r/motorcycles

Hi.
I went to buy m motorcycle but oil looks like this. I am not sure, is it mixed with water or coolant?

please wish me good luck

I passed the MSF and got my motorcycle license 20 years ago. Since then, I have likely ridden 100,000 street miles and 25,000 track miles.

Three years ago, I met my soon to be wife. After being together a few months, she said she wanted to get her motorcycle license. So in Sept 2023 she took and passed the MSF. Since then, she has owned several bikes, done about 10,000 street miles and two dozen track days. All good, right? Not quite.

A month ago I asked to see her drivers license and noticed she didn’t have an “M” endorsement. I asked her why, she had no idea. I asked if she took her MSF completion certificate to the DMV in 2023 and she looked at me funny. “Wait, I needed to do that?” Uh oh. The certificate is only good for 2 years. She is technically not licensed and had to take the course again.

Being the good husband, I took the course with her. It was actually a lot of fun to ride with the brand new students and provide some advice on riding, bikes, gear, etc. Would have been slightly embarrassing if had dumped the bike and not passed.

9 months with this beauty, I just wanted to share cuz I couldn't keep it to myself. Post yalls bikes too, id love to hear y'all speak about them.

I own a 2021 Aprilia Rs 660 since new, I've had my fair of issues with the engine (it was replaced under warranty 3 years ago at 11k km) as well as having a few cam chain tensioners replaced before that engine swap.

And with time I came to learn that the Aprilia dealer service consistently overfills the oil from the updated service manual suggested 2,3L instead to 2,7L as it wrongly said the original release one. This was corrected by Aprilia in an official statement, but it seems it doesn't get through to mechanics.

I noticed when I checked the invoice and it was stated the amount that was used, I asked for it as I'm aware of that change. They simply said theirs still says to use 2,7.

I went home and did a hot oil check, as at ambient temp dipstick showed and okay amount and I didn't feel fine with forcing them to fix it, but when you check as the owner manual says, at operating temperature, letting the oil rest 5 minutes after use so it settles down and without screwing the stick while keeping the bike upright properly (not on the stand) it goes all the way up to the black line.

I'm going to drain around 300ml so it goes down to at least 2,4L and check again to see where it's sitting using a plastic tube and a big 60ml syringe that I used to use to mix 2 stroke oil with the fuel, but this pisses me off and I'd like people to not have to go through this, or worse yet, damage your bike as overfilled oil is pretty risky.

Famously cam chain tensioners, which are hydraulic oil operated, died a lot back when they didn't correct the oil amount, and engine issues too where they broke catastrophically were somewhat recurring. I'll let you do the judging.

Cheers...

I have a 1400 km trip planned this weekend with my dad.

Just switched exhaust to a new one and I see what looks like a small crack in the weld in the header.

Can I still ride with this?
Is there a temporary fix I can use for the weekend?

Thanks

What do y'all think bout it? I am 19 and finally saved up for it

I have a BMW R nineT, with me all kitted up and all the shit I put on it totals about 630 pounds.

My wife and I went grocery shopping for some last minute ingredients and all together, kits and groceries, we all come in somewhere north of 850.

Edit - her gear and the groceries were 70 pounds, I don’t know her weight but she’s only got like 40 pounds on me, and it’s in all the right places. Weird that I feel like I have to put it out there that way

We’ve gotten on together probably 100 times over the years, and this bike has been way easier to keep upright than my little 310 was, so I thought maybe the extra weight was absorbing some of the tilt from when she’s been getting on.

Turns out she’s been managing her balance and being super careful because I’m skinny as hell and she thinks she’s fat in comparison - I don’t think this, I know I’m nearing “unhealthy” levels of skinny and my dictionary on proper weights of people is all kinds of biased so I have no opinions on where others should be.

Today she felt like testing a theory, seeing “how lax she could be about swinging her leg over” and we tumbled pretty hard.

For my part in this I asked “what was that” pretty incredulously, feel like a bit of an ass for that, and I’ll figure out how to smooth that over with her over dinner.

Is there a particular way your partners get on the back? I fee like at 850 pounds it’s more about balance than strength or weight but me being so skinny, I’m not a reliable source of info for her in this particular situation.

Edit: lots of great ideas to keep my noodle ass from being the weak link, these are great

Also loving the stories, there are literally dozens of us

Yesterday I finally did my long-planned tour through the Jura in absolutely perfect weather ☀️

Started at Lake Neuchâtel, with an incredible view of Mont Blanc, rode over hills, through forests and along the Doubs and ended the day with a glass of white wine and some fried carp 🍷🐟

It turned out to be a really beautiful day. Just, as so often, I was on my own. Experiences like this would be even better shared with someone.

About a 4-inch clearance. Couldn’t even get fully upright!

Only a few inches more on the other side against a bike that had also been there all day. Not sure how they managed to get in there, but I’m happy for them they did. Never would have solved the paint issue otherwise.