JaBr

I built this spreadsheet to track the clearances on one of my ZZR's when I did the shims. Will use it when I come to do the bird as well. Valve Clearances.xlsx

I have an else made seat on mine with silver piping and TT and CB1100XX logos. Was expensive but worth it. Have Gel on both front and rear, haven't yet done any serious mileage on it but hopefully next year.

A couple from a few weeks ago...

Love No.4, but intrigued by the polished chrome one too, reminiscent of the Norton race bikes in recent TT's

I paid £45 for a brand new 2 row alloy radiator on eBay, yes it's a china job, but it's way better than the knackered unit I replaced. Even if I only get a few years out of it I'm happy. Being 2 rows it's also better than the standard cooling.

Sorry I haven't been here a lot lately. I didn't change the smaller bulbs as I felt the led's in those would be too bright, the warning lights are plenty bright enough for me. I was surprised how much of a difference LEDs made to the main dash, makes it very visible.

As I understand it they were for the Jap market originally, this will have been a grey import at some point to the UK that wound up on the Isle of Man. Hardest bit is going to be leaving it alone until the ZZRs are finished 😂

Well it won’t be for sale for quite some time, if at all. The ZZR’s are the priority work, they’re ‘paying’ for the GSXR400, both need a fair bit of work but should be viable once complete. apparently the GSXR400 red lines at 15500, it’s going to be a hoot to ride 😂

What @superhawk996 said Also, if you do drain cold to get the extra old oil from the sump, do a flush as well before putting new oil in, should grab some of the crud from your engine and keep that new oil cleaner a bit longer

So I bit the bullet and removed the 6mm spacer. Next job is balance carbs and tune. Hopefully this weekend. Got everything I need in place at last, including my next three project bikes, the two ZZRs were £400 for the pair, the GSXR was £1500. All bikes are complete, some parts are removed though, they should be delivered in a few weeks time. 1990 ZZR600 1993 ZZR600 1988(ish) GSXR400 Slingshot (Slab side) - This one's a keeper.

When you do the oil change you want the engine up to temperature first so more of the bad oil comes out, what I'm saying is get it running and change afterwards These tend to have less issues than a lot of bikes even after being laid up, go gentle and you'll be fine.

Funnily enough, No. It does however leave them much cleaner and feeling way better than any other toothpaste I've used. I also like the cinnamon flavour.

And there's me been using this for years... https://shop.redmond.life/collections/earthpaste/products/earthpaste-wintergreen-4-oz

Good call, may be time to experiment

There is that I guess, or maybe just remove the spacer might help. When I learned to ride my instructor was about 3 inches shorter than me, I'm 5'7", his bike was a GS1200. How he ever reached the floor is beyond me, but it was the third GS he'd owned and used so I suppose he got used to the height.

Makes a big difference, very comfortable, has gel pads built in and the surface is anti-slip. On the downside, I'm a shortarse and between the new seat and the 6mm spacer on the rear shock I can now just about reach the ground with my tiptoes. Not good.

Not yet, still on the to-do, although less urgent than it was getting her through the test. Put the new seat on today

The driving licence is much more like the UK / EU one now, plastic card with holograms etc. A lot harder to fake than the old paper type

Long time since I saw one of those 😅 That is referring to the test type if I recall correctly, I have personally imported the vehicle so it's an import test. Buses / Taxis and some other classes of vehicle have an annual roadworthiness test and that entry on the certificate would be different despite them also being imported.

I know, strange combination 😆 You can ride it as long as your insurance company is willing to cover you. Mine was willing to risk it so no issue. I'll be able to use it once I get the new numberplate, which should be Monday.

So that's that then. Blackbird basically done. Off to register it now Mine's one of the very early ones, registered 11th September 1996. I bought her 1st April 2019.

So, in the next couple of hours I should have my nice shiny certificate that allows me to register the blackbird on the island. All they have to check is that the rear indicators work. Fingers crossed I got it right this time 😆 After that it's a case of register (£48) and ride.

Unless you live in the Uk where you aren't allowed to register one

😆 To be fair, on the island we only have to get the vehicle tested once in it's lifetime as long as we keep up the road tax each year. Road tax is currently £25 per year, you have to also provide proof of insurance when taxing. Insurance for the bird is about £280 per year for me. So basically you can still have a deathtrap as long as it's taxed 🙄

Story of my life mate 😆