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Vicenza, Italy to south London on a 650 Africa Twin. Took about 16 hours including Channel Tunnel crossing. Total mileage 985; perhaps I should have stayed a couple more junctions on the M25 to bump it up to the round 1000, but TBH I was more than happy to get home, more 'cos of sore backside...

Agree with all that's been said here but, if anyone thinks the clunking is that bad, try a BMW Oilhead boxer... I sold my 1100RT basically 'cos the 1st to 2nd shift, up and down, was so poor. The FZ6 is a peach by comparison.

Antime I am riding into low sunshine I find a good percentage of drivers decide it's a good time to give the windscreen a wash. I doubt they bother to check anyone is behind before doing it; I know I don't when I am driving. In these conditions especially I make sure not to be directly behind...

Do I wave to them. No; there are far too many in London, they make a horrible whining noise and the small ones get in the way when I am on my pushbike. Besides, I tried to ride a maxi scooter recently and every time I came to a halt I locked the back wheel...

I'm fairly new to the FZ6 but here goes: A: no idea; I have never bothered to use it although I guess it could be useful if you are wondering whether there might be ice around. B:It's slightly confusing, but when you have one bar left on the gauge, you really have two 'cos when there are...

If the problem is simply the headbearing locknut coming loose, then it is not being done up tight enough. The design is the same as for pretty much any Japanese head bearing and is reliable. You will need something like 100Nm. Another possibility is that the washer under the nut is missing, but...

Plus one on the above. There is some evidence that a motor with carbs is more economical than a comparable motor with FI; seems to be the case with the various models of Fireblade and R1 for example, going by reports. On the other hand, modern injection systems seem to be completely reliable in...

I reckon if you are very slick it works fine and probably does no harm at all. I know plenty of people who do it a lot. Get it wrong and you may damage shift forks or engagement dogs. I used to do it all the time off-road to save forearm pump, but prefer to use the clutch when shifting on my...

You must get very good at going around right-hand bends... There's a great 270deg left-hander coming off the M25/M26 eastbound onto the A21 southbound where you can practice leaning the other way.

Fuel supply generally runs low before the tank of a carbed bike will get to the point of collapse. Maybe the pump of an injected engine can keep pulling fuel even with a substantial vacuum in the tank? 14psi over the surface area of a bike gas tank adds up to a lot of pressure...

Tyre looks fine to me. The cut has not gone through the tread, no carcass visible, so the integrity of the tyre won't have been compromised. You even got yourself a bit more tread pattern. Hard to say if the track stewards will see it that way...

Use indicators to indicate in good time to other road users what you intend to do, assuming it is safe to do so. Ie., no need to indicate when there is no one around, no point if you have left it so late that indicating will make no difference to the outcome...

520 chain is narrower than 530 with the same pitch and will take less load. 530 is better unless you have a very good reason to go for the narrower chain eg. better choice of sprocket size.

Plus one on what people have said but would add that the main component of drivetrain lash is the space between the engagement dogs on the gears. You need this for reliable gear engagement... Next biggest culprit is chain slack.

As far as I can tell they all use a 530 chain. The two measurements are simply given over different link counts. If so, then they can't both be right and the measurement quoted for the 2004/5 chain must be incorrect - probably a misprint. Max permissible 'stretch' for a roller chain is normally...

Age 48, past-it racing cyclist, motorcycle riding 25 years, eight years as London despatch rider, more than 750,000 miles ridden, FZ6-S about bike no. 40, previous mounts include BMW 1100RT; Kawa GPZ900R, Z1000R, 2x GPZ500S, KMX200; Honda Africa Twin, 2x Transalp, 650Bros, XR600, XL185S; Suzuki...

If you mean the side plates, then it's what happens when you remove the protective coating of grease or lube that stops them rusting. To prevent rust forming, squirt some lube into a rag and rub it on the side plates whenever you really clean the chain.

All you have to do going down a mountain on a pushbike is let your brakes off. Road racing gears don't reach much above 50mph.

I used to race bicycles and find the experience of riding a motorcyle a real advantage when it comes to high-speed descending on them. I once overtook two 600cc sportsbikes while descending the top slopes of the Passo Manghen in the Dolomites, which are about 18% gradient and very twisty. Max...

First post on this forum so hello from me. If anything, I use the back brake more on the road than offroad. It gets used on its own when filtering and riding very slowly 'cos it gives better fine control over steering at very slow speeds. It almost always supplements the front when riding...