Motorcycle and Scooter appreciation

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1aVuu0-q8dQ&feature=related

Beemer indicators are a lot more sensible than the usual ones I find. They always put the horn button in entirely the wrong place though.

Yeah - how come R's a expensive to run? You can do it all DIY with about 3 spanners and a socket, and they are more or less indestructible?

With the indicators I was thinking along the lines of cars, where you get used to the indicators on one side, then change car and end up washing the windscreen at every junction!

With the R80 everything that goes wrong costs a lot of money to replace/fix. True you can get the heads off to change the push rod mushrooms (a common cause of oil leaks) in a day, but you do need a piston ring compressor & torque wrench and probably new exhaust manifold connectors/spanner (finned type) since the old ones will likely be seized. Last time I did that simple job it cost £60 quid in parts, £40 in tools.

It got knocked over by a car while parked one time, I was on holiday. Cost £600 to fix the forks and panniers. Car style clutch cost me £500 to get changed, mind you that was BMW, and probably not good value. Batteries only last a few years and they're £80. New brake discs which do crack occasionally are £500 a pair. Second hand parts where available are ok but prices are still high.

Fuel is £25 per tank for 120-130 miles in town, not much better on longer runs. But insurance is cheap.

I only ride a few thousand miles a year on it, and I may be out of touch with the cost of other bikes but parts and fuel costs are quite high. They do run very well once you balance the carbs (again £80 for the tool to do that). It's a bit of a dream that you can fix them with a couple of spanners.

What is the coolest thing you can ride in a CBT?
I think its a C90, which I should be buying for myself later this year.

C90's are pure win. Try and get up a little speed in first, push and hold foot down for second, hold throttle wide open and let foot up, wheelie into the distance. Almost indestructible.

.....almost as I once melted a top end running one on mostly nitro (Model Airplane Fuel)

I did CBTs on the school's Yamaha SR125 which was a really horrible tractor of a bike.
When 2 years had passed without me taking my test I did the next one on their Piaggio Zip twist n go. Those things are really tiny. Apparently I couldn't do it on my Vespa because it had no mirrors or indicators.
Next time around I did it on my own Honda CBR125, which was way cooler than the school's bikes. countersteering at high speed round the slalom cones and stoppieing it on the emergency stops.

What would be the coolest thing? That nice R-125. or a square headlight Vespa T5 Mk1.

i dont actually have my CBT, nor have i ever done one.
are they a peice of piss?

its basic training. they cannot fail you so to speak.

But they can tell you that you need to come back a second day as you haven't reached the required standard. They did this to me on my first one after I crashed their bike.
I was petrified. I had never been on a motorcycle before and they took me on the south circular in rush hour. Basically it was a shit training company - don't go to Metropolis Motorcycles. That rule applies to buying bikes and booking mechanics too.

Passed the next day though, with a different trainer.

................ - don't go to Metropolis Motorcycles. That rule applies to buying bikes and booking mechanics too.

......................

i am of this opinion too.

.....almost as I once melted a top end running one on mostly nitro (Model Airplane Fuel)

hehe.

my friends and i used to buy job lots of 150cc postie bikes at auctions. we would build 2 or 3 good ones from the pool of bits we built up and race them around the trotting track near a mate's farm. we also popped one of them using model aircraft fuel.

ah, bright times

i rode one of ^them through a glass slidey door once, trying to be a funny cunt.

i rode one of ^them through a glass slidey door once, trying to be a funny cunt.

Job done then, really! Pure genius.

i thought the door was open, and wanted to ride the bike into my mate's living room, where his mum and sister were watching telly, and rev the bike.

BANG! arse-up on the living room floor, broken glass everywhere

people pissing on the stairs you know they just dont care.

Fuel is £25 per tank for 120-130 miles in town, not much better on longer runs. But insurance is cheap.

Something seriously wrong with that fuel usage. Has it been re-jetted etc?

But they can tell you that you need to come back a second day as you haven't reached the required standard. They did this to me on my first one after I crashed their bike.
I was petrified. I had never been on a motorcycle before and they took me on the south circular in rush hour. Basically it was a shit training company - don't go to Metropolis Motorcycles. That rule applies to buying bikes and booking mechanics too.

Passed the next day though, with a different trainer.

I was surprised by this when I took mine the other day. 9am I'd never been on a bike before, 1pm I'm doing 50mph down the A140. Terrified, but also grinning slightly.

Something seriously wrong with that fuel usage. Has it been re-jetted etc?

No, it's running fine. Last time I filled it was 18lt (23.50) I expect that will do what it normally does around 127 miles that's 30 mpg (in town). Longer trips are usually much better.

The stated figures are more like 59 mpg. That's not the kind of riding I do, you could make it go a lot further at a constant speed, but sitting around in traffic idling etc. chews up the fuel.

It can still run fine, and not be correctly set up, in terms of wasting fuel. 30 around town, unless you are giving it a bunch of right wrist all the time is very low - I get 45+ town out of my 1150, and used to see nearly the same out of the 100. I assume it's emissions exempt so unburned fuel wouldn't show come MOT time?

I've checked the fuel mix throughout the time I've owned it using colortune. It's more likely I've got my numbers mixed up, shit happens. Its not exactly economical even at 45mpg.

Did you find the cost of ownership low with the R100?

Forgot to say, I do ride hard. Touring on hire bikes in the states I was using more fuel than the other 3 bikes covering the same distance.

45 around town for a normally aspirated 1936 tractor engined dead weight isn't bad going!

Yeah, I did find it cheap. Now much to go wrong so long as kept the lube changes frequent (used sump oil was pretty much OK). But I did have most of the tools I ever needed already, so that wasn't really a cost factor.

The 1150's been great. Only at getting on for 40K does it need trunions, which I'll probably get an independent to do for me; it's a real stout workhorse, and a hoot to boot.

I had a go on a Mana - interesting ride, but i concluded a maxi scooter did the same thing better.

Maxi scooter had been on my list of possibilities, thinking about doing the knowledge. Mixing it up with a pushbike.

The 1150's look great, I like the low loading on the R80, nice and stable when I'm carrying toolboxes or building materials. Interesting that you've found them good value, maybe I'm just looking at it wrong.

I'm keeping mine anyway, hopefully the left hand problem is just an injury from lifting a dishwasher.

if i was getting a cbt bike i'd get a c90 or a suzuki van-van. I've always thought the van vans were pretty cool, esp. with the wide front wheel conversion.

B.

Wahaeeey.

I have a new / old project. It's going to be 2-stroke, it's going to be (very) dangerous, and it's going to have spoked wheels (maybe).

Very exciting.