Motorcycle and Scooter appreciation

Like the f650 being aprillia?

Yeah. They were better for it until they moved in house. Price wen up and a lot of folk concur, decent bike for the segment, but build quality was better with aprilia

I'd really love an S1000RR

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TKYUHFvT_Yc

It's being produced in India. Make of that what you will. German manufacturers have been quite good at ensuring quality production overseas but they've had their own disasters recently (exploding rear suspension) coming out of German factories.

the 300cc market is quite interesting at the moment, it does look like a decent offering. They think it will sell well in India too.

A mate had an early S1000, destroyed 2 gearboxes from commuting, apparently they are not designed for it.

S1000RR is by far the most incredible bike I've ever ridden. Simply stunning, it just feels like a computer game - beyond real

Fitted new tyres to the ktm yesterday. Gone from sportsmart 2s to M7RR.
Interestingly the M7RR were so much easier to fit than the sportsmarts have been. So I think i'll stick with them, if only for that reason!

Hoping for a break in the weather for a good ride.

Fair enough, didn't know that's where it was from.
Shaft drive gs all seem to blow rear shocks, used for purpose or just plodding around.

They had a massive recall on the r1200rt, owners were told not to ride them until the suspension was replaced. They're not immune to engineering issues and now they're manufacturing in India, will be interesting to see which direction the brand is going in.

Rear seals on the diffs.

Yep, lots of problems over the years with the drive train in different models too. They have tried to move away from the boxer twin/shaft drive models for engineering reasons but the popularity of the GS stopped them.

Oh and the electrical gremlins and rear shock issues.

Did a window licker, fitted my rear tyre the wrong direction!
So had to take it off and re fit this afternoon.

But jesus, M7RR are so easy to get on and off, not like sportsmart2. All that time i've struggled with the ss2. No more! tyres are so easy to fit. Took me 10mins to get it off and on again.

I hate that - recently fitted two new off road tyres, with bead locks, the wrong way round and remounted them on the bike before I noticed. Much swearing.

Glad I'm not the only one!

In my defence, they had what looked like rotation arrows, but was in fact just a silly design thing and the rotation arrow was tiny and only on one side. Still; measure twice, cut once.

Jeff Lyon outside Bill’s workshop in Arden Street Gillingham 1970s (courtesy Jeff Lyon)

Bill with Jeff’s scooter carrying bike frames. Can you identify them? They are Philbrook, Ken Bird, Condor and Dawes. (courtesy Jeff Lyon)

If memory serves, the front shocks and disc brake identify it as a TV200 (known as a GT200 in the UK market). Note the cut-out in the panel: clearly the carb wasn't standard! :)

EDIT
Memory fail: the side panels mark it out as an SX200. I'd forgotten they had a disc brake too.

Who uses swinton insurance?

TV175 also had the disc and dampers but that looks like an SX - hole maybe for a wal phillips fuel injector if they never definitely had to get where get wanted to.

That's brilliant. I've often thought about doing something similar (but with a built road bike) to my Vespa.

Yeah, see "EDIT".

I had a Wal Phillips on a TV175: exciting when it worked, which largely depended on how much fuel was in the tank and the weather.

Not as exciting as an Amal PJ/reed valve on a Kegra 155 Vega though: "I lost my knickers to Castrol R and induction roar on the A12."

You have to wonder how it handled though: all that weight up high, over the back.

Not that anyone bought "little wheels" for the handling mind...

#readerswives

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Is there another bracket I can't see that supports the weight of the frame at the back?

No. It's just missing a tie around the saddle onto the topbox to hold it in, against bike.
The rear wheel is higher than front, so weight is all on the front forks.

I did consider making another bracket off rear subframe to clamp saddle, but just not been needed, and more weight at higher c.o.g..

I tend to put wheels on topbox, or wearable wheel bag. Not mad enough to ride around with disc in rear of frame. I just took that photo when testing it, you'll see with eagle eyes the bracket is just tacked together.

That's brilliant. I see the front mount, but what's holding the rear?