Motorcycle and Scooter appreciation

Hahaha yes possibly. I got the impression he was saying that only because there was nobody to go with him but you may be right.

Buy the ones that give the best protection. Ankles are hard to rebuild. Take trainers if you want to walk.

But unless you're riding Enduro just get some adv boots.

I have some Sidi crossfire for off road. They've earnt their cost several times when I've dropped the bike on my ankle. If you're riding off road, you will come off.

Boots will also last a long long time, so the upfront cost will even out quickly.

Edit: actually maybe my comment isn't very helpful. Go try a bunch on and see how they feel and move. I do like goretex though, dry feet are nice.

Good advice on the boots, I think I'll just go and try lots on before making a decision...

It's tricky to decide when you haven't actually got lots of experience to draw on though to know what you want!

Meanwhile...

What Skinny said. I wear MX boots off road, always. You don't even have to fall off to break an ankle - I've sprained mine casing a jump and running over my own foot. The second one sounds silly but is easy to do.

If the toe box hampers your gear change you can try adjusting the gear lever a bit.

Beautiful. Keep as is, just clear coat it.

https://www.riminilambrettacentre.com/en/scooter-for-sale/innocenti-lambretta-special-125-production-mid-october-66.html?fbclid=PAAabhn4Il_Q0JXShOSCcbSYlv0Y9dExhQoXLM7u4x_zrEeHtQWHSLLw7M2HU

Whoops!

1 Attachment

Still living the dream, you are going to make me come to California.

Whoops indeed, what have you done now? Whatever it is, I fully condone it.

Weeeeell. I took a momentary browse of Craigslist yesterday morning and lo and behold, a scuzzy looking RD250 just up the road in Burbank for 600 dollars. I’ve been looking for an old 70s stink wheels for the Moto Melee again next year. Wee bit more pep than the little Honda…

It had been up for 20hrs already, so a pretty forlorn hope it hadn’t sold. A stroke of luck though, the fella emailed me back and half and hour and five hundo lighter, the nipper and I had it in the back of the van.

It’s been in a parking garage the last 4 years and is covered in grime but underneath looks pretty straight and clean. 8k on the clocks and I could believe it’s genuine. Kicks over with decent compression, so should be a runner with a carb clean. Anyways, I’ll bin the fairing, find a rear light, flat bars and make a set of obnoxious spannies for a good crackle. Will have to go through the engine for crankshaft oil seals at minimum, but they’re such simple things that it’s not much work.

Got to get the title first, which can be a bit of a pain, so fingers crossed!

Bargain! The bike in the pic is for sale for £7000 now.

1 Attachment

anyone on here had a go on a CB1100?

That is a phenomenal buy.
I quite like the look with the ace bars and fairing as well.

Agreed. I’d stick some classic boots and turned up jeans, leather jacket with a daft patch on the back and ride it.

I'm too old for ACE bars....anyway the fairing and bars were cobbled-on for a movie (I bought it off the Director) and look bloody awful.

Nothing wrong with the fairing, I'll probably keep it for another project.

J.

Rocket ship.

@Jung
I had an RD250 back in the early 80's. Installed semi-rear set pegs
w shift / brake linkage to match and disk brakes front and rear.
250cc is the lowest allowable displacement to go on Cali freeways.
You'll have a blast with that!

The problem with these things is that they are super inflexible. I had a pair of Sidis which felt like they’d be perfect in a prang but like they might actually cause me to have a prang. Adventure boots are more flexible than those bad boys in my opinion. Great for off road but not for on road in my opinion. Having said that solid capable boots are what I wear every time I go out.

Old work colleague had a nice yellow one. Think it was maybe belt drive and had loads of issues with rear end failures? Was in BMW at least twice in a few years for whole lot to be replaced.
The 7/800cc twin in those is pretty bland but reliable, similar to a few Japanese bikes of similar age. Think it had brembo brakes like many other BMW which were upto job. I vaguely remember being happy with suspension on rough back roads (lake district riding) and then being very unimpressed on some faster stuff. Probably similar to a 90's/00's honda VFR 800 in ride style.

Ankle protection FTW. Decked it once in the city on a streak of diesel at walking pace down a hill, pannier rack sent my ankle the wrong way. Broke one small bone and a sprain but bothered me for ages and that was with wearing reasonable boots, if I was wearing touring boots it would have been a proper break for sure.

On the way to Cheddar earlier this year, I'd only had the Blackbird a week or so and I hit neutral. Unfortunately, I hit neutral while shifting from 2nd down to 1st, at the top of a fairly steep hill, turning right onto a back lane.

As I remember, I was wearing my RST Tractech Evo 'proper' road boots.

I'd like to thank muscle memory from green lanes, but as the bike was just teetering on that infinity-weight point I managed to stomp the ground enough to regain my balance as I kicked it into first and revved through it with a wobble.

Although I was very proud of myself that I didn't need to pick up a 250kg CBR1100XX on an incline, but my ankle/shin ached for weeks.

Having crashed that DR350 at speed last year and the bruise stretching from the arch of my foot to the pocket of my knee, I'd gladly keep ankle protection where possible. That time was brand new stiff enduro boots (not MX) so I think they earned their ticket price in a single short journey.

My boot story. Sitting on a GSXR at traffic lights with DMs on. I felt something nudge the back of my ankle. I looked down and watched as a tyre ran over my foot. The driver of the car seemed not to have seen me and I had to stop her and give her a piece of my mind! No damage to the bike luckily, my DMs were not so lucky - badly scuffed. I think I avoided injury as I was able to move my foot in the boot and the tyre ran over the edge of my foot. Had I been wearing my AlpineStars I think I would have been hurt as they didn’t have the same ‘give’ and had a very stiff heel/ankle protector.
Things you will never forget …

Gone mad…..another bike in the van. I’ve not even unloaded the RD yet… Bet you can’t guess what it is…

2 Attachments

Parts of it have a sort of TZR vibe but the chains on the wrong side! Some kind of YZ125 racing derivative?!? Lectron carbs suggests some kind of RD series engine is a possibility.

Carbs poking out the side is a big tell…