A passion for bikes is inborn l think so.

[transam]

1 minute ago, Kwasaki said:

 

That looks like a 350 The 500's were popular.

My local Noddy bike cops new me by name...

 

Yes it was a 350cc..

[Kwasaki]

13 minutes ago, transam said:

He reckoned the Matchless was the best bike he ever had, never faltered, went all over the country on it. Sadly he had to admit he had one of these for a VERY short while....

 

I can remember being behind those things and choking...

 

 

 

 

 

The Honda 250 dream was better.  

[transam]

1 minute ago, Kwasaki said:

The Honda 250 dream was better.  

Hmmm, another 'orrible incarnation, but went well..

[Kwasaki]

23 minutes ago, transam said:

Hmmm, another 'orrible incarnation, but went well..

My first 750 nothing went wrong UK bikes were becoming dead in the oil/water.

They were named first superbike only my cousin on his race-tuned Triton could keep up.

 

 

 

[AllanB]

This house we bought in Portugal is on the old main Lisbon-Madrid N17, which is now pretty much a redundant road, due to the new-ish motorway, but it is used by bikers.

 

This weekend there is a big bike show at Gois and everything is pouring past my front door, the Jap bikes are anonymous, as are the Beamers (with or without the galvanised garbage cans attached lol!), the HD's, well what can I say, predictable? Then every once in a while an older British bike passes and what a sight for sore eyes...and ears. For me the next one has to be British, no question.

 

In terms of reliability, if it is anything like cars, buy a good-ish one (or rebuild it yourself) and then look after it. My British cars never let me down, I travelled zillions of miles/kms, through cobbled Hamburg and bumpy autobahns, all with only petrol money. Halcyon days, soon to be relived..on a bike.

 

Budget restrictions mean it won't happen in Thailand, but 40k baht will get you something in the UK and then break out the cornflake packet.

Edited August 20, 2017 by AllanB

[Kwasaki]

44 minutes ago, AllanB said:

Budget restrictions mean it won't happen in Thailand, but 40k baht will get you something in the UK and then break out the cornflake packet.

Not quite sure what you mean £950 = say 40K baht can buy you 125 something in Thailand. !!

[AllanB]

1 hour ago, Kwasaki said:

Not quite sure what you mean £950 = say 40K baht can buy you 125 something in Thailand. !!

A British bike?

[transam]

3 minutes ago, AllanB said:

A British bike?

Who  knows....Go  looking...

[kaorop]

On 8/10/2017 at 4:59 PM, Kwasaki said:

What about the big scoots now in Thailand now I guess Honda went too soon with the E4-01 never the DN-01.

 

Theres a Goldwing club in T'land, a Thai friend is in it, dont think any farang are tho. hes skinny as a rake and 5' nothing but that doesnt stop him...

 

[CMKiwi]

4 hours ago, kaorop said:

Theres a Goldwing club in T'land, a Thai friend is in it, dont think any farang are tho. hes skinny as a rake and 5' nothing but that doesnt stop him...

 

Good for him... the fact that he's out there and doing it has got to be admired.  Given the time and money Id love to spemd my later years doing just that, crusing around the Kingdom exploring new areas and sights.  What a life that would, be...

[thaiguzzi]

21 hours ago, Kwasaki said:

Started 21st century design Brough motorcycle 2013, engine made by a French company that give Kwacka's ZX10R engine a winner in WSBK.

Not my thing and a basic model starting around £46,000 + it's just another rich-mans toy.

I believe the whole Brough factory is in France. Everything made and assembled there.

[Kwasaki]

17 hours ago, transam said:

Who  knows....Go  looking...

Be lucky to find anything legal and roadworthy in UK for £900 (45,000 baht).

[Kwasaki]

4 minutes ago, thaiguzzi said:

I believe the whole Brough factory is in France. Everything made and assembled there.

Yep if they sell well they hope re-open the place where they were built in England before the 2nd WW forget where.

[transam]

Here's one for ya...The late Mrs.Trans dad had a farang m/bike for years. She said it made a lot of noise and it was the only bike folk in their village had ever seen like it..

I asked where is it now, she said his pal took it but never seen again. I asked if she could make esquires as I was interested...Nothing came of it so far. I asked what was it called, so she wrote down what was on the tank as far as she could remember, it was....

 

"BRISTOL"..........

 

 

[Kwasaki]

16 hours ago, kaorop said:

Theres a Goldwing club in T'land, a Thai friend is in it, dont think any farang are tho. hes skinny as a rake and 5' nothing but that doesnt stop him...

 

If his 5' and skinny hope his got one of these.

Scroll down to vid.

 

http://wingstuff.com/products/2364-black-ride-off-center-stand-for-gl1800

Edited August 21, 2017 by Kwasaki

[CMKiwi]

The video looked awesome but some of the reviews are none too pleasing.  Thank heavens Ill never own a bike that heavy to start with!

[Kwasaki]

59 minutes ago, transam said:

 

"BRISTOL"..........

Motorcycles were produced in Bristol by Douglas the first to use a practical disc brakes in 1920's on motorbikes as recorded.  

There's about 12 makers with old bike names beginning with 'B'  may of been Bantam or maybe Bullet.

[Kwasaki]

30 minutes ago, CMKiwi said:

The video looked awesome but some of the reviews are none too pleasing.  Thank heavens Ill never own a bike that heavy to start with!

Yeah agree somewhat l've rode one and it's a 2 wheeled car    l wouldn't want the responsibility of owning one,  l see them as a cult type of bike like Harley's and Custom bikes.

 

They're owners are mostly exclusive to motorbike ownership l find reviews from 1979 are good,  so bad reviews would only come from people that can't afford them or just don't like em as l see it. 

 

Heavy well that's obvious but a lot is low down and you become just another addition to traffic jams in some situations.

I guess in Thailand parts depending on what they are can be a problem but not in UK, Europe,  or US.

[kaorop]

12 hours ago, Kwasaki said:

If his 5' and skinny hope his got one of these.

Scroll down to vid.

 

http://wingstuff.com/products/2364-black-ride-off-center-stand-for-gl1800

I'll have to send him the link..55, mind you he does have over 25 staff that he can call on night or day, which btw has been very helpful for me, with 2 broken vehicle rescues, 1 a broken chain wrapped around the front sprocket, and 2 a blown engine in my van (100ks away)...So I wouldnt want to jeopardize that privilege...

[transam]

I watched a good vid on youtube last night on how/why Kawasaki got into producing bikes..

[Kwasaki]

2 hours ago, transam said:

I watched a good vid on youtube last night on how/why Kawasaki got into producing bikes..

Yes the motorcycle history is interesting to me, l use to be left alone in the pub talking about it to myself. 

Kawasaki aircraft got into motorcycles by a Japanese company Meguro who once had invested in Harley's,  l guess that's where the Japanese got their Copy-Cat name from.

From records they had produced a copy Harley V twin also later a copied an engine from a BSA twin.

A top English motorcycle engineer quoted  " The quality and engineering was superior to the BSA engine."

[transam]

2 minutes ago, Kwasaki said:

Yes the motorcycle history is interesting to me, l use to be left alone in the pub talking about it to myself. 

Kawasaki aircraft got into motorcycles by a Japanese company Meguro who once had invested in Harley's,  l guess that's where the Japanese got their Copy-Cat name from.

From records they had produced a copy Harley V twin also later a copied an engine from a BSA twin.

A top English motorcycle engineer quoted  " The quality and engineering was superior to the BSA engine."

Seems their 3 pot 2 stroke bike got folk thinking....

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kawasaki_triple

 

 

 

[Kwasaki]

4 minutes ago, transam said:

Seems their 3 pot 2 stroke bike got folk thinking....

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kawasaki_triple

Yeah but l never liked 2 stokes l went with CB750. 

[transam]

4 minutes ago, Kwasaki said:

Yeah but l never liked 2 stokes l went with CB750. 

The Kwak was a 12 second bike on the strip....That was quick back then...

[Kwasaki]

8 minutes ago, transam said:

The Kwak was a 12 second bike on the strip....That was quick back then...

Yeah 1980's  2 stokes deserve respect and work out roughly twice 4 stoke power cc equivalence.

A lot of guys liked them because of their power then.

4 strokes advanced in 1992 with Honda and later the Busa 1300 ripped to 312 kph (195 mph) in 1999.

Street legal Busa's later recorded 6.9 sec 1/4 miles,  standing to 60 mph just over 2 secs. 

[ben2talk]

On 26/08/2017 at 2:12 PM, Kwasaki said:

Yeah but l never liked 2 stokes l went with CB750. 

It's about the money - 4 strokes revving 8500rpm had half the power and nothing like the rush of a tunes 2-stroke. 

 

I had a GT250 That could thrash your CB750 at 1/3 the cost (but double the fuel and 1/4 reliability and #randomised seize factor).

 

Adrenaline.

 

Honda's Blackbird started tipping the seesaw... 

 

I always loved 4-strokes so after the VFR750 Pulling 135mph easily the Blackbird and then the GSX-Rs nailed it. Titanium singers- amazing rpm. From 2000 they just started going stupid fast, remember the talk about 100bhp limits? At the time I thought it was a lot... Now I think you can't have too much if it's well behaved.

Edited August 27, 2017 by ben2talk

[Kwasaki]

38 minutes ago, ben2talk said:

Honda's Blackbird started tipping the seesaw... 

It was the Fireblade that did the shake up, keep it over 7000 rpm and it was crazy.

The V4's were sweet but complicated.

Bikes now are even more complicated with all the computer electronic,  my sons 2015 R1 has a long list of oem gadgets that come with the bike.  

[kaorop]

16 hours ago, Kwasaki said:

It was the Fireblade that did the shake up, keep it over 7000 rpm and it was crazy.

The V4's were sweet but complicated.

Bikes now are even more complicated with all the computer electronic,  my sons 2015 R1 has a long list of oem gadgets that come with the bike.  

Some how i dont think many will be restoring these bikes in 30 years time (unless 3 d electronics printing is readily available..).

2017 R1

Electronics Package:

• MotoGP®-level Controllability
  Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) uses six axes of measurement: It consists of a gyro sensor that measures pitch, roll, and yaw, as well as an accelerometer, or G-sensor, that measures acceleration in the fore-aft, up-down, and right-left directions… all at a rate of 125 calculations per second. The IMU communicates with the ECU, which activates the technologies in Yamaha Ride Control (YRC). YRC includes Power Mode, Traction Control System, Slide Control System, Lift Control System, Launch Control System and Quick Shift System. All these systems are adjustable and can be saved within four presets in the YRC system.
• PWR Mode
  Power Delivery Mode (PWR), similar to the earlier “D-Mode” system, lets the rider choose from four settings of throttle-valve opening rate in relation to the degree of throttle-grip opening to best match their riding conditions.
• Lean Angle Sensitive TCS
  Variable Traction Control System (TCS) reduces rear wheel spin when exiting corners, calculating differences in wheels speeds and in relation to lean angle. As lean angle increases, so does the amount of intervention… with ten separate settings (off and 1-9) enabling the rider to dial in the exact level of control needed.
• MotoGP®-developed SCS
  Slide Control System (SCS), the first of its kind on a production motorcycle, comes directly from the YZR-M1. It works in tandem with the IMU, where, if a slide is detected while accelerating during hard leaning conditions, the ECU will step in and control engine power to reduce the slide. This too can be adjusted by the rider. Four settings (1-3 and off).
• Lift Control System
  Lift Control System (LIF) IMU detects the front to rear pitch rate and the ECU controls engine power to reduce the front wheel lift during acceleration. Four settings (1-3 and off).
• Race Start Control
  Launch Control System (LCS) limits engine rpms to 10,000 even with wide open throttle. It maintains optimum engine output in conjunction with input from the TCS and LIF systems to maximize acceleration from a standing start. Three setting levels regulate the effect (1-2 and off).
• Adjustable Quickshifter
  Quick Shift System (QSS) cuts engine output so riders can up-shift without using the clutch and closing the throttle for quicker lap times, also with three variable settings (1-2 and off).
• Ride-by-Wire Throttle
  The R1 uses YCC-T® (Yamaha Chip Controlled Throttle), fly-by-wire technology providing optimum power delivery. YCC-I® is Yamaha Chip Controlled Intake which is a variable intake system that broadens the spread of power in both low and high rpm.

[Kwasaki]

17 hours ago, kaorop said:

Some how i dont think many will be restoring these bikes in 30 years time (unless 3 d electronics printing is readily available..).

2017 R1

Electronics Package:

•  

 

I like it presented like this.

I would say in 30 years it will be easier to restore that's if it needs it,  it's a motorcycle 2 wheeled computer.

My son rides for pleasure and track days only, got a vid on Utube at Brands Hatch but can't seem to upload it.

[canthai55]

On 8/26/2017 at 0:17 AM, transam said:

The Kwak was a 12 second bike on the strip....That was quick back then...

 

got mine into the low 10's