The General Motorbikers Discussion Thread

BlaRo said:
Edit: or this... :whistle:
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Do eeeetttt.

Those new Triumphs seem like good bikes though. One of my neighbors has one, an all black Bonneville with aftermarket pipes. Sounds great, looks great.
 
Went to a Kawasaki/Suzuki dealer today with Der Stig and Spectre to try and get some parts for the EX500. While there, I checked out some new bikes and the Concours 14 hugely impressed me. I have always liked sport touring bikes but I was always disappointed by the fact that I don't fit on the Honda ST1300. My shins hit the plastics and either the pegs are too high or the seat is too low. However, when I sat on the Concours, everything was where I wanted it to be. It has more power than I could ever want, plenty of storage space, shaft drive and I fit. What more could I want? Now, since I'm a poor student, I won't be running out and buying one, but it is on the short list now for sure pending a test ride and me hating it for some reason, which I doubt will happen.

https://pic.armedcats.net/c/cr/crazyjeeper/2011/05/17/kawasaki-concours-14-5_460x0w.jpg
 
Der Stig is on his way back to Houston now; I let CrazyJeeper borrow the 919 to run DS around the parking lot. Der Stig came back with the "wow! motorcycle!" silly grin on his face and CJ didn't even use full throttle. I'm pretty sure he's not giving up on bikes any time soon. :D

Also, per the rules of newbies and bikes, behold a Der Stig repairing his own motorcycle!

IMG_0853.JPG


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In these pictures, he's pulling off the fairing stay and related brackets prior to yanking the top triple tree so we can get a replacement key for the lock. Unfortunately, the dealer wasn't able to provide one, so he'll be fitting another lock set instead.
 
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Redliner said:
Congrats!
Ride safe!
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Thanks!

Rossco said:
Welcome to the dark side Der Stig!

EX500's are great starter bikes. While yours may not currently be in the best shape, plastics should be easy to get for that.

This is true because EX500s are often converted to track bikes. Which involves getting rid of stock plastics for track plastics.

EX500-5.jpg


So if you can find someone who just converted their 500 into a track bike, you should be able to get some plastics for cheap.

Not to mention Kawasaki made this bike the same way for like 20 years, so there are a ton of parts for them.

can't wait to see how this progresses. Best of luck to ya! :D
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Thanks, I'll have to look into that.

Kiki said:
Awesome - congrats! Let us know how you like the BILT mesh pants, will ya? I've been meaning to find reviews on BILT and Sedici. :D
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Sure thing.

Spectre said:
From what I understand, this isn't going to progress much at all until he gets back from You-rope this fall, since he won't have much time to work on it.

CJ and I encouraged him to buy it now rather than wait until his return because he'd just missed the 'newbie bike' buying season in Texas. Now that prime riding weather is upon us, one is hard-pressed to find a suitable modern (as in, having CDI and not points, tubeless tires and preferably alloy wheels) small displacement starter bike for less than $1500; if he waited until he came back, what with the projected continued rise in fuel prices they'd be even more expensive due to their high fuel economy. We managed to score this one for $275, down from the seller's $350 asking price.

I'll let him tell the story of the expedition to examine and retrieve it, though. :D

Edit: It should be mentioned that the normal local price for a facelift EX500 (like this one) in running condition is about $1500-2500 and increasing at the current time.
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Yes, I will be car and bike-less for the majority of summer, i.e., all of it. I'll make a trip or two up in the fall once I start working again, too.

The bike was a Ft. Worth CL ad find, we initially thought to be about an hour's drive away in East Texas, but it turns out that it was a neighborhood in Ft. Worth. One neighborhood that a certain someone might have been to before to check out a W123 300CD at someone else's request. This certain someone felt rather "under-armed" at this location due to the, uh, motley inhabitants. :p

Needless to say, something with 00 buck and .45 accompanied us along. :mrgreen:

Everything went off without a hitch, excluding the steering lock being on. The title is apparently sitting in a safe in an evidence locker as the PO/seller's uncle had been involved in some "special business."
 
What would be my best bet for small displacement bike/scooter to very cheaply get me around the city and occasionally commute? It would never see roads any faster than 80kph and I don't mind working on it constantly if need be.
 
Der Stig said:
Everything went off without a hitch, excluding the steering lock being on. The title is apparently sitting in a safe in an evidence locker as the PO/seller's uncle had been involved in some "special business."
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That's funny. When I bought my first bike, it came with a stack of written transfers of ownership (some so scribbled you could barely make out anything) and the original registration from when the bike was first titled about 10 years prior. It had never been to the CA DMV so I had to walk in with the stack of papers, and explain to the DMV employee the entire situation. The look on her face...
 
Blind_Io said:
Just looked up the price of a Ohlins rear shock for my VFR.

https://pic.armedcats.net/b/bl/blind_io/2011/05/18/heartattack_2.jpg
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Talk about sticker shock (pun intended)! tried Ebay?

BlaRo said:
Just placed an order for this, should ship next Friday. :thumbup:
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Nice!.


In other news. I just got back from looking at another potential replacement for the Shadow. An '04 KLR650 with just under 7k miles.

What I like:

The low miles

The Acerbis Handguards

New chain and sprockets

Riding position.

What I don't like:

Supertrapp can (no loud pipes for me thx)

Bike obviously fell, hard.

Clutch and brake levers broken.

Gas tank dented on both sides.

Seller says that the guy he bought it from "probably did alot of wheelies with it"

felt around the edge of the fork boot, a lil' bit of oily gunk was there. Seller said it was due to the "lowering kit" on the front suspension.

Isn't replacing the chain/sprockets at 7k a bit early?

Guy wants $2900 for it. Judging by what I just listed, does this sound like a good deal? I'm kinda stuck on this one....
 
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Shawnw said:
What would be my best bet for small displacement bike/scooter to very cheaply get me around the city and occasionally commute? It would never see roads any faster than 80kph and I don't mind working on it constantly if need be.
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Lots and lots of options, look at the 250cc class and skip the scooters.
 
Rossco said:
Guy wants $2900 for it. Judging by what I just listed, does this sound like a good deal? I'm kinda stuck on this one....
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If it fell hard and has dents everywhere, you could definitely talk him way down...it's not exactly an exceptionally rare bike. And maybe he replaced the chain and sprockets for more/less acceleration or top speed. It's a common swap.

Oh, and who the hell lowers a KLR? :? I'd pass on that example. If you wanted a project, you could buy my bike.
 
BlaRo said:
If it fell hard and has dents everywhere, you could definitely talk him way down...it's not exactly an exceptionally rare bike. And maybe he replaced the chain and sprockets for more/less acceleration or top speed. It's a common swap.

Oh, and who the hell lowers a KLR? :? I'd pass on that example. If you wanted a project, you could buy my bike.
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Short people. Der Stig (5'10") tried a KLR at the Kawi dealer the other day and he could barely get one foot on the ground much less two.
 
Crazyjeeper said:
Short people. Der Stig (5'10") tried a KLR at the Kawi dealer the other day and he could barely get one foot on the ground much less two.
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Yeah, if he tried to get that one foot flat, the bike would have been canted over some 15-20 degrees. It was a bit amusing to see, but kind of sad since IIRC he actually wanted a KLR eventually.
 
Crazyjeeper said:
Short people. Der Stig (5'10") tried a KLR at the Kawi dealer the other day and he could barely get one foot on the ground much less two.
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:stupid:

Not to mention that the one I looked at was the first-generation KLR650. Which, according to cycle ergo, has a higher stock height than the newer KLR650's . However at 6'2" high seat heights shouldn't be a problem for me. :grin:

The only problem for me right now is finding a bike that doesn't have a ridiculously high asking price. :mad:

Spectre said:
Yeah, if he tried to get that one foot flat, the bike would have been canted over some 15-20 degrees. It was a bit amusing to see, but kind of sad since IIRC he actually wanted a KLR eventually.
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Well, he can get a lowering kit for it.

Or he could get a Yamaha TW200.

2008-Yamaha-TW200c.jpg


Unless you're Verne Troyer, you shouldn't have any problem flat-footing a TW. :p
 
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Crazyjeeper said:
Short people. Der Stig (5'10") tried a KLR at the Kawi dealer the other day and he could barely get one foot on the ground much less two.
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Yeah, it was quite the reach. I guess I could gain 50 pounds, that ought to do it :p

Spectre said:
Yeah, if he tried to get that one foot flat, the bike would have been canted over some 15-20 degrees. It was a bit amusing to see, but kind of sad since IIRC he actually wanted a KLR eventually.
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Eh, I still need to try the DRZ400SM before I resign my self to a Honda Elite with a High-Booster motor :evil:
 
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