A biking revelation...

....maybe, anyway.

For some time now I've been finding bikes overall a bit boring to ride
etc.

I just don't seem to get the adrenalin rush from them like I used to,
and bar a short period of commuting by bike, they've always been
something for me to get my kicks from.

The few that have been fun have invariably been painful on the wrists
when I've gone scratching round twisties etc, and so I've rapidly lost
interest in those as well.

So today I had my eyes opened to what might be my biking saviour, and
it came in the shape of a fairly unlikely candidate... and for reasons
which aren't all the obvious ones, either.

I had a ride on the GSX1100G I recently fettled which is owned by my
dad.

'Smooth responsive pull away... oodles of power from feck all revs...
comfy ride... no strain on the wrists', were the first, possibly
predictable, impressions.

I had a go on one of these years ago and mentioned in here I was
thinking of buying it, and I remember being told I'd end up spat off
into a ditch in fairly short order, as they were, IIRC, 'unwieldy'.

Well... I found the handling on the one I rode today excellent - it
tipped into corners a lot more willingly than I expected given the
long wheelbase and big angle on the rake of the forks, and it soaked
up mid bend bumps which would have upset some of the other stuff I've
owned without fuss.

The one failing was the forks under heavy braking from 'eeek' mph -
they bottomed out.

But then given we've not done a fork oil change yet, that may well
help resolve this, if not completely eliminate the problem given how
much these weigh.

In short bar the bottoming out of the forks, I felt a lot more
confident slinging this around twisties than I do on the Aprilia.

Opened up down one local carriageway, I quickly became aware of how
much difference a lack of fairing makes in terms of being pushed back
by the wind etc, at anything above 90... possibly the saviour of many
a licence???

Anyway... overall I really liked it and think maybe I need to revisit
a B12 etc in the near future... although I don't remember the ones of
these I've tried in the past dropping into corners anywhere near as
keenly as this did.

Has anyone fitted one of those 'bikini' fairings to bikes along these
lines and found they've made that much difference?

 

A proper old muscle bike would be a lot more fun than a retro styled
modern one.

Riding at speed on the limit of the machine is quite something - even
when that speed seems fairly tame by modern standards.

Modern tyres have made it pretty easy to get to the machine's limits as
well.

It's difficult to describe how thrilling it is wringing the neck of an
old, well-sorted bike at it's limits.

Something that can only be experienced once in a while on a track with
modern machines - even comparatively sedate ones.

Not IME.

 

<snip>

I'm with Sweller. I'd rather hammer an old lardy classic that a
modern(ish) lardy naked bike. That, or a modern un-lardy naked, like my
Triumph. Or, indeed, the Bandit you suggested.

There's more of a feeling of achievement in getting a ShiteOldBike to
'proceed' at a fair few rate of knots, especially in corners.

 

In message

Don't let the GSX11 fettling go too far...

http://tiny.cc/1XMDf

 

Oooh, that's not nice.

 

Hah. The "fast lorry".

No, it'll be a pie problem. Rider as well as bike. Get some sticky oil
in the forks, and a few tuppences on top of the springs and it won't
bottom any more. Or shed some pies - your call.

I found a Bandit 1200 to be much the same, but more 'civilised' than the
GSX. More nimble, certainly, just as comfy, the B12 has better brakes
but a relatively poor tank range (100 to reserve).

Fitting a fairing to a B12 makes a lot of difference - not as good as a
full fairing in terms of weather protection, but it takes the majority
of the wind blast off the chest and a good bit off the head, too. OTOH,
it means licence endangerment returns inasmuch as 100+ cruising is very
much easier than on the naked equivalent.

If the chosen B12 doesn't drop into corners and you being of the larger
persuasion, dropping the forks isn't an option - but longer dogbones is.
I've prolly got a set lying around here (in a box, in a shed) that came
off my B12S: fitting them made a big difference - more ground clearance
as the rear is hoisted by a couple of inches which means that the rear
tyre shoulders became scrubbable (rather than striking sparks off the
centrestand, collector and leading edge of the can in that order,
followed by levering the back end off the ground on the can on a tight
roundabout which was always a bit hairy).

The higher back end canted the riding position forward a little, but not
so much as to make it any more wristy - the vibes through the
comparatively narrow standard bars always numbed my hands in any case
(largely due to the angle of the bars in relation to each other) - 10
minutes, little fingers numb. 15 - 20, next two fingers of the right
hand, 30 minutes and the right hand was numb, left index and thumb stll
had feeling. This was only for the first section of a given day,
however: stop for fuel or a fag, let feeling return and go again and I
only lost the little and next fingers of the right hand for the rest of
the day. Fine with wider bars and with straighter bars, however.

Being taller, you'd prolly appreciate the bit of extra room raising the
rear would give you: I find the riding position hugely comfy and easy on
the dodgy back, with plenty of space to shift around and ease the numbed
toes (less of a problem with toes on the pegs rather than riding flat-
footed) and the standard old-fashioned slabby seat is immensely comfy
too, if quite <cough> exciting for lady pillions at 5200rpm <cough>.

 

Ye gods. Why _do_ these things get done? Or rather, get started, as
they never _quite_ seem to get finished.

And putting both a £599 starting bid and a higher resevre on - what
the hell's that about?

 

I recently fitted the small Suzuki OEM fairing to my Bandit 600 and
found it does make a significant difference. I thought I'd be ok on the
commute on the motorway, and that it would keep my speed down, by not
having the fairing. Well, it did kinda/sorta achieve the latter, but
even at relatively low speeds it was way too tiring. I've only had the
fairing on for a couple of trips so far but it is certainly a lot less
tiring.

 

Great Understatements Of Our Time

It got to the point where people on French Runs were refusing to
accompany the B12 owners because they wanted to get somewhere rather
than spend half an hour droning at 50mph in a desperate search for
fuel...

 

*waves*

 

Well... depends if the old chap goes through with the threat to sell
it or not.

If he does, then I'm seriously considering having it off him.

Hmmm... I've ridden a couple of B12s, and they've felt a lot 'taller',
and nowhere near as keen to drop into bends as the GSX did.

Having said that, I last rode a B12 at least five years ago, when
CBR600s were the greatest bike on earth, in my world at least.

Fuel wise though... yes, this drinks it as well.

Not too fussed about weather protection tbh. Pansyfoofoo I may be,
but I rarely ride in the wet these days unless I have to, IYSWIM.

Ok... sounds like 'keeping it real' is the better option for me if I
go down this route.

No sense of this on the GSX, yesterday... the Aprilia on the other
hand. ;-)

Ok, think I may have to try another one in the event the GSX doesn't
come onto the market any time soon, in that case.

And maybe an XJR1200 - they've always appealed as well.

I'd like to try a GSX1400 as well, but they appear to be still in HFM
territory compared B12s and the like.

 

Which do you consider the GSX to be?

 

Yeah, you're right, of course. I was still largely asleep at the time.

Which is quite a lot for a shortarse like me. I think I had -4mm 'bones
which put me on tiptoe and made the Bandit turn in very nicely, tyvm.

 

Bar a full aftermarket exhaust system, this one is totally standard.

19k from new as well, so in good original nick throughout really, bar
a bit of surface rust on the headstock etc.

Aside from that, when these go the three wheeled route, they normally
end up with two wheels at the back rather than the front - tis the
fact they're a shaftie that makes them attractive to perverts of a
three wheeled persuasion.

 

'That never stopped you before'

 

<Embarrassed look>

Yeah, fair cop.

 

Modern, retro styled.

 

I'd call it a standard common or garden late 80s/90s UJM. It doesn't
have retro styling, it's pretty much stock Suzuki fare for the time.

 

Pip posted:

My K3 gets about 130 to reserve (slightly bigger tank than the pre-00
version), although it is probably fair to say my riding is not as,
erm, 'enthusiastic' as yours might be...

 

From what I've read, they were marketted as a modern retro... in 1991.

I'm not that familiar with earlier Suzukis, but my take on it is, bar
the fact it has a monoshock, it's pretty much an old skool bike both
mechanically and design wise.