The Bikeshite Thread

[Sham]

When I got back into biking it was decided that I would use the bike mostly in the summer and the car more in the winter, getting the bike out on those lovely crisp sunny days. But, I love riding and even in the depths of winter when I was doing some refresher training I enjoyed it and didn't suffer with temperatures or the wet... So, I'm considering a winter beater bike to take the salt, mud and general crap instead of my 4-month-old SV - the budget is very low, and I can maybe stretch to a grand. 

Not necessarily expecting anyone to have something to sell for this sacrificial tour of duty.. but, requirements would be

MOT to cover the Winter.

Tough enough to live outside under a cover and be reliable - inside storage is full.

Enough performance to accelerate out of trouble from 60mph if required. I'd imagine most 300-500cc bikes could fill this.

Decent road manners, with a fairly upright position due to aged vertebra.

I really don't mind if it's a scooter, an ADV, Naked, a tourer or what - but sports bikes need not apply (I like to ride, not stop every 20 minutes to straighten my spine).

Any recommendations?

[Dave_Q]

With a bit of effort you might find a rough Vespa GTS 250 or 300 for a grand or less.

https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/9826271767443498

Try to avoid "registered as 125" (obvious stolen ringers, as known outside the scene) but they're fuel injected so plenty reliable, comfy and low hassle to own, the only thing to really look out for is the frame rusting underneath.

Should meet your speed/power requirements no problem.

[andy18s]

My only brand new bike was an X plate Sv650s,which got ridden through it's winter.

After literally watching it start to corrode I managed to get a good deal and px'd it for a Tl1000s...as you do

[Sham]

38 minutes ago, andy18s said:

My only brand new bike was an X plate Sv650s,which got ridden through it's winter.

After literally watching it start to corrode I managed to get a good deal and px'd it for a Tl1000s...as you do

This is what I'm looking to avoid - bikes aren't rustproofed anything like as much as cars, and while I'm prepared that it won't stay spotless I'm hoping that the sacrificial beater will save the SV from too much rust.

[Rustybullethole]

2 hours ago, Sham said:

When I got back into biking it was decided that I would use the bike mostly in the summer and the car more in the winter, getting the bike out on those lovely crisp sunny days. But, I love riding and even in the depths of winter when I was doing some refresher training I enjoyed it and didn't suffer with temperatures or the wet... So, I'm considering a winter beater bike to take the salt, mud and general crap instead of my 4-month-old SV - the budget is very low, and I can maybe stretch to a grand. 

Not necessarily expecting anyone to have something to sell for this sacrificial tour of duty.. but, requirements would be

MOT to cover the Winter.

Tough enough to live outside under a cover and be reliable - inside storage is full.

Enough performance to accelerate out of trouble from 60mph if required. I'd imagine most 300-500cc bikes could fill this.

Decent road manners, with a fairly upright position due to aged vertebra.

I really don't mind if it's a scooter, an ADV, Naked, a tourer or what - but sports bikes need not apply (I like to ride, not stop every 20 minutes to straighten my spine).

Any recommendations?

cb500 twin. They handle well and cam take a pasting. Should be plenty to choose from from under a grand.

[tom13]

28 minutes ago, Rustybullethole said:

cb500 twin. They handle well and cam take a pasting. Should be plenty to choose from from under a grand.

Yes this is the way.

[Sham]

39 minutes ago, Rustybullethole said:

cb500 twin. They handle well and cam take a pasting. Should be plenty to choose from from under a grand.

 

11 minutes ago, tom13 said:

Yes this is the way.

I thought of an old CB - the only one I can find for sale on the usual websites for under a grand is in Bristol - which is too far. But I'll keep an eye out. Thanks

[Dave_Q]

We are looking for a new shape CB500F for my wife and have seen several old shape ones listed for like £1500!

I agree these should be a £500-1000 bike but seems like 2nd hand prices are still a bit inflated at the moment.

[tom13]

Anyone looking at these new Voge Rally 300's?

They really look a great buy and for just under the 4g mark. Time will tell how reliable they are. If I didn't have my Himmi I would be tempted.

[Bren]

An inspection of the busa's front brakes indicates a refurb is required. So it will be sorn'd.

[Mudster]

On 8/21/2023 at 10:22 AM, tom13 said:

Did a great loop Saturday evening. Decided I wanted to go for a ride abotu 4:30 in the evening.

Have been wanting to head out to Devils Staircase for a bit to see what it was like.

Rode out from the Midlands towards Rhayader, across to Newbridge on Wye. Then out towards Devils staircase. It's a great single lane up towards there. Then over the top, around Llyn Brianne reservoir which is another great single lane winding road. I knew Strata Florida starts around there so I rode a section of that, but didn't want to do too much as it was getting late and I didn't have a tube with me. Headed up over the hills down into Tregaron, around the back of Elan into Devils Bridge then home via Newtown in the Dark. Ended up getting home about 11:30 but it was an excellent ride and one I look forward to doing again soon. I would recommend it to anyone. Next time I will go early morning and include a ride through Elan Valley as well and out towards Aber.

If anyone wants info on the route just let me know.

Either great minds think alike, or fools never differ. I’ll let you decide that one ☝️ 

I rode from the Midlands to Elan Valley on Sunday. Headed Nottingham to Rhayader, round Elan Valley and down through Brecon to Hereford for an overnight stop. 

Never been to Elan before and the scenery is stunning. Weather was pretty good which helped to make the trip.

 

[Cavcraft]

Fixed the old Honda today. Went for a spin the other day and it pissed fuel everywhere. Walked home, came back with van then just ignored it for a few days. Anyhow, turns out the fuel pipe was a bit knackered (as well as being held on with cable ties) so that was replaced by new hose and fuel pipe clip things. More importantly, the float bowl was actually loose (only 2 screws hold these on) which no doubt caused the leak in the first place...

Anyhow, to celebrate I found a much needed mirror for it, so carefully fitted this expensive piece of equipment to factory standards

 

[Cavcraft]

Erm, this sort of entered the fleet today

 

Properly bloody slow (as they ever were) and it's an import so is hilariously badly spec'd, which means no horn and no position for the lights, just on and no high/low beam. 

 

The bloke's gaff was absolutely rammed with shite, old Discoverys, Range Rovers, farming stuff, knackered and decent motorbikes and pretty much everything else in between. 

[andyberg]

Always curious as to how slow these really are. A mate had one back in the day when everyone else had a fizzy or an AP and we always had to wait for him to turn up at the pub/ cafe/ mates house way after we got there! 

[hairnet]

On 8/20/2023 at 5:07 PM, twosmoke300 said:

The amount of static sag on my mates 300 is just silly . Half the travel has gone before you even sit on it .

Ive got a remote reservoir YSS fully adjustable unit ready to go on the 500

i was looking at their stuff for the 750

the bling bling is 650 the normal one is 330

cant buy it direct from them tho (ffs)

 

[Cavcraft]

3 hours ago, andyberg said:

Always curious as to how slow these really are. A mate had one back in the day when everyone else had a fizzy or an AP and we always had to wait for him to turn up at the pub/ cafe/ mates house way after we got there! 

It wasn't running quite right when I got there, but once warmed up it was a smidge better than expected. That said, the engine note seems to indicate it's not near flat out, but the rev counter suggests otherwise. Had mentioned to the seller I'd ride it home and try it down a steep local hill to get 36mph out of it. He wished me luck with that one.

[bezzabsa]

19 hours ago, Cavcraft said:

Erm, this sort of entered the fleet today

 

Properly bloody slow (as they ever were) and it's an import so is hilariously badly spec'd, which means no horn and no position for the lights, just on and no high/low beam. 

 

The bloke's gaff was absolutely rammed with shite, old Discoverys, Range Rovers, farming stuff, knackered and decent motorbikes and pretty much everything else in between. 

owned one in late 80's and managed to get 55-60Mph out of it...bloody hard work but would cruise at 50 all day, was bought dismantled in 3 bread baskets and assembled in a bedroom of a 3rd storey Maisonette... fun getting it down.

[pilninggas]

I'm in the Italian Alps (again!) With a mate.

[Sham]

Me and the lad went to Whitwell bike Friday.

Good turnout.

[MiniMinorMk3]

Random picture No.1

1952 Commander

[MiniMinorMk3]

Random Picture No.2

You'd probably get laughed off your foot pegs if you turned up to the local HOG Chapter on one of these.

[Cavcraft]

Remember Thursday and  'The bloke's gaff was absolutely rammed with shite, old Discoverys, Range Rovers, farming stuff, knackered and decent motorbikes and pretty much everything else in between.'?

 

Well, one of the other rammed in shite things caught my eye. Probably should have paid more attention and just bought that instead, but here we are two days later, with something certainly shitter and maybe a bit quicker from the same vendor. Test ride duly taken, fuel from the can we bought with us added (he was miles miles from anywhere), some minor tick-over tweaks, and off to go. PO rode it like an absolute demon up his farm track (which is over a mile long) which I didn't fancy. The front tyre is older than God and has more cracks than Anne Robinson smiling without wearing make-up, and another interesting* feature revealed itself on the ride home.

Here it is, in all it's 42 year old Kawasaki glory...

 

A 'proper' (chain) Kawasaki big 4 seems to be stupid money these days, so this was considerably cheaper than one of those would have fetched. Only took it to 60mph due to the aforementioned front tyre, plus the newly found feature of it deciding to piss petrol out of the bottom of the carbs somewhere with the engine running. Discovering this at a busy set of (red, obvs) lights coming home wasn't exactly inspiring, but CBA stopping to investigate and luckily made it home without needing to stop for more than about a minute at most at other signals. Love the seat, despise the handlebars. Other than that, it sounds fantastic, even if it looks horrible.

Not a fan of the colour, it either needs to go Kawasaki Green with Eddie Lawson replica type decals, or possibly an all black job with a bikini fairing. Perhaps a sort  of half-arsed 'Mad Max' type thing.   

[MiniMinorMk3]

49 minutes ago, Cavcraft said:

...or possibly an all black job with a bikini fairing. Perhaps a sort  of half-arsed 'Mad Max' type thing.   

[bezzabsa]

On 8/26/2023 at 1:32 PM, Cavcraft said:

Remember Thursday and  'The bloke's gaff was absolutely rammed with shite, old Discoverys, Range Rovers, farming stuff, knackered and decent motorbikes and pretty much everything else in between.'?

 

Well, one of the other rammed in shite things caught my eye. Probably should have paid more attention and just bought that instead, but here we are two days later, with something certainly shitter and maybe a bit quicker from the same vendor. Test ride duly taken, fuel from the can we bought with us added (he was miles miles from anywhere), some minor tick-over tweaks, and off to go. PO rode it like an absolute demon up his farm track (which is over a mile long) which I didn't fancy. The front tyre is older than God and has more cracks than Anne Robinson smiling without wearing make-up, and another interesting* feature revealed itself on the ride home.

Here it is, in all it's 42 year old Kawasaki glory...

 

A 'proper' (chain) Kawasaki big 4 seems to be stupid money these days, so this was considerably cheaper than one of those would have fetched. Only took it to 60mph due to the aforementioned front tyre, plus the newly found feature of it deciding to piss petrol out of the bottom of the carbs somewhere with the engine running. Discovering this at a busy set of (red, obvs) lights coming home wasn't exactly inspiring, but CBA stopping to investigate and luckily made it home without needing to stop for more than about a minute at most at other signals. Love the seat, despise the handlebars. Other than that, it sounds fantastic, even if it looks horrible.

Not a fan of the colour, it either needs to go Kawasaki Green with Eddie Lawson replica type decals, or possibly an all black job with a bikini fairing. Perhaps a sort  of half-arsed 'Mad Max' type thing.   

is that the shafty or chain??/ still remember the noise they make at full chat!!!

[bezzabsa]

@Cavcraft what other 2 wheelld goodies did he have???

[Cavcraft]

13 minutes ago, bezzabsa said:

is that the shafty or chain??/ still remember the noise they make at full chat!!!

The shaft one.

12 minutes ago, bezzabsa said:

@Cavcraft what other 2 wheelld goodies did he have???

Lots! From memory (and this isn't even scratching the surface) a Harley of some sort with a 2.0 engine, a Suzuki chopper, some sort of  90's Triumph (could be a Trident), a Honda GB500 (frame had been badly welded at the back), a Suzuki 1100 drag bike, some sort of Suzuki 650 shaft drive (that looked a bit like a Katana, but wasn't) , I think a handful of 1960's Triumphs, a Yamaha (may have been XT750 ) trail bike with a knackered engine but comes with a spare, a DT50M, a highly modified SS50 (which I would have had for parts. but it was all trick stuff) a rough GSX550, and I don't know how many more, but it was lots. There were also numerous engines kicking about.

Due to go back and take loads of photographs at some point.

[bezzabsa]

3 minutes ago, Cavcraft said:

The shaft one.

Lots! From memory (and this isn't even scratching the surface) a Harley of some sort with a 2.0 engine, a Suzuki chopper, some sort of  90's Triumph (could be a Trident), a Honda GB500 (frame had been badly welded at the back), a Suzuki 1100 drag bike, some sort of Suzuki 650 shaft drive (that looked a bit like a Katana, but wasn't) , I think a handful of 1960's Triumphs, a Yamaha (may have been XT750 ) trail bike with a knackered engine but comes with a spare, a DT50M, a highly modified SS50 (which I would have had for parts. but it was all trick stuff) a rough GSX550, and I don't know how many more, but it was lots. There were also numerous engines kicking about.

Due to go back and take loads of photographs at some point.

Please do..... the suzi 650 was a katana, but also wasnt..LOL, slow and heavy but with the Katana badge stuck to it they hoped to sell more

[Cavcraft]

1 hour ago, bezzabsa said:

Please do..... the suzi 650 was a katana, but also wasnt..LOL, slow and heavy but with the Katana badge stuck to it they hoped to sell more

It was sort of like that, but not quite. Bit of an oddball thing, can't remember exactly but he said something like GSX650EZ. It didn't have the black/red seat I don't think.

[Snake Charmer]

On 24/08/2023 at 17:32, Cavcraft said:

Erm, this sort of entered the fleet today

 

Properly bloody slow (as they ever were) and it's an import so is hilariously badly spec'd, which means no horn and no position for the lights, just on and no high/low beam. 

I always thought a CB50J with a full on Yoshimura XR75 engine would be fun.

[doug]

1 hour ago, Cavcraft said:

It was sort of like that, but not quite. Bit of an oddball thing, can't remember exactly but he said something like GSX650EZ. It didn't have the black/red seat I don't think.

Possibly a GS 650 GT?