Any Motörbike riders here?

Dominic

love a curvy bottom

AK99

LastMantra said:

One of the best bikes I had was my wee mid 70s Honda tl125.

Great wee engine. 

Best thing was it was considered a "vintage"  bike and could be entered in that class of trials. Most of the other bikes in that class were basically road bikes, the wee honda could run rings round them! With a good rider on it of course, unlike me and my buddy.

Wish I still had it, it got pinched 

 A friend of mine had one - cracker little bikes, and as you say a proper Trials bike, and the good looking silver tank with the red flash version:




Incidentally, his got stolen too - from the garage at the back of the house. Moved the family car out of the way  to get the bike out.

Kittyfrisk

^  Given that Sammy Miller was heavily involved in the design process, it's not surprising that it's a great bike.

AK99

Weather was great this side of the water yesterday - got a decent 100 mile or so loop on the FXR. First decent long run, wanted to make sure everything was bolted back together properly, and it was running right.



It actually turns and steers far better than it should have any right to given the overall size and weight of the thing, and just sits solidly banked over on its line when you turn it in. Starting to get quite fond of it really. Need to sort the exhaust and rear shocks next though.

The shocks are too short, and I won't have any exhaust hanger brackets left if I don't sort it soon. The silencers seem to be Harley's own 'Screaming Eagle' freer-flowing ones, but some previous owner took it upon themselves to take a hole-saw to them and cut out the entire baffle assembly on both. The pipes are actually totally straight through now, you could put a brush shaft all the way back up to the exhaust valves (if you had a bendy brush).   The noise is ridiculous (which I could probably live with..) but the messed-up torque curve isn't a great thing on a big V-Twin built for mega torque. Replacement baffles have been sourced and are en-route as we speak.

Nice being able to have something again that you can tinker with - and - still ride in-between times, rather than a guilt-laden / stricken chassis and basket of bits / constantly niggling source of worry stuck out in the garage.

(edit - one other funny thing. Out on the big A roads for part of the run home, I thought the bike was a bit down on power trying to pass the ubiquitous King of the Road Audi drivers. Turns out these 90s era HDs were actually built without the benefit of a quick-action throttle (unlike the 675..) Discovered grabbing a second handful of twist grip and using the additional 30% or so throttle opening certainly does help the old girl pick her skirts up. Ffs.. )

LastMantra

AK99 said:

LastMantra said:

One of the best bikes I had was my wee mid 70s Honda tl125.

Great wee engine. 

Best thing was it was considered a "vintage"  bike and could be entered in that class of trials. Most of the other bikes in that class were basically road bikes, the wee honda could run rings round them! With a good rider on it of course, unlike me and my buddy.

Wish I still had it, it got pinched 

 A friend of mine had one - cracker little bikes, and as you say a proper Trials bike, and the good looking silver tank with the red flash version:




Incidentally, his got stolen too - from the garage at the back of the house. Moved the family car out of the way  to get the bike out.

Cool!
(apart from getting stolen!) 

Mine was in a bit of a state when we got it in the late 80s. It was fun fixing it up with my dad though. The tank had a couple of small holes in the bottom that needed welded, needed new front mudguard, clutch/front brake levers, seat and other bits but we got it sorted up not bad, it ran great anyway. Never had it on the road so no lights or anything. I'd have only been about 14 anyway when we got it. 

It was really well balanced and easy to ride. Nicely geared. I had a couple of other similar bikes but that was, for me, the best one, by far. 

Haych

AK99 said:

Nice being able to have something again that you can tinker with - and - still ride in-between times, rather than a guilt-laden / stricken chassis and basket of bits / constant niggling source of worry stuck out in the garage

Tinkering is a good percentage of the fun, especially in the months where it's not so inviting to ride, assuming one has the facilities to tinker of course.

I've just ordered new shocks for mine, I think they're on quite a long lead time though so goodness knows when they will actually arrive and I'll get to enjoy them.  After 47k miles the factory Showa shocks are doing much absorbing of the bumps and it feels quite unsettled sometimes, especially at the front.

I've also removed the fugly engine crash bars and replaced them with Machine Art Moto X-Heads.  Looks a lot cleaner and will probably actually prevent the heads from being damaged in a fall, unlike the crash-bars which only partially prevented damage.

I've also (with the help of my dad) made some outriggers to mount my spotlights too since they were mounted to the crash-bars.  Looks much better now, far tidier.

AK99

Yeah - ye gotta tinker.

Doesn't matter if there's nothing wrong with it, it just ain't really yours until you do

AK99

On the footwear front..bought these off a guy locally:



Forma Adventure shorty boots, two-tone brown leather with ski-boot / motoX multi-adjuster type fasteners on them - pretty damn comfortable both on the bike, and off it walking around. Had seen the full price ones in a bike shop in town,  but really couldn't justify that kind of outlay. These fitted me perfectly, and cost bugger all.  Decent things. Look a bit macho - makes you feel like somebody out of YMCA wearing a pair of rigger boots .. but then again, turning up on a Harley anywhere generally has much the same effect, so no big deal really

Dominic

LastMantra said:

AK99 said:

LastMantra said:

One of the best bikes I had was my wee mid 70s Honda tl125.

Great wee engine. 

Best thing was it was considered a "vintage"  bike and could be entered in that class of trials. Most of the other bikes in that class were basically road bikes, the wee honda could run rings round them! With a good rider on it of course, unlike me and my buddy.

Wish I still had it, it got pinched 

 A friend of mine had one - cracker little bikes, and as you say a proper Trials bike, and the good looking silver tank with the red flash version:




Incidentally, his got stolen too - from the garage at the back of the house. Moved the family car out of the way  to get the bike out.

Cool!
(apart from getting stolen!) 

Mine was in a bit of a state when we got it in the late 80s. It was fun fixing it up with my dad though. The tank had a couple of small holes in the bottom that needed welded, needed new front mudguard, clutch/front brake levers, seat and other bits but we got it sorted up not bad, it ran great anyway. Never had it on the road so no lights or anything. I'd have only been about 14 anyway when we got it. 

It was really well balanced and easy to ride. Nicely geared. I had a couple of other similar bikes but that was, for me, the best one, by far. 

I loved mine back in the mid 70s but as a trials bike I could never get the front wheel up ......my friend had an Ossa and that was in a different league.
I look at these Gas-Gas modern trials bikes and they're so different......don't even bother with a seat and smaller than a decent electric pushbike.

Kittyfrisk

AK99 said:

On the footwear front..bought these off a guy locally:



Forma Adventure shorty boots, two-tone brown leather with ski-boot / motoX multi-adjuster type fasteners on them - pretty damn comfortable both on the bike, and off it walking around. Had seen the full price ones in a bike shop in town,  but really couldn't justify that kind of outlay. These fitted me perfectly, and cost bugger all.  Decent things. Look a bit macho - makes you feel like somebody out of YMCA wearing a pair of rigger boots .. but then again, turning up on a Harley anywhere generally has much the same effect, so no big deal really

Thought it was writted in the Harley owners handbook, that only Engineers or harness boots were allowed  :-?

Haych

Kittyfrisk said:

AK99 said:

On the footwear front..bought these off a guy locally:



Forma Adventure shorty boots, two-tone brown leather with ski-boot / motoX multi-adjuster type fasteners on them - pretty damn comfortable both on the bike, and off it walking around. Had seen the full price ones in a bike shop in town,  but really couldn't justify that kind of outlay. These fitted me perfectly, and cost bugger all.  Decent things. Look a bit macho - makes you feel like somebody out of YMCA wearing a pair of rigger boots .. but then again, turning up on a Harley anywhere generally has much the same effect, so no big deal really

Thought it was writted in the Harley owners handbook, that only Engineers or harness boots were allowed  :-?

I thought it was high heels?

Dominic

Kittyfrisk said:

AK99 said:

On the footwear front..bought these off a guy locally:



Forma Adventure shorty boots, two-tone brown leather with ski-boot / motoX multi-adjuster type fasteners on them - pretty damn comfortable both on the bike, and off it walking around. Had seen the full price ones in a bike shop in town,  but really couldn't justify that kind of outlay. These fitted me perfectly, and cost bugger all.  Decent things. Look a bit macho - makes you feel like somebody out of YMCA wearing a pair of rigger boots .. but then again, turning up on a Harley anywhere generally has much the same effect, so no big deal really

Thought it was writted in the Harley owners handbook, that only Engineers or harness boots were allowed  :-?

No, the Engineers boots are only for the hardtail/bobber /Club-bike style lads and genuine 1% ers
the overchromed weekend warriors have Harley branded Cowboy boots with Conchos on them 
They go far better with the Hoggie patched waistcoat 'cuts' laden with 100 Hoggie rally badges that usually have a 'patch' saying something like ' Retirement-on-Sea Chapter ' and a menacing DILLIGAF patch underneath .
 You musn't fuck with these guys ,they're scary .......if you park in front of their house they take your reg number and report you to the council ,if you don't keep your front lawn mowed weekly or your fence painted they put anonymous notes through the door in the dead of night ......and they even bite the heads off Jellybabies at the initiation Cheese and Wine Party.

AK99

^ I want a pair of chromed cowboy boots now. With hand-tooled silver conchos - lots of them..

Haych

I really want a pair of Alpinestars Roger de Coster MX boots, they look so badass.  For when I'm not wearing my high heels, of course.

Kittyfrisk

Haych said:

I really want a pair of Alpinestars Roger de Coster MX boots, they look so badass.  For when I'm not wearing my high heels, of course.

I mis-read that & remembered Roger de Courcey...

Kittyfrisk

I reckon with the right marketing, 'Nookie Boots' could be a winner.

Dominic

AK99 said:

^ I want a pair of chromed cowboy boots now. With hand-tooled silver conchos - lots of them..

You got to get a Tex -Mex Gangsta Cholo style Harley and join The Mayans to qualify for them
The initiation is a bit trickier .......you have to eat 5 Ancho Pablanos in under a minute 

AK99

^ Hell yes, I'd be up for that



Need to work on the Spanish, and the tan (obviously), start training up the other end of the Scoville spectrum, perhaps become a tad more photogenic..and also move house..but hey, all doable surely ?
 

Dominic

Just work on the Dirty Sanchez for now

Kittyfrisk

Dominic said:

AK99 said:

^ I want a pair of chromed cowboy boots now. With hand-tooled silver conchos - lots of them..

You got to get a Tex -Mex Gangsta Cholo style Harley and join The Mayans to qualify for them
The initiation is a bit trickier .......you have to eat 5 Ancho Pablanos in under a minute 

An Ancho is a dried Poblano & they aren't hot. So maybe get a 'Born to  be Mild' patch?
https://homesteadcrowd.com/ancho-vs-poblano/

Looks like it's just the lingo & the move to go