Paging: The ex bikers

a truly ugly motorcycle - well done.

 

As long as you don't forget to SORN it. Trust me on this one.

If only they'd sent me a reminder, I'd have done it - but they didn't,
so I didn't and now they want their pound of flesh with interest, the
bastards. Makes me mad, it does.

 

I have a hell of a job just going out with no destination in mind, just
for fun as you say. I like to take the bike when the journey is
appropriate, there's nothing large to be transported, the weather is
right, that sort of thing - but just going out for a bimble eludes me,
especially as it ends up being the opposite to a bimble as the redline
fever gets hold of me.

 

<shakes head, points to coat>

 

Write back to them and tell you posted the SORN off ages ago.

Worked for me.

 

Because "What's behind you doesn't matter"[1].

The roadblock manned by armed Police, well, that's a different matter.


1. Unless it's another racer who's forgotten how to use that lever in
front of his right hand and is approaching rapidly as you're turning in
to a corner, obviously. "Coming up to corner, look for braking point
.... check pit board ... cor, look at the tits on that ... BANG!!".

 

Odd. I really like the look of this one. I really liked the first one but
loathed the blobby one.

 

I've ridden a decent number of bikes of all sorts, but nothing grabbed
me like the 1050 Speed Triple. The original version was grin-making
hairy fun, but the later one just 'fitted' so well and did /everything/
for me that I could imagine a bike could. It was only for 20 miles and
it was ~five years ago, but I can recall the feeling as clear as day

Not to mention several inevitable barely-there half-ferrous,
half-unobtanium components.

 

Should do, it's not as if the have much of a clue about what is or
isn't on their database or even how to access the data.

--
+-------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Pete Fisher at Home: |
| Aprilia Shiver Yamaha WR250Z/Supermoto "Old Gimmer's Hillclimber" |
| Gilera GFR * 2 Moto Morini 2C/375 |
+-------------------------------------------------------------------+

 

I'm sorely tempted, I tell you. ISTR getting off with a previous one
via a phone call, but it's only a payment line these days, so they've
closed that door. It really grates on me as the bike in question
hasn't been near a road for years and I've always remembered before -
or been reminded, rather and then I dutifully do it on line. Not to
mention the fifty quid, which could be put to much better use - make
that ninety quid if I drag my arse on it.

I want to give it a go, but I'm far more likely to write them a cheque,
put up and shut up, TBH.

 

Ooh, a handbag!

 

Not really. I started at 33, and while it my take a little longer to
get there than for a 15-year-old, there's really no reason that one
can't get to be quite good. Decent instruction is important, of
course, and a reasonable degree of fitness helps.

The oldest good skier I know was a guy I skied with in Tignes a few
years back when informally leading a group there - Mike was 75, and
had started skiing at 60. Bloody excellent skier, he was, very
technical, very smooth, very fast. He'd taken a week or two of
top-level instruction each year, and got a lot of ski-miles under his
belt on top. He did everything the younger[1] guys did, except when we
came to powder, where he bowed out, not because it was too difficult,
but because if he fell over[2] in it it would be such an effort to get
back up.

Saw him again the next year, when he was just getting back skiing
after recovering from a broken ankle. What an attitude.


[1] Average age was close to 60, but they were all damned good.
[2] And I never saw him fall once.

 

To be fair, I was commuting Harrow to Slough most days, and whilst I
loved the 9R, the riding position was (literally) a pain when I was in
heavy traffic around W London.

The ST was far better in that respect, but then I moved to Bracknell,
and there wasn't the heavy traffic on my journey.

A couple of years back I had real problems with my back, and the
difference in time between using the bike vs the car wasn't that great.
I bought the Qashqai, mainly because the driving position was good for
me, and used the bike less and less.

True, but steady on! You make it sound like I'm some kind of dynamic
RTB now!

The Busa hasn't turned a wheel in months, but I do have plans for more
riding this year. I may even DFV some mid-week evenings out once the
days get a bit longer.

 

Consider something practical with lots of stowage. I rarely get out for
a decent bimble nowadays but the YP250 gets used as a shopping trolley
3 or 4 times a week because it is good in traffic, easy to park, and
can be left out in all weathers where it is easy to just jump on
and go. Anything lightweight with a topbox should do, Power is less
important for a daily runabout so long as you can keep up with the
traffic.

I dont give a stuff about "image", it is the right tool for the
job that I do most often so it gets me out on 2 wheels.

 

The ST1050 is clearly an excellent bike but you're the second owner on
UKRM to have found it killed your enthusiasm for riding. Think back to
the last bike you genuinely enjoyed riding. Use that as your starting
point. If that was a Speed Triple, then work from there.

Are you talking about a car or something? Whatever.

 

Me too, but that's the baseline.

I enjoyed riding the SV, but I'd rather have been riding the RGV so I
did, which made having the SV a bit of a waste.

Looking back at the bikes I've owned (MT5, TZR125, ZXR400, GSF1200,
ZX7R, SV650, RGV250, GSXR750, GSXR1000 and KTM Duke), only the MT5 could
remotely be classed as genuinely crap, and it didn't matter because I
was 16 and all mopeds are fundamentally crap.

Maybe we've both been (deliberately?) lucky in that we've not owned
bikes that have killed our enthusiasm. It's a nefarious thing,
chemistry.

 

Been there myself in recent years. I used to use the bike for the 3 or
4 trips a year to the office, & a long Sunday ride most months with the
Yahoo Tiger group, & at least one foreign trip a year, plus several
trail riding trips a month.

Then the Yahoo rides started to dwindle (hasn't been one for a couple
of years now), trail riding was banned everywhere within range, & lack
of money ruled out the (rather spendy) annual MV trip. Add in having to
spend every weekend doing up a couple of houses & the riding virtually
stopped completely.

Then I got the Raptor, & the urge to bugger off to nowhere in
particular on a Sunday morning came back in spades. The answer for me
seems to be that for UK riding, a flawed bike makes me want to ride.
The old Tiger's suspension's far too soft, which made it exciting. The
Raptor's suspension's far too wooden, which makes it exciting. The 955
Tiger's just too damn competent, & my 'just for fun' rides stopped
around the time I bought it.

If I lived in France, I suspect I'd be out on the MV every weekend, but
the traffic here just frustrates the hell out of me. So that tends to
just come out the garage for trips over the Channel these days.

Judging by what you've said elsewhere in the thread, I think our ideas
of what's fun on a bike are rather different. Otherwise I'd recommend
getting something small, light & overpowered for a while - a road legal
CR or TDR 250 would do the job. An 'anti-ST' if you like.

 

Without trying to be pompous (I manage that without trying, generally)
I have such an item: a CG125 with a large topbox. The more expensive
petrol gets (that'll be about four quid atm to and from the nearest
supermarket in the 2.5 Vectra) the more attractive putting the thing on
the road looks.

You miss the point, however. It isn't something I'd take out just for
fun, it would be strictly utilitarian. I'd be more likely to take the
Ural combo out for fun.

I don't do "image". The current image is of a slightly tatty mound of
soon-to-be-grey ginger hair, frequently with a wisp of smoke. The
archetypal Muslim chap on the till I customered yesterday looked at my
beard with awe, as it was distinctly bushier than his. IDGAF, see.

 

Catman escribió:

Depends on condition, not age. I've just resigned myself to the fact that my
knees will never permit me to ski again. And I live 1.5 hrs from the slopes.

 

Heh, I'm expecting mine to give the odd twinge in a couple of weeks
time. I've got a big tube of Voltarol Emulgel in readiness and I'm
popping extra glucosamine + chondroitin for placebo effect.
--
+-------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Pete Fisher at Home: |
| Aprilia Shiver Yamaha WR250Z/Supermoto "Old Gimmer's Hillclimber" |
| Gilera GFR * 2 Moto Morini 2C/375 |
+-------------------------------------------------------------------+