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Alas Woe Is Me
Post Recieved Date - 12 October 2021
By Bogger
The run up to the weekend away was going so well. I had booked the Friday off work and all my camping gear was packed in bags and sorted. Really it was just a case of which bike to go on. The last time it had been the old R80RT and I really enjoyed riding it down to mid Wales. But it’s now sorned so I looked at the R1200ST which is fully ready to go, but I thought it would be just too easy on that. So it was a toss up between the C125 Cub or the SH300. I’d been loads of times on the Cub, so opted for the SH300. Hoorah!?
I set off on Friday morning at 7.00am with a full tank of fuel, a whopping two gallons. The only downer was that I had the sniffles and could feel a cold coming on. I really enjoy riding the SH. It’s sure footed, quick enough, definitely comfy enough and at well over 70mpg on a run, frugal enough. Even, possibly, frugal enough for Ren?
The M6, M56 and the M53 were soon dispatched with ease and I trundled along the A483 towards Welshpool and onto Newtown. I was mostly travelling between 55-65mph. The fuel gauge was barely moving and I had a smug daft grin on my face because scooters are ace at everything.
Can anyone see where this is heading? Thought so.
I skirt Newtown on its relatively new by-pass and head out on the A570. All is well with the world, there is very little traffic as it’s still only 9.00am. Four miles further up the road I’m daydreaming, paying attention, but daydreaming. When all of a
sudden the back end locks solid and leaves a massive black line down the road like the rear brake has been slammed on. As soon as it locks it almost instantly releases.
WTFWT!!
That obviously woke me from La La land, I’d rolled right off the throttle but was still doing about forty. In the split second that my brain cell re-engaged I knew immediately was the problem was. Oh B******s I’m in the S*** now.
Yup the drive belt had snapped. I coasted into the entrance of a caravan park and pondered what to do. I know that I have breakdown cover, but have no idea who it’s with or how good it is. Or indeed what level of cover I have. Not to worry Mrs Bogger will know! The trouble was, was that she was in class as a supply teacher with her phone off. Hmm which School was it again???
Right lets think of another useless plan. I was meeting the the other five or six lads at Rhayader. We come from all over. The Black Country, South wales, Wiltshire etc.
BCP from Dudley has the same scooter. I rang him up, praying that he’d not already set off. I was in luck. I explained my quandary and he said he had a spare used belt in the shed and he’d bring that along with some tools and a variator holding tool. Excellent.
Righty ho, now how do I actually get to Rhayader another 22 miles away? It’s a bit too far to push a fully laden scooter. Another call this time to High Tech Pete. Fantastic he’ll get his bike trailer on the car and come and fetch me. It’s only 46 miles out of his way. Relief overcame any guilt pangs I had.
A couple of hours later were loading up the scooter and are on our way. Who needs mates like me eh? At the farmers field we strip the side casing off and I replace the belt aided by my bezzie mates. The lads wouldn’t take any payment. I did treat them however, so all is well.
Now I know this is a tale of a shocking lack of maintenance. But, but, in my defence, I’d removed the cover a couple of months earlier to reveal a perfectly intact belt with no wear or cracking evident. I’d also asked the previous owner, another mate, if the belt had ever been replaced. He was a bit vague but thought that the previous owner to him had had the belt replaced. So I thought I’d take a leaf out of the Ed's book and save a bit of money for a bit longer and left it well alone. I actually am quite fastidious in keeping my machines in good fettle. Lesson learnt.
Belt and rollers now on order and will be replaced this coming weekend.
All’s well that ends well……I suppose
Bogger
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Reader's Comments
Snod said :-
Well, I can barely believe what I'm reading. I thought we were better than this. It's a travesty, a blemish upon this site.. Only 70MPG?? Still, at least you got a free belt out of it. Now what are you going to stick the old one together with? Super glue could be good but it's not free, maybe someone has some staples you could borrow?
20/10/2021 22:13:51 UTC
Bogger said :-
Ahem, I said well over 70mpg.I'll be handing the belt back. You never know it might come in handy again.
I'm still hanging my head in shame by the way. I also blame Ed for trying to impart scrooginess upon us all. I've learnt my lesson now though. In fact I'm going to blame him for ruining my weekend. There I feel better already.
Bogger
21/10/2021 13:05:12 UTC
Ren - The Ed¹ said :-
I'm with you Snod. 70mpg (or "over 70mpg") is embarrassing. My 500 regularly returns over 80mpg and that's on an enthusiastic run to Wales with camping gear. One can only assume Bogger is thrashing that poor SH300 to within an inch of it's life. Which leads me to suspect it's BOGGER's fault for vehicle abuse rather than me encouraging the readership towards prudence and fiscal wisdom.
Add to this the fact he's replacing the used belt (so kindly supplied by his good friend) with a NEW belt! This leads me to suspect Bogger has far too much money. It is my plan to drop in on Bogger's place and tap him up for a brew soon. I shall admonish him firmly for his exuberance and wilful pleasure seeking. Remember, we're here for a long time not a good time.
21/10/2021 15:06:46 UTC
Upt'North ¹ said :-
"The R1200ST would be too easy", yeh?
Upt'North.
22/10/2021 08:47:17 UTC
nab301 said :-
Quote "Ahem, I said well over 70mpg."
Unless my eyes are deceiving me, the air filter looks fairly grubby , ( assuming that's the intake air filter and not some sort of filter for the transmission area) I wonder what it would do to the gallon if you changed it !!.
On the original problem , does the broken belt get jammed in and lock the rear wheel? Not something you'd want to happen on a busy motorway....
Nigel
22/10/2021 10:56:19 UTC
Upt'North ¹ said :-
Nigel, you must realise that's how you save money......
Good job fuel's cheap.
22/10/2021 11:12:44 UTC
Bogger said :-
I was also shocked at the state of the air filter as well. It's only been in there for 5k miles.
Rest assured the belt and rollers have been replaced as has the air filter, oil filter and oil.
Yes the belt jammed up the rear wheel. I was lucky it was dry and or leant over in a corner.
Bogger
30/10/2021 20:57:59 UTC
Ren - The Ed¹ said :-
That air filter is in a particularly dirty place though - right next to the rear wheel. It must catch ALL the road spray which includes water, salt, dirt and detritus thrown from there.
Help me out though. We see some kind of filter above the swing arm come final drive housing. We also see what appears to be the cover for this filter upon the floor? This has a tube that leads to a circular *something* that looks like either a filter or even a spinning sort of cooling fan like what some scoots have.
31/10/2021 20:53:42 UTC
Ian Soady¹ said :-
My xmax has a similar convoluted arrangement with 2 filters but the air intake is on top of the engine. The fan arrangement seems to pull air across the expanding front pulley.
01/11/2021 11:01:17 UTC
Ren - The Ed¹ said :-
So - the filter in shot would appear to be a filter to scrub the air that is used to cool the belt drive (an possibly the motor a little). In which case that's a big ole' bit of plastic to keep the belt cool.
01/11/2021 11:43:47 UTC
Bogger said :-
The filter you have labelled is the engine intake air filter. The 'what is this' moniker is the filter for the belt housing assembly.
Bogger
01/11/2021 12:19:44 UTC
Bill said :-
My yamaha bws has two separate filters one for engine intake and a separate washable filter for the drive belt housing.
03/11/2021 13:07:55 UTC
Ren - The Ed¹ said :-
I wouldn't dare to question Bogger's wisdom Bill, however it does rather appear the housing leads to the engine side of the belt mechanism.
04/11/2021 17:12:55 UTC
Uppo said :-
It's the foam belt case filter as Ren said. Clean in washing up liquid and replace when dry. No need to oil. I got the Honda SH300 service manual download off the web somewhere. The link is https://ownersmanuals2.com/honda/sh300-2012-owners-manual-72044
https://ownersmanuals2.com/honda/sh300-2012-owners-manual-72044...
05/11/2021 14:44:23 UTC
Ren - The Ed¹ said :-
Cheers Uppo. It's not clear at all in the manual as the manual describes the filter above the swing arm merely as the air cleaner. I'm now thinking there's the air cleaner for cleaning air coming into the engine AND another foam filter for the cooling air for the belt drive... which comes from the same source.
I remain confused - nothing new there then.
07/11/2021 11:34:30 UTC
Ren - The Ed¹ said :-
I'm making progress. Air comes into the "outside" of the airbox. This area feeds cooling air to the belt drive via the tubey bit and through a foam filter. Air passes through the paper type filter to "inside" the bike and to the engine. What I cannot see YET is how the air actually gets into the outer chamber as yet.
07/11/2021 11:52:58 UTC
Ren - The Ed¹ said :-
I still cannot find an orifice for the dirty air to get into the air filter cover yet...
07/11/2021 11:55:14 UTC
Ren - The Ed¹ said :-
The hole we CAN see is the outlet from the dirty side into the belt cooling foam filter, otherwise - how does the dirty air get in?
07/11/2021 11:59:16 UTC
Ren - The Ed¹ said :-
AHA!! Where I have marked "Belt Drive Inlet" is incorrect. That should be "Airbox Inlet". The air comes into the system above the belt drive foam filter, splitting there to cool the belt drive and to the airbox. It all makes sense now.
However judging by the number of VERY dirty SH300 air filters I've seen in my searches, this positioning seems to be sub optimal. Normally most Hondas (and most other bikes) I've worked on, the air filter inlet is under the seat. This positions it away from most of the muck. My CBF125 for example, the air filter lasts AGES (30k, more) before it looks merely dusty rather than caked in crud. The lower position, even tucked under the panels and not facing the rear wheel, still seems to collect significantly more dirt.
The lesson to me would be to change the air filter AND the belt cooling air filter more often.
07/11/2021 12:15:49 UTC
said :-
07/01/2024 19:41:08 UTC
Crippy said :-
Do I keep my sh300 ?
07/01/2024 19:42:40 UTC
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