"Tiger, tiger... burning bright"

Oooh, nice. 'Tis on my "list", too. Details? Condition, milage, price,
etc?

 

Urban Tiger, that is.

I got one of the bikes I've always wanted to own, today... a 1993 'Urban
Tiger' Fireblade.

And fook me, having ridden it about 140 miles today, I can confirm it's
bloody quick. :-D

BGN... Robbo... Whinging Courier... Prawn etc. (and anyone else festering in
the south east), another run round the twisties of Romney Marsh is in order
as soon as I get new boots on it, methinks.

 

In uk.rec.motorcycles, JackH amazed us all with this pearl of wisdom:

Yup.

Congrats btw

 

Condition: pretty good overall, bar the tyres need immediate replacement.

Came complete with orange screen and matching headlight cover.

It's an import, so the speedo is in Km/h - I'll try and get a UK one asap.

It's done 53k in 'funny money', which works out to something around 33k
miles - goes like stink, and has a pipe that I'd like to try and get a
removeable baffle for, it's that loud at around 5k.

The price... well it was under £2k :-D

Main problems so far are, the 'new battery' wasn't keen on running anything
above sidelights earlier when I was fighting my way round the South
Circular, so it'll be getting a good optimating tomorrow, and as I've
already mentioned, the tyres are a bit shagged - anyone got any
recommendations as to what suits these best?

Should our paths ever cross again, you CHAG,M.

 

Next weekend, bar a major collapse on the part of England, I'll be rooted to
the telly... after that, any weekend before the weather turns shite, is good
for me.

Cheers... sad as it sounds, but this was always the *one*, colour scheme
wise.

 

Congrats. Would be interested in a more detailed opinion, if you have a
few minutes? That's probably my dream bike.

 

In uk.rec.motorcycles, JackH amazed us all with this pearl of wisdom:

I rather like the look of a Blade they've got in Chiswick Honda, an
orange and blue one.

 

Give me a few days to get used to it and scrub in some new tyres, and I'll
give a more detailed analysis.

I've not had anything this big, sportsbike wise before, so by my own
admission, I'm probably going to be a bit 'lovestruck' for a while - having
not ridden any of its contemporaries as such, my opinions of it are probably
going to be more than a bit biased.

Anyway... initial impressions are - yes, the 16" front wheel does make for a
twitchy front end - we'll pass final judgement one the new boots are on.

The riding position is more prone than I'd for some reason got it into my
head it would be.

What this does make for, is, especially when you've as much 'ballast' as me,
is for very good launching without involuntarily hoisting a wheelie or two,
unless you want to.

It makes my arse ache less than the Pan, initially.

It makes my legs ache shitloads more overall, but with the emphasis being on
when you finally get off it after a long run, rather than when you're all
curled up on iy - however, it's not aggravated my knee as such, so I reckon
my legs will get used to it in a while...

I love it. :-D

 

Or Tyger, even. I think.

 

[snip]

Wow! Result!

[snip]

Why thank you, kind sir! Last 'Blade I rode was Sniper's red'n'white
thing. Didn't really get a proper chance to get acquainted with it.

 

Aye, I thought so anyway... the only neg as it were bar the silly stuff like
the lazy battery, is the guy liked his crap like micro indicators - I'll be
putting it back to standard as soon as I get hold of a set of originals.

Curses... I should have specified you could have a 'brief go'. ;-)

 

Bike insurance is in one of its cycles, right now. Competition is
driving down premiums, like it did in the mid-1980s (when,
coincidentally, there was also a recession in the bike biz).

Inscos are reckoning they can cream off some business. Rates will
continue to fall, into inscos realise they've hoovered up a shedload of
risk, and then they'll climb again.

 

Heh, 'sok. I'll not "do a Vince" and **** off round The Island for over
an hour...

 

Meanwhile, I'll have either had the 'big one' I reckon I'm long overdue,
curtailing the need for such a bike rather abruptly, or will have built my
NCB up so I don't give as much of a feck.

I couldn't even get a quote from a lot of places, not so long ago - now,
everywhere will quote, and I'm not that much older and I'm certainly no
wiser. ;-)

The point I noticed more than anything, is they're about the same for me
now, as a VFR750 would be - there used to be a big gap, so what's happened;
have insurance companies all of a sudden realised 'blade owners are far more
responsible adults, or is it that the VFR gets pinched so much now,
seemingly for the stainless pipes everyones had to fit by now?

 

The Older Gentleman wrote

Coo innit just. Having bottomed out on all the penalty clauses I have
no real experience in about the last 20 years of my premiums staying
stable, let alone going down, but recent experience suggests this is not
the case. Certainly, for some of us, the base insurance is getting
cheaper.

Only for the next round of credit rich thirtysomethings.

 

I appear to be in the dark on this one... whose bike did he do that on, and
when?

LOL

 

He did that on mine too, the sandy toksvig looking ****.

 

*waves*

I'm thinking GSXR750.

 

So what did you do in the absence of your bike... walk 500 miles?

 

What's the selection of 16" tyres like nowadays?

Good!

Anybody want a ZXR400?