The motorcycle thread

Loving the rear brake res :grinning:

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It doesn’t look a standard 636 to me. Looks like it’s got newer clothes on an older chassis - certainly the tail doesn’t look standard from my aging memory. Combine that with the paint scheme and it makes identification much harder.

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Haha, I hadn’t spotted that, nice touch.
I had a chat with the owner when he was looking at my bike. He said he’d got a supercharger in a box at home but the plumbing involved in fitting it would be too much hassle. He mentioned insurance was difficult because most only allow 3 mods so it must have a more than that.
Bodywork wise it looks pretty close to this:

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So it does :slight_smile: It’s got a modified swing arm but I didn’t notice that. I thought the seat units used to be flatter and rounder but obviously not. Clearly the Suzuki engineer moved over to Kawasaki. Very GSX-esq.

I wouldn’t want it but I do quite like it. Interesting to look at if nothing else.

ETA: I just googled it, the tail looks much flatter with the pillion pad fitted. The single seat conversion really changes the look. Nice!

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Glad you said that. I know I’m out of touch but…!

Seems we both are :laughing:

That sums up quite a lot of the stuff there. They have a ride-in once a month and then the odd bigger show every now and again. A lot of the same bikes turn up every time but there’s an eclectic mix of styles rather than the same old row of 600/1000s.

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I was at the baker cafe on Saturday and there was a bike that if it had not had a name on it, I would simply have not known what it was. Bloke sat next to me said the same thing.

It was a Ducati something, let me see f I can find it.

Here’s a few more curios from yesterday:





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I think it was a Diavel with the tank logo gone and a carbon can and bodywork. It had a tiny Ducati logo on one bit of bodywork.

Looked ugly AF to me.

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There was a Diavel there yesterday, won best Italian bike but I’m not sure if there were any others :thinking:


I quite like them to be honest, Ducati’s answer to the V-max and Triumph have gone a bit more in that direction with the new Rocket.

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I like the Diavel too. Not my usual kind of bike but I took one out when my multi was in for a service and confess to enjoying it.

It’s been a long time since I saw a road worthy KR1 as well. Usually they look in a similar state of build to @AndyS’s RS :slightly_smiling_face:

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I think I’m old school. To me, the most stunning Ducati is the 916 SPS but my favourite is the 900 Darmah.

I missed the boat when bikes started to look like the front end of an insect. Not a fan.

Had a very interesting chat with a guy on Saturday. He had the Benelli 502TRK and absolutely loved it. Said he’d had no issues with reliability or fit and finish. Power was enough unless two up touring.

I The are only about £5.5k but the whole made in China thing is cause for thought.

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Shame we can’t upload videos on here. This old boy turned up with his race Norton, complete with electric rollers to start it. It had a completely unsilenced megaphone and sounded awesome, as well as vibrating your whole chest with each blip.

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Talking of which, the fuel tank is now in construction and the chap has been messaging me with updates and photos. I don’t know what the process is but he’s a good communicator and updates regularly.

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Looks like he’s laying up woven carbon fibre, ready to go into an autoclave?

I must admit, what with AndyS’s updates and the RD350/KR1S yesterday I’m getting some serious 2-stroke cravings.
I only ever had a 125cc 2-stroke so no experience at all of a bigger engined one and the more time goes on, the more that feels like a mistake. I just can’t think of any sensible way of getting one, or even where to keep it if I did.

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I need my wheels back from the powder coater so I Messaged him asking for an update. He said he can’t remove the cush drive and it’s taking longer than expected (we’re over three weeks in). After some searching it turns out the exhaust chap from last week makes them himself and can supply a set in 48 hours (good job I was polite and courteous with him when getting the exhaust problems solved).

Aprilia no longer make them and eBay and NOS supplies have dried up. I Messaged the powder coater and said he can destroy the cush drive if needed, he said he thinks he can remove them so no need for a new set! I think he’s just buying time. Ready next week, he said.

Over the weekend I replaced the brake lines, new brake and clutch levers (old ones were corroded), brake pads (rust on the old backing plates was quite bad) and brake fluid reservoirs and hose (again, rust and corrosion and the plastic has yellowed, the hose gone hard and cracked). Aprilia no longer supply the resovoirs but through the gift of the internet and Google it’s the same unit used on the 916 Ducati so I got one from them. I managed to butcher the brake lever to keep the original master cylinder plunger but renew the lever so it all fits well.

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Organisers got a picture of me arriving again. Messy background so had a bit of a play with the free editing tools in Android. (There’s one that blurs the background but you can’t save the result unless you cough up unfortunately)

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Having a nosey around Fowlers

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