Motorcycle and Scooter appreciation

Try Moto Guzzis. I have four and currently none of them work!

After being stuck indoors for the last few days not really knowing what day it is etc I've gone down a rabbit hole of watching Honda CB500 videos on YouTube. I didn't know they're popular as track bikes and there's even a championships dedicated to them. As far as racing goes it's fairly cheap and it looks like a fun/friendly way in. Certainly food for thought anyway

https://youtu.be/kCY1UYFDdfY

https://youtu.be/BCRvir0DVQQ

https://youtu.be/dLLUxMDFdZs

My mate Steve did the inaugural CB500 cup years ago, I was racing 125s at the time. Looked awesome. Two other friends had wildcards for the infamous druids pile up of 199-something...there were something like 48 bikes on the grid, about half went down.
Hilarious.

CB's are starting to be quite sought after irritatingly enough. There a guy on youtube called Schaaf who totally rinses his CB.
At some point, my SV will become a track whip for sure.

CB500s are lot of fun, although I often day dream about bigger faster bikes I keep mine because it’s nice to be able to rag it around and not get into too much trouble, have been out and kept up with newer and bigger bikes. Also you can leave it stood for 6 months and it’ll start easily.

Seen that guy Schaaf, he's crazy. Any kind of racing has to be expensive, but sure a CB500 is fast enough to scare you on track but not too tear enducing when it inevitably goes down the road sideways. If I ever get a garage will seriously consider a Thundersport500 project.

If I ever get a garage

Le Sigh. Amen brother, amen.

I'm not a biker, but I was driving on the M25 horrible concrete section around the M3 & A3 junctions, in the anticlockwise inside lane there are huge grooves going parallel to the direction of travel which are only partially filled. These things seem to be 5 or 8 cms across and the same deep, they were unsettling my Mini when crossing and I can see them being utterly lethal to bikers, especially when wet and/or dark. Be careful!

Le Sigh. Amen brother, amen.

✊ Currently saving for our house deposit, this is my one requirement.

Also you can leave it stood for 6 months and it’ll start easily.

Naturally this morning got bike out for the first time in a couple of months and battery went flat. Luckily I live at the bottom of a short steep hill so pushed it half way up and bumped it.

Never had a trickle charger, maybe it’s time I invested. Any recommendations?

Ah no. Have used an Oxford Oximiser 900 for the last 5 years and it's been brilliant.

Anyone got 3 grand to blow on this?

What was that?

Big bang R1 with lots of extras for £3k. Looked like a great deal.

Thanks. Sounds great but the link failed.

@jambon @TGR Couldn't resist and made a call. Dodgy straight out of the barn doors. Pretty sure it was copy paste from another old ad with another bike for sale.
Person on the other side demanded instant payment and then got angry when I said I was just inquiring.
Shame.

Big shame but you have probably avoided a bullet.

Oh dear, at least you investigated otherwise you'd always be wondering.

It's alright, it would have been way outside of my skill/ownership levels. I have my heart set on a Daytona 675 anyway.

Has anyone experience riding V-Strom or Varedo 650cc bikes on semi rough terrain? Going to Kenya at the end of the month and going to rent a bike to do trails and some road riding, it's either something like the two above, or go all out on a KTM enduro or EXC bike.

Go for the KTM if you’re going to be doing more dirt than road. A v-Strom or similar will be a horrible handful on loose dirt and will likely break if you drop it. KTM will just be a bit vibey on long road stretches.

Thanks, that's kind of what I thought, I've never found them very appealing if I'm honest.

Will get some 70:30 tyres and with a range extender tank should let us go anywhere. KTM/Husaberg seem to have most of the market covered. The only road sections we have planned are from my friends house to the train in Nairobi and then an hour ride to Malinda from Mombasa when we get to the other end. After that it'll mainly be rough road/trail and some motorbike safari.

Sounds amazing!

With that much off road, just go with a street legal dirt tyre, something like the Dunlop 606 / Metzeler MC360 in hard compound would be perfect. They're actually not bad at all on Tarmac. Don't forget rim-locks and a good pump / pressure gauge to adjust for the transitions.

Looks like I'm going the whole hog with the engine strip on the Z. Have spent a happy few hours removing the cylinder head, cleaning up combustion chambers etc. next is removing valves and relapping with new valve stem oil seals and hoping the compression is back up on number 2 cylinder. It's turning into a can of worms and I bloody love it. The wiring loom is truly frightening, in a few years I'll post a picture when it's finished.
Have had much more success building up an Equilibrium. Forty thousand less moving parts of course.

I haven't ridden nobblies on a road for more than 10/15 minutes in a while, probably worth it though if we end up going up anything exciting. The one downside to doing this as a pair instead of an organised group is the lack of support vehicle. Slippery rim avoidance is going to be important!