Motorcycle and Scooter appreciation

XJ sold. All a bit weird and he haggled. £1150 and it's gone. I don't care too much now, it's out of my hair. I currently have his beat-up moped in my shed until he can collect it. All a bit weird, but the ped's not nicked and has tax and mot.

The guy who bought my blackbird was about 5'2, turned up with his girlfriend who was just as short, in a transit. No ramp nothing. Not sure what the fuck he was planning. Anyway made an extra 40 selling him the ramp I had spare in my garage.

Classic idiot humans.

Have a thing for the futura...

Ace!

Removed the Blackbird from marketplace while I reassess everything over the weekend. I’ll enjoy the DR for a few lanes and then decide how to move forward.

A smaller lighter faired sports bike is what I’d like… but I lose nothing by staying on the Blackbird. Now the XJ has sold I have a bit of breathing space until the van arrives.

Upselling opportunities are everywhere

If I wasn’t in the UK, reckon the SV would go. Here though. This bike hits all the sweet spots without getting you in the back of a van.
Other two bikes scratch different itches.

The last beast was a 1200cc of madness and hilarity, but also multiple paranoias.

I shouldn't keep the GSXR really but it's stone reliable and I still love it for the occasional blast. It's not like it's depreciating either. If I ever get a bit more disposable income, I can do some big tracks on it too.

In a break from regular programming, I've roped myself in to help my mate fix up two 1968 Honda CL175s for a classic bike rally in No-Cal in June. He just picked up a matching pair that have been sat in a shed for 15 years. They boast (an actually very impressive) 20hp @ 10k rpm from new!

I've suggested that if we get them going well we should fit vintage race rubber and annoy all the Triumph crowd...up to about 55 at least....

They look like this but rougher....

Phwarrr

Everyone seems to love them! I suppose they are sweet. 10k RPM in '68 must have been positively space age.

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Yeah, now that's the juice. Wanna do us a favour and take some pics of the work or you going to just forget again?

@jambon https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w2eU23TAnT0
Once again he posts. The moulded part process got me itching. Proper good work.

I'm normally too oily / sweary whenever I'm fixing anything. Not much zen in my motorcycle maintenance at the moment. I'll take a couple of pics before we start....might have a shuftie one evening next week.

I almost spat my tea out when he started making the mould, def my favourite installment so far. Was sceptical about the epoxy tank liner, as never heard of it before, but looks to have worked well.

I don’t think you’ll go any slower on a faired 600, you just lose some gearing flexibility. Why not go naked? It feels faster and you still have all that grunt up to (and above) motorway speeds.

Dude, wear all the gear all the time.

Lol

Can confirm doing a tonne 40 on a naked middleweight feels absolutely extreme

Hah!

Nippy but nice out there. The CRF politely reminded me despite being a 'L' it's still a 450. Blipped the throttle slightly too much on wet grass and comically lowsided, thankfully just the squirrels and pigeons witnessed it.

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Well in part, a smaller lighter bike is what I want. I will gladly lose 50hp for 50kg, to have something around 200kg and 100hp. That is more than enough and will be slimmer and easier to get in and out every day.

However. It all might change as the days get warmer and the mileage goes higher. I’m without the Blackbird until I pick it up again from the unit, so I am trying to see how I feel in its absence.

So far? I feel great. Out on the lanes with a dodgy carb setup that might actually be running too rich now instead of too lean, struggling to stay upright in rock-solid deep chalk ruts.

Managed to only kinda nearly fall off once. And twice got the boots stuck on the wide beartrap pegs when getting a foot down.

Getting excited to have a van to chuck the Sherco in the back of. It’s languished for a few weeks now and needs running.

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Epoxy tank liner is the kind of thing you get in the frost por 15 liner kit. Tho some of the early liner kits react to ethonol.

to have something around 200kg and 100hp.

That’s mental heavy. You can get sub 180 for 100bhp easy. Get a street triple. Done.

Here’s something to keep you off road.
https://youtu.be/IcF2bYjEG9I

I know I know. Sub-180 would be great but I also don’t want a bike worth more than £2k if I can help it. I like the 90’s styling on older sports bikes and their prices are much lower than more modern lightweight stuff.

Romaniacs, noooooo thank you! I can barely survive local byways!