Motorcycle and Scooter appreciation

One for the haters, but I went ahead and scratched an itch I've had since buying the Sherco a couple years ago.

There's a "long range" tank/seat combo they made for the TY125 Longride bike. Takes a little bit of bosching, but it fits secure enough.

Of course, the seat part is next to useless, but the main benefit of the setup is doubling fuel capacity. I think it's 4.2 or 4.8L. Under the seat they wasted valuable fuel capacity by adding two cavities for snacks and tools.

I think this counts as the most pointless and powerful pit bike you could buy.
(By the way, photo was before replacing the '125' sticker with the appropriate '300' one)

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Well, the CCM ownership is coming to an end.
It’s been quite a disappointment. It is too loud. The original owner has removed the baffles. CCM can only supply complete silencers (£750, special order)
It only came with one RFID tag so I ordered two more. £80 delivered. I then bought one for £1.99 inc postage from eBay.
First ride down lanes at night showed me how bad the lights are. My exposure bike lights are better.
It rained and the water filled the air filter to the point the bike was only just able to limp home.
It’s really difficult to start in the cold and has to be run at quite high revs to prevent stalling If it stalls starting it again is a pain as you need to press a button on the dash with the left hand while tweaking the throttle with the right.
It doesn’t have heated grips so I tried to resurrect my old heated gloves but ended up buying new ones. Then I took the bike for a ride mostly to test them in sub zero temperatures and got a rear wheel puncture, 10 miles from home. After managing to get air into to the tyre I rode home but had to stick my dirty hands into my new gloves.
Took the rear wheel off and discovered it had an inner tube. A 19inch moped tube that was overstretched in the bigger tyre.
I’m so sick of it I phoned the dealer and he’s agreed to take it back and I’ll get something else. It’s not what I expected.

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That sounds fucking awful.

And yet that sounds exactly what I would expect from those bikes.

Sorry to read your experiences. Come to Swindon and buy my CBR600 F3. Even for carb’d it starts on the button.

By the way, came across this in an old album that was reshared on that social media site.... looks like your experience has a long heritage:

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From Reddit. Not something I would ride (ignoring for a moment the six figure price tag) but it's certainly interesting.

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I absolutely bloody love that... I also don't know if I'd actually want to own it but I love that it exists...

Same vibes with this... I've been on a bit of an MV Agusta binge since I discovered how cheap some of the older Brutales can be had...

That front fairing is crazy. An aero wheel cover on the rear of that would fit nice for the neo retro style

That would be very cool alright!

On the topic of MV Agusta I've always loved the look of them but also thought the more recent bikes were sort of terribly vulgar and the fact they're still trotting out misogynistic advertising campaigns in the current day and age gives me a bit of an ick...

That being said I've always absolutely adored the original F4 in both 750 and 1000 versions and as I mentioned above the affordability of a first or second gen Brutale has me really looking at them...

Anyone had a go?

Agreed, F4s are pretty special.
Do they always break down though?

Possibly but they're just so pretty 😍

Yep, that's a burnt out stator.

Anyone know a good way to get off the bits of old paper gasket? Pretty stubborn around the bolts.

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A friend of mine has one. He's not the most mechanically inclined, but everytime he wants to ride it's a gamble if it starts or not.

Lovely bike to look at and ride, nonetheless, but forget keeping it as your only one

Fresh stanley blade with some masking tape on the blunt edge for a handle.

Bleargh, I had to do this on the tiger as well. Stanley blade, isopropyl, gentle scotchbrite and patience.
I also used some RTV around the dowels and lower half of the case as fuck Triumph and their leaky cases.

If the case leaks sand the case smooth with wet or dry on a piece of glass. Marking the surface with a Sharpie or similar so you know when it is flat.

Then see how out of flat the block is

Also I use a syringe to apply the sealant as I am afraid of getting sealant in the engine.

Don’t mind us, just a good day out on the lanes….

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Had it been leaking or pre-emptive?

It's definitely not the original stator and there was oil around the threads of the bottom bolts, but no sign it was actually leaking. I think I have some black RTV somewhere anyway so might as well do the same.

I'll do the rr as well as I definitely do not want to have to replace this again.

Thanks for the advice all, off to buy a new Stanley blade!

Big day on the tools.

I hope it works.

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My favorite tool on the left of pic 1. Good work!

Mine has a handle just like that too

My late father would not be happy if I used a claw hammer in an engineering scenario. I think of him whenever I'm using my Bahco adjustable spanner especially when using it as a hammer.

Did lol

Oi, back off my territory. You ask before smashy comes out.

@number21 Depends on which bike? On the Striple, was pre-emptive. That was fine. On the Tiger? I still have a fucking leak. The third one so far; this once I can't get to.

@pdlouche Advise please for those of us with less experience riding in the filth, I've geared down the Tiger massively, hacked at weight, and fitted some slightly more appropriate dirt tyres. I wanna do a wee bit of offroad. Any advise on mapping and routing?

It actually gets worse. I visited the dealer (in my van, as I hadn’t been able to get the back wheel refitted!) and had a look at the options. I have kind of settled on a Ducati monster but they want a lot of money to swap. The sales guy said he’d try and get me a better deal over the weekend.
I put the back wheel back on the bike (a royal pain in the arse trying to get the wheel, brake caliper and mudguard support in place at the same time as you push the axle through) but really struggled with the chain, the spring link just would not go back on. I popped to the bike spares shop down the road to see if they had a decent one that I could use. He looked at it and laughed. He reckons it was probably the cheapest nastiest chain CCM could have chosen. I eventually managed to refit it with the help of a screw clamp. This afternoon I thought I’d take the bike out as I had a little errand to run.
Bastard thing wouldn’t start.
I jumped on the 16 year old BMW and did the job without the slightest fuss.
I don’t think I’ve ever hated a bike as much as I hate this thing.

Tiger’s heavy. Stick to gravel, find your local TRF as they should know local ideal lanes. Download the TET gpx file but be warned some lanes will be beyond your comfort zone. Look on fb for local rider groups.

What area are you now btw?