Just come over to 'The Dark Side'

[KirriePete]

New boy in town - swapped my BMW K100 (plus a bit of cash) for a 94 Dommie (gay Turquoise, but I'm sure of my sexuality so I don't care).

Rode it the 50+ miles home from Aberdeen (avoiding the dual carriageway) and walked in with a huge on my face - something that's been sadly missing with the Brick!

I know about the 'drop dead at traffic lights' syndrome and will be tweaking the carb this weekend whilst giving it a routine service (yes, I know about the two oil drain plugs and filling it a litre at a time), so you're spared those particular newbie questions, but ......

It's an import so it has wrong side dip on the headlight and a KMH speedo - any quick fixes or do I open my wallet to Dave Silvers (I've had Hondas before - he's still bookmarked)? Also - the passenger pegs are notable by their absence - any off the shelf jobs do, or is this another call to Suffolk?

Apart from that I'm well chuffed - of course when I attack it with the spanners this weekend I'll probably find more bits to sort, but ain't that always the way?

Hope this is the start of a beautiful relationship.

[Mervinh]

try ebay for the light/speedo or a convertor that you put in between the speedo/speedo drive and cable is another thing you can get for the mph/kmh thing
merv
here at e breakers they have some bits not sure if they are the ones for your bike but maybe worth asking
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/HONDA-DOMINATO...QQcmdZViewItem

[wayne.morris7]

Hiya you who've found the darkside!
Only joined myself recently.. still haven't had the joyous first ride! mot tomorrow after full rebuild (see gallery '91 nx650")
only advice I can give on passenger rears nothing from honda or suzuki I had in my odds and sods box could help me! my originals (or at least they look it) we completely floppy, cable tied up, wobblin about. decided to fit my old suzy sv1000 rider pegs instead, but need to do serious engineering work to make this happen though - I don't think I've binned the "oiginals" yet , bottom of a junk bag. do you want them? if so send address via private meesage and they are yours.

[KirriePete]

Photos have been uploaded for the curious, now for my first ride impressions:

Ride home from Aberdeen doesn't count - it was dark, damp & windy and I was on a strange bike just wanting to get home so I could apologise to the wife (it's easier to get forgiveness for buying another bike than it is to get permission to do it!).

Love it! Grab the little so-and-so by the scruff of the neck, keep the revs up (5-6000 sounds nice) and get yer weight over the front, she just cries out for more! Bad points - seat isn't as plush as it could be (ar*e softened by a year riding a BMW K100), I still feel like I'm toppling off a ladder at every bend and the feedback from the tyres is not too good (Dunlop Trailmax 90/90 up the pointy end, Mich Anakee 130/80 at the rear).

Let's start the perennial favourite argument - best tyres for 90%+ road use? From other threads it seems that Conti and Avon share the honours for grip and wear rates - how about feel?

Other than those points (nit-picking really) it's a big .

Thanks for the welcome chaps (and chapesses?), I think I'm gonna like it here.

[Richard Ludwell]

Hi KirriePete, just read your post, I'm not trying to tell you what to do but don't forget that you have three filters oil on the dommie. The paper filter on the right side of crankcase, the oil screen filter in the front down tube & the flat screen filter inside the right crankcase cover under the oil pump, the later only needs cleaning about every 12000 miles. Re tyres I use Michelin Anakee 19x19x21 & 130x80x17, I find them excellent on road either wet or dry, don't go off road too old for that, I've been told that Bridgestone TW41 & TW42 are a very good all round tyre. Yes one can have a hell of a lot of fun on a dommie with out loosing your licence

Cheers & I hope I have'nt tried to teach you to suck eggs.
Best wishes Richard.

[samwise]

Welcome to the forum, KP

I actually liked the bog standard Bridgestone TW41/TW42 combination on my old Dommie - gripped well wet or dry on the tarmac. Never found out the life length of them though.

[Scott]

Welcome fella.

You're in the right place for good advice.
There are seriously knowledgeable chaps on here.

I have always used Avon Distanzia's...I like them, good in the wet great in the dry. I only ever ride on the road so they suit me fine.
I think I'll be even more confident with them since up until now (almost two years) I've been running them seriously under inflated...doh!

Enjoy.

[JohnR]

Hi KirriePete,

Back to your original question about lights and speedo; my Ta is a Spanish import with the same arrangement. The first time I took it for MOT the man just stuck a strip of tape on the lens and gave me the certificate. He used black, so I changed it to silver gaffer tape so it doesn't show quite so bad.

The Km clock is a bit of a bugger. I spent lots of years on the continent and could convert Km to miles and back with no problem. When I got this one I found that I was doing a calculation every time I looked at the clock. So I cut tiny pieces of tape and stuck them on the clock from 30 to 80 in tens, now I've stopped working it out all the time. It's been through the MOT twice like that so there must be no problem with it.

[Rubberchicken]

Re: tyres.

Dunno much about the dunlop, but anakees are very good grippers both rain and shine. I've had them on a few times, and can't say I need more grip. (Scraping pegs? BTDT.)

If the dunlop feels less than spectacular in the grip department you might consider replacing the front for an anakee. Having a grippier rear than front is a bad place to be, rear slides are far easier to catch than front ones.

[KirriePete]

Thanks for the warm welcome all.

Richard - yeah I figured out the extra strainers in the oil circuit, don't worry about 'granny egg sucking' issues - it's always safest to assume the other guy knows nothing, if it's true he'll learn, if he already knows he can skip bits.

RC - I'm prepared to give the Dunlop a few chances while I sort out a riding style and tweak the pressures to suit me, but what you say is right "Front grip/rear slip = OK, vice versa = bad" - but front grip/rear grip = best! If this winter gets a bit white I may just slap on Conti knobblies and see what happens - I live in the Angus hills (Scotland) and it's not uncommon to get 3 FEET of snow at times - could be fun on the Dommie!


JohnR - wrong side dip, yeah I can tape up the lens but as the dip is pretty weedy I'd rather get a UK spec headlight for maximum output. As for the speedo, I've got an adapter gearbox on order so it will read MPH and the trip meter will count up miles from now on - I'm too old to start guessing my fuel from Km travelled, it's bad enough in blimmin' litres!

Righto - that's me for tonight - thanks one and all. Goodnight, and may your god go with you (Dave Allen - much missed)