Bike Shite

[steve austin]

Maybe off the beaten track but thought I would share my current bike shite fleet with you as follows

PIC 1 1978 Suzuki GT185

PIC 2 1988 SUZUKI RG250 GAMMA

PIC 3 2000 SUZUKI AP50 being prepared for Help for Heroes John O Groats to Lands End Moped mayhem next March

PIC 4 1988 KAWASAKI ZX-10, the original superbike from late eighties!

I have shown you mine, now show me yours

[Albert Ross]

When you do the 'ped run in March, I would like to support you in some way. It's the month my youngest goes off to the 'Stan for the 2nd time. Dunno what I can do yet. Oil. Fuel. Chips. Tent repairs. whatever. Who knows. I know you are a bit vague with info, and I might be dragging up an old thread, but I might do summat. For real. Honest. Really. For real. etc.

[Cavcraft]

Maybe off the beaten track but thought I would share my current bike shite fleet with you as follows

PIC 1 1978 Suzuki GT185

PIC 2 1988 SUZUKI RG250 GAMMA

PIC 3 2000 SUZUKI AP50 being prepared for Help for Heroes John O Groats to Lands End Moped mayhem next March

PIC 4 1988 KAWASAKI ZX-10, the original superbike from late eighties!

I have shown you mine, now show me yours

 

Much love for the Gamma, definately on my 'one to own' radar alright. ZX10s are ace too, take it your's had the mod to stop the carbs icing up?

The scooter run sounds like a right laugh, pm me nearer the time and I'll chuck a couple of quid your way.

[Bren]

I always wanted a ZX 10 - my brother had the GPZ1000RX - very fast but handled even worse than the ZX 10. I now have a '93 GSXR 750 in black and purple - looks like it has a shell suit on.

[red5]

Gamma Mk III - win. Not seen a Gt185 for ages. My 1st 'proper' bike was a looney tuned x7. Oh the joys of solid disc and single downtube frames...

 

Nice work.

[CreepingJesus]

Oooh, ZX10. Very nicely,sir.

And, Bren, that'll be the first of the watercooled GSXR's then, eh? The WN model? Nothing wrong with the shellsuit paint!

[steve austin]

When you do the 'ped run in March, I would like to support you in some way. It's the month my youngest goes off to the 'Stan for the 2nd time. Dunno what I can do yet. Oil. Fuel. Chips. Tent repairs. whatever. Who knows. I know you are a bit vague with info, and I might be dragging up an old thread, but I might do summat. For real. Honest. Really. For real. etc.

Thanks Albert, most kind. I must point out that I wasnt fishing a this point but will be getting my rod out after christmas haha! Details will follow in appropriate thread, hope all goes well for your lad, my boy is joining R.A next year too.

[steve austin]

Much love for the Gamma, definately on my 'one to own' radar alright. ZX10s are ace too, take it your's had the mod to stop the carbs icing up?

The scooter run sounds like a right laugh, pm me nearer the time and I'll chuck a couple of quid your way.

Not sure about carb mod but she hasnt missed a beat so far and has been on a few cold runs but not lately with the weather up here lol! Gamma is in really good nick minus a few marks but spent a bloody fortune on carb rebuilds and other bits to solve poor starting problem but still runs superb when actually running. Thanks for the offer of sponsorship, will start a thread after christmas, all the best

[steve austin]

I always wanted a ZX 10 - my brother had the GPZ1000RX - very fast but handled even worse than the ZX 10. I now have a '93 GSXR 750 in black and purple - looks like it has a shell suit on.

I guess handling depends on what you are used to. She can keep up with the lads on their modern stuff on the sunday runs including my mates Bandit 1200 so good enough for me. Nearly bought a Gixxer 1100 in your 750 colours, I think they are the kind of hooligan bike that can get away with lairy colours

[Bren]

To be fair I do like the colour scheme - I dont like the way modern sportsbikes are all angles and dark colours.

 

I also notice how physically small they are - mine is just shy of 500 lb with a full tank of fuel. Parked next to a modern it looks like a HGV. The handling though, is fantastic - you dont think you will ever fall off.

 

The one thing it does lack is comfort - I cannot ride for longer than 40 minutes as my wrists are killing - it's like being impaled on railings!

[steve austin]

Thats why I like older bikes, bigger and more planted! The ZX can be ridden for about three hours until the real wrist pain sets in, shouldnt be but looking at a 1990 ZXR750 as I know it will kill the wrists but hey ho

[155V6]

[doug]

Here is mine....as bought as a write off

 

and once I got rid of the barbie colour scheme.

 

and my other bike.

 

and one I have just sold to a guy in Canada.

 

 

[CreepingJesus]

Not sure about carb mod...

 

It should have a length of hose running from the radiator top hose, to the carbs. There was some sort of add-on 'jacket' around the carbs, IIRC. It was an odd problem, in that it was even more of a bugger to start on cold days (given the usual Kawasaki 'full throttle' choke), but would run fine until you slowed down, say in traffic. The jets would ice up gradually, so when you gave it a bit of stick again...it cut out. Spat a few folk off, until they worked it out; and it affected a fair few models.

I'm sure those were among the models with the 'restricted' carbs. If the rubber diaphragm on top of each carb is flat, the throttle slide can't raise fully. Bunging on the 'top hat' ones from a ZXR750 used to do the trick!

 

Very tidy Commie, Doug, very nice. Call me weird, but I actually quite liked the Barbie/shellsuit colours!

[Captain Mainwaring]

I know fuck all about bikes, but they're all doing something for me, with the exception of the scooterish looking one. The Suzuki in the top right hand corner looks well smart in the Rizla livery...one of the employees at the local Royal Mail sorting office has a modern thing in similar colours and it looks shithot.

[CreepingJesus]

I know fuck all about bikes, but they're all doing something for me, with the exception of the scooterish looking one. The Suzuki in the top right hand corner looks well smart in the Rizla livery...one of the employees at the local Royal Mail sorting office has a modern thing in similar colours and it looks shithot.

 

That'll be the RG250. They don't make 'em like that any more...well they can't, more like: the emissions from 2-strokes are horrendous! I'm not a huge fan of strokers meself, but boy those things were/are fun. Redlined over 10,000rpm IIRC. It just feels lunatic pulling those kind of revs; go easy on it, and they fluff up their plugs. Use it all and they develop a taste for crank seals and piston rings!

A guy I knew had a KR1-S (the Kawasaki answer to these), and seemed to be able to change the seals and rings blindfold.

[Captain Mainwaring]

10,000rpm. Pretty insane stuff.

 

I'm now in the unique position of knowing the mechanical foibles of a bike before I even properly know what it is. Nice one!

[CreepingJesus]

^Even by my meagre standards, that's an achievement!

It would probly be fairer to say that thrashing the arse off them, was the only way to truly appreciate them (all of that era/class of small strokers, that is). As such, their lightweight mechanical parts took a hammering, and most of them ended up banana-shaped. So a nice clean, tidy one, like above, will bring a smile to those of us who remember!

Mind you, the same manufacturers were developing 250cc 4-stroke fours, by then, which were often redlined somewhere around the 18,000rpm mark!

[Barry Cade]

Here's my last bikeshite- bit of an underdog and kinda forgotten about- loved the 80's Testarossa strakes, and it was a bit of a rocket too... Biggest tail light in the biking world!

 

 

As bought

 

finisherd, sprayed in my garage with £10 Ebay paint..

[Captain Mainwaring]

So nice. The top pic reminds me of what looks like a completely unmolested Ducati that's always parked around Bradford city centre. It's on an N plate and has a decal reading 'Superlight' on the side. It looks mint and seeing it always gives me pleasure.

[Cavcraft]

I know fuck all about bikes, but they're all doing something for me, with the exception of the scooterish looking one. The Suzuki in the top right hand corner looks well smart in the Rizla livery...one of the employees at the local Royal Mail sorting office has a modern thing in similar colours and it looks shithot.

 

That'll be the RG250. They don't make 'em like that any more...well they can't, more like: the emissions from 2-strokes are horrendous! I'm not a huge fan of strokers meself, but boy those things were/are fun. Redlined over 10,000rpm IIRC. It just feels lunatic pulling those kind of revs; go easy on it, and they fluff up their plugs. Use it all and they develop a taste for crank seals and piston rings!

A guy I knew had a KR1-S (the Kawasaki answer to these), and seemed to be able to change the seals and rings blindfold.

 

Other way round here, I absolutely love strokers. The noise, the poke and the smell all do it for me.

The X7 was the same as the KR1-S too, in that thrashing them (especially tuned) ones meant regular piston changes (lad I knew swore he was changing them once a month) and riding too slow clogged them up.

An old favourite of our's was to ride round for a while on our strokers (KH250s were the best for this) at low speeds in high gears then wait for a mate or some arsehole in a car to piss you off, get in front of them then whang it down a few cogs and open it right up. We regulary used to cover one lad from head to toe in spot of two stroke oil doing this

[CreepingJesus]

So nice. The top pic reminds me of what looks like a completely unmolested Ducati that's always parked around Bradford city centre. It's on an N plate and has a decal reading 'Superlight' on the side. It looks mint and seeing it always gives me pleasure.

Duke 900 SL is very, very near the top of my bikeshite want list. Take a perfectly good 900 SuperSport, with all its' hilarious cylinder head joint problems (no gasket - there was a spigot + O ring setup to cope with the high compression. Pity the head bolts were made of breadsticks!), fit hotter cams, a noisy exhaust, single seat unit, and top it all off with lashings of race-ish bits. Fab. Especially the gold Marchesini wheels which somehow clashed with the optional yellow paintjob.

Like so, but I reckon these wheels have faded a bit.

I thought I'd had enough of strokers, when a mate was given a '54 BSA Bantam in lieu of cash for a job. Nasty little bastard, that refused to do more than 30, smoking like a Red Arrows Hawk in full airshow mode, even on a rebuilt engine. About the same time the bloke with the KR1-S traded it for a shiny new FZR600 after its' 3rd engine rebuild in 6 weeks. But then I ended up with the CZ some years hence! Amusingly, the owner's manual details how to clean the exhaust silencer out, with some petrol and a match... . I like strokers better when someone else looks after them.

Now all we need is for someone to pop up with a CX500, and the bikeshite parade will reach epic levels. Maybe a Superdream - the 125 for preference.

[Barry Cade]

You say a CX 500 is No.1 bikeshite.. I've been saving this..

 

This is a pic of the actual bike I have in my possesion taken in the transport museum in Sofia..a bit of a long story but its part of my job.

 

a 1962 Balkan 250.. a Jawa made under licence in Bulgaria, and I can't find much info about them at all.Its still Bulgarian registered and has all the paperwork, including the owners wifes signature on the registration document, it seems your other half also has to sign the documents when you decide to buy or sell over there.. What would that do to Autoshiteing in this country!!!

 

Seemingly they exported a few to the 'States, but the then government crushed them all due to "communism" or something!

 

Here it is:

[CreepingJesus]

Have you tried the Jawa CZ owners' club? They'd probly take it as a challenge, to find out about it! Plus, they have many contacts of their own in E. Europe.

[gtd2000]

Ah well - I'll dust off some pics of my two current bikes....

 

First one owned originally in 1984...

 

1980 Suzuki GT250X7

 

 

Period pic in 1986 or thereabouts

 

 

1986 GSX-R750 purchased in Hong Kong in 1997

 

[Torsten2001]

I've still got my first bike, an AJS 14CSR, taxed and MOT'd but sat behind my desk on the first floor, as of early next year I would've had it 30 years!

[Justin Case]

 

Only on Autoshite could a 40 year old motorbike be parked in front of the Health and Safety notice in a first-floor office. Brilliant

[Torsten2001]

Luckily I am the Health & Safety Officer, the electric scooter is for office time trials....we have skateboards too!

[barefoot]

Here's my full collection of bikes - I don't really know anything about them.

 

 

that's a '78 Honda ST70, which I bought as a bit of a wreck for £100.

I painted it Orange to hang on the back of the camper van and then found out that the horrible flowery seat cover made it a very desirable

'Lady Dax' - Oops, too late!

 

.

[michiel]

What an office, Torsten! Makes me wonder what business you're in - is it the Business of AWSUMZ? (whatever that may be)