My Bike shite

[They_all_do_that_sir]

I'll start this with the current steed, my 1998 ZZR1100.

 

Bought for £500 as a non runner, assured by the seller it just needed a battery and fresh fuel. Could smell the bullshit but bit anyway.

 

Dragged it home and assessed the damage, here it is as arrived

 

 

Straight away I sold the rear rack and tank cover, netting £100 straight away, bringing the cost so far down to £400

 

Should say at this point the plan was MOT as cheap as possible, and get some miles on to judge whether it's worth spending money on.

 

Cleaned and polished, doesn't look too bad

 

 

Tried jump starting, no joy. Traced the fault to the starter itself, the rubber grommet insulating the positive terminal where it exits the starter body had deteriorated, causing it to short on the body. Made my own grommet and now we are turning over noticed the wiring for the fuel sender was in need of soldering while the tank was off:

 

 

Still haven't bothered fixing this, it's on the list for the winter refurb.

 

Fresh fuel and the bike started, but refused to run off choke or below 3000rpm. Stripped and rebuilt carbs which helped a bit but still not great.

 

 

Also noticed it was bloody loud for standard exhaust. Turned out the collector box was buggered, so made the first mistake of the project and had it welded rather than source a replacement:

 

 

Painted with B&Q bbq paint

 

 

Looked great back on the bike

 

 

And it ran brilliantly ok still a bit fluffy at low revs but not bad.

 

So deep clean commenced, before:

 

 

After

 

 

So fresh coolant, battery, fuel and off to the MOT station - passed with only an advisory for the rear tyre, "you're taking the piss with that tyre mate" was the advisory. Here it is looking pleased with itself at the DVA test centre:

 

 

On the way home the mistake with the exhaust reared up - I'd been warned by the welder most of the steel was paper thin, and it might fall to peices once I started using it. Which it promptly did after the test.

The a mile from home the temperature gauge went through the roof and I noticed the fan wasn't cutting in. Cock. Thankfully at this point it's downhill most of the way, free wheeled at 40mph which cooled things down enough to nurse the last few hundred metres to the house.

 

So I ordered a new switch, and in the meantime made myself a bypass switch:

 

 

 

 

Hard to see what I've done but it's mounted to the left of the clocks. Being lazy it's wired directly to the existing radiator switch wiring, which means it's direct to battery. Over winter I'll rewire it to ignition switched live.

 

Previous MOT had an advisory for rough front wheel bearing, here's the old one after I removed it:

 

 

Looks better in pic but really rough.

 

Managed to get a Motad Nexxus exhaust with stainless headers on ebay for £90 delivered, it's 4-2 which meant I kept the standard twin pipe look I like

 

 

Here's the old exhaust ready for the bin

 

 

Looks a lot better than it was, silencers were collapsing from inside out.

 

So started putting some miles on, and noticed the front end felt awful. Traced that to loose steering bearings, tightened up things felt far better.

 

Next issue was an oil leak, there's an oil feed from the camshafts down to the sump, the banjo at the sump end has an alloy spacer/washer/gasket about a cm deep which have a habit of falling to bits. This lets oil drip on to the collector box and burn off.

I tried nipping this up to cure the leak, it promptly fell to peices and dumped a litre of oil on the drive. Cock.

 

Emptied the sump, and waited 3 weeks for the bloody part to arrive from kawasaki Europe, that was yesterday and it's too cold / wet to bother doing anything with it now.

 

When it was running it was bloody fast, but easy to ride at sedate speeds. Massively comfortable and handled better than it has any right to - it sheds the weight once it starts rolling.

 

Over winter the following needs done:

 

Valve clearances

 

Carbs properly rebuilt

 

Brake calipers rebuilt

 

Rear suspension bearings replaced / shock refurbished

 

Front forks rebuilt

 

Both tyres replaced

 

New bolt kit for fairings etc - lots of bodged screws, odd fasteners in place of standard

 

Replace steering bearings

 

If I do all that ill be keeping it!

[hairnet]

cruising speed on the westlink is.......??

 

quick but heavy

[They_all_do_that_sir]

cruising speed on the westlink is.......??

 

quick but heavy

Allegedly it'll almost double the west link speed limit in 1st.

[hairnet]

record is 66 mins from belfast to south dublin

[They_all_do_that_sir]

record is 66 mins from belfast to south dublin

Bloody hell that's making progress!!

[hairnet]

only twice  - once for what the hell - once for the ferry which i changed me mind about

[hairnet]

http://www.cornwallkawasaki.co.uk/shop/shop.php?cmd=listmanufacturers

[Barry Cade]

Yeah!

 

These things are awesome, my last one was a C model, which was identical to the poster I had on my wall in 1990, when I was a 16 year old kid and rode an RD50. It was the "I'm gonna have one of those one day" and I managed to get the exact copy of it. It wasn't a disappointment, was going to keep it forever but shunted a Polo with it and gave myself a fright so got rid.Only costed me a grand too. Now got a GPZ1100s which is the same lump, but with more midrange and less top end- no Ramair y'see...and milder cams. It can still make small things get bigger very quickly...

 

 

[They_all_do_that_sir]

I like the GPZ, don't see many of them about. Brilliant engine I'm sure you'll agree

[They_all_do_that_sir]

So going back a few years, my first bike was this beauty, the magnificent Honda CG125, bought from my boss for £200

 

 

Good service, cleaned polished and L plates fitted and it was ready for mot

 

 

This thing was nearly cheaper than walking (but only marginally quicker!)

 

Kept it a year, passed my test on it but by this stage it was pretty buggered and I really needed more power - I tried it on the motorway once after passing my test, God that was interesting...

 

So along came this dog of a GPX600R for £300:

 

 

I got it to this point before I realised I didn't have the time to sort it properly and what I actually needed was something that ran:

 

 

It looks OK in the shots, but nearly everything I removed needed replaced, the exhaust stud holes all needed red-drilled, the tank was leaking badly and the loom was a mess. It looked like a quick project when I bought it, but would have taken me months to sort. With hindsight I would have tucked it away and kept it but I was offered what I paid so away it went in boxes.

 

So cash in hand, I looked for a running, MOTd bike ready to go. What I bought was this Jawa with no MOT and down a cylinder for £250:

 

 

 

Check out the keys

 

 

Someone tried unsuccessfully to steal this from the centre of Belfast. They managed to mangle the steering bearings when they broke the steering lock, which led me to buy the biggest spanner I own:

 

 

And back in action, blue smoke and the scent of castrol 2 Stoke oil

 

[Barry Cade]

[Dave_Q]

Like the zzr, there's one near me on a g plate that lives outside, chained to a sidecar outfit.

What's the wind protection like on these? I've got a fireblade at the moment and the thing I like least is the wind blast on the motorway.

Doesn't help that I'm 6 foot tall and 3 foot wide but I can only get out of the wind on the blade by pretty much lying on the tank.

Sent from my GT-N5110 using Tapatalk

[Cavcraft]

Love those ZZRs, don't they do 174mph standard or something?

[Jazoli]

Love those ZZRs, don't they do 174mph standard or something?

They do indeed I had mine showing 172 on the GPS once* in another country of course, they are properly quick.

 

*it was also a coincidence that it went on ebay the very same day as I may have passed a white car with cake markings going the other way, on an A road.

 

Bought a speed triple after that, I have no self control...

[They_all_do_that_sir]

Love those ZZRs, don't they do 174mph standard or something?

Allegedly.....

 

It is extremely quick up to about 6000rpm, above that everything goes very blurry.

70-100mph happens in the blink of an eye, before you've had a chance to say 'FUCK ME this is quick' 150mph is on the clocks and it's still pulling hard

 

Compared to the fireblade? Haven't done many miles on a blade but the ZZR isnt as quick off the mark - more like a quick 600 under 6k. Also nowhere near as nimble. I would say the blade is the faster bike in real life however in a straight line the ZZR would have it.

 

On the motorway it's extremely civilised, feels really planted and hardly any wind chill. You can do 100 miles straight on the ZZR and get off feeling fresh. Also the fairing is designed to direct the hot air from the rad round your legs so even in cooler weather it's nice and toasty.

They do run quite hot though, slow moving traffic in summer can get uncomfortable

[They_all_do_that_sir]

Just to add mine seems to be susceptible to bad Road camber - the M3 motorway has quite a steep camber here - but I think thats more down to how squared off my rear tyre is

[Barry Cade]

Like the zzr, there's one near me on a g regarding that lives outside, chained to a sidecar outfit.

 

What's the wind protection like on these? I've got a fireblade at the moment and the thing I like least is the wind blast on the motorway.

 

Doesn't help that I'm 6 foot tall and 3 foot wide but I can only get out of the wind on the blade by pretty much lying on the tank.

 

Sent from my GT-N5110 using Tapatalk

I'm 6"4 and prefer the standard screens. Can do and have done a steady 120+ on the Autobahn for hour after hour and still managed to pitch a tent, and have an evening in the pub with no aches or pains, then do it all again the next day. I keep going back to Kwaks as they see to be made to measure for me. Spotted one on Gumtree this morning for 600 quid and am waiting on a reply. I'm gathering some before people start going all "classic" Really want  a "Double Decker" one.

 

All my ZZR's and the GPZ actually run fairly cool- fan only ever cuts in after 4-5 mins of traffic on a warm day.

 

Mate has a Blackbird, which was what took the spotlight off the Z, but I don't get on with it. Just don't like it. Honda's don't do anything for me at all..

 

 

 

[Eddie Honda]

which led me to buy the biggest spanner I own:

You are Pat Mustard AICMFP

 

[Dave_Q]

Cheers for the input chaps.

 

I'm not looking to change bikes any time soon, I've had the blade less than a year and generally enjoy riding it, it's capabilities far exceed my talents!

 

Like Barry and the ZZR it's a real teenage poster bike for me, I was 16 in 1998 when my one left the factory.

 

Ultimately I think in the future the riding position and lack of wind protection will get to me and I'll look to change for something of the ZZR/Blackbird sort of persuasion.

[UltraWomble]

Remember....

 

This is why Mrs Womble hates me having a PTW

[Jerzy Woking]

I owned a GPz900 for about a year, bought as a project to do up. A year later I sold it as it had sat on the drive with nothing done to it. I really should try one out as sitting on it, I felt really comfortable.

 

I now occasionally ride a 2012 Fireblade which is a different beast to the 1996 RR-S I had. Its much faster and much more nimble BUT it is a lot smaller that the RR-S and I certainly wouldn't want to tour Europe on it. I have aches and pains after riding it for an 8 hour day-well, the pains are the next day when I get on it-let alone 2 weeks.

 

I'm still on the hunt for a Jawa 350 of mid 70's/early 80's vintage if anyone hears of one........

[garethj]

I loved my ZZR1100, and I had the same problem with worn head bearings.  I used mine to commute into London every day and naturally it was a doddle on the motorway, very relaxing to ride because almost no matter how fast you're going you've still got loads in reserve.  The performance means that if you just ride very fast you still get OMG MPG too because the engine is plodding along.

[the judge]

Pound for pound,barring a plane ticket,you cannot go faster

[Barry Cade]

I owned a GPz900 for about a year, bought as a project to do up. A year later I sold it as it had sat on the drive with nothing done to it. I really should try one out as sitting on it, I felt really comfortable.

 

I now occasionally ride a 2012 Fireblade which is a different beast to the 1996 RR-S I had. Its much faster and much more nimble BUT it is a lot smaller that the RR-S and I certainly wouldn't want to tour Europe on it. I have aches and pains after riding it for an 8 hour day-well, the pains are the next day when I get on it-let alone 2 weeks.

Sportiest bike I ever had was an RF900, which I completely rebuilt. Lasted 20 mins before cramp set in...I collapsed off it one day at St Fillans as my legs had completely gone to sleep and I had no feeling at all, which was interesting when I stopped. The BMW K1100LT I bought for touring Europe, which I completely rebuilt, gave me mega backache, and made me cry, got chopped in for my first daddy ZZR, as I'd had a couple of teenage ZZR's and a Baby ZZR ( 3 600's and a 400) and NOTHING has ever fitted me so well straight out the box.

 

Don't diss the 600's either- they are 85% of what the 1100 is and the other 15% is where you start to worry about communal showers and parole. Plenty roomy and 160mph. Reliable as a claw hammer too.

 

 

You'd think this would be comfy? NO!

 

 

Reliable? NO!

 

 

 

 

 

[UltraWomble]

Not by any stretch of the imagination the fastest bike in the world, but very easy to ride and very comfy for commuting.

 

I had to do the head gasket on this one, but that wasn't a difficult job.

 

[doug]

 

Heres mine, the vibration feels like it turns your blood to foam. Otherwise a good bike and reliable so far, but I am sure its just a ticking time bomb waiting till I am far for home on it on a cold wet night.

[andy18s]

Current ride is an RF900.plenty quick enough for the shitty roads these days.

Had it for 4 yrs now and it's had a few mods to suit me

Bandit yoke and Renthals take all the strain from your wrists and neck,a nice Tony Archer seat with an extra inch of foam and it's all day come for me now.

It's due a good few upgrades over the winter but I can't see me getting rid of it, unless another Cagiva Navigator turns up.........

 

Sent from my SM-G920F using Tapatalk

[Barry Cade]

Current ride is an RF900.plenty quick enough for the shitty roads these days..

It's due a good few upgrades over the winter but I can't see me getting rid of it, unless another Cagiva Navigator turns up.........

 

What they like? - always been on my radar, along with a Caponord.

[andy18s]

Sort of Ducati Multistrada but 10 yrs early.😆

Full fat TL1000 engine and all the reliability of Suzuki in a stylish Italian bodywork.

Caponord looks a good alternative but it's all Aprilia. ........

 

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[castros_bro]

My unfinished  toy

 

 

 

My toy

 

 

 

A small toy

 

 

 

Italian toy

 

 

A different small toy

 

 

 

A BSA

 

 

ex film star toy

 

 

 

Indian made toy

 

 

 

Tiny Italian toy

 

 

Stomp

 

 

On holiday

 

 

 

3 of mine going Coast to Coast

 

 

 

Kwak

 

 

 

CZ