Other bikes ?????

Suzuki EN 125: For about-town running and commuting locally. Not the fastest bike on the planet, but adequate for the purpose, reliable and gives me 130 miles/gallon. Original equipment tyres were lethal in the wet, but replaced these with Michelin Pilots with impressive handling/safety results

MZ ETZ250: Had this bike since the 80's, and will never part with the old girl. Recently did a complete restore/upgrade on everything. Not to original spec, but I like to think I've improved it as I went along. For a start, the electrics were crying out for treatment.

I bought an etz brand new. Worst bike I ever owned (sorry!). To make yours better, couldn't have been all that difficult (sorry again!)..

I have a CBF600. It's quicker than Tango (my cb500), but lacks soul... I also HATE the fuel injection, which runs the bike too lean and makes it a total bastard to ride at low speed....

Dare I say it, got a Harley 1200 Custom sportster.
Can hear the howls of derision already     but that's alright - I'm just into all bikes
Been mostly into cruisers & only other Jap bike I've had is the CG (but have ridden the GS 500 & ER5) and it is a close 2nd behind the CB, which to my mind is, well, close enough to being the perfect bike. 
Wouldn't mind a Translap tho'....

sullivj wrote:I have a CBF600. It's quicker than Tango (my cb500), but lacks soul... I also HATE the fuel injection, which runs the bike too lean and makes it a total bastard to ride at low speed....

It's a pain - having to keep workin the clutch in slow traffic to stop the jerking...
Many people have the exact same experience with these EFI bikes and solve the problem by re-tuning - maybe consider a re-map of the FI system or fuel commander?? There's loads of ways to do it.

Thanks for the tip. I'll have a look into it.i

My other bike is a Specialised Hard Rock (mountain bike )
Doesn't get used a lot I'm afraid to say, I prefer two wheels with an engine!

A 99 zx7r, ohlins rear shock, k-tec reworked forks full akrapovic exhaust etc etc etc    I love 90s sports bikes. Just sold my shared (gave it to my brother to have as his first bike) fzr400  

I have another, stripped '96 CB500, a '99 VFR800 and an '81 H100A. I found the EFI on the courtesy Bandits did the same thing.

My other bike is a Scooter!  BSA Sunbeam 250 4 stroke twin.

gopher wrote:My other bike is a Scooter!  BSA Sunbeam 250 4 stroke twin.

Are YOU the bloke who keeps phoning us at Draganfly asking for bits?

WE AINT GOT NUFFINK!!!!

chromedome wrote:Suzuki EN 125: For about-town running and commuting locally. Not the fastest bike on the planet, but adequate for the purpose, reliable and gives me 130 miles/gallon. Original equipment tyres were lethal in the wet, but replaced these with Michelin Pilots with impressive handling/safety results

MZ ETZ250: Had this bike since the 80's, and will never part with the old girl. Recently did a complete restore/upgrade on everything. Not to original spec, but I like to think I've improved it as I went along. For a start, the electrics were crying out for treatment.

Picture! I do like MZs and will normally stop and chat with anyone riding one, or anything unusual in fact.

Yeah I'd have an MZ too - and I always end up chatting to some MAG loony with one. They always seem to be annoyingly well informed (on most subjects), lonely, and slightly strange. 

Anyway - other stuff in the ahem 'fleet':

VanVan - based on the above EN125 engine irrc. Or GN125 at any rate. This metrosexual bumbler is like riding a tame baby woolly mammoth, and as long as you're content to do 45mph it will go anywhere, do anything, and sing a merry little tune as it goes. Quite why it has a 6 speed box remains a mystery however. Mine's a carb'd one. All are made in Japan - making them unique amongst 125s. They're very comfy and quite a lot of fun. I'm currently in Umbria near Perugia and would give my left nad for a vanvan here - narrow little streets with steep, hairpin roads leading to tiny hamlets built on rocky promontories overlooking deep valleys. Man - the vanvan would LOVE this place. 


CB125TDE - On a D plate iirc, this old twin carb 125 has an easy life in my garage. I ride it about once a week or more, nursing it further into old age. It runs very well indeed, and will rev to 13k. I've hit 70 on it before now, chin on the odd looking, rectangular instrument panel, down hill with a decent following wind. It was surprisingly stable and seemed proud as sin to show me what it could do when given a taste of the lash. Had the pegs down on it at the top of the street recently as well, made me feel like a spotty 'ooligan it did.

But it has its quirks - for instance, the self excited ignition spark is always very weak, and if left for a couple of days without running the starter will crank and crank for ages until catching. However, I have a work around that never fails and ensures it starts on the button first prod. I point a small convection heater at the carbs for a minute or two and bam - it fires up with ease. Secondly, the float needle is stuck so when the tap is turned on petrol pisses out over the floor. What you must therefore do is treat the tap as a primer - giving the bowls just enough to fill, then turn it off again until the engine has started and is actually idling. Then for some bizarre reason it never floods. Thirdly the master cylinder weeps, and the head on the screw has been rounded - by me. So don't use the front break please. The rear drum is pretty damn decent actually.


Kawasaki W650 - Proper posh bike with lots of shiny bits. My kwakker is in ace nick and has all its power really low down. However despite having 150cc on the CB, it's still nearly 10 horses down! Still, it's great to ride even if I do admit to using the CB far more often. The Dub's engine is very soft tuned, unstressed and beautifully constructed what with its bevel drive, air cooled sculpting and two-into-two pipes. It's far too quiet for my tastes though, and will prove far more costly than the CB to make loud. Great to have that kick start - I always use it. Plus it carries its weight low, which means the pegs will scrape quite easily. I like it a lot, but it's a bugger to keep clean. 


MkII CRM250 - Grey import '80s enduro stroker, with two rads and ace 'pro link' suspension. The latest addition to the garage, bought to take advantage of my rural location. There's a quite considerable network of green lanes and legal byways on my doorstep, and a new found friend took me on a 60 mile route the other week. He rides a little 250 GasGas and tends to treat the lanes more in the spirit of a trials challenge - thus much slower than the enduro mentality. Which of course is great for me, seeing as I'm even worse off road than I am on. I didn't manage to get the CRM out of second much of the time - but that was okay because it's actually pretty tractable and forgiving. I only came of twice.  

Other bikes? Blasphemy   

Ssh, she will hear you  

I have, in addition to by CB:

A Ducati 1974 860 GT I bought off my neighbour - I couldn't really say no and he didn't want much money, he said 'I would like to see it being ridden', so after a few years of fiddling/fixing with it I did just that and it rides pretty well considering its considerable bulk and length. Sadly being a large 70s V twin it isn't quite as economical on fuel (45 mpg if you are lucky!) as the CB.

A Yamaha SR125 from 1993 - I got this for my wife to ride, she tried it and liked it, unfortunately the bike decided to stop working reliably at that point so she went and bought herself a much newer YBR125 instead. I put the SR125 back together after some tinkering this afternoon and (touch wood) it seems a lot better now.... I will probably sell it at some point. maybe.

I also have a knackered pedal cycle that conveys me to work quite often when I'm not on the CB.

cb500 x2
vtr1000 firestorm
gsxr750w
zxr400L
gsxr600srad
gasgas ec300
fz600

What do reckon to your vtr tricky?

Another excellent musing there Rob! I met a lad today in town on a YZ125 with a daylight MOT. We played cat & mouse in town, then went our separate ways. I saw him again later and managed a brief chat. He said there's 30odd miles of BOAT round this town. I wish I'd gotten some contact info; I really fancy a small off-roader for fun and to learn more. My last and only off-road experience, on an R1150GS, ended in a hernia and a bollocking from a farmer.

I was on my own and after trying to right the bike I gave up, laughed and took pictures (it was 2005 and I had a Motorola RAZR, hence the low quality pics). Picking the bastard up gave me an umbilical hernia.



Then it got stuck in the mud whilst trying to ride away.



Bastard did NOT want to move. I put leaves & twigs under the tyre, deflated it, bike didn't wanna move. So I traipsed down to the road and flagged down a Land Rover.......... Which was being driven by the farmer who owned the land, on his way to investigate after being alerted about a biker on his laaaahnd.

He wasn't best pleased, though, in his defence, he was mostly concerned at the fact that I was alone. In hindsight, that wasn't a good idea.

badseeds wrote: My last and only off-road experience, on an R1150GS, ended in a hernia and a bollocking from a farmer.

 

But yeah - how do people use those buggers off road?? Holy crap - they make my nads ascend in fear just to look at.

trevor machine wrote:

badseeds wrote: My last and only off-road experience, on an R1150GS, ended in a hernia and a bollocking from a farmer.

 

But yeah - how do people use those buggers off road?? Holy crap - they make my nads ascend in fear just to look at.

Actually, it wasn't that bad. Admittedly I have nothng else to compare it to, but I was able to stand up on the pegs and spin-up the rear, sliding around making a right mess. It was my over-confidence that lead to crashing; I s'pose I thought I was a Dakar hero..... Twat.

trevor machine wrote:What do reckon to your vtr tricky?

its a good bike for the money. reliable, easy to ride, around town and on a track day. good riding position, not too racey but not too sit-up. and with race cans on sounds absolutely fantastic.

Tricky. wrote:its a good bike for the money. reliable, easy to ride, around town and on a track day. good riding position, not too racey but not too sit-up. and with race cans on sounds absolutely fantastic.

What about the tank range? I fancy one of these, but I can't be doing with something that needs gas before 160 miles at least.

I own a 1980 CB125T, currently in bits after some barsteward knocked it over outside the house. it destroyed the right hand switchgear and mirror/brake lever, bust the left hand mirror, leaked fuel all over a freshly painted fuel tank in original colour, plus other minor damage.

a 1997 CB250 TWOFIFTY, currently sorned as it needs a new rear tyre for the mot and the gearbox is sticking, making it hard to put into neutral. this was my main runabout until I bought the 500