hi wise guys,
just got my first bike in august and the back light’s gone - not the brake light the standard one.
how does one go about sorting this out?
what bike it is ? on some you get to the bulb holder by opening the seat, on others you need to take the lens off to access the bulb…
most prob be a double filament bulb, i.e. brake light and rear 1 for 1 bulb, i may be wrong though, lol.
wot bike?
fazer 98, i can see frrom the bottom that there are 2 bulbs, i will check the manual for instructions,
but even if there are instructions it might be too “advanced” an operation for me since i’ve never done any motorcycle maintenance ever. i’ve lubed my chain grossly, and sprayed wd40 into the ignition , that’s it.
so i have no idea 1-where to get a spare 2-if it’s doable myself.
main problem being i have no tools whatsoever so i’m guessing i have to find somebody to help.
i’m quite worried about being pulled over because of this at night. with no back light and in need of a new back tyre i may be liable to a fine i just can’t afford right now!
ok might as well chuck a few more q’s in:
how do you notice when brake pads are worn?
how long do you warm your bike before setting off?
how long is too long to be holding the clutch in?
i ride daily but only in central (im a prisoner of the 30mph limit) doing less than 100 miles a week - how often check tyre pressure?
ok so brake/tail light bulb type : 12v 21w/5w x2 … why are there 2 wattages? two filaments per bulb ? 5 for tail 21 for brake?
thx for replying guys!!
When they’re below minimum spec, normally 2mm, or you feel they need changing. Some brake pads have a wear line in the middle, if you pop the pads out you can see if you’re past the line yet.
Long enough to get my helmet and gloves on.
Doesn’t make any difference unless your cable snaps…
Weekly, I’d say, unless you’ve ridden over a nail and the bike feels funny in which case probably right now.
Most likely yes, easiest will be pop the lens off take out the bulbs, see which one is broken and take it into halfords with you. Take the tools (one screwdriver) to put the lens back on in halfords car park.
take your seat off and look in the tail section you should be able to get to the bulbs from there, then invest in a Haynes manual for ya bike…get a second hand one from fleabay
For your own safety on the road (& those around you) it sounds like you really need to learn at least some very basic bike maintenance skills in order to do the normal checks, suggest you check out the OMC eg.
http://londonbikers.com/forums/869124/omc-basic-maintenace-training?Keywords=omc#bm873841
Definitely read your manual so that you understand what you should check to keep your bike and yourself in good health - if you don’t have it you can probably download it off a fazer forum or suchlike.
Buy your models Haynes manual - it has a list of basic maintenance checks and tells you what to do if you have to do basic suff like top up oil/coolant etc.
Checking brakes - some pads have a diagonal slot cut into them - when the slot runs out you need to replace the pads.
If not then just take a look at the pads - if the friction material (the bit that touches the discs) is getting too close to metal (the part of the pad the friction material is stuck onto) then change them. If you wear your brake pads down to the metal not only is this dangerous you will also have to replace your discs and they aren’t cheap.
As for warming it up - depends how paranoid/anal you are - a lot of handbooks say let the bike run (usually on choke) until the needle on the temp gauge lifts clear of the ‘cold’ section - just let it run for a minute or two on choke, set off (don’t ride on choke) and keep the revs down for a few miles until the oil has had a chance to warm up and circulate properly. Don’t thrash it from cold.
Changing the taillights on a Fazer is dead easy! 
Remove the seat, pull out the tool kit from behind the rubber flap and you will see two bulb holders. There are two lights, to remove, a half turn to the left and it pops out. replace the bulb and stick the holder back in, a half trun to the right and it clicks in place. Don’t forget to put the tool kit back!
will be able to get bulbs from any petrol stationa and halfords, even if got 2 bulbs still maybe 2 double filament bulbs or 1 brake and 1 rear light, take said offending bulb out and you will see if its a double filament or single.
with brake pads just shine a torch in at em and you should see how much wear you have left on them, good idea to know wot a new 1’s thickness looks like b4 though, lol
where you based?
Are you sure you should be allowed out on your own?
See Pat’s post above ^^
sounds like you need to come down and do our basic maintenance and inspection course fella…
Oval motorcycle centre.
How many __________ does it take to change a lightbulb…
…so goes the old joke
How many London bikers does it take to change a lightbulb?
1 to change the light bulb and to post that the light bulb has been changed
14 to share similar experiences of changing light bulbs and post how the light bulb could have been changed differently
7 to post caution about the dangers of changing light bulbs
6 to post arguements over whether it’s “lightbulb” or “light bulb” …
another 6 to condemn those 6 posts as stupid
2 industry professionals to inform the group that the proper term is “lamp”
15 know-it-alls who claim they were in the industry, and that “light bulb” is perfectly correct
19 to post that this forum is not about light bulbs and to please take this discussion to a light bulb forum
11 to defend the posting to this forum saying that we all use light bulbs and therefore the posts are relevant to this forum
36 to debate which method of changing light bulbs is superior, where to buy the best light bulbs, what brand of light bulbs work best for this technique and what brands are faulty
5 People to post pics of their own light bulbs
15 People to post “I can’t see S$%^!” and their own light bulbs
7 to post URL’s where one can see examples of different light bulbs
4 to post that the URL’s were posted incorrectly and then post the corrected URL’s
13 to link all posts to date, quote them in their entirety including all headers and signatures, and add “Me too”
5 to post to the group that they will no longer post because they cannot handle the light bulb controversy
4 to say “didn’t we go through this already a short time ago?”
13 to say “do a search on light bulbs before posting questions about light bulbs”
1 to bring politics into the discussion by adding that Labours “Brown”. isn’t the brightest bulb.
4 more to get into personal attacks over their political views.
1 moderator to lock the light bulb thread.
1 forum lurker to respond to the original post 6 months from now and start it all over again. -->
PMSL :laugh: :laugh:
probably the only thing i can do correctly without supervision on my bike is to change bulbs 
Thanks all for the replies!
i’ve been without internet and my phone (N8) won’t allow me to respond, just to view so sorry if it didn’t feel so but all your contributions were greatly appreciated!
numnum had me laughing
i been down to Oval and problem sorted! indeed it was much easier than expected
i am booked for -zen- basic motorcycle maintenance , i mean i always intended to learn mechanics and **** but if you don’t have any biker friends or know people with tools/workshops then you end up having to catch up what can I do.
next week will be changin rear tyre. matt from oval reckons it’s a 1 hour job… i can see myself taking around three on a sensible guess, even though I have no idea what the procedure is like. i’ve changed all 4 tyres on a car before and that took me quite a while, weighing them and stuff.
anyway i’m fully committed to the idea of servicing my bike, in this life everything is so complex nowadays you have to pay specialists for many things, but there are some domains I absolutely refuse to be ignorant and my bike is one of them. the other is computers, but that also mainly by luck since i had geeky friends. also part of the reason i am still on xp and will never buy a mac
with regards to the breakpads, I must admit there is the problem that I have nothing to compare mine to. as in it’s my first bike so i dunno what normal is and isn’t.
I am based in Finsbury Park now, and commute to Euston. perhaps I will have to wait 11 days till the basic course @ oval to see what’s up with that.
This is a set of pads - a new set of pads have about 4mm to 5mm of friction material on them. When this wears down to about 1 or 2 mm you want to start thinking about changing them.
2mm to be on the safe side 
For me doing anything new on the bike always takes 4 hours… no matter what. Ask matt and he’ll verify! 
Doesn’t matter… learn to do it the first time properly, slowly at your pace and then everytime you do it you’ll get a bit faster.
Matt is great at showing you how to do it the proper way, without cutting any corners (trust me, I tried :P)…