As you have found this page I am sure you have accidentally hit the control+s short cut whilst inside a PuTTY shell and following that no keystrokes appear to affect the session. Basically hitting ctrl+s causes PuTTY to stop executing the stream coming in from the keyboard. It does however still listen to your keystrokes and it basically adds them to a queue.

Hitting control+q will re-open the stream execution, but it is worthwhile noting that it will also execute all the queued up commands as well!

Suzuki Bandit in the snow

When I went away on holiday the other year I left my Bandit standing for about 3 weeks and it must of had a bad batch of fuel in the tank. The bad fuel turned into jelly in the carburettors and of course the bike started running like a dog. In the back of my mind I had thought I should drain the float bowls before leaving, but it got forgotten in all the excitement of the trip.

If you suspect you have left your bike too long and that the fuel will have turned to jelly do not start it. Before getting into details I also strongly suggest you purchase the Suzuki GSF600, 650 and 1200 Bandit Service and Repair Manual: 1995 to 2006 as it contains a lot of very useful information including the all important tightening torques.

Anyway so the bike now would not run a week after returning and I desperately wanted to ride so I stripped the fairings off, drained the fuel tank by pulling the fuel lead and opening the petcock, removed the fuel tank, removed the battery, pulled the airbox out and finally released the carburettors. This involved disconnecting the throttle cable, the fuel hose and the fuel overflow hoses not forgetting the choke cable of course.

Once you have the four carbies out you need to set about pulling the float bowl covers off and inspecting them and cleaning with carb cleaner as needed. Also pull out the pilot screw/needle remembering how many turns it takes. Pop the diaphragm cover and remove the rubber diaphragm checking for any problems. Don’t forget to hang on to the spring that is under the cover and remove the fuel flow needle.

Give it a good blast of carb cleaner and then blow out with compressed air and you should see gunk come flying out. Use further cleaner and air blasts for stubborn rubbish.

Carefully reassemble and attach to the motorbike in reverse order.

The following video illustrates this process fairly well (bare in mind it was not made using Bandit carbs so they differ slightly). Video

Vauxhall Astra

For those you who possess an Astra from 1990-1998 the following hints might prove useful along with the more long winded description provided by the Vauxhall Astra (1991-98) Service and Repair Manual. I bought a set of two vented rotors and four brake pads for about £40 on ebay so they are reasonably cheap.

Removing the calliper from the calliper carrier requires a 7mm allen key and to remove the calliper carrier from the hub you will need a 10mm allen key.

To make it easier you will need to remove the calliper from the carrier first and then drop the carrier off. The calliper bolts are hidden behind a rubber grommit so they are nicely protected from the elements and corrosion the bolts for the carrier however can be quite tough to shift because they are exposed so I recommend using an allen socket on the end of a breakers bar to get it moving.

The calliper is held in place with a wire spring type fitting kit. This is easy to remove with a screw driver and some leverage and just as easy to fit back up once the pads are changed and the calliper & its carrier are refitted to the car.

A philips head screw driver will have the rotor retaining screw out and then it is simply a matter of reversing the process.

If you are just changing the pads then you should remember to have the rotor/disc surface machined flat again.

There is nothing complicated with a fairly simple single piston calliper so it should not be any problem for someone with any experience of brake maintenance.

If you haven’t been riding through winter like me then take care getting back out there and wear good gear. Check all the essentials:

• Oil
• Water (if applicable)
• Tyre pressures and wear
• Chain tension and wear
• Check all electrics (kill switch and all lights being the main ones)
• Also have a glance at your sprockets

If the bike has been sitting for more than a month then you will probably want to drain the fuel tank as well as the petrol may have gone off. When you leave it too long it can form a jelly like substance in the fuel lines or worse in the carburettors. If this has happened or you forgot to drain your float bowls you will need to strip down the carbies and clean them out with compressed air.

Electrics corrode so if it won’t start check that the connections are OK on the:

• Battery (you have already checked for charge right?!)
• Kill switch
• Clutch switch (if applicable)
• Neutral switch (if applicable)
• Kickstand switch (if applicable)