Honda-SOHC

First a disclaimer! I am in no way suggesting anyone should test the limits of adhesion and I have no intentions of changing my somewhat sedate riding style no matter what ( I like to have something in reserve! ) this is purely for interest and my scientific enquiring mind.

I read an article on that there new fangled interweb thingy that stated a modern BMW sports bike ( dunno the model sorry ) had a 'Wet riding' mode which seriously limited engine power available if the lean angle went to 41 degrees or over. This seems scarcely credible to me or is it just that yellow streak of self preservation down my back? I have never measured what angles of lean I use ( maybe I will try that for interest ) but I am willing to bet I don't get near 40 degrees in the dry and in a road test I saw in 'Bike' where they were pushing sports bikes to the limit in the dry the max they managed was 51.

Now I am sure that at angles less than 40 in the wet if I were to be dumb enough to grab a handful I could easily break traction but the above seems to imply that with a feathered throttle you could seriously crank it over in the wet!! I appreciate tyres come into this a lot too and you would never want to 'max' it anyway due to spilt fuel / mud / leaves / manhole covers etc etc but I am just interested in your thoughts and what YOU do in the wet.

I don't fancy the old way of learning: 'Find a wet roundabout and go round it faster and faster til you fall off, then don't do that again'

I was lucky enough to have a bit more stud protruding than you have and was able to use a socket type stud extractor that went over the stud.

I recommend whatever method you use that the overnight soak in releasing fluid and the application of heat as already mentioned as well. In my experience you tend to screw things up royally if you don't take them seriously so the more methods you can apply at the same time the better!

I have had some success with the reverse thread stud extractors ( + heat + releasing fluid ) but as mentioned above they are so hardened they are very brittle and break very easily and are a s*d to get out once they have.

Overall +1 on the weld something to it!

Well I renovated my F1 calipers as, basically I had to but had these been available I would have gone for them. The problem with renovating old brake parts is once the bore has corroded beyond a certain level they are essentially scrap and will never work properly again, plus threads are bound to wear, its in their job description a new one HAS to be safer surely? you cant rebore and fit oversize pistons to my knowledge.

I beleive there is a firm that will bore them out and fit stainless sleeves though, no idea how good that is

I am tempted to buy one of these as a spare, if Hairy says they are OK thats good enough for me.

Glad to hear it mate. I'll look out for a green flash on my ride to work! Have to say riding along Southend sea front this morning I was sorely tempted just to keep going for an hour or three ........

Agree with Bryan.

A way to check which it is likely to be is to see when the smoke is at its worst. If it smokes under power but less when you back off it is most likely to be the bores / rings. If its OK under power but smokes on the overrun then its more likely to be valve related.

I would seriously un bung the breather, it is there for a reason. ( by doing so you may find out why P.O. blocked it  ) I don't think it would directly cause smoking but there could be a slight risk of oil frothing if the oil tank becomes pressurised ( no idea if it would as I've never tried it!

Don't have any experience personally Bitsa but it sounds about right. The K&Ns are less restrictive so when the vacuum in the inlet throat calls for more air it gets it more easily. With standard filter / inlet there is bound to be a bit of a lag while the air finds its way through the air box and filter. Would expect slightly more power too.

Only thing to check is the mixture. If more air gets in you may need more fuel to go with it. You could run lean. Am sure others can advise on that.

Probably goes without saying but I would cover the tank with something to catch the ball bearing!