The Bikeshite Thread

[doug]

You need a breakers licence and a copart account. BSA B44 currently £60 and 15 hours left to run.

[Rustybullethole]

Days in the saddle much improved.

[myglaren]

[Rustybullethole]

The lad at works Suzuki. 

Just back in the road after an off. Missing a few bits though looks better for it in my mind. That said he rode here in the rain and paid the price having no front guard. 

[Stinkwheel]

Didnt those suzukis have a ridiculous name like 'Marauder' or 'Intruder' or something?

[myglaren]

[myglaren]

 

[Cavcraft]

3 hours ago, Stinkwheel said:

Didnt those suzukis have a ridiculous name like 'Marauder' or 'Intruder' or something?

Intruder, I think. Quite a good little bike,  perhaps the look got copied by all the Chinese brands who made 125 customs. 

[MT606]

5 hours ago, Rustybullethole said:

The lad at works Suzuki. 

Just back in the road after an off. Missing a few bits though looks better for it in my mind. That said he rode here in the rain and paid the price having no front guard. 

was where you work an old airfield or army camp?  buildings look like some old technical site from an airfield? I likes them

 

[Rustybullethole]

9 hours ago, Stinkwheel said:

Didnt those suzukis have a ridiculous name like 'Marauder' or 'Intruder' or something?

Penetrator? 

Dunno, have been told numerous times though is a bit of info that my brain doesn't seem to retain. 

[Rustybullethole]

5 hours ago, MT606 said:

was where you work an old airfield or army camp?  buildings look like some old technical site from an airfield? I likes them

 

Its was indeed. Built in the 40,s and used as a base during the war. Lots of buildings around the site many tumbling down sadly and the others I have the job of maintaining. Weve just been turned down by the landlord to use one of the better other ones which is a shame as had plans for that. They were thrown up quick and have issues, not least being the asbestos roofs. Nice though. Couple of air raid shelters on site too. Old airfeild just down the road. 

Back on topic. I took the chopper for a spin. First time ive rode this style of bike, riding position was alien at first though was a happy chappie within a few hundred yards.

I like.

Think I lost my lighter there coming up the drive whilst getting my phone out my pocket. Best go look for that. 

[Rustybullethole]

Up early and after tea, coffee, toast, feeding the animals and more coffee and toast realised was out of butter! A run to Aldi's was needed, not the closed shop though had noted it was near to a few byways I hadn't ridden before.

Nice way to start the day and added a few new routes to my mental map book. Can't do/won't do gps. 

This one started out lovely and then became overgrown. Being an idiot/intrepid I cracked on regardless and as is most often the way when a lane turns challenging I had to double back and run it again in reverse.

Scoped it out on foot in the adjacent field. Need a few bodies and machetes to get through that. Will run it from the other end when i get time and see if it's worth coming back mob handed. 

[Cavcraft]

This was free on a  local selling page, but my mate's lad beat me to it and I ended up buying it off him.  I don't think it'd run in a while, but an hour or so of piss-arsing about saw it firing up and running. It's still quite awful, I cleaned the tank of old fuel and half-heartedly cleaned the jets, but it definitely needs more work as it's a bastard to start and struggling to tick-over

 

[andyberg]

37 minutes ago, Cavcraft said:

This was free on a  local selling page, but my mate's lad beat me to it and I ended up buying it off him.  I don't think it'd run in a while, but an hour or so of piss-arsing about saw it firing up and running. It's still quite awful, I cleaned the tank of old fuel and half-heartedly cleaned the jets, but it definitely needs more work as it's a bastard to start and struggling to tick-over

 

Taiwan Golden Bee. That actually looks like a bug 😂😂

[Rustybullethole]

WCPGW

[Cavcraft]

This is back

...the lads who were going to fix it haven't had time to get anywhere near it, so they bought it back today. It also means this delight* hasn't left the fold, as they were going to have it for the last few useful parts (probably one bolt and a screw) so I'll strip it if/when I can be arsed

The Taiwan Golden Showers has departed, but there's still another dreadful old relic that arrived the other day, more on that soon. 

[Rustybullethole]

1 hour ago, Cavcraft said:

This is back

...the lads who were going to fix it haven't had time to

That's a nice old thing. No idea what it is my old bike knowledge ain't great though I like it. Need much?

Ill send a oic of the Chinese chopper to the lad at work. He may want the panniers and the screen possibly if your breaking it (more).

[Cavcraft]

8 hours ago, Rustybullethole said:

That's a nice old thing. No idea what it is my old bike knowledge ain't great though I like it. Need much?

Ill send a oic of the Chinese chopper to the lad at work. He may want the panniers and the screen possibly if your breaking it (more).

The bike is an Excelsior Consort. It doesn't spark and as there isn't (or ever was, iirc) a battery it's hard to test what little electrics it has, plus two wires are randomly not connected.

Unfortunately the screen broke on the chopper thing (basically with the lightest of touches) and although I think the panniers are ok, there's no key for them, though probably not hard to find a set on eBay or something.

[tom13]

Talk to me about 883 sportsters.

What are they like to own and ride? The position seems quite appealing.

I see people mainly in the states use them for everything. People like Shadetree on Youtube take them out on trails, they look a fun position on the road. Just good times all around.

Anyone seen any cheap ones floating around? Not bothered about cosmetics but what do people think I need to pay to get an ok one? £3000?? What do you need to look out for?

Was at the ring 2 weeks ago and saw this which really made the want strong.

[Iamgroot]

26 minutes ago, tom13 said:

Talk to me about 883 sportsters.

What are they like to own and ride? The position seems quite appealing.

@Cavcraftto the beige courtesy phone please

[Stinkwheel]

38 minutes ago, tom13 said:

Talk to me about 883 sportsters.

What are they like to own and ride? The position seems quite appealing.

I see people mainly in the states use them for everything. People like Shadetree on Youtube take them out on trails, they look a fun position on the road. Just good times all around.

Anyone seen any cheap ones floating around? Not bothered about cosmetics but what do people think I need to pay to get an ok one? £3000?? What do you need to look out for?

Was at the ring 2 weeks ago and saw this which really made the want strong.

Ive ridden the 883 and the 1200 sportster in its slightly older guise (was in the late 90's and early 2000's but i dont think they have changed much)

They are fun, remember its not a sport bike was my biggest issue. And by that i mean, narrow tyres, barely adequate brakes etc (so like riding any older/classic style bike) They arent as agricultural as a lot of folks make out and they are relatively nimble as well (compared to fat boys/electraglides  etc)

As for price i've no clue, but im sure an actual owner will be along soon to comment 

[tom13]

31 minutes ago, Stinkwheel said:

Ive ridden the 883 and the 1200 sportster in its slightly older guise (was in the late 90's and early 2000's but i dont think they have changed much)

They are fun, remember its not a sport bike was my biggest issue. And by that i mean, narrow tyres, barely adequate brakes etc (so like riding any older/classic style bike) They arent as agricultural as a lot of folks make out and they are relatively nimble as well (compared to fat boys/electraglides  etc)

As for price i've no clue, but im sure an actual owner will be along soon to comment 

Should be ok then coming from mainly riding bantams and classic trail bikes. Low power and no brakes. 😆

[Stinkwheel]

7 minutes ago, tom13 said:

Should be ok then coming from mainly riding bantams and classic trail bikes. Low power and no brakes. 😆

Perfect.

And to add, i do like a good Bantam 175

[tom13]

2 minutes ago, Stinkwheel said:

Perfect.

And to add, i do like a good Bantam 175

I have posted it before but it is actually for sale for any interested parties.

 

[Stinkwheel]

1 minute ago, tom13 said:

I have posted it before but it is actually for sale for any interested parties.

 

Lovely, the perfect Bantam

Go on then, whats the ball park figure (i probably cant afford it right now but it would be rude not to ask)

[tom13]

10 minutes ago, Stinkwheel said:

Lovely, the perfect Bantam

Go on then, whats the ball park figure (i probably cant afford it right now but it would be rude not to ask)

£1800. It's a nice one though as I'm sure you can see in the picture. 

[Stinkwheel]

17 minutes ago, tom13 said:

£1800. It's a nice one though as I'm sure you can see in the picture. 

Absolutely, sounds like a very fair price to me. I was right though cant afford/justify it 😒

[Rustybullethole]

Originally thought the Vespa would get a tidy up and repaint after its running all sweet. The 'patina ' is growing on me though. Kind of tells a story, not a good one though a story none the less.

Lots of slightly different shades, overspray, brush marks, filler, scratches and dents. 

 

[Stinkwheel]

Id be making it structurally secure and leaving as is personally

[Cavcraft]

6 hours ago, tom13 said:

Talk to me about 883 sportsters.

What are they like to own and ride? The position seems quite appealing.

I see people mainly in the states use them for everything. People like Shadetree on Youtube take them out on trails, they look a fun position on the road. Just good times all around.

Anyone seen any cheap ones floating around? Not bothered about cosmetics but what do people think I need to pay to get an ok one? £3000?? What do you need to look out for?

Was at the ring 2 weeks ago and saw this which really made the want strong.

 

 

I find mine great to ride. Had come extremely close to buying an 'adventure' bike for longer runs, but took the 883 on a 104 mile round trip and it was fine. It's got higher (than standard) bars and some sort of forward-ish controls and I couldn't fault it at all. Not one of the knee out/lie across the tank/foot pegs scraping the deck type of riders, so if you're used to nimble sports bikes you might very well not like a Harley Davidson.

Would imagine the 1200 Sportster or any of the bigger engine ones will give more joy if you need to really get a shift on, but these smaller ones seem perfectly useable. Maybe it's that mindset where any nigh on 900cc bike should do 0-60 in whatever time, or do 150mph or something, but if you just ride it for the bike it is, they're great.

There does seem to be a massive gulf between cheap ones (which seem to be either high mileage/well used, or just f*cking awful) and decent ones. Not up-to-date on values but I think maybe £3,500 upwards are usually the better ones.