JaBr

Those are Allen Keys, torx can be used in their place but can make a mess of the bolt if the size is even a tiny bit out. On the other hand, if an Allen key strips a a slightly oversized torx will usually get it out. I have a coupple of Wera tools, they're a brand I like a lot, not cheap, but very good

Warbler here in the UK

There seems to be a trend of putting people on meds once they hit late 40s here, the only meds I take are an antihistamine and my asthma inhaler, I refuse to take medicines for the sake of it or just because I reached a certain point in my life. I'm no longer overweight due to my carnivore diet and generally have a decent immune system, built up through being a child of the 70s, eating dirt and being what these days would be generally considered unhygienic. I feels sorry for the current generations who are so shielded from any sort of bug that they are doomed to weak immune systems and being at the mercy of the whims of the medical community.

I started it the Tuesday before Easter 2023, so less than a year. Was strict about it until going on holiday in October. Previously I'd eat pretty much anything, plenty of bread, sugary treats, cereals and more. Not sure what you mean by bloodwork, I'm assuming blood tests. I rarely go to the doctors as I don't generally need to and don't get my blood tested other than the occasional blood sugar test I do at home, I bought a glucometer some years ago to monitor myself during a period I was exercising a lot. Also have a BP monitor. My target was to get lean again, not where I want to be yet but working towards it. In August 2022 I went to my daughter's wedding and had to buy a new suit, we went out in September 2023 (the next time I saw her) and she commented that I'd lost a lot of weight, and how it was almost like she had two dads at her wedding I was so much bigger than I'd ever been before. That new suit no longer fits. Effects wise, more energy, less bloated, much firmer stools, 3-4 inch waistline reduction, more awareness / mental acuity. Generally I feel much better than I have for a few years.

Umm ok, I'll take that as a compliment

Yes, exactly that. I actually enjoy it so it's not an issue, my good lady though is another matter, she's not big on meat at all but will happily eat things she really shouldn't, she has fibromyalgia and personally I think she would benefit from carnivore but it's not something she would want to do.

I followed carnivore fairly closely last year for 8 months, I lost 28 pounds back down to my usual 147 pounds. My diet was basically eggs,Chicken thighs, minced beef, steak, lamb chops/cutlets, cheese, and butter. I drank water and an occasional glass of red wine. Over christmas and new year I've started to add a few vegetables and a some other not great items in (homemade stollen, christmas pudding, fresh fruit, and more) and I have already started putting a little weight on, the wind I get is horrific and it really stinks, I've also found my stools have gone from firm to soft, not much more than a custard consistency. I'm going back on the previous regime again in the next week. Incidentally, I never eat breakfast, evening meal is usually between 5:30 and 8pm latest and next food after that is 12:00 the following day so a minimum 16 hour fast in between, for me it seems to work.

It's an interesting subject this one, as far as I know there are no studies that actually research and supply a recommended daily amount of salt. The big issue we appear to have in the west is what's known as Table Salt in the UK, Sodium Chloride, too much sodium is definitely a bad thing. I use the himalayan pink salt for flavouring both during cooking and also over food, I also use judicious quantities of black pepper. The himalayan salt has a much lower amount of sodium than table salt and adds a bunch of other minerals that are supportive of your health. It tastes good too. I'm pretty healthy all told and this year have intentionally dropped a few inches round the waist.

I recently discovered Presch files and Rasps, a german brand at a reasonable price point. I'm a huge fan of Wera tools as well but have very few of them as I struggle to justify the pricing for home use. If I was a professional spanner swinger it would be Wera all the way, their Zyklop ratchets are simply excellent. I have a stainless steel bit set and some joker spanners along with a smaller bit set and bit driver from them.

Unfortunately not always in my experience, in most cases this is true though. I tend to defer to JIS when working on my 80s/90s jap sportbikes.

All comes from this disaster of a film, She

I had the Abba front chock that I bought for the bird, I used it once, it took two of us to get the bike out of it again, I sold that for more than I paid for it 😕 I still have an Abba Skylift, I can get the bike mounted on that and lifted up on my own. It goes in level, wheelie, and stoppie positions and has castors so I can push it around the garage if I need to. Currently I have a 1993 ZZR600E1 on there that I'm slowly restoring. This is hands down the best bike lift I have ever used, highly recommended. The awesome Abba Sky Lift

Sad to see a VFR in this state, although my VFR parts bike looks worse. Mine is a 1989 ('90 MY) RC36 with the single swing arm. It's lower power than the bird but out of the two I enjoy the VFR more as it's nimble and small, kind of like me

So I finally got round to replying, the bird was up and running just in time for TT, went out on her twice then picked up a chest infection that relegated me to the sofa for most of the TT week. So annoyed. On the plus side, no leaks, carbs nicely balanced but I feel could do with a mixture tuneup, something I intended to sort during TT week but due to being ill I have now missed the guys who do it in the TT village as they went home. Maybe next year, she pulls well, just feels like there’s something slightly lacking though.

Well once I get it all back together I'll know for sure, the fuel is coming out of the overflow pipe thankfully, not all over the engine.

Luckily the diaphragms seem to be in good order. The carbs themselves were pretty good to be fair.

So here we are, after not doing anything about it for 8 months TT is almost here and the bird is still having a petrol wee all over the place when started. Last time this happened a simple tap on the float bowls sorted it out, but no, not this time. So armed with a new set of carb seals from Litetek Carb Kits and the Honda workshop manual I set about it. Incidentally, I had a practice run on a ZZR600 beforehand which has similar Keihin carbs. All of the ancillaries came of nice and easily as they should, so now we're down to the bank of Carbs to remove, it wiggles a little bit and stays completely put. Long story short, took 2 of us to get them off and about 3 hours, lesson learned, lever from the back of the bike not the front. The mounting rubbers are actually in pretty decent condition considering they're 27 years old although they have hardened somewhat. Thanks to @rhubarbray for the advice about the wintergreen oil softening trick, that is definitely on the agenda. Surrounding area needs a clean and repaint, if there's time it might happen. The offending items removed from the bike Look how many bits there are, hope I remember where they all go A wee bit cleaner after a swim in the ultrasonic So two of them are done, 2 remaining. Problems so far, one float bowl screw and one pilot screw had to be drilled out which was a little annoying given that I use the JIS screwdrivers and they usually have no issues, for the pilot screw I had a nicely fitting flat head driver but it shattered the head unfortunately. Next job, find a new pilot screw 😕 Have a good one all

They weren't too expensive, the set of 6 was about £36 No problem for a man of your means

I have a set of the vessel megadora JIS drivers, they are fantastic and should be mandatory in the toolkit of anyone working on Jap bikes of a certain age

This link is also useful... Charging system fault finding diagram

One of the guys (Paul Manners) in a Facebook group I'm a member of has been remanufacturing blackbird fairings in ABS, the people who have bought them seem very taken with them. I believe he also ships to the USA. If you're interested PM me and I'll put you in touch

Not sure what the riders age has to do with tyres but whatever. When I got my xx she had metzelers fitted, after a couple of hundred miles on those ditch finders I was in no doubt that a change was needed. Been on Michelin road 5's ever since and am happy with those, decent grip in all weathers and seem to wear at a reasonable rate.

I found this YouTube video to be very useful... Dave Moss Tuning - Contact Patch

I have no idea to what you refer, Joey is the stone(d) one, well, bronze actually but never mind

Looks pretty good on the bike as well These are from a couple of weeks ago when I went to visit my friend Joey on the mountain...