Bike trade meltdown

Zephyr came out 1991, Bandit was a bit later. I wouldn't describe the
Bandit as retro in the same way I would the Zephyr.

 

...and the "I told you so" side of it. I think he's still a bit cross
Bike dropped his state of the nation address.

TBH I still think it was a worthwhile column.

 

Bear says...

I am pretty sure the Zephyr came first, about 3 years prior to the
Bandit.

 

Bear says...

On a Zephyr? Impossible.

 

The Older Gentleman secured a place in history by writing:

Which?

 

Heh. I always like the 750 Zephyr. Dick Dastardly had an 1100 that went
like stink, IIRC. Never rode it, myself.

 

"Basic fun".

 

This, I'll admit, is true. But I do get genuinely narked when I read the
utter shite trotted out by MCN (and others). Advising people to extend
their mortgages and buy new bikes - I mean, for ****'s sake....

Yes, there is a definite pleasure in forecasting something and watching
it happen: in knowing you were right. Not that anyone has a 100% success
record, but I can only point to a couple of instances when I was well
wide of the mark. One of them was reckoning the Yamaha TDM900 would be a
success, ho hum....

Actually, it's been back for the last couple of months. They've moved it
to the front, in the news pages. I got a call while I was sunning myself
by a Spanish swimming pool - seems its absence had been noted by the
great unwashed and they wanted it back. They dropped it because they
thought it was a bit "trade-y"[1] but seems that's what the punters
wanted.

Ta.

[1] Down, Corfield.

 

It made, and makes, predictions. Mostly. You may be one of the people
who can/could se which way the wind blows. The vast majority, including
the trade itself, can't. I still find that odd.

Um, actually, the stuff for Bike is all about modern machinery.......

 

Sunami of Morden.

 

The Zephyr was specifically marketed to capture the retro Big Kwak Zed
Thou type image whereas the Bandit was a naked budget bike that moved the
game on from the normal naked budget commuter hacks - the GS500 and their
ilk.

They occupy differing markets and different niches.

Hold on, the phones ringing....

 

count me in the stupid and newbie category then because it told me stuff
I didn't know and I always liked reading it.

 

I wasn't Up.

 

Too right, I like Bandits. I'd love one of each cc they do the Bandit in
actually, even though my one has required a few expensive bits replacing
over the years I've owned it.

 

I think the Bandit was described as the original 'factory fighter', not
so much retro.

 

I thought UJM was the term.

 

I had a meeting in a hotel bar on Thursday for this contract. It got
to half an hour after the bloke was supposed to be there and nobody
had come up to us to ask if we were the people they were supposed to
be meeting.

So I called the contact number I'd been given. Just as the phone
started ringing at the other end, 4 or 5 mobiles went off in the bar.

Turned out none of them were the right person either.

 

The Older Gentleman secured a place in history by writing:

Can't be arsed to trek over there to ogle Dukes, might have bothered if it
had been Carshalton way.

TOG, do you know that bloke who services / flogs beemers and MZs in
Wallington High St?

 

Heh. It was, 25 years ago. Nowadays, a UJM is something with an
aluminium beam frame, watercooled 16-valve four-cylinder engine, lots of
plastic bodywork, and 100bhp minimum.

 

Yeah, Hughes. Used to have a shop in Tooting. Old-fashioned place,
old-fashioned bloke, son does the spannering, really rather good.