New Bike Required?

[White trash]

WT. You KNOW what I'm talking about you dag! VS800 at least looks normal but that 1400 cruiser thing.... Shudder... Look, I might ride a Guzzi but I have standards OK... (just kidding, i have none)

Paul. What drugs are you on?

Maybe I'm a little fugged up, but the 1400 and the 800 look pretty sinilar to me.

You're not thinking of the 1500LC Intruder (Behemoth!) are you?

Heres a 1400.

[James Deuce]

He means VX - stop being a meany.

[FROSTY:Me]

Paul. What drugs are you on?

Maybe I'm a little fugged up, but the 1400 and the 800 look pretty sinilar to me.

You're not thinking of the 1500LC Intruder (Behemoth!) are you?

Heres a 1400.

Your brains all fogged WT--The VX is the cafe racer styled one
It looks like a GSX1100g
Which is one bike I'd suggest to ya dude.

[F5 Dave]

Both the RF & the Bandit have soft rear springs though some models may differ. On my RF with the girl on the back (~60kg) the back drooped so much the sidestand was hard to retract & it steered like a chopper.

I pulled the rear spring off (compress spring with 4 hose clips until you can pull out the retainer C pieces) & measured it by length & sat it on some bathroom scales then compressed it with a press (though you could use a lever, but be careful with springs.

Either way I ended up with a GSX600 spring that was 87kg/cm compared with the RF that was 65. Early model GSXR750 looked good too. I needed to make up some adaptors to get the centre to fit & retain the stock level of preload but this was easy as the springs were shorter than the RF. I used some old Shock preload adjusters with the threads ground off that just happened to fit. Might need to find a friendly wrecker or pay an engineering firm to make some bits.

[kerryg]

This seems a very closely related subject so thought I shouldn't start a new thread.


I have a few bikes but all them added together wouldn't add up to much more in value than a decent new road bike. That is because they are reasonably old (1988/1989/1990/1991...hey I've just realised that..4 consecutive years...fancy that). My opportunities for riding are a bit restricted for a number of reasons, so riding several bikes regularly is difficult. And lately I have had some annoying problems ....comes with being old....things seize up, fluids leak, strange noises are emitted...and then there's been the problems with the bikes as well... . And with all the costs associated with maintenance and rego and so on I'm thinking I might sell my bikes (well perhaps not the 851 :disapint: ...) and buy one bike.

So here's the question: if you had say $10k to spend on a road bike, looking at 2nd hand only, for a biggish rider (6'1'', 100 odd kgs), that would be fun at a track day and on a blat in the country-side but also could take a pillion happily enough for a day trip, for a middle aged rider who is not into wheelies or stoppies or burn outs but still likes to go hard ...excuse me, I'll rephrase that...who still likes to go fast occasionally, what would you choose?

[F5 Dave]

Easy! Road going KX500.

In fact you are in luck, I have a friend with one in his garage. Just needs a few things to finish it off. . .

[kerryg]

Easy! Road going KX500.

In fact you are in luck, I have a friend with one in his garage. Just needs a few things to finish it off. . .

Well that was obvious. Silly me..................

[Paul in NZ]

Opps OK :confused2

VS / VX 800 - Not the chopper thing - The one with the chopper thing engine but a normalish running gear. No one really liked them when they were new but by all accounts they go quite well.

I'd like something thats of little value so I won't feel bad about hammering it down gravel roads, not washing it and using it like I stole it. I can forgive sloppy handling and pathetic brakes because i can usually ride around that shit but I won't like un reliability and uncomfortableness will NOT be tolerated by her indoors...

I'd like an old Guzzi Tourer but they are a little thin on the ground... A big trailie like and Africa twin is also in the frame...

NOW Before anyone gets their tits in a tangle - We are thinking... Looking OK. Buying is another matter and lets face it, this time of the year sucks for buying bikes...

Paul N

[ManDownUnder]

Mine's a '94, quicker than I need, pulls like a schoolboy and cheap as chips ($6,500 for mine 2 years ago, 30,000 kms on the clock)

2 up no problems at all. Reliable as hell just doesn't like sitting in the rain

[Blakamin]

I still reckon the Beemer, Paul. that way you can have more weird, sideways engines... (and it'll scrape more than the Guzzi so I might be able to catch ya over the hill)

[Posh Tourer :P]

I'd like something thats of little value so I won't feel bad about hammering it down gravel roads, not washing it and using it like I stole it. I can forgive sloppy handling and pathetic brakes because i can usually ride around that shit but I won't like un reliability and uncomfortableness will NOT be tolerated by her indoors...

I'd like an old Guzzi Tourer but they are a little thin on the ground... A big trailie like and Africa twin is also in the frame...

Thrashing a beemer down gravel roads is fun - I havent done enough of it though, and while I think I'm thrashing, I'm probably nowhere near it...:P
A beemer motor doesnt take to revving, but then it doesnt need to....

The thing with beemers is they dont feel exciting - they go fast (relatively), but feel slow.... Certainly comfortable for all that though.... Handling isnt sloppy, its just different. It isnt a machine that is responsive to every nuance of the road, infact when you first get on it feels like you are riding a hovercraft... Learn to ride with the bike, and ask it to do what you want it to do, rather than making it go places, and it is very comfy and perfectly flickable and reasonable handling. Its a dialogue rather than a master/slave relationship....
Reliability - shaft drive, 300,000kms out of a motor.... gearboxes, well I guess you know that - Motu's review of the XLV reminded me - there is no such thing as a quick shift on the beemer either - infact I now cant make myself shift properly on the kwaka either ah well, such is life.
I've found mine to be reliable, but then I've only had it 7 months.

[Posh Tourer :P]

(and it'll scrape more than the Guzzi so I might be able to catch ya over the hill)

I dunno about that. Get rid of the sidestand and you shouldnt have too many worries...

[Blakamin]

I dunno about that. Get rid of the sidestand and you shouldnt have too many worries...

you seen that guzzi in corners?

[Fryin Finn]

I went from a TRX 850 to the XJR 1300. The XJR might be a little slower in the corners but makes up for it in sheer speed out of them so I don't reckon on having lost any speed and its a terrificaly comfortable bike with a reliability record second to none. Worth a look if you can stumo up the redies.

[Yarg]

I'd go with the Xjr1200 / 1300 over the bandit.
The RF would be up there but for most fun the XJR wins.
The FZ1 is the better bet but not for the $$ available.