Motorcycle and Scooter appreciation

How dare you?!

@Airhead with a typical cyclist physique, I'd definitely be putting on weight if I went to the gym. Seriously though, with 119 dyno'd rear wheel hp that's more than enough for the road and probably the track too. Happy to admit like most riders the bike's probably faster than I can ride it.

I shouldn't tease. I get that you're looking for jobs to do. In my experience something usually comes along that needs money to fix.

Italian bikes, unreliable?

Spent the day around this lot at an extreme enduro race. Only took photos. Sod riding it, the journey by road was hairy enough!

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I stopped owning them when I had to wait 6 weeks for a piston because the factory closed for the summer. Yours is very tempting though.

the factory closed for the summer

That sentence alone is brilliant. Used parts are probably higher than average and easy to source but don't have any faith in the Aprilia dealer network for new stuff.

@pdlouche those gradients, oof. Imagine the reality is a lot more extreme than a phone screen allows too!

Yep, the quarry was even taller than I imagined. Only the vans at the bottom give some scale. Madness.

Quite pleased with myself. Motivated by not being able to start the Triumph I tried the hack posted earlier (I think I bought the bits 2yrs ago now).

From other peoples pictures it looked possible to make more of a button for it, so I bought some random bits from China an cannibalised a empty ballpoint for the spring.

Very, very simple and worth doing if you have an aircooled twin.

Hopefully pictures speak 1k words:

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Oh and it works.

Bit of a splutter, but the bike fired into life. Handily it bypasses all the safety switches so you don't need 3 hands. Obviously that means you do need to make sure it's not in gear, etc.

It also diagnoses the issue for me, without having to take my seat off to get to the battery. Time to buy a new charger I think!

£12.95 seat cowl is here, looks amazing and not as flimsy as I’d expected. Unfortunately it’s slightly the wrong shade of blue, so some spraying required.

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Phew. That’s a load off my mind.

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Just been sent this ace pic of my dad circa ‘78ish
He still rides trials and fucks around in the woods to this day.

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^Ossa M.A.R he still has one.

Yeeeaaaaasss!

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Possibly @edmundro ’s pops in this vid?

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=FZEHlDJXFRc

I wouldn't normally do this but a friend is selling his mint BMW R100 at the moment. Soon to be historic tax i.e. free Tax with no ULEZ or MOT requirement. I guess you could call it an affordable classic although it's still a chunk of cash. It's had everything fixed and it's been babied. I've seen it in the flesh and it's lovely.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Mint-BMW-R100RS/143889372859?hash=item21807996bb:g:4isAAOSwdhNf21PI

That's a beauty.

Have a horrible feeling someone will chop it into a cafe racer though.

They would be batshit crazy to do that to it! Plenty of cheaper options in the market still. Fingers crossed anyway, the puppy killing is a disease right now. Some of the cafe racer varieties would be lethal on the road.

The bike I have now he originally owned. I've kept it 16 years and he wanted to buy it back if I ever wanted to sell but I never have. He got this one instead and he's spent plenty of money getting it perfect only to find himself wanting to sell it because he's 'accidentally' bought 2 bikes. I would have tuned and ridden it last summer but, well, you know.

That butters my parsnips, looks truly mint.

The owner has owned this type of bike on and off for well over 20 years so he had zoned in on that model as the one to have. He bought it from someone in the city who had it garaged with a couple of very high end cars. The great thing about the RS model is the riding position, the bars are set up a bit like clip ons and you can nestle behind the fairing with your back straight unlike the RT where you sit up straight and the bounce along on the rear suspension.

Of course the performance is pipe and slippers by modern bike standards but the engine has a great light aircraft vibe about it and it shouldn't terrify any pillions.

He mentioned to me a couple of months ago he wanted to sell it but I can't bring myself to park something that mint on the side of the road all weathers in C. London. That is the only reason I've not bought it already.

Dad had another lesson today, but it was cut short because of torrential rain. Fair play to him, he’d been out for an hour running errands and still stuck with a second hour in the rain before saying enough was enough. He seems to like the CRF250, and doesn’t know any better so rides the knobblies on-road without any great fear.

Since it was cut short, he went home and I chatted to my instructor for a while. He let me roll around the enclosed area on the Bandit 1200.

Didn’t even bother twisting the throttle, wow, can’t believe how much it pulls in first gear just slipping the clutch!

Suppose some time I’ll just have to sort a big-big bike.

Don't blame him. I can't remember the last time I rode in the dry. The whole month has been garbage for riding. He'll get there

Speak to Dammit. He was looking at rented garage space a while ago. Workshop type space under railway arches I think. Then get your cheque book out!😁
Bike looks incredible!!!

I'm not interested in storing a m/bike miles from home, I've already got options for that kind of thing :) I went down a rabbit hole yesterday and ended up looking at BMW C Evolution. Lots of very complimentary reviews, hopefully an electric bike will come along that fits my pocket and needs.

But also, damn, you've got me thinking about that bike again!