The Bikeshite Thread

[RED2stroke]

Managed to get the assembled beastie out into the sunshine today, haven't cleaned it, just got it starting and running, for the first time in 40 years, sadly I will probably move it on as I have others that need my urgent attention.... next up should be a 250 twin that's been hiding in my garage for the last couple of years.

[hairnet]

after 6 months i put a headlight guard on the bike (only been pottering to work and back)

guard was 20 quid - bought coupla days after i bought the bike

headlight is 500 -  fuck replacing that - never needed to in 20+ years but sods law says smash - roundy lights or square ones (if youre fucking yamaha) are cheap cheap

want to buy some hand guards but no point atm and need summer gloves as only have two pairs of winter ones

and my working jacket died (bike jacket given for free) i only own one other jacket which is far too nice for work so looking at cheap ones but due to being an fb i want to go and fit one on but cant as theyre all shut and im not doing mail order

 

[Jerzy Woking]

I'm surprised that the CZ's weren't more popular after a 250 featured in an episode of "Tuckers Luck" , purchased and ridden by Tucker Jenkins (formerly of Grange Hill).

To the youngsters here, none of this will.mean anything..

[hairnet]

times change

col you old git

 

[RED2stroke]

My god I had forgotten about that episode, I  know the feeling of being a senior citizen and dropping a few bikes along the way, the worst was my lovely few months old Suzuki GT 250 RAMAIR  in 1974 I had to hide the damaged bike from my mum till I got it fixed, because my mum had signed the HP agreement as I wasn't old enough . She would have had a fit if she had seen it !Ask your grandad about HP (hire purchase)  and flairs and loon pants  and Elton John moon boots  ha ha ha.

[hairnet]

yay

also booo

apparently lockdonw will be extended later

holidays getting moved - again

 

[Jerzy Woking]

2 hours ago, hairnet said:

yay

also booo

apparently lockdonw will be extended later

holidays getting moved - again

 

Holidays-already "lost" my USA trip at the beginning of April, my trip to Czechia in mid May and the Balkans in June, as it seems travel could be restricted until then. 

Maybe my trip to Sepang MotoGP will go ahead in October, but who knows?  That will be my only holiday in 2020, and it's not even on a bike.

My main concern though is when the hell will I be able to go to.my new gaff in Spain? Before the height of summer I hope.

[hairnet]

same here - easter got fart

supposed to be doing france belge holland germany end of next week - that was cancelled before easter - got email voucher for ferry yesterday can only rebook not a refund good job it was only a one way

got stuff booked to ireland for may but the extended their lockdown on monday to 5 may i was going away 7th - thatll be moved over the weekend

moved stuff to june so heres hoping

hoping to go far east in november - def hoping itll be gone by then although not booked anything yet

[Wack]

On 4/12/2020 at 3:51 PM, Jerzy Woking said:

Nothing says France to me more than 14 year old kids "racing" through the town squares on mopeds with incredibly loud expansion chambers.  Oh la la.

When we were in Normandy last year we got taking to a woman in her 30s who'd moved out there from London a few years ago

I commented how clean everywhere was and how you don't see dicks in german cars tearing the place up

she said when she first moved out she was in Beaux when a group of about 20 kids just like you're talking about zingged into town on mopeds and started tearing up and down the empty market square

after about 10 minutes one of the restaurant owners, a woman in her 60s came out and had a go at them

The british woman used to life in London thought, Oh this is going to be bad

One of them got off his moped , walked up to her and said in a menacing tone " why don't you , go,go, go and get yourself a coffee' , they then rode off into the distance like a swarm of bees

[Wack]

On 4/16/2020 at 2:51 PM, RED2stroke said:

My god I had forgotten about that episode, I  know the feeling of being a senior citizen and dropping a few bikes along the way, the worst was my lovely few months old Suzuki GT 250 RAMAIR  in 1974 I had to hide the damaged bike from my mum till I got it fixed, because my mum had signed the HP agreement as I wasn't old enough . She would have had a fit if she had seen it !Ask your grandad about HP (hire purchase)  and flairs and loon pants  and Elton John moon boots  ha ha ha.

I went from a FS1e at 16 to a RD250 at 17 in 1977 , the difference in power was made apparent when I came round a bend on a damp road and accelerated like I'd done many a time on the fizzer, the back tyre stepped out and I very nearly lost it an hour after picking it up , I went round bends like I was on my test for a while.

[Jerzy Woking]

1 hour ago, Wack said:

I went from a FS1e at 16 to a RD250 at 17 in 1977 , the difference in power was made apparent when I came round a bend on a damp road and accelerated like I'd done many a time on the fizzer, the back tyre stepped out and I very nearly lost it an hour after picking it up , I went round bends like I was on my test for a while.

That will teach you, not changing the standard Bridgestones to either Dunlop TT100's or Avon Roadrunners! 

Just don't get mixed up between Roadrunners and Speedmasters....

[hairnet]

col you old git

[andyberg]

1 hour ago, Jerzy Woking said:

That will teach you, not changing the standard Bridgestones to either Dunlop TT100's or Avon Roadrunners! 

Just don't get mixed up between Roadrunners and Speedmasters....

Speedmasters, or skidmasters more like, both on the road and in undergarments! Christ I remember them on my GSX400F. They were ditched quick smart before I ended up in a ditch. 

[They_all_do_that_sir]

It's amazing how good modern tyres are. Certainly my dad struggled to get his head around how far things had come on when he came back to biking after a 30 year break, on a 600 bandit with brand new set of Bridgestone Battlaxs.....

Sent from my TA-1012 using Tapatalk

[Jerzy Woking]

I used Michelin Macadams on my GSR-R750 when I was using it for commuting. They were fine in the warm weather. But when it was wet or below 8°c, they span up easily and offered appalling grip, but when I got 10,000 miles minimum out of the rear, I put up with it.

 

[Wack]

4 hours ago, Jerzy Woking said:

That will teach you, not changing the standard Bridgestones to either Dunlop TT100's or Avon Roadrunners! 

Just don't get mixed up between Roadrunners and Speedmasters....

I changed them pretty soon after to roadrunners , I think they were yokohama 

[Cavcraft]

I think my mate's brand new X7 came with Dunlops.  Ridiculous choice of tyre to fit new, the Suzuki was skittish at the best of times. In the wet, especially over man hole covers, it was fucking lethal.

[Jerzy Woking]

37 minutes ago, Wack said:

I changed them pretty soon after to roadrunners , I think they were yokohama 

I forgot some came with Yokohama's too. The Japanese made yres fitted as standard to their in the 70's and early 80's were dreadful. Especially with Stainless Steel brake discs in the wet. Apply brakes, nothing happens. Wait a second before they bit, then you fell off as the tyres wouldn't grip when they inevitably locked the front. I remember riding in the wet relying on the back drum brake to stop, the front was used gingerly just to slow me down gently.

 

[hairnet]

car dunlops fine

bike dunlops shite

michelin @Jerzy Woking remember hi sports?

great when warm shite in the wet - they got burnt off avon azaros

not had michelins since until cb500 had pr3 or 4 on it which were good

cant remember what nc has on it not ridden it for a month ?

had maxxis on bikes for a long time - people slag chinese tyres but chen shin been making bicycle scooter and off road tyres for an awful long time

 

[Jerzy Woking]

Had Metzler M7RR on the work BMW K1300S, and they were excellent dry and wet.

When the Pirelli's on my Guzzi needed changing, I put M7RR's on it. They weren't great in the dry, and would break traction in the wet all too easily. Dreadful, very disappointing when I fitted them 200 miles before embarking on a 3,000 mile ride to Albania and back.

Now runs on Dunlop Roadsmarts which suit the Guzzi well. People who don't ride bikes might find all this a bit alien in comparison to car tyres

[PiperCub]

9 hours ago, They_all_do_that_sir said:

It's amazing how good modern tyres are. Certainly my dad struggled to get his head around how far things had come on when he came back to biking after a 30 year break, on a 600 bandit with brand new set of Bridgestone Battlaxs.....

Too right, if you think good quality modern car tyres are way better than say 20/30 years ago, then difference between old & new bike tyres is like night and day. I'm sure those of us who've been riding for a good long time will agree and have vivid & possibly painful memories of Skidmasters and the like!! 

[martc]

All this tyre chat - you really ought to try a set of Pneumants before moaning. All MZ's I had had them replaced tout-suite by either Metzlers or Avons (not Speedmaster flavour).

Having said that my 400/4 had the proverbial stainless steel disc and Dunlop tyres which was 'interesting'. It was replaced with a contemporaneous Moto Guzzi with it's cast iron discs, (linked) Brembo brakes and Pirelli tyres - what a difference. It highlighted why European bikes were seen as superior handlers/stoppers at the time. But the Japanese soon learnt...

[phil_lihp]

I've had this BMW F650CS 'Scarver' a few months now but can't ride it yet as I'm still working through my bike test - only got MOD2 left to do but that's obviously been delayed somewhat now.  Oddball thing, I know very little about motorbikes but there seems to be a generally positive view of these as a decent 'big' starter bike.  Looking forward to when I can finally get out and use it - it's just sat in the garage collecting dust at the moment.  Wants for nothing other than a new exhaust as the current one sounds like it has no baffles in it, it's been in storage a lot of its life so has had an easy time of it.

[andy18s]

I used to enjoy the capabilities of Michelin's finest on my Tl1000s 

[Tigerfox]

Bought this about this time last year from  a fellow member

Its a 1951 Royal Enfield 500 twin and was about 95 % complete with lots of boxes of bits.

Gave it to my brother in law and this happened yesterday

 

[andyberg]

12 minutes ago, Tigerfox said:

Bought this about this time last year from  a fellow member

Its a 1951 Royal Enfield 500 twin and was about 95 % complete with lots of boxes of bits.

Gave it to my brother in law and this happened yesterday

 

 

Excellent, well done that man, go get a beer after that!! Another one saved. Much like.

[Tigerfox]

Few more pictures of how it came

 

[Tigerfox]

Also bought a couple of years ago this 1982  Morini 350 which had been imported from Italy and then nothing done with it.  My kid brother had one  when he was 18/19 back in the 80s and always regretted selling, so he has it now and

aims to have it on the road in a couple of years for its 40th birthday. 

Its had been off the road for a good 10 years and is missing bits which are slowly being sourced and has now been stripped for a rebuild

 

[808 Estate]

Well I think its safe to say this is without doubt the cleanest its been for at least 3 years.

 

[tom13]

I had a thread about buying another bike to go alongside this while I do a light restoration on it but I'm thinking I may be interested in trading my project MZ ETZ 250 for a bike that is moted and on the road. Let me know if you have anything or if anyone wants more info on it.