Motorcycle and Scooter appreciation

Nice! I was out on the varadero this weekend after finally charging the battery, forgot to reconnect the heated grips though and it was bloody freezing.
I need a new lid and pair of riding trousers, hoping I can pick up a bargain in the sales....

Holy shiatsu that's way too fucking cool.
Engine spins? Tank clean?

@n3il @Chak

It's a local guy who has a fair few bikes. Occasionally he sells one or two out of his collection. His lads are insanely good trials riders. They often ride whatever they want because they can. One time one of them turned up on an enduro just because.

We were at the trial today (I was observing again) and we were talking about the mate who has the Epure Race electric trials bike. I was talking about one thing and another and cooing over the old twinshock one of his lads decided to punt around on for a change. (Spoiler alert, it was hard work vs his modern bike.)

Anyway, talking about that twinshock he somehow mentioned the Beamish. It's mostly/all original, road reg, mk3 1980 and apparently kicks and runs fine just won't click into gear now. His words were it was fine when it was rolled in but now it's no good.

We were talking about how it could be gummed up maybe just needs flushing and some attention.

Basically it's in neutral and kicks and starts, but won't click.

My money's on it stuck from too long sitting, like how some bike clutch plates practically fuse together from lack of use.

Not sure what the rust or condition is like but that will definitely dictate the price.

Be amazing if I can get it cheap enough and get it working with some elbow grease.

Ideally if the road reg was done early enough, I can historic/classic vehicle tax exempt it and run cheap insurance.

I've lost 3rd gear. Oh no. my CB550 is shifting from 2nd > neutral > 3rd.

Clutch is coming off next weekend to inspect the shifting mechanism, and if that's all in order then I'll have to pull the engine and split the case. HA

Love some Suzuki yellow. A mate over here nearly got a RL - it was a cool looking bike, he ended up with a TY instead.

If it’s been sat that long, you’ll probably want to pull the motor and do all the seals and a basic refresh anyways. Not too much of a chore.

I made 3 sundays, 3 rides and 3 different bikes. Not a bad start to the year.

Yea on the one hand I dread stripping and rebuilding anything. On the other if it was cheap enough it could be worth it longterm. So long as it doesn’t end up like the Scorpa Easy - in pieces in boxes with an engine that cost more to fix than a mint bike would be worth.

You can get beamish spares easily enough. Nice bikes but check for cracks around the brace on the headstock.

We have a 250 and it's a good bike but it doesn't ride anywhere near as well as our TY175 but I suppose it depends what you will use it for.

The beamish really needs a set of high rise bars and bar risers as well. They are good for point and shoot sections but not the rear technical stuff.

Also Telford Classic Dirtbike show is on in Feb so you will be able to get stuff from there easily if needed.

You can get beamish spares easily enough. Nice bikes but check for cracks around the brace on the headstock.

Thanks I was wondering about this, as I saw from photos they're gusseted 531 tubing which sounds way too thin for a trials bike. Owners club seems fairly ok-stocked.

We have a 250 and it's a good bike but it doesn't ride anywhere near as well as our TY175 but I suppose it depends what you will use it for.

Sadly my preference for a TY250 Pinky would mean upping the budget threefold. By that point I'm unwilling to take a punt. TY175 would be great but I have a soft spot for the bigger engines with silly levels of torque to match their unfashionably high kerb weight.

The actual use of the bike is the biggest '?' in my mind. I have the 2016 Sherco ST300 which is infinitely more capable for trials, and the DR350 which is just plain great everywhere until it gets technical, or the road gets fast. What purpose would the Beamish serve but old school fun? That's kinda the use case, old school fun.

I'm projecting forward a little, that once I'm living in Devizes in a few months time I'll have Salisbury Plain very close. Closer than I do now in Swindon. Indeed I could ride it on the DR like before, but the Beamish feels almost like it could be that scrambler-ish bike which will get me there and back with fun in the slow technical areas that the DR just can't cope with. Alternative is a long range tank on the ST300, but I don't like revving that bike for long periods, it's not built for sustained rpm.

The beamish really needs a set of high rise bars and bar risers as well. They are good for point and shoot sections but not the rear technical stuff.

That's what I've read, too. If I keep the Sherco that is the pure modern trials machine. The Beamish could be more of a lazy slow trailie.

Also Telford Classic Dirtbike show is on in Feb so you will be able to get stuff from there easily if needed.

Thanks yea saw that on the owners club web page, I'm going to try avoid attending because I know it'll cost me a lot of money!

They are pretty stout so I wouldn't be too worried. Chromed as well so a good bit of corrosion resistance. There were a few people using Reynolds, I think Whitehawk used the same as an example. Obviously in a much lower quantities.

We have a 25o Beamish and a TY175 and as a trials bike the 175 is better but they are very rev happy. I'm 100kg and it pulls me fine but like I say it needs to be opened up when it gets steep or muddy. 250 Beamish has a lot more grunt but that's mainly up top.

Ty250 mono (pinky) is lightyears ahead. My favorite trails bike ever. You can't go wrong with one and they are so capable and reliable. Pictures below are from New years eve trail.

Beamish would make a great green lane bike but you should give twinshock trials a go as well. Good crowd and you get to see some really nice bikes.

Also you should definitely go to Telford it's a brilliant show even if you just look around.

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I can smell it from here. Looks like fun.

There are a few that ride the local SDMCC trials on twinshocks, mostly the easier routes for obvious bike reasons.

Yea I'd really like a TY mono but I can't justify that spend. A Beamish I can justify not losing too much financially if I don't like it.

Can't beat a bit of slop from time to time. The clean up is never fun though.

You could ride a twinshock on AMCA expert round here in the summer if you were good enough. Winter might be a bit too much unless it had a lot of grunt.

I don't know how much you would be into your Beamish for but you could get a TY250 sub £1500. Still ride classic trails in the aircooled class.

Haven't seen any TY250's road reg'd for less than £2-2.5k nearby. Anything sub £2.5k looks like a bag of shit. "ReStOrAtOiN PoRjEcT"

Yeah, I bet! Almost never happens here. Dust and Rocks. Wet sand is pretty awesome but similarly rare....My local spot has quite a bit of clay, so when it does rain, it's comedy hour with people going down.

Oddly enough, the same mate that ended up on the TY, started with a Greeves! I think he did one AHRMA meet on it, then it was back on Craigslist so fast it got whiplash. Very cool looking old thing, not the easiest to learn on.

It’s mental how many people try to hustle ‘fucked up’ with ‘restoration project’. I get that ‘content’ is a big thing these days, but fuck me.

I got curious about rebuilding a lambretta. Let’s have a look. Rusting husks for 3k.

Comedy hour was about 4 hours long for me on Sunday.

The section I observed was a gentle incline and the routes were criss-cross upward, red/blue's going full lock almost figure eight around a few trees at the very top. Red/blues at the very bottom had to get out of a boggy swamp of mud that within one lap was just a flooded rut with step. Greens just had to go up, yellows go up a tighter line.

I've never seen some of yesterday's riders drop a point, and they were lucky to make it out with 3's by the last lap. I think my section tripled the scorecoard for a few of them.

I had a go on the yellow route again when packing up, having easily cleaned it before the trial. Almost lost the bike so many times it made wet clay seem easy. Needless to say I didn't bother torturing myself trying red/blue.

@Chak you're right. It fills me with the heebies looking at a lot of the 'barn find' and 'classic' options floating online.

That does sound fun (sort of!) I might have a crack at one of the AHRMA trials rounds this year, something different to do. I'm pretty sure I could borrow a bike for it.

The bottom end of the 'project' market is getting wobblier and wobblier here. It's very satisfying to see some of the delusion going out with the tide. Air-cooled two stroke dirt bikes are about as simple as it gets, but there is still plenty of labor involved in getting one refreshed to running condition. Without touching cosmetics, there's an easy 10-12hrs just doing bearings and seals from the engine outwards. Still not cheap enough for me to dive back in, though I'd still like another twin shock MX bike.

The gap in my ownership is any kind of MX bike, but with good reason. As much as I'd love a classic MX, a classic enduro would be more usable. By that point, a trailie type twinshock trials seems more logical. No, I can't go leg-out around berms and bends, but I can disappear up any old ditch for an hour and never get bored at 5mph.

FB just threw this up

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Shit son. Turns out you don't need £300 worth of tyres and off road EBS, ABS, EBC, TBV to go gnarly.

Been watching this and maybe I'm being nostalgic of a time I didn't exist in, but man alive, this is exciting.

https://youtu.be/rL60TR_8lRw?si=Ihmuk1aoOVqctEjX

Such a killer era of racing, that brings back loads of memories. Who didn't want a Muzzy ZXR750?

Added to my watch later list, cheers!

There is a nice looking road reg Mono for sale in Barnsley for £1750. I'm sure you could get him down to £1500.

Ha. I would love a Greeves, mainly for that leading link fork. I have never ridden one though but I have ridden other old British stuff and a TY would be leagues ahead in performance.