G’DAY, AND WELCOME TO THIS, THE NEW ISSUE OF BSH!
So the first few events of the season’re now under our collective belts, and I don’t know about you, but it feels so good to be back out there again in the biker world. Yeah, I know there were a few events (okay, quite a few actually) during the latter part of last year, but they felt a little removed, kind o’ distant, as we were all still a little wary of each other because of Covid – now, though, the first few of 2022’ve kind o’ given everyone I’ve spoken to a sort of warm, fuzzy feeling to be back amongst our sort.
At the NABD’s You’ve Been Nabbed Rally, for example, which’s the first big one of the year for many, I lost track of the number of folk, including uber-compere, Mr Rick Hulse, who were almost emotional about being back within our brethren. Everyone was smiley and happy, and pleased to see the people you may only see a few times a year but, over the years, have become genuine friends – you know how it is, I’m sure; people who, although you may only bump into them once or twice a season, it’s like you only saw them the day before yesterday. It’s funny really; I’m a wee bit cynical when it comes to concepts like brotherhood, and biker fraternity, but the first few events of this year’ve been just some of the best I’ve been to because those feelings, brotherhood and fraternity, have been like an all-enveloping blanket, a hug almost. It’s kind o’ weird, but in a good way, y’know?
There is, it seems, still some confusion about which bikes can use the new blends of fuel, and it can be a little confusing because, basically, fuel manufacturers didn’t really take us two (and three)-wheeled individuals into account when they started adding shi… sorry, sorry, ethanol into petrol to oxygenate said petrol to reduce air pollution.
It’s always best, if you’re in any doubt as to whether your bike or trike can run on E10, or needs the more expensive E5 (basically, Super Unleaded), to check with either the manufacturer via their website or www.gov.uk/check-vehicle-e10-petrol
For example, for Suzuki motorcycles it says ‘2002 model years and onwards – all motorcycles can use E10 with no problems. 1992-2001 model years – some models can use E10 fuels, and some models cannot. The user should contact their national importer for clarification. 1991 model years and earlier – RON 98 (no bio-fuel content) E5 must be used’, and for Harley-Davidsons, ‘All Harley-Davidson models from model year 1980 are compatible with E10 fuel. All models before this model year should use RON 98 E5 fuel.’ A basic rule-of-thumb I was told a while back by someone far more learned in these things than I am is this: if you’re at all concerned, then think about it like this – if your bike has fuel-injection, then it can use E10, if it has carbs, use E5.
Probably more importantly, whichever fuel you’re using, E5 or E10, especially in carbed bikes, if you’re going to park your bike up for more than three weeks without starting it, drain your carbs before you do so (how you do it’s up to you – I turn the fuel tap to the ‘off’ position, and run the motor ‘til it dies) ‘cos the new fuels seem to have a detrimental effect on their internals (and they’re not that nice to the gnomes I told you about last month either). You’ve seen those adverts on Facebook Marketplace that say ‘carbs need cleaning’? Guess what causes that?
Afore I go, I thought I’d explain to you, in a kind of a BSH public service kind of a way, what some common engineering terms mean. A lot of you’ll already know them, but for those of you that don’t…
Percussive maintenance – I hit it with an ‘ammer an’ it started working again Cycle power to the panel – Switch it off an’ switch it back on again
High impedance air-gap – I forgot to plug it in
Organic grounding – It electrocuted me
Terminally reconfigured – It melted
Kinetic disassembly – It blew up
Thermal shock – it caught fire
Don’t say you don’t learn anything from this magazine, eh? See you next month!