Motors Motorcycle Mayhem

Build log yes please!
(did you ever finish that catalina?)

 

Righto, my first visit to this thread, because I had to share this as I thought it was amazing for so many reasons:





Must. Do. CBT.

 

i remember when he turned up at squires in leeds, there was massive huddle around him, my wife didn't get it tho "its just an old bloke on a bike"

 

Love his channel, he is a proper mad back yard shed builder with a bucket full of talent.
Now if he just learnt to speak up a bit or bought a decent mike it'd be top drawer.

 

Splurged a bit this month. New cans, new rear wheel, and new rear tyre. The rear end is SUPER light now, so off I go down the suspension tweaking rabbit hole...

The cans are locally sourced, nice bassy rumbly units without being hooligan loud, and most importantly weigh about half as much as the monstrous stock units.
The wheel is off the Royal Enfield Meteor, and happens to be a drop-in replacement for the Interceptor, which has unfortunately not got any OEM alloy options yet. Hooray for parts sharing tho!
The tyre is a Michelin Anakee Adventure 150/70-R17, 80/20 on/off road, perfect for my long distance touring needs, which is mostly highway riding with the odd bit of patchy last mile connectivity into the hills/desert.

Going down to 17-inch on the rear means tyres are a lot easier to find, and a LOT cheaper. Most manufacturers simply don't make 18 inch rears, including Michelin. And for the ones that do, a similar 80/20 or 70/30 tyre would cost double for an 18 inch rear wheel.

The OEM tyre is 130/70-R18, so the new wheel+tyre combination is a near-zero change in overall dimensions (circumference/dia). Very handy for keeping things like speedo and ground clearance stock. Also looks nice and THICCCC from the rear now...




The only issue is it really looks like a hodgepodge of parts now, so I guess more monies are to be spent on getting it to look right...

 

Spoiler: Mirrors

One of the best purchases I've made for my bike.

 

So I've started doing something about this...

Ordered OEM black mudguards front and rear and installed them yesterday. Didn't realise the rear unit comes WITHOUT the grommets and cable routing clips for the tail light unit, so was a bit of a faff salvaging those from the old one, and meant it had to be destroyed. Still, my collection of original removed parts has grown by a silver front mudguard.



Baby steps, but that's kind of the fun part about this. Couple of hours of wrenching every weekend, followed by shakedown runs and cleanups. Not like I have the time for much more than this anyway. On the agenda: black front wheel, adjustable levers, new lighting all round, which means new headlamp brackets, and on and on it goes!

Bonus "before" pic from a trail near my home:

 

Finding space to put any accessories on this bike is a nightmare, but get busy with SWMBO craft box, et voila, sticky back velcro to the rescue, and one mounted DVR;
PXL_20210404_130011949 by MrLongbeard, on Flickr

Which means I can now have the dash cam which has been sitting in the garage for 2 years;

PXL_20210404_142354893 by MrLongbeard, on Flickr

And I managed to ditch the hateful TomTom for a decent Garmin unit;
PXL_20210404_142342102 by MrLongbeard, on Flickr

 

Why not something low profile like a beeline? or just a phone mount?

 

They don't suit my method of riding, either a pre-planned route with way point, or totally randomly deepening on what I see around me.

Gave that much thought, but I decided I like the image stabilisation on my phone camera, which get killed by vibrations on bike mounts.

 

huh. TIL.

Guess beeline it is for me then...

 

I've got a Beeline and it's fantastic, although a bit pricey.

I realised I've never updated the thread with my beloved machine - had it 2 years now, first bike and it still feels like the perfect choice for me. Just for pleasure so I've no need for weather protection or practicality.

I don't tend to have great pictures, so here's a rubbish one from last year on one of my usual weekend routes, stopping in Llangollen for an Oggie and a brew.



Mostly stock except Evotech tail tidy and levers and the Arrow cans obviously.

Did oil service, valve clearances and cambelt the last few weeks which was interesting, such a tiny cambelt feels weird after doing the ones for cars

 

oooof.

Love the old Monster. Hate the new one.

 

I'm picky for Monsters - to be honest everything that followed mine which was water cooled is out for me, just ugly. The M797 had to meet EU4 emissions and was way too slow (it had the same engine as mine at 803cc but was 25hp down!), same thing with the Scramblers which used the same lump.

So for picky me the 1100 Evo is the last of the desirable Monsters. The new one I like because it's a modern, cohesive design, saves a load of weight (which is the real Monster A-game) and brings it bang up to date. For the sake of a trellis frame I couldn't really care.

 

For me the Monster is 90% looks. I've never ridden anything north of 50-60 odd BHP and thought, "I need more power" so I'm just the wrong demographic for the mad world of increasing displacement and power/torque numbers.

The 696/796 ticked all my boxes - unfussy aircooled lump, relatively modern/reliable FI, single-sided swingarm, and the high exhausts. I could compromise on one or two of those for price or ease of access, but the new formula has diverged too far for my taste. Oh well.

 

The Desert Sled's grew on me

 

Same problem for me really - mine is a 796 which is more than enough power for my kind of riding, and 100x more capable than me. The 200hp crop of bikes are way too fast to be of interest for me - I couldn't afford to have one as a track bike yet, and the road must be an incredibly frustrating place to try and use one.

That's why I went for one - looks good, so easy to look after (although the valve clearances are a bit testing).

 

Hey lads. My cruiser (gv650) is persistently running its brand new battery down. I mainly use it for short commutes (9-15 minute rides) and occasionally longer stints. It stands for up to a week at a time without being used.

The chap I bought it off maintains that this is normal, that the trips aren't long enough to keep it topped up, coupled with winter. This is a surprise to me because my cbr250r never ran its battery down in similar conditions. But I guess the 650 uses up more juice cranking the starter motor? Do you think he's right or do you think I have a dud in my charging equipment? (The gv650 is known for iffy stock stators but this one has been replaced with an aftermarket one in the past.)

 

I don't like any of the watercooled ones. but maybe I'm just starting to become an old git.

 

Maybe you need one of those intelligent battery trickle chargers that don't knacker the battery?