The Bikeshite Thread

[chompy_snake]

On 6/29/2020 at 11:38 PM, Fabergé Greggs said:

Question for the bikers:

I’m shortly getting my big bike license and what I’d like more than anything is a 90’s Honda with as lurid colour scheme as possible. I’m thinking CBR600 with lots of pink and green. Any others I should be thinking of? 
 

less lurid, but there’s a nice looking NTV600 reverie on eBay at the moment. Thoughts? 

Kawasaki ZX-6R was a lovely hideously gash looking machine in the wrong colour scheme. As was the Suzuki GSXR 600.

I would save the discomfort and cost and buy a gsf600 bandit though ??

[Sir Chocolate Teapot]

Re mz and cz etc.  Here in italy 1980s and 90s models in working order go for €1500 /€2000 !.

I find that unbelievable as no way are they worth that. Equally unbelievable that things like yamaha 350s and suzuki rg250s cost €8000 and more.

Would still have a mz 250 for £250 in a heart beat, but no more.

These days it is very tricky to buy interesting bikes to play with for a while, get bored and sell on without it costing .

I am so guilty of always thinking , yes, i can fix that for cheap , play a while and move on not losing much on the way.?

When you want something you just have to have it.

[andy18s]

7 hours ago, chompy_snake said:

Kawasaki ZX-6R was a lovely hideously gash looking machine in the wrong colour scheme. As was the Suzuki GSXR 600.

I would save the discomfort and cost and buy a gsf600 bandit though ??

Nobody did garish colour schemes like Suzuki back in the day, with the GSXF600 and 750 Teapots getting some seriously "interesting " designs thrown at them

The last 2 are 750's which are identical to my 2 bikes from back then.

Both are very comfy bikes,based on oil cooled gsxr running gear but a bit softer

[Jerzy Woking]

13 hours ago, Sir Chocolate Teapot said:

Tomorrow's no doubt wasted journey to view a non running stood for at least 2 years aprilia 250. Unfortunately not an rs 250 but a leonardo scooter 250. Hopefully its saving grace will be it has a yamaha engine with carb that i hope to save if everthing else looks good. He better be flexible on price also. Why do i do this to myself.

Only done 10k miles,  we shall see. I have no idea how to grt it home if i can not get it started.

 

11 hours ago, strangeangel said:

They were good scoots back in the day when running, but as unreliable as shit with poor spares reliability, and the passing of 20 years or so will have done nothing to alleviate either of these problems. As the good ole UMG always used to say "Pay no more than £50".

I had a Leonardo 250 a few years back. Commuted 120 miles a day on it for a year or so until, as with all the bikes I commuted, I got bored with it. Sold it for what I paid for it, and apart from bi-monthly oil changes, did nothing to it. 

The seat was surprisingly tall. Not fast, but could hold an indicated 85mph on the flat parts of the motorway.

1 hour ago, andy18s said:

Nobody did garish colour schemes like Suzuki back in the day, with the GSXF600 and 750 Teapots getting some seriously "interesting " designs thrown at them

The last 2 are 750's which are identical to my 2 bikes from back then.

Both are very comfy bikes,based on oil cooled gsxr running gear but a bit softer

Loved the colours on my 1997 CBR600.

Great bikes, and mine was very reliable over about 50,000 with just a fuel pump failure.

There was a bloke that commuted a CBR600 from Peterbourough to Canary Wharf. When he sold it on eBay, it had 310,000 miles on it.

 

 

[Sir Chocolate Teapot]

So today's plan.

And i must stick to it.

Go to see this non running aprilia,if cycle parts are in order, siphon old petrol out snd stick some fresh in. If it starts see how it feels, if no start WALK AWAY!

Walk away, walk away.

[Fabergé Greggs]

Those Suzuki’s are definitely in the right ballpark..
 

I’ve heard nothing but good things about CBR600’s and there seems to be loads about on high mileages but 310,000! Jeez

@andyberg nailed it, the one I’d been imagining in my minds eye is these Benetton ones.. this is perfection! 

[strangeangel]

37 minutes ago, Sir Chocolate Teapot said:

So today's plan.

And i must stick to it.

Go to see this non running aprilia,if cycle parts are in order, siphon old petrol out snd stick some fresh in. If it starts see how it feels, if no start WALK AWAY!

Walk away, walk away.

 

 

The Leonardo was quite popular back in the day on a couple of the scooter forums I used to frequent... I knew four or five people who owned them, and when they were going they were good, but they suffered from all sorts of electrical problems, and getting spares from Aprilia was always hit and miss (I had an SR50 for a while). If it fires straight up with clean fuel I would make a very low offer indeed, if it doesn't... as you say, walk away!

 

[Dave_Q]

56 minutes ago, strangeangel said:

 

The Leonardo was quite popular back in the day on a couple of the scooter forums I used to frequent... I knew four or five people who owned them, and when they were going they were good, but they suffered from all sorts of electrical problems, and getting spares from Aprilia was always hit and miss (I had an SR50 for a while). If it fires straight up with clean fuel I would make a very low offer indeed, if it doesn't... as you say, walk away!

 

Yeah I had a mate who had the 125 version, it did good service but needed a headgasket at least once and was parked up for months waiting for parts from Aprilia.

This was in about 2007 when they were semi-recent so can't imagine it's got better since then.

[Six-cylinder]

I love my Aprilia and I haven't even ridden it.

[hairnet]

thats a long time waiting for yer handbag to arrive :P

[strangeangel]

1 hour ago, Dave_Q said:

Yeah I had a mate who had the 125 version, it did good service but needed a headgasket at least once and was parked up for months waiting for parts from Aprilia.

This was in about 2007 when they were semi-recent so can't imagine it's got better since then.

 

Yep, the SR50 I mention was out of action for three months for the want of a carb inlet rubber. There wasn't one in the UK and the factory had gone home for the summer, apparently...

 

[strangeangel]

39 minutes ago, Six-cylinder said:

I love my Aprilia and I haven't even ridden it.

 

All change on the driveway since that shot was taken! Have you still not got your CBT, Chris??

 

[strangeangel]

2 hours ago, Fabergé Greggs said:

Those Suzuki’s are definitely in the right ballpark..
 

I’ve heard nothing but good things about CBR600’s and there seems to be loads about on high mileages but 310,000! Jeez

@andyberg nailed it, the one I’d been imagining in my minds eye is these Benetton ones.. this is perfection! 

 

This was always my favourite colour scheme for a CBR:

 

 

[Six-cylinder]

1 minute ago, strangeangel said:

All change on the driveway since that shot was taken! Have you still not got your CBT, Chris??

I will have had it 3 year in Oct and I still have not done my CBT. Keep nagging!

Thing is while in my eyes the Habana scooter is a real looker and I am happy just to own it, but I do want to ride it as well.

After all your work here it sits, the picture of shame taken just now as it is only 20ft away from me.

 

[hairnet]

?

[martc]

15 hours ago, strangeangel said:

Bikeshiters: help me out. I'm fancying this Minsk, the asking on which is 900 notes.

 

 

It's tax and MOT exempt and runs well, UK regd and comes with some spares. Madly out of the park for Soviet crap, or should I snatch his hand off?

 

My first proper bike was a Minsk. It was the 'Neval' version, that one looks like an earlier 'Cossack'. Mine had a red mph sticker over the lens of the km/h speedo. But people didn't see it and used to ask how fast it went - 'I often see over 100 on it' I said without lying, it impressed the girlies.

Two interesting features -

1      the front brake is absolutely crap, on purpose, to prevent offs in the ice and snow of the USSR. It used to struggle through MOT's even when done by an authorised Neval dealer (in my case Two Wheels in Hull) who knew about the problem. Perhaps fitting a longer arm at the brake end would give more leverage.

2     the engine would sometimes start up backwards which came as a surprise I can tell you. This happened often enough for me to be careful each time it started.

Mine lost it's cap off the carbs tickler and I found the little yellow cap off a fairy liquid bottle fitted it perfectly. No battery but electronic ignition! It had some sort of resistor that stopped it blowing bulbs when revs and hence electrical output increased. The problem was the headlight never got any brighter than the faint flicker it showed at idling. It was surprisingly reliable. I loved it.

Historically the Minsk 125 was one of the many bikes derived directly from the DKW RT125 due to war reparations. Others include, but this list isn't exhaustive, the BSA Bantam, CZ125, Yamaha YA1, Hardly Dangerous Hummer and of course the MZ TS125. Although the MZ was made in the old DKW factory so is actually the 'original' rather than a copy.

Minsk still exist (as M1nsk, sigh) - https://minsk-moto.by/

 

[castros_bro]

16 hours ago, strangeangel said:

Bikeshiters: help me out. I'm fancying this Minsk, the asking on which is 900 notes.

 

 

It's tax and MOT exempt and runs well, UK regd and comes with some spares. Madly out of the park for Soviet crap, or should I snatch his hand off?

 

I think the factory is still going and seem to remember the electrics on those are AC, 

I'd just buy it and run it to see if you like it, if not then you'd easily move it on to someone else as there's quite a following for ex-soviet 2 strokes.

[83C]

Yer Maun

20 years ago today. 

RIP.

[They_all_do_that_sir]

A colleague and myself had to lift some bits from work earlier, good excuse to take the bikes and grab a coffee



Long route home was enjoyed muchly

Sent from my SM-A202F using Tapatalk

[Jerzy Woking]

This was my first CBR600 which was one of the early Aero models. Although it rode well it was a right heap, held together with about two dozen zip ties. When I took it for the MOT, they laughed at the state of it, but then couldn't find anything to fail it on.

Today I rode my Guzzi over to my brothers, as he will be "looking after" it and my Ducati 900SS because  I'm moving this weekend.

I cannot face selling the Guzzi so he will do it for me. I am secretly hoping he will like riding it so much he will offer to buy it, as it is a lovely thing to ride. And if he buys it, then when I come back for the odd visit, I can still ride it.

Looks weird seeing my garage with no bikes in it (had 13 in there for a while) for the first time in 31 years. A sad day.

[strangeangel]

14 minutes ago, Jerzy Woking said:

Looks weird seeing my garage with no bikes in it (had 13 in there for a while) for the first time in 31 years. A sad day.

 

 

How are you for space at the new place in Spain? I bet there's loads of interesting old shite knocking around over there,

 

[tul66]

If it's late 80's/early 90's garish colour scheme's you're after, look no further.

 

[Sir Chocolate Teapot]

2 hours ago, Jerzy Woking said:

This was my first CBR600 which was one of the early Aero models. Although it rode well it was a right heap, held together with about two dozen zip ties. When I took it for the MOT, they laughed at the state of it, but then couldn't find anything to fail it on.

Today I rode my Guzzi over to my brothers, as he will be "looking after" it and my Ducati 900SS because  I'm moving this weekend.

I cannot face selling the Guzzi so he will do it for me. I am secretly hoping he will like riding it so much he will offer to buy it, as it is a lovely thing to ride. And if he buys it, then when I come back for the odd visit, I can still ride it.

Looks weird seeing my garage with no bikes in it (had 13 in there for a while) for the first time in 31 years. A sad day.

You have it worse than me, i  had the last 30 years with 2 /3 bikes in garage and now down to 1, i am suffering and supposed ti be saving and searching for s fiat panda but i keep looking at cheap 2 wheels . It is a disease .

Good luck with move to spain. 

[hairnet]

4 hours ago, They_all_do_that_sir said:

A colleague and myself had to lift some bits from work earlier, good excuse to take the bikes and grab a coffee



Long route home was enjoyed muchly

Sent from my SM-A202F using Tapatalk
 

HIPSTURRRR ALURRRT BAI!!

[Jerzy Woking]

10 hours ago, strangeangel said:

How are you for space at the new place in Spain? I bet there's loads of interesting old shite knocking around over there,

I have 1.2 acres of land. A small workshop.

There are also two big chicken cages made from heavy gauge aluminium that I can moved and convert into sheds, big enough for at least a dozen bikes.

I have two bikes over there, so plenty of room for some Spanish two wheeled shite!

[strangeangel]

1 hour ago, Jerzy Woking said:

1.2 acres of land

workshop.

sheds, big enough for at least a dozen bikes.

 

 

Living the dream!

 

[twosmoke300]

Bought a Sanglas yet ?

[hairnet]

knackered c15 or a seat terra more like :D

[Bradders59]

On 7/2/2020 at 2:12 PM, 83C said:

Yer Maun

20 years ago today. 

RIP.

Still remember reeling in shock at the news as though it were yesterday. An incredible rider and an even more incredible human being.

RIP joey.

[Stinkwheel]

Yer Maun

20 years ago today. 
RIP.

Shit 20 years.

Yer maun was the best of the best. No one will ever be like him again.