5th gear

[YEN_POWELL]

It's been very quiet on here for a long time so I've decided to bring out my emergency topic of conversation.

I've had two Africa Twins and on both I've missed 5th gear on many occasions resulting in that sinking feeling you get when your valves accelerate faster than a sad racy type towards next year's bike. I now usually concentrate hard when changing up and then after it's gone into 5th, I do it again just to make sure(like trying for 6th).

What I want to know is how common is this, do you suffer from "5th gear fear". Or is it my sloppy gear changing? Answers on an email please!

Motor

[SteveLee]

Not so much with 5th gear but sometimes I shift up and it seems to jump back down to the previous gear hsortly afterwards. This has improved as the miles have gone on (10k) and also since I started wearing motocross style boots!

Steve

[YEN_POWELL]

Sounds like yours carries on down to fourth unlike mine which is too lazy to bother. My current AT was iffy in 5th when I got it new and I thought it might improve with mileage. Mega miles later and it's just the same. In it's defence I have to say that when my clutch cable snapped I rode 40 miles home doing only clutchless changes up and down and it never misbehaved once.

Must be my sloppy clutch control......

MOT on Saturday, with a dubious condition front tyre and the tyre dealer handing me the wrong tyre yesterday(which they made me pay for before ordering). They've promised to have the correct one by this afternoon, if not, it'll be flashing my tyre receipt and begging time.

Motor

[johnadams]

Has anybody tried off road tyres on their ATs other than Deserts? You cant get 17 inch Deserts any more and I want a tyre which I can do gentle green lanes but not be completely lethal on the road.

[YEN_POWELL]

Pirelli MT21 or Continental TKC80. I would think the Continental would last longer.

[johnadams]

Ordered a pair of Contis as advised. £130 the pair. Good write ups in a test of a GS. I will express an opinion after my first off road foray to you all. Just getting used to my bike now. Do they all feel a bit lumpy below about 2000 rpm? Can anyone offer advice on setting the head light beams? Mine got knocked out of skew in the crash. Lastly, anybody got a centre stand for a 99 bike they wish to part with?

[YEN_POWELL]

Get your bike on a level surface about 20 feet from a wall and set the high beams to be the same height on the wall as the headlights themselves are off the ground. Centrestands are on the Dave Silver site for about £70 at the moment. Bet you had a struggle getting the continentals on the rear wheel.