I was going to put this into the ‘Boast about your recent purchases’ thread, but it seemed appropriate to start a new one as I know there’s a few motorcycle owners on here and I’m not sure there’s a lot to boast about!
I last owned a motorbike in 2000, when I got rid of my Honda VFR400 for an Austin Maestro. This VFR750 used to belong to my brother and it’s been sat in my Dad’s garage for around 10years. Persuaded him to let me have it to see if I can get it going over the winter. Needs a lot of work. It had an electrical fault and that’s why it went into storage plus the brackets on some of the plastics are broken. Probably all the fuel lines, brake hoses and seals will need replacing as an absolute minimum. At least I only bought it for a few beers.
Very nice. The old ‘Viffer’ was one of the truly great all rounders but IIRC, was it the one with the cam tensioner/chain made of cheese and the catalyst for the gear driven 800? or am I mis-remembering?
As you know, I used to race 600 proddie class, had a load of race only bikes and some road going ones. My plan a couple of years ago was to get a £-4k ‘plaything’, something like an (new) old 865 Bonnie and just tinker. My knee sliding days are over and I was never into the track day scene.
I think our new garden has blown that idea but I still love to talk bikes.
Don’t know much about them mechanically but agree with FB, a true game changer when it came out. Could scratch/race with the GSXRs then tour Europe the next day.
This is mine, I did the ever escalating sports bike thing ending with a couple of Hayabusas but realised going everywhere at 150mph and not even feeling like you were going fast would end badly.
So I found a ridiculously powerful bike that doesn’t handle (it’s ok for what it is but no sports bike) and tries to tear your arms and head off at any kind of crazy speed, discouraging prolonged silliness.
Very nice, although not my cup of tea. I’ve seen a couple of Mk1 Triumph Speed Triples which I just love. Will hopefully get this thing back on the road and see how it goes. Same reason for this purchase @FatPom Just something to tinker with. If it doesn’t work out I’ll whack it on fleabay for parts.
Now you mention it that rings a bell. The VF was the one with chocolate cams, the VFR was Honda’s answer to that and they couldn’t afford another lemon so over engineered it with the gear driven cams as belt and braces.
One thing that was running around in my mind, was not the bike I’d buy but the whole rigmarole of getting kitted out again.
I’ve got stuff for road cycling, mtbing, surfing, road running and trail running. Part of me just wants to stay away from finding £ and space for more kit but part of me just wants to do it anyway.
Kit has moved on a lot. I watch Fortnine’s channel a lot.
DRZ400S and an old KLR250 for me. Only took it up when I was 46, and wish I had started sooner. Not a fan of sports bikes though - too tempting to go too fast, and too many bits to scrape at vast expense. Dirt bike is just as fast on normal roads at legal speeds, and then can handle the potholes and a quick ride in the woods too. Handles much more like an MTB and can throw it on the ground without bits falling off. Exo-skeleton armour and baggies most of the time for me - can’t be bothered with the power-ranger or Village People look. Filling up every 70 miles gets a bit boring, as it wastes half the time I can save getting to work. Fed up of 3rd-world f*cktards running into the back of me at regular intervals (Milton Keynes roundabouts). I expect them to pull out in front of me, so am seldom disappointed there, but not much you can do about getting rear-ended apart from I always make sure my boots take big chunks out of their radiator grill when disentangling my bike, and it keeps me in free new rear tyres.
This VFR750 used to belong to my brother and it’s been sat in my Dad’s garage for around 10years. Persuaded him to let me have it to see if I can get it going over the winter. Needs a lot of work. It had an electrical fault and that’s why it went into storage plus the brackets on some of the plastics are broken. Probably all the fuel lines, brake hoses and seals will need replacing as an absolute minimum. At least I only bought it for a few beers.
. My mate had been round to give the KTM 250 EXC a spruce up before sale.