Re: Never forget your oil
 

Not exactly a pain with the SV either, hold it upright, glance at the window, is there oil, yes or no. VFR is rather more of a pain, I much prefer the sight glass to a dipstick.

Druid

Re: Never forget your oil
 

I exceeded the speed limit yesterday...so powerfull enough ;)

mind you, i DO have a yellow curvy

Re: Never forget your oil
 

You're right, speeding on a yellow curvy is indeed newsworthy....are you sure it not just an over reading speedo?

Re: Never forget your oil
 

](*,)

:smt044

Re: Never forget your oil
 

Yes, learning to ride a big bike for the first time in the cold wet icy snowy conditions is asking for trouble, its more dangerous for obvious reasons and more expensive because of the higher probability of binning it.

Much better (if you have the choice) is to get a feel for it when warm for increased concentration, dry for more traction, then as the year progresses gradually get used to riding it all weather conditions encoutered.

Re: Never forget your oil
 

I started to learn to ride a big bike at the end of a cold October, and passed my test towards the end of a cold November. 2 days later I bought my SV and rode it all through the winter. End result? I rode all the way through the cold-snap recently because I was confident enough to do it, having learned to ride in cold+icy conditions to begin with.

Re: Never forget your oil
 

Words fail me. I cannot begin to describe how flawed your thinking is.

Re: Never forget your oil
 

I I started learning to ride in an August in distant memory. I learnt more during the crap months than in the summer.
Exactly a year to the day after doing the CBT thing I passed my DAS.
I ride every winter.....gives you thick skin. If I hadn't have encountered all manner of weather in those first winter months I'd have been one of those puffy power ranger summer weeekend warriors.

Beabert...what a crock of plop!


PS on topic,, always look at your oil, or you do end up on engine number two....not that I'd know owt about that either! And it wasn't my fault it blew up....fecking ex's and imapct drivers grrr grrrr waffle hisss boooooo !

Re: Never forget your oil
 

My first ride on my SV was on salt-encrusted roads. I've ridden through a few winters now, and I am used ot how a bike feels when thetyres just cant get up to tempurature.

This puts me in a good position to be confident and relaxed in adverse weather conditions, whatever time of year

Re: Never forget your oil
 

I hate to have to make a post on topic, however:
I have bad news for you. Most in-line 4 cylinder engines have a nice removeable sump, and horizontal crank case joins, meaning this is an option. The SV has vertical crank case joins and a non-removable sump.

The minimum buy-in for having a proper look at the bottom end is to remove the engine and strip the heads & barrels, then spit the cases.

At this point you're looking at replacing all the gaskets, plus any rectification work that's needed.

Now it sounds very much like the motor's damaged from oil starvation but do make sure that diagnosis is right before you shell out proper money.

If you find a decent 2nd hand engine (with no seized nuts or damage) you and a couple of mates with some knowledge should be able to swap the motor in a long day's work. That's what I'd be looking at doing. Any motor from 1999-2009 will fit (though the colours are different for different years).

Most people get much better at checking maintenance tasks early on, I'm very sorry you appear to have learned this the expensive way.

Jambo