ZX7R

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Bought this black and polished ally 1996 ZX7R off a friend for not a lot of money and it’s been great. It looks good, sounds good and goes good..

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Just recently it’s been a pig to start, so checked the forums and the fuel pump is a weak spot. Seemed to fit the bill, so took it out today, and tested it. It pulsed once and stopped. Took it apart, cleaned it up, tweaked it a bit, added a spark suppressing capacitor, reassembled, replaced, and tested ok. Started ok (once the carbs had been filled), so that’s a ride tomorrow! 😉

Oh, following a car/bike close encounter that ripped the right front indicator off I checked that out and found that the power wires had been ripped off the LED PCB, so a bit of creative soldering had that working again. Reassembled that tonight as well, so I can now go and tell oncoming traffic where I’m going as well! It’s only getting better!!

Fuel pump contacts
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Test ride Nr1. went very well today, I must say. Pity that there are so many awful drivers around though. Got so annoyed I even pipped my horn at one silly woman who thought that, even though the roundabout was empty it would be a good idea to stop for a while to double and triple check just in case even though everyone in front of her had just gone round without stopping. Nearly drove into her boot. 🙁

And then…. a carb flooded. Bought a carb repair kit (4 off), dismantled, replaced needle valves, checked float heights, cleaned with carb spray cleaner, reassembled. And no more flooding. Hooray!

And then…. I adjusted the cam chain because it was making a pulsing sound. Awkward, but seemed to go ok.

And then…. it wouldn’t start. And it wouldn’t start. Cough splitter, but no start. Checked all wiring. Checked fuel flow. Overhauled carbs again. Still not working. Refreshed the fuel. No change. Forum advice – check airscrew turns. Adjusted. No change. Blocked off a tube linking inner and outer sync holes in inlets. No change. Carbs off again. Checked again. All seemed ok. Forum advice – check pilot jets. YES – they were blocked! Cleaned out with bristle. Reassembled. Fired up and ran ok!! Phew, what a palaver. Seems modern fuels very keen on leaving deposits if allowed to evaporate.

All else checked and topped up, tyres pumped up and an MoT test passed. Great, now for a little riding before autumn hits home.

 

Me

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I’m UK British, born in London, raised in Maidstone and now live in Broadstairs, Kent, have two grown up sons and two grandsons.  I am very happily married to Jane, who has three boys from previous marriages and we’re now one big, happy family.

I trained as an electronic design engineer at Chelsea College, University of London, then worked at GEC Avionics in Rochester, where I moved into IT, worked at Pfizer Central Research in Sandwich, moved into academia IT by working at Folkestone Academy, finishing my money earning career doing IT stuff at Canterbury Cathedral (great fun)  and now very happily retired – hooray!!  A reasonably varied career, I think.

I’ve been a keen Apple fan since day one and, although not a perfect company, I do feel that I understand where they’re coming from and respect their ethos – they really do steer the whole IT world (especially consumer end) in the right direction.  I still cannot understand those that struggle with Windows and say they like it – probably just masochists.  MS do some good server operating systems, although again their admin through the Windows interface is as atrocious as ever.

I really enjoy motorcycling (riding, touring, mending, off-road, sports, trails and trials riding) and I’m now focussing on trail riding.  I started the Kent TRF with my old mate Steve Neville and now sort of run the East Kent branch.  I’ve recently bought a Mazda MX-5 (a sort-of Goldwing replacement) and we’ll be doing a EuroTour later this year (2019) with some friends of ours (in their MX-5) – should be good fun!

I think that’ll do as a synopsis.  🙂

Here I Go!

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WordPress blog. What’s this about? Learning about this to advise others and maybe use it myself. Suck it and see is where I’m at for now…

First, how easy is it to use? Secondly, how private or public can it be? Are entries by default public! Do friends and family have to be invited? Do they need WordPress accounts? Let’s find out…..