Bought my first bike

[NickH]

I just took it to a local repair shop to enquire about tyres and servicing. The guy had a good look at it. He reckons nothing needs doing urgently, and the service can wait a little while. Apparently the crack in the rear tyre is a moulding defect and is not serious; front tyre a bit worn but not desperately (another 1000 miles?). So I can relax and enjoy it for a bit!

[bonio]

Good news

[martin79]

I just took it to a local repair shop to enquire about tyres and servicing. The guy had a good look at it. He reckons nothing needs doing urgently, and the service can wait a little while. Apparently the crack in the rear tyre is a moulding defect and is not serious; front tyre a bit worn but not desperately (another 1000 miles?). So I can relax and enjoy it for a bit!

Front Tyre a bit worn could be a few thousand miles left, depending on how you ride, I get around 15,000 from a front on the VFR, just keep an eye on the wear guides.

[Urbanredsun]

Look forward to seeing a pic when you get one =)  Sure it will be a good bike in the long run or at least I certainly hope it is for you! 
I got a great insurance deal through Bennetts (based in Peterborough) and got Breakdown cover in the package...woohoo!
Keep us posted, may the force be with you!
Becky

[NickH]

Here's one I took earlier, to be going on with

[shonajoy]

 Nice!

[DoktorMandrake]

Looks like a tidy example. Would seriously think about new rubber though if it's cracked.

[Urbanredsun]

I like this style of bike =) think it's a great choice! Hope she does you justice!

[NickH]

I like this style of bike =) think it's a great choice! Hope she does you justice!

Thanks! I thought it looked very old-fashioned in the shop next to a lot of newer bikes, but now I think it looks cool (that car park photo was roughly the moment when I realized this)! It had its first clean and polish today as was starting to get muddy.

[NickH]

BTW, here are the tyres, if any kind person would like to advise...


Front (click to enlarge): I don't know anything about tyres but it looks worn to me: the surface is chewed up, the tread edges are rounded and there's tiny crazing in the central groove and some of the side wall. But the wear indicator (top left) is not yet touching the ground.


Back: Looks in better shape, apart from that funny line. Opinions so far are that it's a manufacturing defect, or foreign object damage. It's shallower than the tread so I think it's OK.

I'll most likely get them changed this spring when it has its 7500ish mile service. Any recommendations for an idiot-proof tyre for wet and dry roads? I've seen BT45 mentioned...

[notoriusb.e.n]

get yourself a tread depth measurer. £5 that will save you a bald tyre. Just let it go down to 2 mil before getting worried, instead of changing at 4 mil cos they're "nearly gone"..

[greg]

front looks like it might need changing, back looks ok apart form that cut which i'm not too sure about

[qwakers]

i reckon the front will probably need changing at the same time the read does, it doesnt look that worn, the rear looks like a moulding defect, and i wouldnt worry about it.

[shonajoy]

I'd definitely change the front tbh. Just looks a bit perished to me for want of a better word. Back looks better but for the sake of safety I'd get both done to be sure.

[martin79]

I'd just wear the tyres out, both tyres on my divvy were far far worse than that and It's done 4K on them without issue. You've plenty of tread left and as Quackers says when one has worn out replace them both.

[NickH]

A lovely sunny weekend is forecast.. and I'm bikeless

It went in for its service yesterday, and it needs a new head bearing (I'd noticed a slight crunchy noise but thought it was just cables rubbing...). Since they've got the wheel off and waiting for parts, I asked for a new front tyre too. Won't have it back until Monday at the earliest.

By taking it to another shop for service, I think I've voided the dealer's 3 month warranty. I guess the lesson is for newbies is, buying a >10 year old bike can be a gamble if you don't know what you're doing, and even a reputable dealer can't be trusted to do a thorough MOT on a bike they want to sell.

On the plus side, even with these extra costs it's still a lot cheaper than that little 250 I nearly bought. And much better!

[DoktorMandrake]

Ah funnily enough having read the beginning of your thread I was just about to comment on the 250. Those CG, YBR, SR, whatever, 4 stroke 250s are really not much more powerful than the 125 versions. ER-5 was the better choice (I prefer it to the 6, for some reason)

As for your bike, you will get it back soon enough.

[bonio]

Bad luck mate.
My bike's about 10 years old and, yes, there were a few things that needed sorting out when I first got it - front forks, and the fuel supply to the carbs was partially blocked. But since they've been done, it's been a really reliable bike.
By the way, who's doing the servicing for you?

[SnapDragon]

shame you have to wait til monday - she looks a really lovely bike
 she'll probably feel even better when she's got her new rubber and bearings and there's many more warm weeekends to come  
Is there any particular reason you can't use her for going to work? I worked all week in an office too - and I rode to work

[NickH]

Is there any particular reason you can't use her for going to work?

None at all! I only have a 2 mile commute that I can easily cycle, but I've been getting the motorbike out most days and going via some slightly silly routes (longest commute so far 25 miles), which brightens up my working day.

Service is being done by Supamoto in Chesterton, Cambridge (handy for me; I only just discovered they exist; otherwise I'd have gone to Cambridge Motorcycles, which is a slightly longer trek).

[SnapDragon]

None at all! I only have a 2 mile commute that I can easily cycle, but I've been getting the motorbike out most days and going via some slightly silly routes (longest commute so far 25 miles), which brightens up my working day.
--/-

  have that t-shirt the day melts away when you get on the bike.
 I used to work a mile and a half from home, and walked - oddly that walk turned into +/- 10miles a day on the bike, and many more routes added over the years 

[bonio]

I don't know Supamoto. I've used Cambridge Motorcycles. They're out of the way for me too, but they're nice chaps, and they've let me have kooky old 125 to pootle off to work on while they get on with the work.

[dumbdave]

Congrats, that looks like a really neat and tidy bit of kit, great first choice (mine was a CBF500 - very similar, and nicely forgiving for a first bike!  )

For the tyres, if you read around the side wall, there should be a 4 digit code which gives the year and week of manufacture e.g. 0112 would be first week in 2012.
Might give you an indicator as to its age if it is looking a bit poor. Rubber degrades under UV light, so the older it is the more UV its likely to have seen.

Personally if I know I've put good tyres on, my confidence in the bike goes up - probably 90% psychological, but there you go.

[NickH]

Thans for the info about the 4 digit code.

Now I'm pretty sure the rear tyre is a replacement. It's a Continental "Conti Avenue". I don't have a receipt for it, but tyre damage featured in an MOT failure in 2008, so I guess that's when it was fitted. I'll check the date code when I get it back tomorrow.

Front was Dunlop something-or-other and almost certainly original (1999). Now it'll be a brand new ContiGo. Yes, I know I have to go easy on it for the first 100 miles (though as I'm still a bit of a wimp with braking and cornering, maybe I don't need to do anything different!). Then I can be a bt more ambitious...