Motorcycle and Scooter appreciation

Stripped and somewhat rebuilt over the past couple weeks. Carb rebuilt by my brother. Wiring tidied up, ton of fixtures replaced with stainless stuff, rusty parts stripped and painted. Pretty happy with it

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Maybe this brings some memories for a few other old men in this thread. Bit of a guilty pleasure....

https://youtu.be/aqQ5EVNqi_c

Himalayan?

What don't you like about it, or what do you want to upgrade to?

100mpg is great is that calculated or is that what the computer is showing you? I thought 85mpg on the Himalayan was good but I suppose it is heavier.

I really like it. It's fantastic. And if I lived somewhere with more access to byways (like where I rode my gravel bike at the weekend, which had byways everywhere you looked) then I'd keep it. But in reality, where I live, it will only be used on the roads. So I started looking at a few upgrades for it, mainly suspension as the bike is just as softly sprung as all the reviews suggest.

I concluded that by the time I've spent the money on a Rally Raid suspension upgrade for it, I'm a long way towards the difference to p/x'ing it to something with better suspension in stock form.

I test rode the SMC and really noticed the difference of the better damped suspension. It just felt better suited to riding the lanes and back roads I enjoy riding. But the brakes were also better and the improved handling of the 17" road focused wheels/tyres also was hard to ignore.

So it's a lovely bike and if I had bottomless pockets I'd keep it and get the SMC too, but in the real world, I can't afford 2 motorbikes.

Sorry, didn't answer the fuel consumption question. My long term mpg (according to the bike's display) is over 108 mpg. But my crude calcs based on fuel costs and mileage actually come out even better than that. Coz of the tiny fuel tank I use E5 and I ride very conservatively.

You getting a 690 SMC? Super cool. I periodically fixate on the Husky 701 SM....which is very similar. They look SO much fun.

Yep. I prefer the 701 (same bike give or take, just better colours and some minor styling tweaks). I'd get one of those, but the nearest Husqvarna dealer is 65 miles away whereas there's a ktm dealer 4 miles away. From an ease of servicing point of view I'll suffer the orange.

MOT failed on 3 majors…
Missing number plate reflector
Missing pillion foot peg RHS
Missing pillion foot peg LHS
🤦‍♂️

Luckily they let me take the pillion seat off and stick a reflector on for a quick retest.

Holy shit that’s actually a thing! Seat but no pegs!

It’s barely even a seat on my bike!

It's at the back of my mind, it does tick so many boxes. Not sure what's stopping me.

Yep if there is a pillion seat there needs to be pegs

Do it. Cheap and fun. Love mine.

I think I might have just agreed to buy an overpriced vintage improbable off roader...
Air cooled, big tank, top heavy, electrical start, rarely seen here in Denmark.
More news next week...

Reflector is a given.

The pegs is a bit of a fickle MOT tester. Any tester I know would have written "no pillion pegs - solo rider only" on the advisories and passed it. That's what they have done previously for bikes I've known.

For example the DR350 had grab rails but no pegs, so it could be construed that there was provision for a pillion... but I'd taken the pegs off. Similarly the GN125 had a grab-strap on the seat but no pegs, so again, it was open to debate.

The cleanest and simplest solution is to attach your bag over the pillion area, as a tester cannot add or remove anything. By using that area as luggage, they can ignore its provision as a passenger area.

If there's going to be a pillion passenger there needs to be pegs. You don't need pegs if there's no passenger.

christ thats beautiful !

Thanks! It was lightly restored before I bought it in 2002, but I've left it since. I couldn't have it restored now, every rust spot, bump and scrape I've put on it!

Don't know what I'm doing. Feeling both stupid and smug at the same time.

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Am jealous

Took the kids to the beach today and stumbled upon a mod/scooter meeting - ‘Storm the Fort’ on the Wirral.

Probs a good couple of hundred Lambrettas and Vespas at least.

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Ooh, that’s very nice

Ha! That Skinhead Skelly on the end is ace!

Good point on disc rotor holes!

Bit of old bike brake cable is great for poking them out. Cut it about 5cm down from the barrel and use it like a cocktail stick