Hairy Bikers and Other Petrol Heads

NHY 581

NHY 581

Western Thunderer
Dave Holt said:
Just acquired one of these. Back to biking after nearly 30 years.
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Dave.
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Morning Dave,

I noticed a couple of these Huskies whizzing about last year. I must say I do like them.

Fulvio Zanda said:
Hello Everybody
here 2 loves of mine.
Clearly on top of love there is California 1400 Touring , unbelievable bike from my point of view, but I'm also really happy of Interceptor 650 .
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Hi Fulvio,

I popped into our local Royal Enfield dealer last week end. The twins are still surprisingly well priced and like the look of the Interceptor. A friend of mine speaks very highly of his. He lives in Mid-Wales and finds that it's just right for the roads in his area.

Overseer said:
I test rode a Himalayan last weekend, nice to ride but not quite what I want. A Hunter 350 caught my eye while I was at the dealer, looks better in reality than the photos. Haven't bought one, might do when my daughter needs another bike.
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Morning Fraser,

I'm also taken with the idea of a Himalayan. A chum has bought one second hand and has been tinkering with it. Lumpy cam, jetting, exhaust etc etc. He's enjoying it. My last big "trail" bike was an XT500 in the mid eighties. Lots of fun. Large capacity alloy tank, big bore kit and a rather fruity exhaust. A great bike. Took a different one to the TT in '87.

I think it is going to come down to having a spin on one. However, the front runner is the Classic 350. But.......if I go for a Himalayan, I will use it all year round. The Classic will be laid up over the Winter, hiding from the salt.



Rob.
 
Fulvio Zanda

Fulvio Zanda

Member
NHY 581 said:
Hi Fulvio,

I popped into our local Royal Enfield dealer last week end. The twins are still surprisingly well priced and like the look of the Interceptor. A friend of mine speaks very highly of his. He lives in Mid-Wales and finds that it's just right for the roads in his area.







Rob.
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Ciao Rob

last November I was on EICMA in Milan and in addition at beatufil ladies I had seen new RE Super Meteor 650 .
Twin engine is the same as Interceptor, I like this new motorcycle.

here RE link

Super Meteor 650 prezzo, chilometraggio e colori in Italia | Royal Enfield

Royal Enfield Super Meteor 650 Prezzo in Italia. Esplora colori e caratteristiche - Fork sospensioni USD, faro a LED, quadri di strumenti digitali, ecc. Rivestimento del libro ora!
www.royalenfield.com www.royalenfield.com
 
simond

simond

Western Thunderer
simond said:
Dropped my GS 1250 off for is 2-year service today. After a brief discussion, the dealer provided a demo bike as there wasn’t a loan bike available, and they are 50 miles from home (and no, a scooter is not acceptable…) so I had the undeniable pleasure of a BMW F900R for the return ride. As they didn’t get the service done today, I can’t collect tomorrow, so I’ll have a few more miles on a very different, and thoroughly enjoyable, machine. Photos to follow.
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So today I went for a brief ride with my son for the first time - him on his late uncles F650, and me on the loan bike. As promised, photos. It is as ugly as an ugly thing in my opinion, but a jolly nice ride.

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Eastsidepilot

Eastsidepilot

Western Thunderer
Still sorting old photo's, found this shot of the ex. Plod Beamer I was using c.86. At the time I was working as a self employed courier with an old mate of mine, we had a contract running between Southend and Peterlee, Co. Durham leaving Southend at 19.00pm, alright in the summer not much fun in mid-winter ! did enjoy the heated handlebar grips though.
We had a deadline of 2.00am at Peterlee, quite easy at night at 90 + mph on the A1, no speed cameras in those days just jam sandwiches to look out for :D. I seem to recall the quickest run was a tad over 4 hrs.
On one occasion mid January I was on the final two mile stretch into Peterlee at about 50 and suddenly get a wobble from the back-end, thinking I had a puncture I pulled up put the bike on the stand and promptly went arse over tit. The road was just one big sheet of black ice, still don't know how I hadn't chucked it down the road to this day ! So the last two miles was ridden quite cautiously to say the least:D ...who said motorcycling wasn't fun !, well it was in heavy traffic as this old patrol bike was very good at parting the waves as it were especially creeping up behind speeding traffic on the motorway.
The Mini Clubman was a BL badged product with stiff suspension and 13" rims, bit like a roller skate to be honest but the wife liked it :rolleyes: :D and the Wolseley 16/60 was a '70 model which was the penultimate year of production, a reliable old bus and a favoured car by my Grandfather, Father and his Brothers who all had various earlier examples including 15/60 and Austin Morris badged versions of the Farina styled range.

1986. Beamer.png Col.
 
JimG

JimG

Western Thunderer
Richard Gawler said:
This one was mine. Photographed in 1985, it ended its days shuttling me from my work in Fife to my parent's home in Shropshire. It was supremely comfortable, more comfortable on a run than my MX-5 (at least in Summer) and it just swallowed up miles without a care in the World.
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I would agree with the BM comfort. I rode an R100S for a long while and it was the best cruising bike I ever had. No numb bum and once on the motorway you could stick it in fifth and never have to change from 30 to 70+. And in winter your feet were warm. :)

Jim.
 
Richard Gawler

Richard Gawler

Western Thunderer
Mine was a 1979 (W) registration and was badged as an R80/7. Col's machine might have been a year later - smaller mirrors, different screen and badged as '800cc'. I added the heated grips to it, I still got plenty cold but the fairing dispersed almost all of the rain and I can remember just the toes of my boots would get covered in spray from the road.
 
Osgood

Osgood

Western Thunderer
Ex plod bikes - did either of you get any reaction from serving Police on the road?

As a very small person I occupied the co-pilot's seat of my mum's preloved Ford Popular.
It frequently attracted unusual attention from Police around town and elsewhere - often in the form of them holding up traffic that had the Right Of Way so that mum could pull out. It was quite embarrassing at times.
Parents did some research and discovered the car's first owner was the wife of a Chief Superintendent...... :D
 
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Oz7mm

Oz7mm

Western Thunderer
In a similar vein, I got pulled over as an 18 year old while driving my mother's Triumph Herald.

Things might have gone a bit better if my 13 year old brother hadn't leaned across and addressed the officer with a cheery "Cunsternoon afterble"

Was it my car?
No, it's my mother's
OK - I usually see a lady driving this car. Off you go.

Observant policeman? Or did he fancy my mum?

John
 
NHY 581

NHY 581

Western Thunderer
My Beemer was a 1978 R100RS. I had it in the mid-90s.

Great bike and with the most effective fairing I ever sat behind. Whip it up to 90 and you could sit there all day without any effort.

It handled very well but you needed to set yourself up before hand......usual stuff..right gear, right speed, correct position etc etc.

I knew I'd cracked it one morning. Sat at the lights quietly playing with the throttle, enjoying the twist of the crank as I blipped away, I was joined by a matching leather type on his Kawasaki GPX 750 thingy. Bright green it was.

Anyway, lights changed, big handfull and off he went. I followed "at pace" into the roundabout, he braked.....leant left then flicked right to come about.
I obviously did the same, but changed down as I dropped over to the right. Nice hand full, did him on the inside then into the left hander, with purpose to exit, then nice handful to accelerate away.

Of course, he did me on the straight shortly after but the point was made..........

Rob
 
NHY 581

NHY 581

Western Thunderer
Talking of Beemers, this is my friend, Benidict Lawrence, known to all as Grunt.

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A great bloke and despite breaking his back and losing most of the use of his right arm and hand after a particularly bad bump on his T500.... (?), he continued to ride.......with great purpose.

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His favoured marque was Ducati and over the years he continued to ride sporting examples which had been specially adapted for him and wearing a back and arm brace. This did nothing to slow him down.

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As well as pleasure, he rode as a courier running his own business for some 40 yrs. He must have ridden literally 100s of thousands of miles for both work and pleasure. He was an excellent and accomplished rider, a true character and an absolute Gentleman.

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Sadly, Grunt was killed just before last Christmas whilst riding his pushbike. He was in collisoon with a lorry and died soon after of his injuries. He was 65. The irony of the circumstances of his passing is not lost on those who knew him.

We'll be seeing him off on Monday afternoon. The Triumph is sat in the garage, polished and prepped, ready to take it's place to escort Grunt on his last run.

Rob.

Photos are taken from Grunt's business website.
 
Overseer

Overseer

Western Thunderer
Having mentioned I test rode a Himalayan a few weeks ago I decided to buy this instead -
klr1.jpg
A Kawasaki KLR650s. Unfortunately it seems not to be on sale in the UK. A nice low tech single cylinder 650 with a 23 litre petrol tank, the KLR is Kawasaki's longest running model having been introduced in 1987. This is a new third generation one.

klr2.jpg
The colour was the only one offered, so no choice but I don't mind it and it nearly matches the Td5 which was bought second hand and wasn't a colour I would have selected. Picked it up yesterday and went for a bit of a ride with a friend on his Harley, could we have found a more mismatched pair of bikes?
klr3.jpg

It is funny how many people have said they expected me to buy a Norton or Triumph, maybe later. The KLR is good to ride, now to find some dirt.
 
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