Time for a motorbike list

[S-Man]

Loved my Honda CB250RS! Probably the best all rounder 250 of all time IMHO. .

I had one of those. Agree, it was great, wheelied rather well with a bit of help from the clutch. Remember trying to emulate Barry Sheen at Olivers Mount, the Honda felt like it had a hinge in the middle of the frame at about 80MPH on the bottom (not very) straight. I think Barry used to do about 130 in the same place! Great bike though and so much better than a wet dream.

My bike history:
Honda PF50 (took this through Dalby forest many a time)
DT175MX (my first true love. Got stolen at Leeds Uni a few years later.. gutted). This also spent many happy hours trying to be Geraint Jones on the NYM.
CB250RS
KDX250 (bland, no top end power)
Maico 250 Enduro (in it's day this was known as an experts bike. I was not expert enough to do it justice but it was fun/terrifying trying)

25 years with no motor bike (MTBs instead)
Bought a KLX250 a few years back, still have it. Gutless engine, harder to wheelie than the CB250RS! Surprisingly OK at bobbling around off road.
Did a few days in Spain recenlty on KTM450 and CRF250X. OMG, dirt bikes have come a loooooooong way since the 80s!
I've ridden a few big bikes but nothing I tried has the sort of sledgehammer to crack a nut power that that KTM had!

 

[stevec67]

Steve, it has the DT200 motor in it....35bhp and 95kg. It is called the SDR200 and was only made for 2 years, 85-87. They go for about 3 grand now.

Back to the Benelli, we should set up a PFM Benelli 250 2C resto club, they go for about 1000 quid for a dog to 3k for mint, this is cheap in the scheme of things...I'm smitten. Got to get one.

They both look great. The Benelli looks like a great thing. I wonder if they are any more plentiful in Italy? When I'm there I see any number of bikes that clearly only sold to te domestic market and I imagine that you could pick them up for very little.

 

[Arkless Electronics]

One of the best rides I ever had was the journey to Olivers Mount from Teesside, over the moors road, racing a GPZ900 on my 250RS! The ninja rider wasn't good and so on the twisty road he never got more than about 200 yards ahead over the 50 miles or so!

 

[-alan-]

DT175MX (my first true love. Got stolen at Leeds Uni a few years later.. gutted). This also spent many happy hours trying to be Geraint Jones on the NYM.
CB250RS

I bought this thing and used it to commute from Headlingly down to the University there in my last term.
The leaning against the wall bit was because it had no side-stand. Or silencing, indicators, horn, brake light, reserve fuel tap etc. Did have the full-on 425cc 2-stroke moto-crosser lump in it though Kind of lucky I was going home shortly afterwards as I'd probably have been chased out of the house and/or barred from bringing it anywhere near the faculty.

Unbelievably it managed somewhere close to 60mpg on the long run home. Apart from the barrel vibrating loose near the end that is.

 

[richardg]

They both look great. The Benelli looks like a great thing. I wonder if they are any more plentiful in Italy? When I'm there I see any number of bikes that clearly only sold to te domestic market and I imagine that you could pick them up for very little.

Quite a few for sale in Italy. I search 'in vendita' when looking for bikes for sale there. There is a nice one in Sicily for 1500 euros with after market spannies. But I cant see me driving down there to view one.

 

[stevec67]

I go to Calabria fairly often, from where Sicily is an hour. However I need a more beginner-friendly bike, which I'm sure I can find in Leeds.

 

[richardg]

what do you mean, Steve? Have you just passed your test?

 

[S-Man]

.

That Yamaha Speed Block design is THE most desireable thing in the entire motorcycle world to me. They should put that on their hifi!!

 

[kendo]

Has the look of a raker's machine alright. Never saw one in real life. Yours must have been tweaked a tad, as the specs had them down as about 20% on power vs the LC

This is more the spec. of PTY 981M, my old LC eater -

- note the front drum brake (better than any contemporary disc) and the flat ended zorsts.
(Oh,and it was a really noisy,smoky bugger which got me pulled early one morning for speeding. I wasn't but it looked and sounded like it sayeth plod and as I had been caught out with the then recent 125 law, I only had a provisional license and insurance up to 100cc which got me 2 points for each breach and a total fine of £30. Could have been worse and the lesson learnt was "Don't get Caught"! Anyways, I passed the test a week or so later and after that I took the Benelli for it's MOT. On the way home from the garage a Traffic car spotted me on that bike again and pulled me. "Weren't you caught on that bike two weeks ago?" bellowed Plod. "Absolutely correct!" sez I. "Well what the **** are you riding it again for?" sez he. I then produced full license, insurance certificate and fresh that day MOT ticket. Untouchable! The apoplectic copper was on his knees going over the bike for defects until I pointed out that any faults would be down to the MOT station and not me. And off I popped! My first and only penalty points...so far.)

 

[richardg]

One of the best rides I ever had was the journey to Olivers Mount from Teesside, over the moors road, racing a GPZ900 on my 250RS! The ninja rider wasn't good and so on the twisty road he never got more than about 200 yards ahead over the 50 miles or so!

The Stokesley Road to Helmseley up your end is still my favourite in the UK

 

[stevec67]

what do you mean, Steve? Have you just passed your test?

Confession time. I don't have a test. I play around with mopeds and 125s from time to time, but my long interest in bikes is academic. Every time I get close to buying a bike I buy a sports car instead. You can't fall off them. I do a lot of cycling, I was nearly killed in 2009 when a kid from the Stevie Wonder School of Motoring took me and the bike out. I have no desire to repeat that at higher speed with the assistance of an engine. So this is the dilemma. I'd like a bike, but the statistics aren't great. I'm a climber, I know about risk management. If I throw a 6 in the mountains, that's one thing. I've done it all my life, got an immense amount from it, if that's the price then that's the price. However if the same thing happens on the A65 just outside Skipton then I think I'd feel a bit aggrieved. I have 3 dead climbing mates. One died in a Porsche, one falling off a CB1000, and one most recently fell off a cliff. Yet they say climbing is dangerous.

Yes, I still want a bike.

 

[richardg]

You could consider off-roading? Injuries are more frequent but minor. It tends to be thumbs, wrists and ankles, not necks, backs and heads.. The green-laning community in UK is a great laugh. I have been doing that much more than road biking since 2000 when my R6 went to 70 in 1st gear. I knew then that it was time to try something different.

For the last 3 years I have been on a 2009 2 stroke Husqvarna 125. I sold it in July for £1900 to move to France. it was brilliant. The best dirt bike I ever had. You don't need a big bike to keep up when green laning. But interestingly, my pace picked up significantly when I came off a bigger bike. Had a 2 stroke 300 before which was a bit intimidating. I just felt more confident with less weight and less power.

If I was only allowed one bike it would be an off roader.

But really you need both.

 

[awkwardbydesign]

Quite a few for sale in Italy. I search 'in vendita' when looking for bikes for sale there. There is a nice one in Sicily for 1500 euros with after market spannies. But I cant see me driving down there to view one.

The problem with buying a bike in Italy is that the seller will be liable for any penalties collected by the new owner, if it can't be proved that he sold it. Selling to foreigners makes them nervous, as they aren't sure if all the paperwork has been completed. Even selling in country worries some, so you see loads of bikes sitting around doing nothing. This was the case 20 years ago, so maybe I am out of date.

 

[richardg]

The problem with buying a bike in Italy is that the seller will be liable for any penalties collected by the new owner, if it can't be proved that he sold it. Selling to foreigners makes them nervous, as they aren't sure if all the paperwork has been completed. Even selling in country worries some, so you see loads of bikes sitting around doing nothing. This was the case 20 years ago, so maybe I am out of date.

Interesting...

 

[-alan-]

I do a lot of cycling, I was nearly killed in 2009 when a kid from the Stevie Wonder School of Motoring took me and the bike out. I have no desire to repeat that at higher speed with the assistance of an engine. So this is the dilemma. I'd like a bike, but the statistics aren't great.

Haven't fallen off a powered bike in the last 30 years, but managed to hit a dog, at speed, on the non-powered one about 2 weeks ago and went down a painful clatter. If you're cycling you're already exposed to a fair amount of risk. Hard one to call, but my own view is that with decent gear, and the right attitude - the one you get when you hit the far side of 25/less red mist episodes - then the risks are acceptable enough.
Besides, you're a climber

 

[Arkless Electronics]

The Stokesley Road to Helmseley up your end is still my favourite in the UK

I've had some fun on that road yes! Racing Fireblades on my Blackbird last time... even stevens. Fireplace gets a little ahead on the very twisty bits and 'bird hauls em in on the straights..

A171 moors road I mentioned above as route to Olivers Mount is very good as well. The A93 to Braemar has to be my favourite though! I don't know if the signs are still there but at one time it had red warning triangles to warn cars of "rapidly overtaking motorcycles"!! I've never seen such signs before or since!

 

[awkwardbydesign]

Interesting...

The attitudes over there are rather different from here. I went with a young Italian friend to a dealer in Milan about 10 years ago to look at and buy a 125 Virago. I insisted on starting it up (in an enclosed yard; no test rides!), checking all the gears, lights, brakes, etc, worked. The dealer looked scandalised! Also he couldn't ride it away, the paperwork took days to complete. I had to go back the next week and ride it back to Menaggio for him, as he didn't have the experience to cope with that. The 50 miles on a 125 alongside Lake Como was "interesting"!

 

[richardg]

The attitudes over there are rather different from here. I went with a young Italian friend to a dealer in Milan about 10 years ago to look at and buy a 125 Virago. I insisted on starting it up (in an enclosed yard; no test rides!), checking all the gears, lights, brakes, etc, worked. The dealer looked scandalised! Also he couldn't ride it away, the paperwork took days to complete. I had to go back the next week and ride it back to Menaggio for him, as he didn't have the experience to cope with that. The 50 miles on a 125 alongside Lake Como was "interesting"!

In one way it must open an opportunity for people thinking of importing Italian bikes then. It must put loads of casual bike traders off, as well as the consumer importer who wants it for him/herself. And it is the land of honey for cheap old Italian bikes. Bimotas are very cheap versus the UK prices. Starting to make sense now.

 

[S-Man]

I do a lot of cycling, I was nearly killed in 2009 when a kid from the Stevie Wonder School of Motoring took me and the bike out. I have no desire to repeat that at higher speed with the assistance of an engine.

On balance I think cycling is safer, especially MTB. I do both ( a lot of MTB, a bit of greenlaning) and my overwhelming feeling is that on the bicycle my fear is of being squashed from behind and on the MC it's getting the front squashed.
I would love to have a WR250R but sadly there are so few places left to ride off road in the UK now, it's just not worth it.
I reckon an EMTB will be the way to go in a year or two, once they have sorted them properly.

 

[-alan-]

Myself and the better half were visiting some friends near Paris about a week ago. The lady does some volunteer work in a local spinal-injuries clinic. When I asked her if they got a lot of motorcyclists and scooter-riders through the clinic, she said no - the majority were young guys who had been involved in MTB or skiboarding accidents. Was a bit of a surprise to me.

Agree on the E-offroaders btw - but 'proper' high kW ones