The Bikeshite Thread

[twosmoke300]

Stil known as ktbooms. My mates 22hr/2 month old 250xcf went pop on Sunday .

[SierraMikeHotel]

Then get the king of scooters:

 

 

One owner since 1999, strikingly handsome, fast*, comfortable, capacious and laden with character (but not the sort of 'character' that leaves you stranded miles from home with a grenaded engine, fucked electrics etc.). DIY maintainable even by me (with almost 100% genuine parts availability) except for the engine hanger bearings - and it's had those done!

 

£800 BIN represents VALUE at today's prices IMO.

 

Disclaimer: it's not mine & nowt to do with me. Do have two of them though.

Oof. SO much want. Need to spend the money on an estate car instead though....

 

Now where's that winning Premium Bond?

[Jerzy Woking]

I rarely, if ever, go to the south side of the River Thames, but today it's where I am working.

 

I have seen some odd things today. Just now a 61 plate Maxi Scooter went passed me at the traffic lights, both rider and pillion weren't wearing helmets. Not the thieving scum I expected, but a flat cap wearing bloke in his sixties with a rather pretty 30 something as pillion.

 

Looked just so odd.

 

[Fabergé Greggs]

Welcome to the jungle

[DodgeRover]

That's just odd, surely the police haven't given up that much? Diplomatic plates?

[Dave_Q]

Wasn't an mp3 was it?

[Jerzy Woking]

That's just odd, surely the police haven't given up that much? Diplomatic plates?

 

 

No, British plates.

 

Wasn't an mp3 was it?

No -two.wheeler, possibly a Sym or Kymco, very clean. Even indicating to turn right.

 

I think it is just a fine and no points for riding without a helmet. I just don't see the point of not wearing one, especially in this cold weather if nothing else.

[Guest Hooli]

 first time I'd ridden it at night today actually - which also made me realise how utterly shit the headlamp is - are all bikes bad?

 

Yes and no.

 

Bikes often have shite lights, but then with a single light & the same rules as a car it's exactly like driving a car with out bulb out. However 125s have so little electric they run even smaller bulbs as a rule so are uber shite.

 

I've got a LED H4 thing in my GSX, I can actually see at night now unlike the normal light.

[DodgeRover]

All small bikes have shit headlights it's compulsory, make do by strapping a head torch to your helmet to shine into the eyes of oncoming drivers, also make sure you ride in front of an Audi or BMW at night, there lights are bright enough not to need your own.

[yellowperil]

I rarely, if ever, go to the south side of the River Thames, but today it's where I am working.

 

I have seen some odd things today. Just now a 61 plate Maxi Scooter went passed me at the traffic lights, both rider and pillion weren't wearing helmets. Not the thieving scum I expected, but a flat cap wearing bloke in his sixties with a rather pretty 30 something as pillion.

 

Looked just so odd.

IIRC if a hat was originally sold as motorcycle safety gear when it was new, it is still legal to use.

So a cork lined flat cap from the thirties could be totally legal in place of a crash helmet.

[DodgeRover]

I've only ever seen one Sikh riding a bike without a helmet too come to think of it.

[Guest Hooli]

Do you know, reading that has made me realise I've never seen that over here.

[Jerzy Woking]

I often see riders in certain parts of Europe riding without helmets, but this is the first time in many years that I have seen it here.

[Guest Hooli]

I wish we still could here, I would on some summer days when I wasn't planning to go fast.

[DodgeRover]

I never used to wear a helmet whilst out doing trials practise till one day I rode under a slightly low branch during an event, (when I was wearing a helmet) and hit it hard enough that I felt it with the helmet on. That would really really have hurt without one.

[Guest Hooli]

I once cycled under a tree at speed at night, I did the same not wearing a helmet. Took 30mins to find the bike too, as it'd gone off the edge of the track & buried itself in nettles.

[strangeangel]

...utterly shit the headlamp is - are all bikes bad?

 

 

Most small ones are... if yours is a 6V CG then I would invest in a head torch.

[strangeangel]

50cc of Piaggio Zip with Technigas 'zorst is only mildly less noisy than the sound made by the roar of a bull that has had its testicles twanged with a rubber band.

 

 

It's horrible, isn't it? I had the same pipe on an SR50 I was given about 10 years ago. The bike was free (albeit needing quite a bit of remedial work) and got me riding again after a looooong hiatus, but that appalling 'angry wasp' row was what made me do my CBT and get a 4-stroke 125. Our Lass claimed she could hear me returning home from work fully three streets away.

[martc]

All small bikes have shit headlights it's compulsory, make do by strapping a head torch to your helmet to shine into the eyes of oncoming drivers, also make sure you ride in front of an Audi or BMW at night, there lights are bright enough not to need your own.

 

You won't need to go out of your way to ride in front of an Audi or BMW just give it a few minutes and you'll find one 2 inches off your back mudgaurd. They're attracted to the backs of other vehicles like a moth to a light bulb.

[martc]

 

In other bike news - I saw this poster yesterday; it's not clear in this pictue, but the image of the combination has the side-car on the wrong side! I know it was legal for the chair to be on either side years ago, but now-a-days they have to be on the left. You would have thought a poster regarding MOT details would show the combo the right way round..

[strangeangel]

 

In other bike news - I saw this poster yesterday; it's not clear in this pictue, but the image of the combination has the side-car on the wrong side! I know it was legal for the chair to be on either side years ago, but now-a-days they have to be on the left. You would have thought a poster regarding MOT details would show the combo the right way round..

 

Ha ha good spot! I used to use a (sadly now disappeared) Russian bike forum, and some people on there registered 2WD Dneprs and Urals (these all had the chairs on the wrong side) as trikes...

[Bradders59]

Although I have known Jerry for some 30 years, it was one of their former mechanics, Darren, that did the work on my RC8-known him for a few years now and he is an excellent mechanic. I think Jim started selling KTM about 35 years now, when they were more correctly called KTBooms.

 

I bought my first big bike from Jim Aim back in 1976 (bloody hell, 42 years ago) and most of the bikes I have owned since then have had their MOT's done there - that was until they moved to Braintree as they don't do them now. And this is the first KTM I have owned despite shopping there for so long.

 

20170423_151837.jpg

 

I never got on with Darren to be honest. Not sure why. Do you remember little Adrian who used to work there. Lovely little fella but mad as a box of frogs. I would say to him "hello Adrian". His reply was always "chappydo, I say to you, how do you do".   

[martc]

Ha ha good spot! I used to use a (sadly now disappeared) Russian bike forum, and some people on there registered 2WD Dneprs and Urals (these all had the chairs on the wrong side) as trikes...

 

I believe it was the old Dnepr and Ural combo's, with the chair on the right, which brought about the change in the law. The side-car wheel was constantly fighting the camber, the spokes would be damaged and the wheel was in danger of collapsing.

 

Even in real life the picture of the combo on the poster is quite indistinct but I think it is of a Dnepr or Ural - oh the irony!

[ifc63]

I believe it was the old Dnepr and Ural combo's, with the chair on the right, which brought about the change in the law. The side-car wheel was constantly fighting the camber, the spokes would be damaged and the wheel was in danger of collapsing.

 

Even in real life the picture of the combo on the poster is quite indistinct but I think it is of a Dnepr or Ural - oh the irony!

 

Many people in the sidecar world are trying to overturn the present law on which side the sidecar can be fitted.....but to perfectly clear it is still legal to have the sidecar on the right if the vehicle was registered before 01/09/1981 or if it a foreign registered vehicle being used temporarily in this country by an overseas visitor. Regarding the image on the poster, nowhere in the MOT tester's manual does it make mention of pass or fail due to which side it is fitted, only that it is securely fitted and aligned correctly. So technically the poster isn't being contradictory to present legislation  

[yellowperil]

I like sidecars.

I am utterly terrified of the bloody things though.

 

I understands the concept of handling a combo, but I am a bit lacking in the putting it into practice department.

The last time I tried was with a Honda CB400N and a Velorex, about twenty five years ago...

I made the mistake of panic braking with the back brake on a slight left hand bend.

The sheer violence and speed in which the whole device veered to the right and across the road was amazing.

Luckily I came to a halt when the front wheel hit a telegraph pole and didn't overturn or even hurt myself.

The sidecar was taken off after a couple of days and sold for a profit.

 

I have in my possession a Yamaha XJ650 and a Squire sidecar which I am intending to introduce to each other.

Just got to get the SRX on the road first.

 

I will get the hang of it, because it is something I have always wanted to do.

[Guest Hooli]

I want an old 2wd Ural as a winter car & I've never tried a combo.

[UltraWomble]

In giving really serious thought to buying one of these.

 

It looks fab.

 

I known if regret it. But it looks fab.

 

Sent from my KFDOWI using Tapatalk

[strangeangel]

I've never tried a combo.

 

I have. A Z440 twin with a Squire chair. It had a Piper 2-1 exhaust that made it sound like some British thing, but you could always tell it wasn't one of those by dent of the fact that it was moving and not mired in a lake of its own lubricant. I had it for about a year when I was at Uni (first time round); it was just supposed to be a bit of fun, but my daily at the time was a SIII Land Rover, so - predictably - it got used a lot more than was first envisaged.

 

All things considered, I had a fucking brilliant time with it - if you forget about the sideways into a dry stone wall incident, and the cleaving off of the chair side indicator on a parked car*, and the almost taking off when I clipped a kerb with the chair wheel when leaving a roundabout, and...

 

Crucially, I could barely ride solo at the time, so I reckon having no skillz to unlearn made me more receptive to the ways of the Combo? No idea. All I know is it was GR8 for rallies/camping, and the laydees loved it (I shit you not). RIP YUM208X.

 

 

 

*djimbob was a hardened biker by this time, and gave me lessons & will cheerfully testify as to how talented* I was at judging what size of gap it needed to fit through.

[strangeangel]

In giving really serious thought to buying one of these.

 

It looks fab.

 

I known if regret it. But it looks fab.

 

Sent from my KFDOWI using Tapatalk

 

It does look nice, if you could replace all the Wensleydale bits with Honda stuff - WINNAR?

[Guest Hooli]

I have. A Z440 twin with a Squire chair. It had a Piper 2-1 exhaust that made it sound like some British thing, but you could always tell it wasn't one of those by dent of the fact that it was moving and not mired in a lake of its own lubricant. I had it for about a year when I was at Uni (first time round); it was just supposed to be a bit of fun, but my daily at the time was a SIII Land Rover, so - predictably - it got used a lot more than was first envisaged.

 

All things considered, I had a fucking brilliant time with it - if you forget about the sideways into a dry stone wall incident, and the cleaving off of the chair side indicator on a parked car*, and the almost taking off when I clipped a kerb with the chair wheel when leaving a roundabout, and...

 

Crucially, I could barely ride solo at the time, so I reckon having no skillz to unlearn made me more receptive to the ways of the Combo? No idea. All I know is it was GR8 for rallies/camping, and the laydees loved it (I shit you not). RIP YUM208X.

 

 

 

*djimbob was a hardened biker by this time, and gave me lessons & will cheerfully testify as to how talented* I was at judging what size of gap it needed to fit through.

 

You make them sound fun