Motorcycle and Scooter appreciation

I know, right. I'm too sentimental sometimes.

But it is a Guzzi.

Nice tent on the landie

Cheers. The Land Rover is the other time sink hole. Great fun though.

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Of that age they are very time sumps as they are generally needing maintenance.
Recently sold my landie that was older than any of its parts apart from the chasis tag and the reg plate. But no different to my barn find (dumped) with never been on the road series 1. By never road registered it was used a lot on the farm and had a powered take off with many farm tools.
Joy of new chasis, body panels being cheaper than restoring the mess. Selling the mess off in parts to idiots. Every bolt or nut was broken or cut off as nothing came apart willingly.

Took them all out in the air a bit.

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Meanwhile, with torrential rain outside, I fitted the MT43’s to the Sherco ST300.

I have a tubeless rim tape/valve thing on order, so there’s a tube in the tubeless rear for now. Hopefully I don’t rip the valve off too quickly in the mean time. At the low level of my practice it’s only likely if the tyre squirms of its own accord.

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Well. Grip is non-existent.

The tyres tried their best to find what little they could, but they are rock solid and slippery compared to the worn-out Michelin/IRC tyres that came off. Get what you pay for, for sure.

Gonna see how long I can tolerate these before saving enough money to replace them with proper gummy trials tyres. I can see them being popular on trail bikes and LDT’s, but for pure trials nope.

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It's occurred to me that I've missed the boat on having my XTZ restoration finished in time for the summer (work and life massively got in the way and I just don't have time to get on top of it quickly enough)...

With that said the logical solution is to do an even more comprehensive job on the XTZ and push the finish date back to next Spring... which means I need a bike for this summer :)

I'm leaning very heavily towards a 750 or 1000 sportsbike and it'll be 90s or early 00s most likely ( I know if discussed this before but the time is upon us now)...

Thoughts? Budget will be low, €3500 max and ideally lower to allow for the inevitable spend on some less ADV-spec riding gear to go with...

ZX7R?
ZXR750 (there's one for sale nearby with a 04 ZX9R engine swap I'm keen for a look at)?
YZF750R?
GSXR750 (pre-SRAD)?
CBR900RR?
CBR929RR?
CBR954RR (wishful thinking on budget probably)?
GSXR1000 (K1)?
R1?
R6 (outlier as a 600)?

VFR?

Probably too sensible... just doesn't appeal to me. My mate is actually selling one with lots of lovely upgrades at the moment but I'm not sure it's for me...

From the left field
Trx 850 (hasn’t your bike got an engine off one?)
Firestorm (poor tank range, might be a bit too vfr’ish but stompy engine)
Tl1000 r or s

I quite fancy a TRX850 alright but it seems like a wasted opportunity to sample something different to get another bike with the same engine...

Did spot a particularly nice TL1000S for sale locally but it's a bit out of budget and if I were going to stretch for a big twin I'd probably look out for an RSV Mille R.

Buy a steel frame CBR600 F3 like mine, cheap as chips and fun to ride. No stress, and usable across the rev range even at legal speeds. Also mega good fuel economy.

They don't half hold their value over here though... the only one in budget is a project and I really just want something I can get out on with no work ideally.

Oh really? Shame you're not closer, as haven't yet made the not-funny reference to mine forever being available for sale if I stopped riding it long enough to advertise, this week.

They are a goldilocks bike in my opinion. Unlike a lot of the more exciting 600's they are actually rideable in any situation.

Ah mate sadly since Brexit UK is practically off limit as we've to add 23% VAT on it to import back to Ireland... such a shame because there's lots of value over there!

Oh damn, I guess that is translated in your prices being stronger to begin with as well. A real shame.

It's a funny one... I saw a 9000 mile ZX7R in mint condition for €3800 the other day and it didn't even sell quickly. Just seems like the demand is different for different models over here.

OG Blade or the 929, you wouldn't loose money on a decent 900 for sure. GSXR1000k1 are beasts, even better you might be able to squeak a K3, which are a deal more sophisticated and lovely bikes.

The ZXR750 with the 9R motor would be wicked if it's done right. I remember the Hag Hughes one built back in the day - awesome bike.

There's an extremely handsome Erion Racing 929 available at the moment though I suspect it will be sold before I've the readies assembled (saving for mortgage approval at the moment so can't spend money on bikes... there are other avenues though).

The zxr750 is not a great to drop in to the 9, the zx7r is and easier swap. So, if there were frame mods who did them. The zxr is heavier in standard trim but a zx swapped 7 feels lovely.

Where are you in the world are you.

Looked at 900 blade prices? 929 and 954 are cheaper

TRX with the head done and better carbs and suspension mods over the cheap standard is fucking awesome.

Firestorm meh. Never gelled and mine was cheap. Was after a TL so that may have been a factor.

TLs over the r and early killer one. Different rear shock and the chain tension right it is a fucking massive amount of fun. See the raptor v raptor

Buy in the EU.

Good notes on the ZX swaps, I'll keep an eye on them if seller ever replies to me...
I'm in Ireland, there's definitely plenty of choice in budget but it seems like there's more 90s 750s to choose from than 00s 1000s which are obviously more desirable here for some reason?
There's lots of pre-SRAD GSXR750s for example...

Decent blades early blades keep their value.

You are right about the zxr and done right....many weren't. Needs better suspension and lighter wheels hence zxu being cheaper.