Here's a jewel of a story Uncle. My brother and I use to visit his buddy on a small farm in Connecticut in 1972. My brother had a small 3.5 Rupp mini bike he kept there because we had no room at home and of course, mom and dad did not know about the mini bike. Frank pulled the spark plug to clean after 100 pulls. The gas tank cap was off checking for fuel and the spark plug wire was hanging near the gas tank. We all know what happens when you pull the the rope to start... the sparkplug has spark. Frank, Frank, my mini bike's on 🔥 fire.
Had a helluva time getting front wheel off of my Ural when I was going to put on new tire. Axle nut resisted socket, then open wrench, then box wrench with light hammer strikes. Light bulb finally came on. Oh, yeah, left-hand threads on front wheel. Axle nut came off just fine when I went righty loosey. DOH!
In AZ, we rejet richer for SUMMER. To help our keep our engines from melting down in 112 degree F temperatures. I have owned several air cooled VWs, and had to run them so rich they were fouling plugs to keep them from seizing up. When I bought my new Royal Enfield Classic 500 back in 2013, from a dealer 150 miles away, I had them deliver it. RE had just lowered prices $1000 across the board, which is what made me make the decision to buy it. MSRP went from $6499 to $5499. With all the fees and tax, plus delivering it 150 miles to my house, it still came out to only $6340 something. It was an EFI bike to begin with, and I knew it would be WAY too lean. Sure enough when I got it home, it was so lean it would barely run. I replaced the EFI with a carburetor, and installed an aftermarket exhaust. I expected to have to rejet it, but the carburetor came jettted perfectly for the aftermarket non cat con exhaust. No more wheezing and sputtering. I have owned several bikes that came with clutch and sidestand nanny switches. I immediately removed and bypassed all of them. I had a clutch nanny switch fail on me 30 years ago, and I didn't even realize the bike had such a thing. I had a friend with a truck dive almost 100 miles to pick me and the bike up. I was PISSED when I found out what it was. I immediately ripped it and the sidestand switch off. And I've done that with every bike that had those things since. I learned to ride on bikes long before such things existed. I despise safety devices. To me, safety is in you head. If you don't know how to operate something, then LEARN how. Nanny devices are no substitute for knowledge and skill. Same with ABS. I don't have a bike with ABS, and never will. I will operate the brakes. It's part of riding.
Hi, most of us have done similar things. I had a Yamaha DT175 about 20 yrs ago, needed a new front tyre, original one a full off road nobly type, I was replacing it with a semi road type. I had no decent tools but used spoons and cycle tyre levers, evently swapped it over, scratched the rim in the process but was happy with the job until I stepped back and noticed that the tyre was directional and I'd put it on the wrong way. I pushed it a couple of miles to my local bike shop for them to swap it around. I should have probably done that in the first place, you live and learn 😂
I've never known any carburetted vehicle to require rejetting for different seasons. And I live in eastern Canada where it can reach -30c (-22F) in the winter and 30C (85F) in the summer. When I was 16, my brother in law, who was a service manager at a Honda dealership, hired me to assemble new bikes that arrived from Japan in a wood and cardboard crate. This was the 1970's. The day before my first day on the job, I bought myself a cheap 3/8" drive ratchet set with some paper route money. It had shiny chromed 12 point sockets lined up from 8 to 19mm, but not the 15mm and 18mm sizes. In the main section was a ratchet, short and long extensions and a spark plug socket with the rubber insert, all in a red painted flat, sheet metal box, with a folding, bent rod carrying handle on top. After the first day I learned never to lift the box by that handle, because dammit I would forget to fold over the latch first and everything would spill out of the box, clanging and rolling all over the cement floor. Don't ask how many times. Alone, I would roll a sapphire blue assembled 125 single across the huge assembly area as fast as I could and jump on board to coast for a few seconds. Gotta test the speedo and brakes, you know. I remember eyeing a massive Gold Wing bolted to it's crate and wondering down to the service area to beg a mechanic for help. There would not be any brake testing of this behemoth. It was a fun summer job. The pay was low, the travel high and when my BIL asked me to return the next summer, I declined. But the experience installed a love of bikes and all things mechanical that lives to this day. Anyway, I still have the metal box, though it's barely red now. But every single part inside has been replaced due to wear or breakage. (Why, who knew you shouldn't slip a four foot pipe over the ratchet handle for more leverage!😁) All told I must have paid for at least three good ratchet sets!
In AZ, we rejet richer for SUMMER. To help our keep our engines from melting down in 112 degree F temperatures. I have owned several air cooled VWs, and had to run them so rich they were fouling plugs to keep them from seizing up.
It's kind of along the lines of jetting for altitude, most carbed bike owners manuals will have a jetting chart for temp / altitude, I generally don't have to worry about altitude as my range is within 500- 4000ft.
Between Job and Family i try to take every chance to drive my bike, brain farts happen to me aswell. I had a day of homeoffice and realized, if i could quickly drive to my office after i finished work at home, i could spare me a morning tour through rain, because the weather was supposed to change the next day and i had to give some letters in. So after the last meeting, i quickly jumped on my bike and rode one of my favorite roads towards work. When in the middle of the trip (90km) i realized i had to fuel up, so i pulled over to the next gas station and then realized, i had forgotten my wallet at home.... after that i started to keep cash in my bike.
when I was a kid there was a motorcyclist walking up and down the road in front of my house.... I walk up to him and asked what he was doing. His wallet had fallen out of his pocket and we ended up searching for a very long time with no luck. To this day I'm constantly reaching to touch my wallet to ensure it's still there when I'm riding. Ive never dropped or lost one but that encounter when I was a kid stays in my mind.
The Swiss Army knife is actually in the right side saddlebag of this bike.. after having to bum a screwdriver off of some tourists on the parkway when I forgot to tighten the intake hose clamp a couple weeks ago! Pull out your camera and tell us a few of them, I'll pin a comment linking to your video. Jobu wants to hear your stories.
It's basically an all new top end, pipe and carb that doubles the power over the stock bike. Mine is still being broken in so I haven't really put it to the test yet. motocultparts.com/products/d-janus-halcyon-250-stage-4-plus?variant=43305056665799
My neighbour asked to borrow a drill to fit a mudflap on his brand new Honda CB200. He was pressing hard struggling to drill the first hole & yep he drilled straight through the fender & through the front tyre... Instant puncture.
Half way through changing my front brake pads on my Suzuki 750, I remembered I had to be somewhere, so rushed to finish and set off up the road....first time I used the brake nothing but a God-awful scraping noise...I'd dropped the pads in back to front....
Changing jets etc. due to season change? Needing to move petcock from run to reserve (even just having to use a petcock)? Reminds me why I will only ride fuel injected bikes now. Btw, there is a third option for starting a bike if the electric start can't work and you have no kick starter: bump starting, has saved my bacon several times. Enjoyed your self deprecating brain fart moments, we all have them.
I went the carbureted route this time on purpose actually, I feel that little things like what I talked about in the video and even what I was doing in the video are the things that develop a connection and sort of mastery over your bike that I was missing from my newer machines. I'm treating the little bit of extra maintenance not as something I have to do, but rather something I get to do... and I want to see which of my bikes I end up developing a stronger bond with- the easy one or the one I have to tinker with.
a bike brain fart...... ok, here goes.... I was on my RE GT650 at a stop sign, turning right.... yep, you guessed it, I gassed my brain for sure as I lifted my right foot and proceeded to drop the bike.... lol wasn't too bad, replaced the levers with adjustable ones and bent the foot brake lever back into position
I did something similar once...ONCE lol. I was riding a narrow footpath around a lake on a CR500 and the path was right on the water's edge to my right and a steep incline to my left. I suddenly came to an obstruction in the path and put my right foot down... but there was no ground- into the water me and the bike went!
Stopped outside a pals house on a brand new CB750 back in the 70's, kicked out the sidestand and got off the bike. Walked towards house and heard a crash noise. Yep, I had parked on a drain and the stand had gone through. Bike had laid down and caused a fair bit of tank damage, footpeg damage and silencer damage, boo hoo. Learned to watch what I am doing, never done anything that stupid since.
Gee man, I've never done ANYthing so dopey, bike or otherwise. Nope, not me. No siree, never, ever. Not even close, uh, thas right, thas right. Never done a misfire like that, edggvfdrggf....
I also have a scooter channel. I was making a monetization status video (for my unappreciative subscribers) and was on a deserted dirt road a mile off the beaten path and used the kill switch when I got there but neglected to turn off the key (which the scooter can't handle for long). Luckily I have a kick starter but it took about 5 minutes and a lot of kicks to get her to start. The stupid part was forgetting to turn on the camera which was right there in front of my face. Would have made a much better video.
If you have #490 I'm assuming you just got it- the headlight must be "ON" and be sure to add some fuel as they tend not to ship them with much in the tank.
OK, you need to be aware, the way you are setting all those screws and jets and whatever aside, that they are all migratory and will be lost forever. Go ahead and laugh. You know it's true. Don't ask me why I know.
Here's a jewel of a story Uncle. My brother and I use to visit his buddy on a small farm in Connecticut in 1972. My brother had a small 3.5 Rupp mini bike he kept there because we had no room at home and of course, mom and dad did not know about the mini bike. Frank pulled the spark plug to clean after 100 pulls. The gas tank cap was off checking for fuel and the spark plug wire was hanging near the gas tank.
We all know what happens when you pull the the rope to start... the sparkplug has spark.
Frank, Frank, my mini bike's on 🔥 fire.
I had to stop using a match to look into the tank when checking the fuel level for that very reason! just kidding, it was Jobu who did that.
Had a helluva time getting front wheel off of my Ural when I was going to put on new tire. Axle nut resisted socket, then open wrench, then box wrench with light hammer strikes. Light bulb finally came on. Oh, yeah, left-hand threads on front wheel. Axle nut came off just fine when I went righty loosey. DOH!
Oh man, I'd be replacing an axle as I probably reach for a cheater bar before realizing the threads were reversed!
I have those moments myself from time to time. Love your videos and humor.
In AZ, we rejet richer for SUMMER. To help our keep our engines from melting down in 112 degree F temperatures. I have owned several air cooled VWs, and had to run them so rich they were fouling plugs to keep them from seizing up.
When I bought my new Royal Enfield Classic 500 back in 2013, from a dealer 150 miles away, I had them deliver it. RE had just lowered prices $1000 across the board, which is what made me make the decision to buy it. MSRP went from $6499 to $5499. With all the fees and tax, plus delivering it 150 miles to my house, it still came out to only $6340 something. It was an EFI bike to begin with, and I knew it would be WAY too lean. Sure enough when I got it home, it was so lean it would barely run. I replaced the EFI with a carburetor, and installed an aftermarket exhaust. I expected to have to rejet it, but the carburetor came jettted perfectly for the aftermarket non cat con exhaust. No more wheezing and sputtering.
I have owned several bikes that came with clutch and sidestand nanny switches. I immediately removed and bypassed all of them. I had a clutch nanny switch fail on me 30 years ago, and I didn't even realize the bike had such a thing. I had a friend with a truck dive almost 100 miles to pick me and the bike up. I was PISSED when I found out what it was. I immediately ripped it and the sidestand switch off. And I've done that with every bike that had those things since. I learned to ride on bikes long before such things existed. I despise safety devices. To me, safety is in you head. If you don't know how to operate something, then LEARN how. Nanny devices are no substitute for knowledge and skill. Same with ABS. I don't have a bike with ABS, and never will. I will operate the brakes. It's part of riding.
"safety" switches and whatnot irritate the hell out of me!
Hi, most of us have done similar things. I had a Yamaha DT175 about 20 yrs ago, needed a new front tyre, original one a full off road nobly type, I was replacing it with a semi road type. I had no decent tools but used spoons and cycle tyre levers, evently swapped it over, scratched the rim in the process but was happy with the job until I stepped back and noticed that the tyre was directional and I'd put it on the wrong way. I pushed it a couple of miles to my local bike shop for them to swap it around. I should have probably done that in the first place, you live and learn 😂
When I did my tires on the GT.... I bet I checked tire direction 5-6 times when doing the front as it just didn't look right, so I kept checking!
I'll be doing the same next time. By the way, I really enjoy your channel, makes me smile 👍
But oh! the relief on realizing that the bike is not a serious lemon! It's only your brain!?
That's the truth, I wasn't quite to the angry phone call stage but at least I figured it out before a trip to the auto parts store for starter fluid!
I've never known any carburetted vehicle to require rejetting for different seasons. And I live in eastern Canada where it can reach -30c (-22F) in the winter and 30C (85F) in the summer. When I was 16, my brother in law, who was a service manager at a Honda dealership, hired me to assemble new bikes that arrived from Japan in a wood and cardboard crate. This was the 1970's. The day before my first day on the job, I bought myself a cheap 3/8" drive ratchet set with some paper route money. It had shiny chromed 12 point sockets lined up from 8 to 19mm, but not the 15mm and 18mm sizes. In the main section was a ratchet, short and long extensions and a spark plug socket with the rubber insert, all in a red painted flat, sheet metal box, with a folding, bent rod carrying handle on top. After the first day I learned never to lift the box by that handle, because dammit I would forget to fold over the latch first and everything would spill out of the box, clanging and rolling all over the cement floor. Don't ask how many times. Alone, I would roll a sapphire blue assembled 125 single across the huge assembly area as fast as I could and jump on board to coast for a few seconds. Gotta test the speedo and brakes, you know. I remember eyeing a massive Gold Wing bolted to it's crate and wondering down to the service area to beg a mechanic for help. There would not be any brake testing of this behemoth. It was a fun summer job. The pay was low, the travel high and when my BIL asked me to return the next summer, I declined. But the experience installed a love of bikes and all things mechanical that lives to this day.
Anyway, I still have the metal box, though it's barely red now. But every single part inside has been replaced due to wear or breakage. (Why, who knew you shouldn't slip a four foot pipe over the ratchet handle for more leverage!😁) All told I must have paid for at least three good ratchet sets!
In AZ, we rejet richer for SUMMER. To help our keep our engines from melting down in 112 degree F temperatures. I have owned several air cooled VWs, and had to run them so rich they were fouling plugs to keep them from seizing up.
It's kind of along the lines of jetting for altitude, most carbed bike owners manuals will have a jetting chart for temp / altitude, I generally don't have to worry about altitude as my range is within 500- 4000ft.
That's a good looking bike.
Thanks!
Between Job and Family i try to take every chance to drive my bike, brain farts happen to me aswell. I had a day of homeoffice and realized, if i could quickly drive to my office after i finished work at home, i could spare me a morning tour through rain, because the weather was supposed to change the next day and i had to give some letters in. So after the last meeting, i quickly jumped on my bike and rode one of my favorite roads towards work. When in the middle of the trip (90km) i realized i had to fuel up, so i pulled over to the next gas station and then realized, i had forgotten my wallet at home.... after that i started to keep cash in my bike.
when I was a kid there was a motorcyclist walking up and down the road in front of my house.... I walk up to him and asked what he was doing. His wallet had fallen out of his pocket and we ended up searching for a very long time with no luck. To this day I'm constantly reaching to touch my wallet to ensure it's still there when I'm riding. Ive never dropped or lost one but that encounter when I was a kid stays in my mind.
My list is too long to share my dumb ass moto momemts. We all have been there! 😂 I thought your only screwdriver was a Swiss army knife? 😂
The Swiss Army knife is actually in the right side saddlebag of this bike.. after having to bum a screwdriver off of some tourists on the parkway when I forgot to tighten the intake hose clamp a couple weeks ago!
Pull out your camera and tell us a few of them, I'll pin a comment linking to your video. Jobu wants to hear your stories.
What’s the Motocult performance upgrade to the Janus 250?
It's basically an all new top end, pipe and carb that doubles the power over the stock bike. Mine is still being broken in so I haven't really put it to the test yet.
motocultparts.com/products/d-janus-halcyon-250-stage-4-plus?variant=43305056665799
My neighbour asked to borrow a drill to fit a mudflap on his brand new Honda CB200. He was pressing hard struggling to drill the first hole & yep he drilled straight through the fender & through the front tyre... Instant puncture.
Ive actually seen someone do the same thing trying to install a rear rack!
Half way through changing my front brake pads on my Suzuki 750, I remembered I had to be somewhere, so rushed to finish and set off up the road....first time I used the brake nothing but a God-awful scraping noise...I'd dropped the pads in back to front....
Changing jets etc. due to season change? Needing to move petcock from run to reserve (even just having to use a petcock)? Reminds me why I will only ride fuel injected bikes now. Btw, there is a third option for starting a bike if the electric start can't work and you have no kick starter: bump starting, has saved my bacon several times. Enjoyed your self deprecating brain fart moments, we all have them.
I went the carbureted route this time on purpose actually, I feel that little things like what I talked about in the video and even what I was doing in the video are the things that develop a connection and sort of mastery over your bike that I was missing from my newer machines.
I'm treating the little bit of extra maintenance not as something I have to do, but rather something I get to do... and I want to see which of my bikes I end up developing a stronger bond with- the easy one or the one I have to tinker with.
a bike brain fart...... ok, here goes.... I was on my RE GT650 at a stop sign, turning right.... yep, you guessed it, I gassed my brain for sure as I lifted my right foot and proceeded to drop the bike.... lol
wasn't too bad, replaced the levers with adjustable ones and bent the foot brake lever back into position
I did something similar once...ONCE lol. I was riding a narrow footpath around a lake on a CR500 and the path was right on the water's edge to my right and a steep incline to my left. I suddenly came to an obstruction in the path and put my right foot down... but there was no ground- into the water me and the bike went!
Stopped outside a pals house on a brand new CB750 back in the 70's, kicked out the sidestand and got off the bike. Walked towards house and heard a crash noise. Yep, I had parked on a drain and the stand had gone through. Bike had laid down and caused a fair bit of tank damage, footpeg damage and silencer damage, boo hoo. Learned to watch what I am doing, never done anything that stupid since.
Gee man, I've never done ANYthing so dopey, bike or otherwise. Nope, not me. No siree, never, ever. Not even close, uh, thas right, thas right. Never done a misfire like that, edggvfdrggf....
My wife keeps telling me I'm the only one who does things like this! She's perfect too, as far as she admits...
I also have a scooter channel. I was making a monetization status video (for my unappreciative subscribers) and was on a deserted dirt road a mile off the beaten path and used the kill switch when I got there but neglected to turn off the key (which the scooter can't handle for long). Luckily I have a kick starter but it took about 5 minutes and a lot of kicks to get her to start. The stupid part was forgetting to turn on the camera which was right there in front of my face. Would have made a much better video.
I cant count how many videos Ive scrapped due to forgetting to plug in / turn on the microphone!
Bin there dun that !
Yeah im in your actual situation, but mine wont kick over at all unfortunately.
If you have #490 I'm assuming you just got it- the headlight must be "ON" and be sure to add some fuel as they tend not to ship them with much in the tank.
It MUST also be in Neutral as well for the starter to work, it has a neutral "safety" switch.
OK, you need to be aware, the way you are setting all those screws and jets and whatever aside, that they are all migratory and will be lost forever. Go ahead and laugh. You know it's true. Don't ask me why I know.