Motorcycle and Scooter appreciation

KTM seem a bit doom a gloom at the moment. Quality has dropped and they are fobbing customers off. Also they sold the IP to the Chinese and bikes like the CFMoto 450 have come out at a fraction of the cost and are arguably a better bike for less money.

Those CRFs sell well and the DRZ has about 10kg more mass (not a lot in the grand sense) and 10bhp more so it should sell really well.

Yeah I was heating it. The material might be the issue not to mention my inability to complete the task. It was cheap stretchy vinyl off eBay.

I see some sellers with a pre cut cover for the Dominator which might be a better albeit more expensive solution. Still cheaper than a retrimmer mind.

It's a plastic base, staples are 8mm x 10mm but feel a bit too heavy to be honest.

I've watched a few pros on eBay who seem to be using contact adhesive..

Find a local upholster and see what material they recommend. Are a London local?

Glasgow

This company is local to me and have done a couple of bicycle saddles for me. Can't fault the work and wasn't overly expensive from memory. They may do postal orders but I've no idea of cost. Might be worth dropping them an email - at least you will know.
https://arek-car-design.ueniweb.com/

There are some really exciting offerings from China these days - the KOVE 450 Rally is a bundle of bike for the cash.

👍

Yeah. India has a load of good stull as well coming from their plants as well. RE, Triumph etc.

That Kove is really rated but I don’t know of one locally yet.

CFMoto 450MT looks fantastic.
I hope there's more 450 adventure / rally bikes coming in the future. Would imagine most manufacturers could see the value of it?

Won a few of the tests over here as well. It's like the Chinese manufacturers aren't scared to just fully commit to a trend and dive in head first.

Would love to see a Ténéré 450 or an affordable (watered down) WR450F Rally from Yamaha...

Factory WR450F Rally is available but c.€28,000 I believe?
Makes the CFMoto and Kove look incredibly good value even if you're not getting quite the same level of spec...

It's quite a tricky decision really whether a secondhand WR450F (or whatever 450 enduro you fancy) converted to rally spec or a Kove 450 Rally would be the way to go for cheap thrills...

Fiiiiiiiinally tidied the garage enough to see where my bikes were. First time in months (many months) that I took this out. Had a proper rev along a green lane to find a spot to practice a few drills then back again. Trying to burn the old fuel.

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I think the big ones were shocked awake by these. Turns out there’s a massive market and most people can’t splurge 20k on a bike.
Gonna let this segment mature, but I’d be getting something like this as next bike.

Exactly. Race ready isn’t genpop. Can’t-afford-to-drop-it is genpop.

Someone is selling a Honda SL230 locally. Shame it’s not quite an LDT bike. I guess if I stripped all the road stuff it could get a bit lighter but probably never have the grunt that a proper enduro gearing would have.

Yeah my perspective on this was totally wrong a few years ago.
Once you get out there, all those farkles aren’t gonna save you. What will is something that gets going again after you drop it, that ain’t gonna financially ruin you.

For sure. The poor DR350 has suffered so many of those moments.

Rider aids? Has a grab rail I guess…

Honestly at this point I’d rather grab handles everywhere and PROPER lever guards than TCS.

Agreed. My plastic wraparound guards snapped (again) because they don’t sit at the best angle when mounted. The corner is under tension so splits on impact. Happened twice in a row with some kinda UFO or similar brand. The ancient Acerbis never did, and they looked identical.

The main reason (apart from fitting issues) I kept wraparounds was they are a useful place to grab onto when lifting out of ruts.

I should just put some grab straps on the DR but lifting that bike risks a hernia.

I had a kmx200, the previous owner had just screwed a door pull handle onto the front mudguard as a grab lever. (Un)fortunately I never got to try it.

I have been looking for an early full fairing sportbike for a while now. Something that's Ulez and MOT exempt, and I had convinced myself the full fairing bikes didn't really arrive until the late 80s.

But I've just discovered the VF1000R from around 84.

It's making me wonder, what else is out there that I've missed?

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Exactly the same BHP as my DR200. Similar size as well as they are both roughly 3/4 size bikes so perfect for off road, LDT stuff.

Viewed it and it’s minty. Like, actually mint. Sorely tempted but not sure it’s worth it vs £2k for an actual enduro.

Gpz900r started in 84, fj1100 also 84. I think 85 saw a bit more development in sports bikes so if you can wait until over winter there may be more choice