Motorcycle and Scooter appreciation

I'm in a minority but I hate those new /old triumphs. They're gutless and handle like 70s UJMs. They sound nice and look OK from a distance I suppose.

I've a mate here with one of the new 1200s which he reckons is a monumental improvement. Haven't had a go on it yet though....

Reckon my next sportsbike might be either a Daytona 675R or even one of the new Aprilia twins (whenever they come out.....)

Preorders open in October for the RS660 apparently, on Aprilia's Instagram.

Ha - the irony. I'm totes skint now after buying a new van yesterday. I may have to schedule an extended test ride once they finally make it over....

Would he like to give advice?

Have an old guzzi and an aprilia both 100cc 4 strokes I think. Been barn stored since mid 60's.

Changed screen today to an OEM tinted GS Adventure screen to add a bit more frontal area to reduce buffeting at motorway speeds. Haven’t had a chance to test it yet but it’s taller and wider than the stock GS screen so fingers crossed.

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Nice. I am considering a screen for longer trips - the wind was wild today.
This morning I ‘installed’ a sock thing to my brake reservoir 👌.

Also sold my CBR last night (someone put a deposit down at least) and took it for a quick blast round the block in the afternoon as it’s been sitting for a couple of weeks... Amazing how quickly you get used to a modern throttle, suspension and not having to shift properly!

Yeah, didn’t get out on the bike today - very windy out here in the countryside.

Also changed tyres Tuesday. Michelin Anakee Adventure are total shit. Conti trail attack 3 are glorious.

How old are the tyres?
Anakee were supposed to be amazing on the tigger.

350 miles.

They’re comfortably the worst tyre I’ve ever experienced. So much so that I asked the dealer to pass on my feedback on how shit they are to BMW UK.

Noisy. Rough. Slow to tip in. When they do tip in, they’re light and nervous. They move around under braking and acceleration (in dry and wet conditions) and they can’t handle road grime (small pockets of gravel or mud) for shit.

I’ve been a massive fan of pilot roads and have had 3s, 4s and 5s on my last three bikes but steering clear of Michelin on this round (pun not intended).

I got out on the DR350 a few days ago with the instructor. Couple hours of road time in pouring rain, on knobblies. Fortunately it was piggybacking on someone’s CBT so we were going barely 30mph and keeping upright in the turns.

The Anakees were on my shortlist for dual sport tyres. Guess I’ll have to look elsewhere now if they’re as bad as you say.

Maybe they’re just not cut out for a bike and rider pushing 350kgs...

Maybe they’re complete shit whatever bike they’re on. YMMV.

Hmm. Maybe. The DR is featherweight compared to your monster so maybe that works in favour or against some of these tyres.

It was the Anakee Wild rather than the Adventure that had my fancy, but only insomuch as the Adv seemed too little of one or the other.

Yeah, it’s trying to do on and off road and is shit at both.

Damn.

The Mitas E-07 seems well received, and there’s the 07+ now as well.

Any recommendations for books on basics of bike mechanics/maintenance? Haynes manuals worth a shot?

Did a CBT and had a Honda XL125V for a while a few years ago, but never got round to the full test.
Recently found myself being charmed by the mid-nineties NTV650, but I've next to nothing in the way of technical know-how.

If you are buying a Honda you won't need to know anything about maintenance :)

The Haynes are pretty good. I've always had one for any bike I've owned. These days You Tube videos are a great resource.

A lot depends on how you are going to have to learn. If you have a garage or place off the street it's way more relaxed but no one happens along and tells you about how they would fix it.

If you are buying a Honda you won't need to know anything about maintenance :)

Yeah right ;)

Shaft drive, couriers liked them and they got ragged to shit.

Also heard this about anakee tyres, just not very good at anything.
Mitas and metzeler probably make the best of both worlds type tyres.

Thanks! I've ordered the Haynes generic basics and maintenance techbooks for now.
YouTube videos have me wondering whether its worth finding a cheap and/or dead engine just to take apart and play around with...

@lynx - their workhorse status is definitely a huge selling point, and i just think the shaft-drive, boxy frame, and single-sided swing arm are very cool from an engineering perspective. They seem to have been much more popular over in Germany in particular than in the UK for some reason.

Working through the small and ‘easy’ mods on the DR350.

Mechanics have my Acerbis 16L tank, it finally arrived on Friday after a month delivery time from Italy. They fit it in a month’s time. No rush my end, still waiting for license, and they’re booked up 3+ weeks in advance. Happy they do it to save me the faff. In a month or so the MmotoParts welded pannier/rear rack unit should arrive from Ukraine too.

Recently fitted folding mirrors, little screen extender as mini windshield, and fused SAE adapter direct to battery for accessories up front. Gidibi manual chain oiler (filled with chainsaw oil) also routed, awkward to get around the Acerbis heel/frame guards without a kink in the line.

Finally did the wiring on the indicators. Previous owner has cut the original connectors and soldered the indicators directly, so a week or two ago I crimped red bullet connectors wherever necessary, and bought new bullet-suzuki indicator adapters for the front. The front still has the square suzuki connectors on the loom. He must have cut them right off at the back.

Fitted flush mount mini LED indicators running ceramic resistors but the instructor said they weren’t bright or visible enough from front nor rear until banking. So I’ve ordered some regular style with super short stems which are more likely to break off when dropping the bike, but hopefully visible on the road where it counts.

Chinese no-load LED relays never arrived so paid the extra for one from a UK seller, arrived next day. Stupidly bought the one with an idiot-beep so taped up the speaker hole to reduce the volume.

With the no-load relay, without resistors the LED indicators hazard because of the dashboard bulb circuit. Ordered the diode kit from Autostar on ebay, cut and crimped the wires on the dashboard side of the loom. Fitted the diodes to the circuit and now I have fully working bright LED indicators without any resistors. Should be a quick swap to any other indicators now that’s done.

Finally, today the Bay15d dual filament bulb replacement arrived. The original bulb glows from dim to bright when braking, so doesn’t have that snappy instant brightness. Replaced with the LED it’s brighter and I have instant brake light.

Still need to work out where to fit aux lights (and whether I run a second battery for them) without permanently modifying original plastics, and fit some kind of bracket for the Blackview BV6100 when it arrives. I’ll use the BV for gps etc, and see how accurate the speedos line up. Currently have the Oxford Dryphone holder on the bars, so if the BV is naff I can run a spare Iphone 6 or 7 with googlemaps.

Still need to swap the old hand guards for the new braced ones, but they need the metal brace bent to fit properly. Also need to swap the original front mudguard with the spare scrappy looking one off ebay, and drill mounts for fitting a little toolkit/etc up front under the headlamp. Got an extra set of levers on order from China too, for the inevitable.

I had an NV400 for a while. Lovely bike and suffered a lot of abuse. Never let me down, even made it the last mile having dropped a valve!

I like shaft drive too.

Never got into engine work, it seems to involve a lot of measuring tiny tolerances. I did replace the valve on that engine on my kitchen table.

Lovely ride in this morning, will take the long way home!

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Adding a headphone port for my custom IEMs to my Sena SRL intercom today. So much fiddly soldering.

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Found this in the garage this morning...

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