The bike I'm glad I got rid of

OK, we've had the nostalgia for bikes we never should have sold.

Now for the bike we couldn't sell quickly enough!

For me, it had to be the SR250. Drum braked both ends, you'd stop
faster if you added a set of pushbike brakes. A rice pudding could
wave its skin right in front of that bike and even offer to hang onto
the rack, no way would it pull that skin off. Corners were merely an
opportunity to show that it didn't matter how many racers other
Yamahas had won, the factory had forgotten every thing it learned when
it built that bike.

I rode it for about a year as a ride to work hack because the Pantah
was painful in traffic. Then I found an MZ, and was able to get rid
of the SR to some other poor sod.

Zebee

 

Yamaha 750 Virago, rode it round the block and hated it (had previously
ridden 250 and 1100 Virago's and hated them equally).
BMW K1. like what were they thinking a 260 kilo Superbike with a limited
steering lock and no luggage capacity, and no leg room so I cramped up after
200 kilometres.
Honda 900 Hornet, boring.
Suzuki GSX1100ED a great engine looking for a frame and some brakes.
Suzuki GSX1100ESD (see above)
BMW K1100RS, just too heavy (although a great long distance touring bike)
BMW K1100LT just too hot (burn your legs in summer traffic and who could
hear the radio/casette at highway speeds, although one of the best winter
tourers ever made)
Honda XL350 (too heavy for a dirt bike)
Honda CL175 (piston meltdown)
BSA 650 A10 (the great oil leak)
DKW 250 (2 stroke never ran properly).
Honda CB750 (good bike it just attracted 2 cars and one bus and one
motorcycle that hit me (4 separate accidents))
Triumph Exective Sprint (never really got to know this one as it was writen
off after 1,300 kilometres after being hit from behind, from memory very
poor front suspension that needed work from new)

Boxer

 

Honda 750-4 F1. Broke down everytime I left town, the final straw was
breaking down 60ks into a 1400km trip.

 

1992 ZZR600.
Got me into more trouble than I care to mention.
Had a wicked dead spot in the rev range between 4k and 5k. If you wanted
to overtake anyone you had to kick it down 2 gears.

Didnt have a reserve switch, just huge flashing red lights when the
petrol level got low. Also handled like a brick.

Engine had a good top end though

Ended up putting it into a gutter on the way home from work one day.

Sold it and bought the a CBR900 fireblade. Night and day between those two.

 

I had the original XV750 in 1981, I didn't mind it but I sold it after
six months and about 6,000ks anyway.

 

[shudder] For me it was definitely "The Pig". It was an '82ish CB750F (The
DOHC Bol D' Or model)
It was just horrible.

I didn't really get on with the '74ish GT250 Suzuki either but I'd be
prepared to accept that maybe I just wasn't in the right frame of mind at
the time.
Clem

 

CB750F, what that the one with the CX500 tail light?

Boxer
(I worked at Cycle World Buranda when they were new, crashed a CB900 Bol'Dor
when rear ended by a courier driver the Boss was not happy).

 

No I think that was the 650 sleeved-down-750/4.
http://www.toutsurlamoto.com/photogallery/motocollection/1979+HONDA+CB650+RC+03.jpg

The 750 had the standard rectangular, ribbed, brick-sized taillight that was
on the CBX, CB1100R, CB1100F, CB900F etc.

You've got a bit of a history of getting it in the rear haven't you John?

 

there's a xs400 that doesnt even rate a piccie in my photobucket album, but
it was cheap

triumph thruxton - hmm false advertsing, poor build quality and crap
aftersale service

 

94 model 900ss Shitheap
22 warranty claims - 18 mths - shop had the bike longer than I did.

 

Bandit 1200, fat heavy not enough ground clearance and just wasn't fun.
It's not that its a bad bike, it just put me off. Didn't enjoy it.

JL

 

And you said you would not tell!

Boxer

 

This is really hard for me.

I'm not good at disposing of motorcycles. :-(

Probably the Kwaka 750 Turbo would be the least missed bike that I've
ever had, since riding it stuffed up my back, but, in many ways, it was
still a nice bike.

The topic is particularly painful to me today, since I'm taking the
Yammy 125 to its potential new owner, for a test ride, and I'm hoping
that she doesn't like it for some reason.

regards,
CrazyCam

 

In aus.motorcycles on Tue, 28 Aug 2007 08:06:03 +1000

If a bike's going, doesn't that mean it will be replaced? What's the
new toy?

I feel your pain - my daily ride for the last 14 years is going to a
new home on Saturday. The new owner's excited and happy and I think
it is going to a good home, but dammit I feel bad.

I keep thinking "I could cafe it and make it my hoonbike" but I have
little garage space, little time, and I am not sure I'd be willing to
do the complete strip and re-build required.

So someone else gets a rare early Tonti.

At least this means The Old Girl can come out from the back of the
shed and get cleaned up and registered and ridden.

Zebee

 

The 1987 GPz500S courier hack. Top speed, chin on tank, 140kph.
Forgetting to flip the manual fan switch would let CBD gridlock cook
it within one cycle of the traffic lights at the intersection of
George and Market Sts. No suspension to speak of. Bottomed out
everywhere, including midcorner on occasion. The clutch, sidestand and
neutral cutouts each took the piss in turn, bringing the bike to a
stop in moving traffic until they were all snipped. It holed one rear
tyre, attracted a reversing 4WD and a tow truck while parked, toppled
off the centrestand (melting asphalt on a Pyrmont footpath) into the
gutter once, blew a regulator and an indicator relay. Mirrors were too
low, so they impeded lanesplitting. Headlight had all the illuminative
power of a lit cigarette... I should've bought an oil-cooled GSX-R
like the rest of the couriers... no wait. Neither of my knees bent far
enough for that at the time...

 

Of course it was false advertising but you should have known a Thruxton is a
Velocette.

For me it was the Lambretta I had for a short time in 1966.

Theo

 

Zebee wrote -

1971 Russian Vokhod (?sp) sold by Capitol Motors on Parramatta Rd - my first
lesson in leaning that anything sold cheaply is not always a bargain,
grasshopper.

Unreliable, and as ugly as a hatful of a***holes - had a decompression
lifter on it for reasons I never quite discovered. Ate spark plugs. Probably
part of devious plot to destroy Western capitalism.

Guess its doesn't really make this category tho' because after about a year
of trying to sell it, no offers and I gave it away ...

 

TRX850... what was I thinking?
Traded it on a ZX6R and found performance and handling again.

 

Been waiting for that one ;-)

JL