revtothelimit - motorbike forum

Long story short, some scrotes broke into my garage (understatement - they ripped the doorframe out) and stole my lovely KTM 350 EXCF six days, my long suffering XR400 and my pushbikes

After some mild haggling the insurance co paid out and the search for its replacement began. A likely candidate was found on ebay, bids entered and the wait endured. As the minutes ticked down I expected it to go up out of my limit, then to my amazment it didn't move at all. Kerching!

I was expecting a message from the seller backing out of the deal, but no, I got a very nice message congratulating me on winning the bike at a very low price and could I collect it that day (friday) or Sat.

A phone call to the ever-helpful Weeksy and we're off to Cheltenham with trailer, where we met a very nice gentleman who handed over the bike and a huge bag with a full set of replacement plastics.

So here we are, a 2012 KTM 500 EXC with 77 hours and 2200 miles.

20220729_200958 by crust, on Flickr

That almost fits in a Vito.

Really pleased you got what you want man. Can't wait for the first proper ride report

On Sunday, the ever-helpful Weeksy dropped the bike back to mine, time to start work.

When I rode it, I noticed one or two electrical issues, no horn, brake light or indicators, bars were in the fully forward position and the suspension was unbalanced, rear soft/front stiff. Plus, I wanted to give it a full service, so I know where it is oil change wise and be happy all is good.
The bike was first registered in 2012 and only 77 hours / 2200 miles showing on the clocks, some bits look like that is true, others not so much, the MOT history shows that in 2016 it had only done 840 miles and since then the mileage has been minimal per year. The owner’s manual that came with it has pencilled in settings from 2013 so somebody did somebody set up work on it.

No wonder the forks were stiff, rebound five clicks more than any recommended setting, compression the same in one leg the other leg five clicks softer. Set all to standard, preload back to standard. Rear shock, again odd settings so back to standard. Went to check front tyre pressure – 0 psi, yet the tyre is hard-ish. Valve out and poke a screwdriver down the hole – mousse – result. Check rear – no valve at all – mousse – result. (Mousses are big spongy round things that going in the tyre so you don’t need an inner tube and can’t get punctures ). Happy about that, saved me about £250.00.

Brake pads, good in front, nearly new in rear – more result.

On to oil change, while the bike is warming up, run through electrics – yup – no indicators, brake lights or horn.
Dump the oil, sump plug has sludge on it but no metal chunks, drill sump and oil screen mesh for lockwire (peace of mind as the cases are thin so easy to strip threads, can use minimum torque on tightening).

I use a white enamel baking tray to catch the oil so I can see anything untoward in the old oil. And there was, quite a few black lumps. They were non-metallic lumps of black crumbly gunge. I’m hoping they were congealed lumps of the crap that’s normally suspended in the oil that had settled out through non-use. We’ll see on the next change, which will be in 15/20 hours’ time.

On to the electrical issues, seat off and woah, all the wires are labelled – impressed. Check the fuses – all good. Check foot brake switch – good. Take the headlight mask off – the usual proper birds nest mess of wires - ☹ all labelled up - check front brake light switch – all good. Make up a couple of jump cables, check rear light and brake light – all good. Scratch head, have cold drink, check wiring diagram.

Ok, time to go deeper, there’s also an extra bit of wiring that’s been added but not connected, so it’s tank off time. I’ll do fuel filter while I’m there. Tank off and ooh, somebody’s fitted a fancy big fuel filter with cleanable element. Nice. Whip that apart, give filter a squirt or two of brake cleaner and on with the wiring mystery – it’s an extra circuit up to behind headlight, could be for heated grips?

Check some more wires, all good. Draw wiring diagram on a piece of paper - got to be fuse, it’s the only common on those circuits. Change fuse for a different one and everything works, gaaarrrgh! There’s a tiny crack in the duff fuse, works sometimes, not others.
Oh well, problem solved, so while I’m there open all the connections and spray with GT85.

A bit, well lots of fiddling, filing and cutting and now the air cleaner side panel fits and stays clipped on (aftermarket plastics ☹ ). A good day’s work, all that’s left is to clean the air filter, oil it and we’re good to go.

All in all, I’m very pleased with the bike. At some stage it’s had some time spent on labelling wiring and sensible mods. We’ll see it goes in a couple of weeks on it’ first day out on the lanes.

Very nice

Cheers, I spent a lot of Sunday looking at bits humming and hawing about the actual hours and mileage. It’s a well looked after bike with some money spent on it so I’m not unduly worried.
Mousses on the road is one of those grey-ish areas depending on how literally you want to interpret the law, strictly speaking I guess not.
The easiest way round it is cut the valve out of a tube and fit it. Makes it easier to seat the tyre if there’s an issue and no copper is going be bothered to check if there’s a mousse or tube.
I’ve run mousses before and if you don’t do motorway trips, they’re all right and can usually last two tyres if they’re well lubed. I run them as I hate the faff of changing tubes on tyres covered in mud in some god-forsaken part of the countryside, usually in the rain.

I must admit I wondered how they'd stolen 6 days. Time Bandits!

(I did eventually twig.... )

Sounds like a good result. Have steps been taken should the thieving scrotes fancy round two?

Skub wrote: Wed Aug 10, 2022 10:13 am Sounds like a good result. Have steps been taken should the thieving scrotes fancy round two?

He lives in the garage now with a shotgun on his lap

weeksy wrote: Wed Aug 10, 2022 10:54 am

Skub wrote: Wed Aug 10, 2022 10:13 am Sounds like a good result. Have steps been taken should the thieving scrotes fancy round two?

He lives in the garage now with a shotgun on his lap

Just asking for a friend.

Oh yes. The chains around it are worth more than the bike. New stronger garage door with added enhanced security and copious CCTV cameras.

crust wrote: Wed Aug 10, 2022 8:04 am Cheers, I spent a lot of Sunday looking at bits humming and hawing about the actual hours and mileage. It’s a well looked after bike with some money spent on it so I’m not unduly worried.
Mousses on the road is one of those grey-ish areas depending on how literally you want to interpret the law, strictly speaking I guess not.
The easiest way round it is cut the valve out of a tube and fit it. Makes it easier to seat the tyre if there’s an issue and no copper is going be bothered to check if there’s a mousse or tube.
I’ve run mousses before and if you don’t do motorway trips, they’re all right and can usually last two tyres if they’re well lubed. I run them as I hate the faff of changing tubes on tyres covered in mud in some god-forsaken part of the countryside, usually in the rain.

A few times here, I've just ridden home slowly with flat tyres.
Them spray can things only help so much.

Yorick wrote: Wed Aug 10, 2022 12:08 pm

crust wrote: Wed Aug 10, 2022 8:04 am Cheers, I spent a lot of Sunday looking at bits humming and hawing about the actual hours and mileage. It’s a well looked after bike with some money spent on it so I’m not unduly worried.
Mousses on the road is one of those grey-ish areas depending on how literally you want to interpret the law, strictly speaking I guess not.
The easiest way round it is cut the valve out of a tube and fit it. Makes it easier to seat the tyre if there’s an issue and no copper is going be bothered to check if there’s a mousse or tube.
I’ve run mousses before and if you don’t do motorway trips, they’re all right and can usually last two tyres if they’re well lubed. I run them as I hate the faff of changing tubes on tyres covered in mud in some god-forsaken part of the countryside, usually in the rain.

A few times here, I've just ridden home slowly with flat tyres.
Them spray can things only help so much.

A mousse is better than a spray. It's a spare tyre inside your tyre.

https://www.google.com/search?q=tyre+mo ... ribution=1

You live on a volcano, rock central.
Get some mousses, never have to worry about punctures again. They are the equivalent of low pressure so more grip.

Win/win.

Count Steer wrote: Wed Aug 10, 2022 12:12 pm

Yorick wrote: Wed Aug 10, 2022 12:08 pm

crust wrote: Wed Aug 10, 2022 8:04 am Cheers, I spent a lot of Sunday looking at bits humming and hawing about the actual hours and mileage. It’s a well looked after bike with some money spent on it so I’m not unduly worried.
Mousses on the road is one of those grey-ish areas depending on how literally you want to interpret the law, strictly speaking I guess not.
The easiest way round it is cut the valve out of a tube and fit it. Makes it easier to seat the tyre if there’s an issue and no copper is going be bothered to check if there’s a mousse or tube.
I’ve run mousses before and if you don’t do motorway trips, they’re all right and can usually last two tyres if they’re well lubed. I run them as I hate the faff of changing tubes on tyres covered in mud in some god-forsaken part of the countryside, usually in the rain.

A few times here, I've just ridden home slowly with flat tyres.
Them spray can things only help so much.

A mousse is better than a spray. It's a spare tyre inside your tyre.

https://www.google.com/search?q=tyre+mo ... ribution=1

Yes I know. But only lasts 2 tyres. Too expensive option.
Tyres here wear out quickly.

Out of interest, what happens to them such that they need to be changed? (6 months seems to be the general guide if you're off road most of the time). How do they 'wear out'?

TBH I don't think I'd have to push a bike far to think they were worth the price (or as mentioned ^^^ change a tube in the mud and rain).

Count Steer wrote: Wed Aug 10, 2022 12:25 pm Out of interest, what happens to them such that they need to be changed? (6 months seems to be the general guide if you're off road most of the time). How do they 'wear out'?

TBH I don't think I'd have to push a bike far to think they were worth the price (or as mentioned ^^^ change a tube in the mud and rain).

The foam breaks down so the mousse starts to collapse, the rear starts to wallow in road corners. Eventually the mousse crumbles into chunks or powderises.

Yorick wrote: Wed Aug 10, 2022 12:16 pm Yes I know. But only lasts 2 tyres. Too expensive option.
Tyres here wear out quickly.

This a real how long is a piece of string question, it will vary a lot depending on your riding style,weight, suspension settings, size and type of bike, the ground type and condition etc, etc.

Two tyres for me is a long time even though I run michelin mediums which are soft.

If the rocks are ripping your tyres meaning you change them often then you'd probably get a lot longer out of the mousse, especially if you're re-lubing it each tyre change.

I used to spanner for a guy in Enduros who'd destroy a tyre in a day and a mousse in two, whereas Tricky on here has had the same tyre forever.

weeksy wrote: Tue Aug 09, 2022 10:27 pm That almost fits in a Vito.

Really pleased you got what you want man. Can't wait for the first proper ride report

Probably will fit when he comes to his senses and gets some 17" wheels on it

I used Bridgestone Heavy Duty tubes and never had a puncture, I did have a tube split though, but I'm not sure if that was a heavy duty one or not.

Nice - my old girl's sprightlier / better looking younger brother

Look forward to having a proper look next week-end- mine's in bits at the moment for some ( repeat/more ) minor fettling, but will be fighting fit again in good time for our next outing , am looking forward to it (as I imagine you are too )