The Great Paper Round Motorcycle Mystery!
14 years ago I used to do my paper round on my Kawasaki AR50 which in case you don't know anything about motorbikes is the best motorbike ever produced, and after a pint of lager top and a packet of cheese and onion it was capable of 200mph. Ah the priceless memories of yoof.

Everyday I would whizz around the paper round deliver all my papers, yet on the ride home it would start to struggle and the engine would die. I could just about keep it running in first gear but only if I stepped of it and walked along side it and let it run on tickover (any throttle and it just died). It never went wrong before or during the round and after I got home and got ready for school it was always fine again to ride to and from school only then break down again on my paper round the very next day.

This went on for so long that I eventually got so used to it that I could ride it home from my paper round standing on the left hand footpeg, in first gear and still make pretty good time. But it remained a mystery until one day I was reading up on changing the jets on the carb and came across a section in my Haynes manual about the air intake. On the AR50 it was under the seat. Everyday after my paper round I would have to ride past the local secondary school who were bitter rivals to my own. In order to look like a cool biker and not a spotty 16 year old oik I would take my paperbag off and stuff it under my seat and in doing so blocked the air intake. Stepping off relieved the pressure just enough to let enough air in so it could run on tickover.

So instead of looking cool I got to push my bike past groups of jeering school kids, every day, for months.
( Peej, Tue 18 Oct 2011, 12:19, 10 replies)

That must have been forehead slap moment.
My mate had an AR50. We used to ride around together, me on my Honda NS50 (1983 step thru scooter...I know, I know. Electric start though, and better acceleration than the AR up to 30mph. Plus I put twin air horns on it).

Brrrrr great days
(Schindler's Wrist Brimful of asha and a P45, Tue 18 Oct 2011, 12:45, closed)

Mrs SLVA's first motorbike was an AR50
She refused point blank to have any form of scooter or moped.
( sandettie light vessel automatic New Twitter - @bollocksreally, Tue 18 Oct 2011, 13:13, closed)

Honda C90 baby!
Could get up to 45 going down hill :D

Good story, melikes.
(Blunt Logic, Tue 18 Oct 2011, 13:48, closed)

My mate got his Cub 90 to do 0-60 in 2.6 seconds...

... when he threw it into a gravel pit after it ate the timing chain for the third time in three weeks.
(gordonjcp, Tue 18 Oct 2011, 14:04, closed)

AR-50? That's not an engine, that's a farting wasp in a bottle

(moon monkey is busy making memories worth repressing, Tue 18 Oct 2011, 14:26, closed)

You are not alone.
I left a rag under the seat of my XJ650, it got sucked into and partially blocked the airbox.
Started perfectly, ran to the redline on the stand in neutral, pulled OK to about 3,000RPM then went into 60 a day woodbine mode, much rich stumble.
A plug chop showed the plugs were blackened. Thankfully, to get the carb bank off, you had to open the airbox.
( moonbadger Doesn't judge a fish by its ability to climb trees, Tue 18 Oct 2011, 14:43, closed)

Lager top?
You big jessie.
( monster munch person, man, woman... camera... TV?, Tue 18 Oct 2011, 18:09, closed)

Fuck your AR50
AR5E, more like.

Fizzies shit on your boys bike. Mine did wheelies at 70mph. In 2nd gear.
(username failed moderation, Wed 19 Oct 2011, 9:39, closed)

Did yours have pedals?
I must admit, my mates had fizzies and they could do about 50 whilst mine topped out at 47
( Peej, Wed 19 Oct 2011, 11:49, closed)

It did, but I never used them
they were just to satisfy the law, you could never have actually used it as a pedal cycle.

I have no idea what the top speed was. Not very fast, is the answer. Mine was a bit knackered, I doubt it went over 40.
(username failed moderation, Wed 19 Oct 2011, 16:22, closed)