Journal Entries
No more Virago
Posted Nov 11, 2004
Hey, guess what? After all that whinging, I finally passed my car driving test 2 years ago and got a car. I'm now on my 3rd car, and while I can't afford a top notch motor, they've all been more reliable than the Virago, which I have recently sold to a friend whose wife has always wanted one. 
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Latest reply: Nov 11, 2004
Stuff.
Posted Jan 24, 2002
hmm. After much removing, cleaning and replacing of parts, the problem turned out to be that the ignition coils were covered in mud. Yamaha had cunningly decided to put them just behind the horn - optimum position for catching everything the front wheel can throw up. Given that I work out in the countryside (Frolesworth) and have a 10 mile commute from the city (Leicester. And yes I know I'm doing a back-to-front commute), that's quite a lot of mud, horse dung, salt, grit, diesel etc.
Oh well, that's all been cleaned, and now that she's had a new bit of wire spliced in to the ignition switch, she runs like a dream. A tad rusty though..I think on the whole I shall be keeping this bike, I know her so well now. And she has character, and a name, and I'll never get the money back that I've spent on her...
In the meantime, I'm buying a house with my partner. Looks like we might manage to get a mortgage, which will be a new and exciting thing for me, although I'm very nervous. And I guess the next thing to do will be to do the legal thing and tie everything up financially so that my partner is registered as next of kin. It'd be a lot easier to just get married, but unfortunately it's slightly illegal as we're both women. Bit of a drawback. Something I never thought about until I fell in love with my partner. I didn't understand why anyone should get so het up about not being able to get married. Or have kids by the person they loved. I understand now though. When I think about it, it actually physically hurts, like I've been thumped in the stomach.
Discuss this Journal entry [2]
Latest reply: Jan 24, 2002
Stuff.
Posted Jan 24, 2002
hmm. After much removing, cleaning and replacing of parts, the problem turned out to be that the ignition coils were covered in mud. Yamaha had cunningly decided to put them just behind the horn - optimum position for catching everything the front wheel can throw up. Given that I work out in the countryside (Frolesworth) and have a 10 mile commute from the city (Leicester. And yes I know I'm doing a back-to-front commute), that's quite a lot of mud, horse dung, salt, grit, diesel etc.
Oh well, that's all been cleaned, and now that she's had a new bit of wire spliced in to the ignition switch, she runs like a dream. A tad rusty though..I think on the whole I shall be keeping this bike, I know her so well now. And she has character, and a name, and I'll never get the money back that I've spent on her...
In the meantime, I'm buying a house with my partner. Looks like we might manage to get a mortgage, which will be a new and exciting thing for me, although I'm very nervous. And I guess the next thing to do will be to do the legal thing and tie everything up financially so that my partenr is registered as next of kin. It'd be a lot easier to get married, but unfortunately it's slightly illegal as we're both women. Bit of a drawback. Something I never thought about until I fell in love with my partner. I didn't understand why anyone should get so het up about not being able to get married. Or have kids by the person they loved.
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Latest reply: Jan 24, 2002
More on the @***!! Virago
Posted Jan 7, 2002
Ok, she got me back from work on the 21st of December on 1 cylinder, in the rain, which was a mildly traumatic experience. Went to mechanic's on the 3rd - he had to pick her up as she wouldn't start. He couldn't find anything in particular wrong but got her running OK so I picked her up at the weekend, she seemed OK. But would she start this morning? Oh no. Well, actually she would, but only after a battle, and then she kept cutting out. So it's back to the doctor's for the bike and cadging lifts to work for me for a few days. If anyone can recommend a bike which runs all year round in all weather without rotting to pieces, let me know!! Oh, and Happy New Year to anyone who happens across this...
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Latest reply: Jan 7, 2002
Yamaha XV535 Virago - fantastic bikes until everything goes wrong...!
Posted Dec 21, 2001
I dearly love my 1990 flat bar Yamaha XV535 Virago. She's even got a name - Ceridwen (Cez for short). She's metallic blue, with shiny (ish) after market slash cut exhausts, a Renntec sissy bar/rack and tidy paintwork. Even though I had to have a restriction kit fitted when I bought her in May, she's been known to zoom around at quite a speed. And she runs and handles beautifully. Or she did, anyway - until last month. In the last 7 weeks, she's been serviced, broken down, been recovered by the RAC (eventually - took 6 hours for me to get home ..), had an electrician called out, had a new fuel pump fitted, spent the day with a mechanic, had a new set of spark plugs (which have since been cleaned twice). She backfires, misfires, skips firing on the front cylinder at all, has a dodgy spring in the rear carb, a hole in the carb balancing pipe, knackered fork springs, a slightly leaky gasket and piston ring (both front cylinder again). Today is the last day for a couple of weeks thatI have to cajole her into getting me home (she got me to work OK this morning, once she'd coughed a bit). On the 3rd she's going to see an engineer who will hopefully give me back a bike that starts, runs and handles. Oh, and stops - I forgot to mention that my brake pads are wearing a little thin.
The thing is, though - I have absolutely no desire at all to swap her for a newer or more reliable model. I just want her to be well again. I do, however, think I need to locate her forehead and paint on a little curl, right in the middle...
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Latest reply: Dec 21, 2001
Snorri
Researcher U161802
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