Any Motörbike riders here?

AK99

Yeah nice bike Gavin. They look like they could be a right hooligan machine. Think I might have seen one of those XSRs in speedblock yellow and black - the old 70s Yamaha USA / Kenny Roberts era colours. Looked great

On the subject of ergonomics - finally got jarred off with the bars on the Daytona, and swopped them for a proprietary set of Heli Bars I picked up off a 675 owners forum.



Not mine - but you get the idea. The old bars felt at times as if you were riding lying on the tank trying to steer the bike holding onto the top of the fork tubes. Too much weight on your wrists at anything under 60mph, and nigh on impossible to do full lock turns without getting your hands trapped against the tank.

The new bars are flatter, and about an inch wider either side - and the difference in feel even that small amount of the extra width makes is remarkable. The thing seems to flick left and right much quicker than before - at any speed - and it's just a pleasure to ride again at town and in-traffic speeds. After the originals, the thing feels like a Stunter now. Should be out practising wheelies and stoppies on it  

Went for my regular me-time loop of about 110 miles or so on Saturday. Got back home, was about turn in, and thought fkit..I'm enjoying this, and went off for another scoot about 20 miles round some of the coast roads here. Has to be a good sign.. 

octatonic

I'd kinda forgotten about this thread- I started it when I started riding in 2013 and almost made 10 years... but not quite.
I sold my bike a few weeks ago.

I'm not commuting anymore, the pandemic killed any touring and I never got back into it.
Now I am doing post-grad I have zero time.
Anytime I am on the road I am generally travelling to gigs, so no bike.
It was a lot of money tied up in something I wasn't really using very often.

I may revisit it at some point, but not for a little while.

Strangefan

. 

Haych

The XSR700 looks like a great bike, and one of only a couple of modern bikes that really interest me.  The other is the Kawasaki Z900RS - they're just so sexy and cause lots of pain in my want engine, as do the newer BMW R1250R, which is a newer version of what I already have.

I have no plans to change the bike though, this does everything I need it to in the most uncool way possible and its unpopularity and underdog status just make me love it more.

guitargeek62

guitargeek62 said:

I swapped my Scrambler 1200 in for a Speed Twin about six weeks back, that’s been a nice change of pace. The Scrambler was brilliant, but the exhaust was starting to get to my right leg - it pushes it out slightly and I’d been developing a bit of a hip issue as a result. No such problems with the Speed Twin though, and it’s a dream to ride - ‘smooth’ sums it up perfectly tbh!

Now with pic!

roundthebend

@guitargeek62 ;
 love the Speed Twin. I still love my T120 Black though I don't ride enough. It's coming out tomorrow for its MOT, and I'll probably use it more frequently thereafter. I shall probably do some evening rides to village pubs to have a refreshing 0% drink and bag of crisps before riding home.

gavin_axecaster

Thanks folks.

The new XSR900 was also on my radar, but I wanted a twin. Never had a triple but I've had a couple of inline 4s back before the firestorm (FZR750 and a highly modified GSX750 drag bike with overbored GSXR 750 engine) and I just like the sound and pull of a good twin.

I was also considering the MT-07, which is basically the XSR700 with modern bodywork. However I think they are quite ugly as standard and would have needed to spend a fair bit just getting it to look right.

guitargeek62

gavin_axecaster said:

Thanks folks.

The new XSR900 was also on my radar, but I wanted a twin. Never had a triple but I've had a couple of inline 4s back before the firestorm (FZR750 and a highly modified GSX750 drag bike with overbored GSXR 750 engine) and I just like the sound and pull of a good twin.

I was also considering the MT-07, which is basically the XSR700 with modern bodywork. However I think they are quite ugly as standard and would have needed to spend a fair bit just getting it to look right.

I think you made the right choice, the XSR700 is much nicer to ride than the 900 - the 900 is too twitchy and torquey for it's own good imo!

BenSirAmos

octatonic said:

I'd kinda forgotten about this thread- I started it when I started riding in 2013 and almost made 10 years... but not quite.
I sold my bike a few weeks ago.

I'm not commuting anymore, the pandemic killed any touring and I never got back into it.
Now I am doing post-grad I have zero time.
Anytime I am on the road I am generally travelling to gigs, so no bike.
It was a lot of money tied up in something I wasn't really using very often.

I may revisit it at some point, but not for a little while.

I think there was only the one Fretboard ride-out, wasn't there? Or perhaps there were more but I missed them.

It was a nice day out though. I still have my Bandit although I bought another larger version that gets more use these days.

AK99

gavin_axecaster said:

I was also considering the MT-07, which is basically the XSR700 with modern bodywork. However I think they are quite ugly as standard and would have needed to spend a fair bit just getting it to look right.

The older one can  look really well..

guitargeek62

AK99 said:

gavin_axecaster said:

I was also considering the MT-07, which is basically the XSR700 with modern bodywork. However I think they are quite ugly as standard and would have needed to spend a fair bit just getting it to look right.

The older one can  look really well..

Isn’t that just a modded XSR though???


*edit* with lots of JVB-Moto parts by the look of it

AK99

It us, yup. Just posted it to show how some subtle mods can change the look and lines fairly dramatically.

gavin_axecaster

Yep, I'll be blacking out the front end like that on mine. I think the next mod is to fix the back end - new fender/light/tail tidy combo.

danban

This is my bike, a Royal Enfield Interceptor 650. I covered 1800 miles over 9 days around Scotland in May.

It’s a cracking bike and I couldn’t be happier with it 

robinbowes

Talking of old British marquees being manufactured in India...

I saw a video today about the new BSA Gold Star.

Anyone seen one in the flesh yet?

R.

danban

robinbowes said:

Talking of old British marquees being manufactured in India...

I saw a video today about the new BSA Gold Star.

Anyone seen one in the flesh yet?

R.

I’ve been following it closely and whispers are it’s going to retail at around £10,000   

robinbowes

danban said:

robinbowes said:

Talking of old British marquees being manufactured in India...

I saw a video today about the new BSA Gold Star.

Anyone seen one in the flesh yet?

R.

I’ve been following it closely and whispers are it’s going to retail at around £10,000   

Ouch. That's a little pricey. Almost as much as my Nuda is worth!

R.

p90fool

danban said:

This is my bike, a Royal Enfield Interceptor 650. I covered 1800 miles over 9 days around Scotland in May.

It’s a cracking bike and I couldn’t be happier with it 

They're fun aren't they? I've done about 8000 miles on mine this year, and my missus is so taken with the riding style she's just bought a Bonnie SE and leaves her GSX650 at home most of the time now. 

We're still doing a load of miles on the old Enfields too but are currently camping in the Lake District on the modern ones. 

danban

p90fool said:

danban said:

This is my bike, a Royal Enfield Interceptor 650. I covered 1800 miles over 9 days around Scotland in May.

It’s a cracking bike and I couldn’t be happier with it 

They're fun aren't they? I've done about 8000 miles on mine this year, and my missus is so taken with the riding style she's just bought a Bonnie SE and leaves her GSX650 at home most of the time now. 

We're still doing a load of miles on the old Enfields too but are currently camping in the Lake District on the modern ones. 

One of the best bikes I’ve had, it may not be super quick but is lots of fun. It feels like a 125 when riding but with a 650 engine and as for that gearbox….it’s brilliant!

I honestly can’t believe how capable it is! 

Royal Enfield hit it out of the park with these.

danban

It certainly is, I was expecting to be on par price wise with the RE 650’s.