Motorcycle and Scooter appreciation

And again
RIP.
http://www.three.fm/news/isle-of-man-news/rider-dies-during-superstock-race/

Ah man, so sad.

paddock stand

Is this still available? I may well be in the mood for some tinkering this summer.

Yep.

Drop me a PM so we can work out logistics.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UcL1a3RU4oY&feature=youtu.be

I am breaking my 15 minutes of fame into 6 second chunks...

Looking sharp but >>>>>>>>>>>>> for no wheelie.

Well it finally happened. Bike stolen*

*Well, <£30 disc lock defeated, steering lock and really hard to get nearly new ignition barrel demolished, £150 abus chain + 'insurance' lock mangled but thankfully still forming a chain with the <£30 amazon ground anchor hanging off it. Bike found just 100m away in a back lane.

Came home from holiday early hours of the morning to find it lurking in the back lane in a sorry state. Blood boiling, and seeing it abandoned but at the same time ready to be picked up by a van, decided to pounce on the next van that came up there at 2am this morning with a 4' breaker bar. 0.5 seconds before the bar went through the windscreen noticed it was the milk man, would have been embarrassed but why was a milkman driving up a rough back lane at 2am?

Police turned out this morning and via a few mates heard that 3x high value bikes stolen from very well secured situations about half a mile away the night before, likely linked.

Attacked ground anchor in tarmac with large sledge then once in lane must have been at that lock for over 5 minutes. Lock and chain taken dozens of very large hits, the damage to the tarmac in the lane is substantial (very much expecting police to alert council to send me a bill for it!).

Glad it wasn't totally gone, but also mind made up now, the bike is cursed, it must be sold.

Damn, my petrol cap lock is broken. Common problem and I've had the same thing happen before. Main hassle is it prevents cap being opened. Bmw r100rs

A different rear end and that would be perfect!

ABSOLUTELY lush.

I like the colours but that's hiiiiiiiiideous.

Staying in Crowborough for the weekend and saw this in a shop window.
£11,500 and it's yours.
Hoping they are open tomorrow and I can go inside and have a proper drool.
Couldn't work out what else was in there other than a couple of NSRs and a Ducati 748.

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I'm having an ongoing dilema.

Current bike, Duke 390.

I love it, its comfy, reliable, cheap to insure and is an absolute blast to ride. It's only 375cc but it really does piss all over a lot of bigger bikes, which is hilarious coz some folk really take the hump at that!

The only things I don't like about the Duke are that it's a bit plastic so lacks in 'character' (but the plastic is light hence why it performs so well I guess) and it sounds like a flipping hairdryer on wheels!

I keep looking at things like,

And I've been very close to putting the Duke up on ebay a few times. I reckon I could sell the Duke for enough that it'd cover the cost of buying an enfield or BSA or something.

But then I go out to the garage, start the Duke first on the first press of the button, rag it around some B roads and forgetall about BSAs and Enfields.

In my head (coz I've never ridden one) a modern Triumph Bonny would be an ideal combination of character, style and performance but I'd be looking at spending about twice as much to get one of them and at that I'd need finance or a loan so might be as well buying a brand new one... Plus I have a mate that has ridden them and he says reckons my Duke is way faster.

Character isn't in the way it looks, it's in the engine.

If you like the way it rides, keep it. Riding bikes is about riding, not posing. ;)

I owned a 350 Enfield when I lived in India, lots of character, lovely noise and a little bit reliable.
Even with the modern 500 version, I wouldn't recommend for the UK especially if you like performance ( outside mpg ).
Great bikes for quiet country road commutes and you get attached quickly but horses for courses IMO.

Oh yeah, I should have said, I owned a 500 Bullet previously. It wasn't great for reliability, especially after I messed about rejetting the carb, fitting then removing (because it was so unreliable) an electronic ignition etc. But it was a doddle to work on which was nice.

True that. Going from the KTM, a modern Bonnie is going to feel like a heavy slug. (Can't speak for the new gen watercooled ones.)

Old hardtail Brit bikes from the 30s/40s are delightful, they're nothing like modern motorcycles so you enjoy them for what they are. Elemental, long stroke singles. You've got to be pretty mechanically savvy to run one though.

Yeah I think you're right. I will enjoy the ktm just now and perhaps in the futurre I'll be able to afford a rigid brit bike as a 2nd bike.

Have you considered a Guzzi v7?

Me? Hmm, my old man looked at one a while ago.

Can look good with a bit of tinkering but a bit bland as stock aren't they?

One of the things that attracts me to the older stuff is being able to fix most problems myself, aren't Guzzi engines horribly complex or is that only certain models?

Honda CB/CX?

Kawa z600?

So many bikes with more character but ok performance, don't get an antique.

I suppose if you need a bike then get something modern (if you are commuting or the like)
If you just need a fair weather funster get whatever is tickling your fancy the most