Commuting on the falco - bad idea?

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herbacious · #1 Post by **herbacious** » Wed Jan 05, 2011 11:52 pm

My usual commuter bike has basically given up the ghost...

I know its going to fail its next MOT and now starting it up after being standing over the xmas break, it is running really badly with the revs bouncing all over the place, the tacho needle literally bouncing as what sounds like the electrics cutting in and out quickly.. unrideable.

any ideas what that might be?

Anyway.. I'm now commuter bikeless so I face the option of getting this one fixed (which I don't think will be worth the cash), selling it for whatever I can get and buying a new commuter - though the bottom of the second hand market is looking pretty expensive right now..

OR the other option is I stop being precious about the Falco and just start commuting on that. But if I do and it gets destroyed for summer I will be enormously gutted.

What do you think?

Just to clarify, I won't be washing it on a regular basis as its just not feasible.

#2 Post by **Kwackerz** » Thu Jan 06, 2011 12:03 am

whats the usual commuter bike?

D-Rider · #3 Post by **D-Rider** » Thu Jan 06, 2011 12:17 am

I commute on mine

herbacious · #4 Post by **herbacious** » Thu Jan 06, 2011 12:18 am

one of these

http://www.ukbike.com/Triumph_Trident_T ... SN4889084/

though that price is a laugh unless I have been abusing some kind of classic bike by accident?

its got over 46k on the clock, terminally leaky forks, brakes that won't survive the next rebuild and now a really badly running engine

its done me proud for a few years tho

herbacious · #5 Post by **herbacious** » Thu Jan 06, 2011 12:18 am

D-Rider wrote:I commute on mine

how often do you wash it?

Aladinsaneuk · #6 Post by **Aladinsaneuk** » Thu Jan 06, 2011 7:57 am

treat yourself to some of nooj's love juice... well worth the 60 quid or what ever it is....

(I will be redoing mine this year!)

also - perhaps worth while getting the trumpet MOT'd then fixing what is wrong with it - probably would not cost that much in real terms compared to getting a new hack.... especially if the large amount of the work can be done by yourself.

(Re the engine - I would go over all the electrical connectors around the engine - seem to recall that a friends daytona did something similar and it turned out to be some loose leads....)

LEEMAN · #7 Post by **LEEMAN** » Thu Jan 06, 2011 9:18 am

I too am a commuter on mine, probably like D Rider a winter user too.

D-Rider · #8 Post by **D-Rider** » Thu Jan 06, 2011 9:42 am

herbacious wrote:
D-Rider wrote:I commute on mine
how often do you wash it?

3 or 4 times per year

damci · #9 Post by **damci** » Thu Jan 06, 2011 11:01 am

I use mine to commute on over the spring and summer months. It saves me a fair amount of money in parking as I get free underground bike parking at my work.

When the weather is good I will generally clean her after every ride using Mer fast detailer and at the weekend I wash and polish her. Although when the weather is crap I don’t usually bother and will wait for the next spell of decent weather before cleaning her again.

Firestarter · #10 Post by **Firestarter** » Thu Jan 06, 2011 12:37 pm

Used to commute about 11.5 months/year on mine (till the little'un came along and I'm now consigned to the cage), bike got washed every couple of weeks. Used Scottoiler FS-365 spray (think that's the number) as a corrosion inhibitor, not as effective as Nooj's gunk but no problems on mine for corrosion in 3 years of regular use.

The Falco's comfortable, good in the cold & wet, and takes the small bits of luggage for carting clothing, lunch etc to work. And great fun on the brighter, drier days when you're "forced" to take the long way home

herbacious · #11 Post by **herbacious** » Thu Jan 06, 2011 6:04 pm

thanks for the tips everyone

spoken to the local (cheap) bike mechanic and hes confident he can fix it for money thats worth it

gonna take it over to him tomorrow

woodbutcher · #12 Post by **woodbutcher** » Thu Jan 06, 2011 7:12 pm

Sounds like a coil on the way out, they are renowned for it had one go on the daytona 1000,from what i was told from the mechanic that sorted mine is that the tacho runs off one of the coils,cant remember whether he said it was number 1 cylinder. Triumph sprint was my first bike, had it for 3 years the only thing it seemed to go through was speedo cables

k1w1boy · #13 Post by **k1w1boy** » Thu Jan 06, 2011 10:52 pm

...last 3 years never had the rhyme (cash) or reason to have a 2nd bike. falco is tatty, but like the energizer bunny (especially since my yuasa 14cca battery) keeps goin and goin and goin and...

herbacious · #14 Post by **herbacious** » Thu Jan 13, 2011 4:26 pm

I got the triumph pretty much for free.. was a non runner that needed a few bits from the breakers to get it going again.. cost about £300 or so. Since then its done something like 20,000 miles!

i spent what was to me a fair old bit of cash on the falco so its important to me that it keeps as much value as it can and generally stays nice

that said, the triumph is with the mechanic at the mo and its rained plenty recently so im thinking the roads are fairly clean so i've been riding the falco in the last couple of days..

started on the button, sounds great, god damn i love this bike :)

woodbutcher · #15 Post by **woodbutcher** » Sun Jan 30, 2011 9:14 am

Have you got the trumpet back yet herby?