What business does an overflow reservoir and thermostat have on your motorcycle? Did you ever wondered what that empty plastic bottle is? The one that's hanging off the chassis of your motorcycle, looking suspiciously like a windscreen-wiper bottle in your car. It's a reservoir designed to collect and re-supply your cooling system with coolant as your motorcycle heats up and starts to boil. It works in conjunction with a thermostat inside your cooling system and is basically a back-up device for an engine that is subject to fluctuating running temperatures.

Should your motorcycle have one? And can you remove it if it does have one? The answer for the first question is, no not all motorcycles have a overflow reservoir, and to answer the second question you better not mess with the cooling system of your motorcycle in a tropical country like Thailand. Anyway we like to give you a little insight into how the system works and how it benefits your motorcycle.

First we look at the thermostat. This little device is a self-actuating valve that opens or closes in relation to its surrounding temperature. In this case, the thermostat is the closed position will act as a detour for coolant-flow, and basically bypasses fluid from the radiator, depending on the design of the system. In doing this, the coolant is only circulating over the cylinder/head of the engine, which allows the engine to reach its optimal running temperature at a faster rate. As the coolant heats up, the thermostat gradually opens and begins purging some of that hot coolant through the radiator.

The final hurdle for the 1992 Honda CBR600F. The joy of hearing the words 'your motorcycle has passed' from the department of land transport is not to be underestimated – particularly when the motorcycle is 18 years old and had been rebuilt by myself. But my feelings of joy are muted because of what came before.

While giving the Honda CBR600F a worryingly efficient going over, the testers at Thai government road-worthy and emission testing side picked out several faults that will probably keep me in the workshop for weeks. Helpfully, one of the senior mechanics at the side was kind enough to give me some pointers before I submitted the Honda CBR600F for testing.

One of the major problems was a small leaks in the exhaust at the pillion footrest hangar mount and right by the engine block.

Tire pressures sometimes seem like a bit of a dark art, which is something not helped by all motorcycle and tire manufacturers. For a few years now manufacturers have been quoting factory pressures at about 36psi front and 42psi rear. Obviously if you jumped on track with those, you'd probably jump off it pretty quickly too.

Although tires like the new Michelin Power One can run as low as 22psi in the rear on track, as a general rule in the dry season for road riding, we tend to recommend about 32psi front and 35psi rear.

Your chain is easy to keep in good shape and a potential nightmare if you don't. Neglect it at your own risk!

Despite the surface rust and ill-kept nature of some chains, it's worth trying to resurrect it but first you're need a racestand or you might be blessed by having a motorcycle center-stand. If you've got it, use it. You can make do with a friend and a sidestand out on the road, but it's tricky and less than satisfactory if you want to do a proper job.

Identify the sort of adjustment you motorcycle uses clean and lubricate it. A penetrating oil may come in handy... Note the reference marks for wheel alignment. They may be accurate, but it's worth string-lining your wheels (2W04/10) to make sure.

Search for and identify the joining link your chain uses in case you do have to replace it. Our chain has a riveted joining, most chains have a circlip. If you can't find any join, you may have an endless chain, and that means you need to remove the swingarm for replacing the chain.

Using a CFC-free spray pack of the right chain lubrication for your chain and the extension nozzle, direct a dribble of spray to the inside of the sideplates. This is where the lubrication has to penetrate.

Taking a generic 600cc inline four engine with a bore of 67mm, stroke of 42,5mm, and max power at 13,500rpm as an example – let's look a bit closer. At maximum power every minute the little piston goes up and down 13,500 times, which equates to 225 times a second, giving it an average speed of 19.125meter a second.

Okay, so 19.125m/s doesn't sound that fast, but this is an average speed. The piston is going up, coming to a halt, returning to the bottom of its stroke, coming to a halt again then returning again to the top. And it's doing this 225 times a second, which is why the average speed is quite slow, it has to do a lot of stopping and starting reducing its overall average, so how fast does it actually go? The peak speed at 13,500rpm is 36.4m/s. But remember, it is only traveling a distance of 0,0425meter.

The piston's peak acceleration is 51.49km/sec, which is very high acceleration. To put it in context a bullet accelerates out of a small pistol at around 0.884km/sec, a road car's piston's peak acceleration is around 30km/sec and a current MotoGP motorcycle can go as high as 100km/sec.

After some time we finally to show-off the Ducati Hypermotard 796, and if there was one thing the standard Ducati Hypermotard 796 needs it's some more power. The Ducati chassis is sublime and it boasts the best stock setup of any motorcycle to leave Bologna, Italy. But the Ducati Hypermotard 796 deserves more than 81 horsepower to liven things up a bit. Then it really would trounce rivals like the BMW F800S, not just beat them.

We decided to do something about the power problem and bought an Hypermotard 796 Termignoni Carbon Full Exhaust system. It sounds impressive and looks stunning, certainly better than the original Ducati exhaust that sounded more like a 125cc scooter, but we were hoping for a bit more of a power gain.

A lot of people talk about the DynoJet Power Commander, but not much talk about how the Power Commander actually works. The thing is no matter how tight a manufacturer's testing procedures are, there will always be minute differences in tolerances when building an engine, making every motorcycle individual.

The problem is that a manufacturer can't individually set up every single motorcycle it makes, so the standard ECU contains a fuel map that is a compromise. Your motorcycle is designed to work anywhere in the world irrespective of the height above sea level, quality of fuel, density of air, humidity, etc...

Which is all very well and good, but are you likely to take your Thai Kawasaki ER6N to the arctic-circle an run it on crap unleaded fuel you bought somewhere in Pakistan? Probably not, which is where a DynoJet Power Commander comes in.

A DynoJet Power Commander, or any other similar device, works by bypassing to motorcycle's ECU and creating its own fueling map. Rather than rely on what the motorcycle manufacturer has decided, with a Power Commander, you, or more likely a skilled operator, can tweak your motorcycle's fueling to deliver exactly the correct amount of fuel to the engine.

While your braking technique matters a lot, it will go in vain if the brake components of your motorcycle are not in a healthy condition. Remember to check the disc brake oil level from time to time. If it falls below the indicated minimum level, get the fluid changed and refilled with the manufacturer recommended grade.

Caution should be taken so that no air bubbles get trapped in the brake lines which could dampen braking effect. Check if your rear brake setting feels adequate to your ankle movement. If not, adjust it accordingly. In case you experience a lack of feel from your brakes despite all requisite settings, check the brake shoes and the disc pads. Get them replaced, if required. Brake shoes or disc pads do not cost that much.

Tires and grip play an important role during braking. A good set of tires will ad to your stability. A tire made of fairly soft rubber compound wears and tears faster but offers very high traction/footing. Similarly, the better the tire grips, the more effective your stopping competency will be. This is why you need to check your tires from time to time.

I suppose the need for lubricants began with the invention of the wheel. Suddenly, there was a need to keep the new wheels rotating on their axles. Water can be used to assist rotation as long as there is plenty of it; and all sorts of fats have been used over the ages.

Oil separates the rubbing surfaces of mechanisms by a hydrodynamic process; the relative movement of two surfaces creates a kind of 'wedge' of oil between them.

This main method of lubrication was augmented in the Twenties – oil carried within it as much as 2 percent by mass of sulphur. Under certain conditions, high pressure and heat, this served the unlikely purpose of providing extra lubrication by transforming into iron sulphide, visible as black deposits on rubbing surfaces. This is one of the first examples of dry lubrication, but the deposits rubbed away too easily and they became a contaminant in the oil.

The oil of choice for highly loaded machines and especially for bronze/steel bearings and gears, used to be castor based. The metals already worked well together and the oil combined effectively with both.

Extended motorcycle storage, such as for the raining season requires that you take certain steps to reduce the effects of deterioration from non-use of the motorcycle. In addition, necessary repairs should be made before storing the motorcycle; otherwise, these repairs may be forgotten by the time the motorcycle is removed from storage.

First change the engine oil, and empty the fuel tank into an approved petrol container using a commercially available hand siphon or an equivalent method. If your motorcycle use a iron fuel-tank, spray the inside of the tank with an aerosol rust-inhibiting oil. Not forget to reinstall the fuel fill cap on the fuel-tank.

If your motorcycle storage will last more than one month, and if your motorcycle is using carburetors you need to drain the carburetors – this is especially important if you use fuel containing ethanol, this will assure working and proper performance after storage.