closer look.

I would have assumed that the name was originally Spötzl. The bloke apparently came from Bavaria, and that would fit. The Wiki, however, writes it as "Spoetzl". That might be accurate, but it might not. We'll probably never know. https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spoetzl_Brewery Germans and Austrians seem to have been generally quite significant in exporting beer culture to the rest of the world. I linked to Pilsner Urquell further up, the original version of that what we know as "normal" beer these days. That was developed by a Bavarian "Braumeister". http://Pilsner Urquell So we have a lot to thank Germany for. Quite apart from people like Berthold Brecht, Wagner, Neumann (microphones), Karl Marx, and the list goes on...

nothing to do with this, of course... No, only taking the piss. Thanks for the explanation.

Yes. Always gloves. They start saving skin when you mess up putting the side-stand down, and never stop being a good idea.

Yeah, that would be good. The standard glass in southern Germany is a half-litre. Two of those of smoked beer is enough. It gets pretty penetrant after a while.

No. I always wear gloves, and a jacket that claims to be a motorcycle jacket. I don't really know how much protection the waxed cotton jacket really offers, but if I think I might be on a ride where I might get a bit silly, I wear the leathers. And always a full-face helmet. I saw one a couple of years before I started riding myself that had abrasive damage on the chin-piece. That was enough to convince me that a jet helmet is not such a great idea. When I had "my accident" in 2017 I was wearing a full-face helmet, thick gloves, and leather jacket and pants without armour. The helmet lost about 3mm of material just below the visor above my right cheek-bone. The leathers got some nasty abrasions on the front of the right shoulder, and on the left knee. The broken bones were in the left hand from the impact of the handle-bar against the hand, and in the right forefinger where something (probably the wing mirror of the car that took me out) went through the glove and the finger. Body armour wouldn't have stopped any of that. That all doesn't mean I consider armour to be not necessary. I got lucky in that accident, it could have been lots worse. What I'm getting at is more like "take precautions, but the most important one is to not have an accident". Armour might help, or it might not. My leather stuff doesn't have any, and I took it out of my ventilated textile summer jacket because it compromised the ventilation. I choose to take the risk, and concentrate on not having another accident. But always some kind of motorcycle jacket, full-face helmet and gloves. If I'm going out to play, leather jacket and pants.

Yeah, it does that, doesn't it? Thanks for the number (128mm). That is for the rear shock, I take it, as that is what this topic is about. I've been looking for a number for that. I'd be interested in a number for the 43mm Marzocchi forks with rebound adjustment on both legs too.

One of the bikes is a Breva 750 ie. The specifactions that I have found for it are also contradictory, same as what I have been able to find for the V11 and the V35 Imola, but one of them is 10W-60. The valve-train on the small-blocks has a fairly hard time of it, and needs a heavy oil. At the other end, I ride in winter, sometimes at temperatures below zero. For that, I'm interested in oil that does it's job with a minimum of warming up. 10W-60 should cover everthing I have, as far as I understand it.

Ah, that makes sense. Thanks for that. Yes. I'm not so much worried as annoyed, but the talcum trick is likely to be the next step.

Sorry about starting another oil thread, but I have tried several times to get a definite answer to this question, and no-one ever seems willing to confirm or refute it. So I'll try it here too... The background is, more or less, that I would like to be able to use the same grade of oil for all of my bikes. Specifically, a 10W-60. The question is: Is it true that one can extend the viscosity range below and above that which is recommended with impunity? That is to say, if a 20W-50 were stipulated, a 10W-50 or a 20W-60 or a 10W-60 would all be ok, but a 20W-40 or a 30W-50 (if it existed...) wouldn't. As I said, I have posed the question several times on various German forums. I got answers like "use this oil", or "using a too thin oil will destroy the motor", but never a straight up yes or no answer to the question. Is anyone game to make a statement?

I'm quite sure that I was very close to the right volume. I added one of these for the molycote, and as the last drops of that went in, it started to run out of the level control opening at the back. https://www.louis.de/artikel/motorbike-mos2-shooter-20-ml/10080192?filter_article_number=10080192 However, I don't exclude that possibility that it might still spit a bit, even if it is theoretically all correct. That's why I'm looking for opinions here.

Thanks for that link. I had forgotten that topic was there. I neglected to mention in the first post, that the rear wheel was out not so long ago, and the final drive got new oil when it went back in. The bike hasn't been ridden much since, so it is fair to assume that the new fill of oil is still "settling down". It may be that the bike always did blow off a bit from a fresh fill. This is the first time I've filled it, and I have to admit to not having checked the level in the rear drive at any time since I bought the bike up until I refilled it.

I noticed it today: a patch of oil on the inside of the rear rim, consistent with it having dripped off the final drive whilst parked. It is a bit hard to tell with that lovely wrinkle paint, but it seems like a fair bit of the outside of the final drive housing is oily, and the breather valve thingy looks like it is oily enough to perhaps have been the source. I dare say I'll need to clean it up and do the talcum powder thing to get a better idea where the oil came from. Would anyone care to speculate in advance about where it is likely to be coming from? A good guess might save me looking up some blind alleys.

But also not so high that it tops out...