The Bikeshite Thread

[UltraWomble]

35 minutes ago, Cavcraft said:

The black ones look nice.

These are £3K in red only at a local dealer at the moment, slightly bigger donkey at 411cc.

[castros_bro]

That'll be BSA Bantam resurrected as a new 350cc model based on Jawa 42 FJ

[hairnet]

would be slightly quicker than the honda and the hunter - but then secondhand guerilla

but how are they built

and how much after the three years

theres some hunters knocking about under 3k lightly used

 

[hairnet]

english title but italian but english reg bike

but no subtitles

tried to watch the other clearly AI one (after he said friends 4 times in 0.5 seconds)

no

 

[UltraWomble]

52 minutes ago, hairnet said:

but how are they built

and how much after the three years

The residual value doesnt really trouble me too much - for the price its a "Pay £x/Month for 36 month" then rinse and repeat when the first MOT falls due.
Its not going to be a garage queen, it will get used and commuted nearly half to death. Im mainly bothered about whether with routine oil changes and spannering / lubricating that it will last the 3 years without disintegrating into a horrible heap of nothingness around 18 months / 2 years old.

[hairnet]

visordown reviewed them and they say theyre built by mahindra

who do the gold star 650

which isnt the greatest according to reviews

hmmm

[Dave_Q]

1 hour ago, UltraWomble said:

The residual value doesnt really trouble me too much - for the price its a "Pay £x/Month for 36 month" then rinse and repeat when the first MOT falls due.
Its not going to be a garage queen, it will get used and commuted nearly half to death. Im mainly bothered about whether with routine oil changes and spannering / lubricating that it will last the 3 years without disintegrating into a horrible heap of nothingness around 18 months / 2 years old.

Honda have some good deals on finance, £89 a month with £1200 down for that GB350 but you'd surely be able to sell it for £2-3k at 3 years old?

So less overall

[RayMK]

6 hours ago, UltraWomble said:

How shit is an indian built BSA Bantam 350 likely to be?
Thinking that at less than £100/month for 3 years it might be worth a gamble, then rinse and repeat when the MOT falls due and its likely to fail on all sorts of things like fork seals & headstock bearings.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/127273617213

My son bought the 650 Goldstar in February 2023 and still loves it.  It has had the odd minor niggle but is no worse than his RE 350 Meteor in that respect, all sorted under warranty and both used for commuting and pleasure.  Although his Kawasaki Z650RS has more performance and has been completely free of running niggles, he has found it to be devoid of character and a bit twitchy at speed.  He rates the BSA as his overall favourite because it has a characterful, torquey single cylinder charm, is comfortable on longer rides and nice and stable whether on back roads with poor surfaces or cruising at an easy 70mph on dual carriageways or motorways.  The Meteor also has oodles of character but he finds its low power detracts from the ride - it gets a bit breathless at 70mph.   The new Bantam is a good looking machine with decent performance.  It deserves to do well against the RE products.

My brother has had a BSA A10 for decades.  He's currently on tour with his wife on the A10 - I think he's in Denmark for a BSA rally.   Last year he traded his RE Interceptor for a BSA Goldstar.  He prefers the feel of the BSA - it's his daily ride when not on the 1960 A10.

 

[Cavcraft]

23 hours ago, UltraWomble said:

These are £3K in red only at a local dealer at the moment, slightly bigger donkey at 411cc.

If the dealer I bought (for one day) a Himalayan from wasn't so shit, I'd still be whazzing about on one. Still, the BM is a lovely thing, so it's no loss.

The Scram looks nice, possibly want to consider a fairing of some sort for shit weather commutes.

[martc]

On 31/07/2025 at 13:33, 83C said:

 

An extra £500 gets you Honda build quality:

To be fair I reckon the BSA will be half decent, it’s supposed to be more powerful than the Honda (29bhp vs. 22bhp) and I do like the paint schemes available. That said, if it were my money I’d definitely want to be test riding both and bearing in mind that in 3 years the Honda is more likely to hold its value. 

Honda quality, and built in Japan.

But the Indian built Triumph 400's are very highly regarded...

[hairnet]

On 31/07/2025 at 14:21, castros_bro said:

That'll be BSA Bantam resurrected as a new 350cc model based on Jawa 42 FJ

6k tho?

[hairnet]

5k is bear 650 money

or bonneville

enfield and the honda is thumpa thumpa

speed ya have to send it everywhere - theyre very different

[martc]

If I had to buy any of the ones mentioned above, without any doubts, it would be the Honda. 

However I think I'll stick with the Zero thanks.

[DeanH]

Rode the almighty CT125 something like 250 miles around the North York Moors this weekend. A few temporary FTPs kept the 11 hour ride interesting!

Met another CT125 owner who had a far nicer example than my heap of crap.

[Cavcraft]

On 03/08/2025 at 11:38, DeanH said:

Rode the almighty CT125 something like 250 miles around the North York Moors this weekend. A few temporary FTPs kept the 11 hour ride interesting!

Met another CT125 owner who had a far nicer example than my heap of crap.

Yours looks better, imho. 

[Fat_Pirate]

Would anyone be interested in my 2005 Superduke 990?  Would like ~£2500, will knock up a proper advert if so.  26K, fresh MOT, very clean and totally standard with good tyres/chain/etc. 

I've had it 9 years but I barely use it anymore.  These have a well-deserved reputation for being somewhat mental and it's always been the Nelson Muntz of my bike collection; nowadays I prefer the company of Martin Prince (Pan European), Lisa Simpson (VFR), or the 'my-cat's-breath-smells-of-catfood' Enfield.  It's frustrating to ride at anything less than a rapid pace.  

[Rustybullethole]

Had a nice 100 odd mile route to work panned out for which the Vespa was to be pushed into use for. Gave it a once over which was mostly charging the battery and patching a hole in the exhaust. Had a bit of local running around to do the day before the off and all was well. 

Yesterday all loaded and ready to roll

Then the starter didn't 

 

Turned over weakly then nothing. Battery good, made no difference hooked up on leads either. Fuses all good. Maybe faulty ignition switch? Gawd nose. I hate electrics.

Threw bags in the van and took that instead.

 

[Heidel_Kakao]

This is the first new retro that could lure me away from a Z900RS, assuming it has the same 150bhp of the Hornet I would be very tempted depending on how much they price it at 

[andy18s]

The decals scream 250 SuperDream to me tbh.... 😂 

[Stinkwheel]

2 hours ago, andy18s said:

The decals scream 250 SuperDream to me tbh.... 😂 

With the tank shape and decals they are absolutely going for a CB900 look 

[andy18s]

All look the same tbh.....

[Rustybullethole]

Superdooper wet dream. Not sure in the bikini fairing though am liking the rest.

 

[Rustybullethole]

Mates XR he's slowly sorting out. Wish he'd hurry up am dying for a go. 

[Heidel_Kakao]

1 hour ago, Rustybullethole said:

Superdooper wet dream. Not sure in the bikini fairing though am liking the rest.

If you don't like the fairing they have one without.

[Cavcraft]

166 miles today. Bit pissed off as had planned for 200, but when I went to the bike the battery was flat. I took my boost pack 'just in case' (lucky I did) and decided my first stop would be Dolgellau to brim the tank in case the bike packed up further away and the boost pack ran out of power.

Obviously the battery didn't sodding well charge, so pushed it out of the petrol station and jump started it. That threw me a bit as it also seems to tick over a bit lower than I would have liked and it stalled a couple of times. That made me decide to cut out the planned destination, and instead of going from Machynlleth to Staylittle and the Clywdog Reservoir before going through Llanidloes and then Newtown, I went straight from Mach to Newtown.

Obvs it decided to cut out again at a p*ss stop near Corris, so I had ten minutes sitting it out and giving my arse a rest.

Battery woes aside, it was a brilliant ride and I found myself opening it up a bit more and going for it on some bits of the roads.

Only one real close call, a handful of Power Rangers tried to overtake a van on a blind corner coming in my direction, somewhere past Bala.

 

[Iamgroot]

At least you still got a ride out! Sorry it didn't go to plan.

What voltage are you getting while it's running mate? It's either not charging or the battery is knackered or both...

[Cavcraft]

54 minutes ago, Iamgroot said:

At least you still got a ride out! Sorry it didn't go to plan.

What voltage are you getting while it's running mate? It's either not charging or the battery is knackered or both...

Erm, truthfully, I don't know. I did read the original batteries are a bit shit (sounds like a few bikes/scooters I'm aware of) and I think the battery had gone kaput from the bike not being used for a few weeks. I'll try a new one first as hopefully that's the easiest option. Mind you, the bike is still under warranty I think.

[Iamgroot]

1 minute ago, Cavcraft said:

Erm, truthfully, I don't know. I did read the original batteries are a bit shit (sounds like a few bikes/scooters I'm aware of) and I think the battery had gone kaput from the bike not being used for a few weeks. I'll try a new one first as hopefully that's the easiest option. Mind you, the bike is still under warranty I think.

Fair enough, check out the warranty, if it costs you nothing that's even better!

I knew a bloke in Chester who could batteries cheap..

[martc]

On 09/08/2025 at 11:05, andy18s said:

All look the same tbh.....

Honda called this 'Eurostyle', it was applied from the CB100 up to the CB900 (calling at 125, 250, 400 and 750). It was a conscious move away from the previous American styled flabby rounded look; 'Eurostyle' was more about straight, clean and lean lines. The distinctive graphics gave a modern feel and an instantly recognisable corporate identity.

[Cavcraft]

Day off today, so in between arsing about with push bikes, I thought I'd see why the OR50 didn't start. Took the fuel pipe off (and fucked it in the process) and chucked some accelerant down the new piece. No joy. Took the plug out, turned it over, no spark. Then I remembered it has to be in the second 'on' position, and guess what? It sparked. Cleaned the plug up, lobbed it back and it ran for a short while. Looks like the carb'll have to come off again for another bath.