Bloody nice work there Jim, what a beauty!
Deep in the heart...
Bloody nice work there Jim, what a beauty!
"If you can't laugh at yourself, you're just not paying attention!"
"There is no limit to dumb."
"Resolve to live with all your might while you do live, and as you shall wish you had done ten thousand years hence."
The metal is always nude.
Beautiful !!!!!!!!!!!!!
Yoshimura pipe on a Katana....go back 25 years and you'd hear of the same !!
"...you meet the weirdest people riding a Guzzi !!..."
Forum whore
Yes of course, so long as I get a go on the GPz!Originally Posted by yungatart
If a man is alone in the woods and there isn't a woke Hollywood around to call him racist, is he still white?
Forum whore
Alright then, I'll give it a go.
If a man is alone in the woods and there isn't a woke Hollywood around to call him racist, is he still white?
Mad nagging bitch!
Done!!Yes of course, so long as I get a go on the GPz!
Woohoo!
When?
Diarrhoea is hereditary - it runs in your jeans
If my nose was running money, I'd blow it all on you...
Deus ex ukulele
It purrs. Beautifully.
"Standing on your mother's corpse you told me that you'd wait forever." [Bryan Adams: Summer of 69]
Forum whore
Oil change, Carb Clean and Rejetting all done.
My word what a difference. Mike at TSS can be justifiably proud of what he's done, as it was running like sprinter with a collapsed lung. Too much throttle and it would bog.
I rode over the Paekakariki Hill this morning and then made Paul in NZ come for a ride on the FZR. (After watching him mow the lawn and do his edges - I love watching competent people do good work) I also wanted to try out the new RJAY's tailpack I bought. It has a bra arrangement (just like the All Blacks - all support, no cup) that you can clip the bag to. Means I won't ruin the wonderful crazefox paint job with a tank bag and I won't ruin the classic Katana lines with a pack rack.
The Kat just sings now, and the tacho will go well into the red without feeling like it's getting breathless. The soundtrack is vastly improved without ever getting too loud, the handling is wonderful on smooth roads. Too many bumps and the feedback starts to get a bit urgent.
We swapped bikes at the Pauhatanui Challenge petrol station. Same class of motorcycle, similar era, but hugely different to ride. The FZR's chassis stiffness is immediately apparent as is the late 80's requirement for a bit of muscle to get it to turn. The engine on the FZR feels much stronger than the Kat's but that may be because the engines are tuned for totally different purposes. The Kat is strong down low and in the mid-range compared to the FZR and doesn't have any real steps in the power delivery. It just gets stronger and stronger, where the FZR definitely "comes on the cam" and races away.
Us old blokes on 400s are having fun kids, and both bikes show what can be done with a little money and a lot of effort. Everything I do from now on will be little cosmetic enhancements. Intervention complete. Time to ride and maintain.
If a man is alone in the woods and there isn't a woke Hollywood around to call him racist, is he still white?
The metal is always nude.
Good to hear that she's finally going well.
You're making me consider that I should buy a 400 now.
However after the last experience with the RF400, I don't think Mrs will let me.
"...you meet the weirdest people riding a Guzzi !!..."
Forum whore
My life at work is a pile of shit at the moment and to say I'm stressed is a bit of an understatement - real looking at the ceiling at 3am going crap crap crap stuff - I need my sleep!!! So this morning some git arrives at the front door so early he obviously crapped in his own bed and was certainly going to deneigh me an appointment with morphus or a sat morn shag... Oh well - I had to get up anyway - bladder was full.... I think Vicki liked the Kat or she has a thing for Jim2 'cos she was calling out Jims here, jims here like some kind of cheap car alarm but it had the desired effect and I had a shower and shambled out to look at the beast... fark - very nice mate...
Jim2 obviously thought I needed a ride but I thought I'll make the beggar wait while I mow the lawns - with all he rain they ar growing fast! Then here was a search foe vickis phone - we gave up after looking under Jim2 times and later it turned up inside Vickis glasses case - no - I have no idea either - just go with it...
Finally time to go for a teeter...
The FZR just gets better and better. Jim2's Kat is a completely different bike to ride to the FZR except for one thing - it's still fun! I cannot believe how well these 400's go... Fabulous! Jims done a GREAT job on that bike, it idles, runs and sounds wonderful. Its midrange is just creamy, what a wonderful bike and waaaay better than the fizzer as a commuter / general purpose bike. I reckon the FZR is a better sports bike as it is just soooo frentic / nuts / rev hungry but that can get tiring - the Kat has a more comodious riding position etc. It would be a way better bike to ride to auckland and it has a useful pillion seat.
I left Jim2 after we visited TSS and I looked at Jim2 trying on stuff in an effort to look as cool as his bike. I whizzed home over the hill letting the wee fizzer have its head and being even MORE amazed at its manic personality... Hilarious....
ANYWAY! These bikes are a testament to average blokes in sheds bending metal and having fun. Its also an up yours to 'thou must only buy new and only take your bike to a posh shop' type mentality... In the age of the internet, cheap tools and on line manuals - small miracles can be achieved - well done Jim2 and welcome to blokedom....
Scooter boy
I used top have heaps of fun on an old 650 Kat. Shaft drive model. It got seriously binned by a golden lab dog. (they don't really fit between the the front wheel and the pipes, tends to bend the clamps) Any how I think I still have the manual around here somewhere (haynes) is it of any interest to you?
Forum whore
Cheers for the Offer Shiny, but I don't think the 650 is that related to the 400.
If a man is alone in the woods and there isn't a woke Hollywood around to call him racist, is he still white?
Forum whore
With all the stuff that's been going on I forgot to report something very pleasing.
The Katana sailed through its first WoF on Saturday. That's first WoF since being dealt to by me and Nudemetalz.
Just like that.
I don't know why I was so nervous.
If a man is alone in the woods and there isn't a woke Hollywood around to call him racist, is he still white?
C'mon lets ride....
It's a "nice" bike Jim. The shitmobile(CX) is due next week. Wish me luck.
Forum whore
Luck!
And thank you.
If a man is alone in the woods and there isn't a woke Hollywood around to call him racist, is he still white?
Deus ex ukulele
"Hop on and go for a spin before you take your gear off," says Jim2.
Not often needing to be invited to do things a second time, onto the Katana I hop. Pegs, levers, controls, dials, lights all in the usual places. I click it into first and tootle down Chez Jim2's driveway and out onto the main road.
"Golly this thing is tiny."
Up through the gears and off down one of the Hutt's better biking roads we go. The gearbox feels very Suzuki and complements nicely a very willing and smooth-as-silk 400.
Corners arrive, and the Katana seems to have them well memorised, wanting to turn in about a quarter of a second or so before I was quite ready -- guess who had just spent the past 450km that day riding an FJR1300 with a shagged front tyre...
Into the lay-by at the bottom of the hill and time to retrace my tracks -- on the other side of the road this time, of course!
Also time for a bit of curry and to hurry this wee beastie along a bit, now that I am becoming accustomed to its lack of bulk, lovely precise handling and pearler of an engine. Going up hill leads to close encounters with personnel access hatch covers right on one's line, and a bit of improvisation is required. The wee (and I use this word in a relative sense) Katana is completely unfazed and soon enough we're back in front of Jim2's garage looking for the side stand which appears, for all intents and purposes, to have escaped from Dr Findlay's little brown bag.
Jim2's first foray into the world of project bikes is a huge success. Suzuki-san never expected a Katana 400 to be this good.
"Standing on your mother's corpse you told me that you'd wait forever." [Bryan Adams: Summer of 69]
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