Went up to Glasgow to see a Honda CRF 110 for my Daughter. Described as immaculate. It became quickly apparent that one persons interpretation of "immaculate" is another Man's "fuckin' boggin'!" Dirty, unoiled clarty chain rusted and worn, worn tyres, rust of the steel wheels, damaged grips, burst lever boots etc The guy didn't even scrape the mud off the engine and underside. I just had a cursory glance and left. Effing time wasters.
I know you shouldn’t but I always judge a potential purchase by the area it’s in. If it’s a rough area I don’t even bother because some Chavs immaculate is my piece of shit. Yes, I am a snob!
Started stripping/peeling plastic paint off the new bike. Previous owner plastic painted the brushed ally insert panels matt black and I wanted to take it back to stock. easier than I was expecting, a light rub with some white spirit lifts it and then peel away
Hear ya, that is also my rule of thumb, but this place was just outside Glasgow in the commuter belt, converted country farmhouse, money on the drive etc etc etc In saying that the bike was probably in good order other than the slight neglect but with the market on these wee bikes being about £1500 I'm not going to piss my money away on the first thing I see. I also hate to see a bike in a dirty condition, there is no excuse for it barring laziness. I am a great believer in the old adage, "Look after it and it will look after you...".
After seeing the state of the radiator on the newly delivered Bayliss to my friend last week I decided to order radiator guards from Evotech on Sunday. I’ve just received them and fitted them without too much trouble (which is a bonus seeing as I’m normally cack handed) They do look good. And hopefully they’ll not fall off
Took the monster 1200 in for its service yesterday ay Laguna Performance Ashford yesterday. They kindly lent me a Monster 950 for the duration. Overall a cracking ride, so much lighter than the 1200. A bit lacking at low revs, but having a 1200, this probably to be expected. Handling was crisp with no drama, I rode in "touring" and "sport" modes and noticed no real significant differences. On the motorway slip gave it gas in both modes, and it took off like a scalded cat. Positives, great fun to ride with more than enough power for a bike in this range. everything worked as it should. Front brakes feel like they would stop an artic. Negatives, in my opinion the gearing is a bit high, but I think this applies to most Ducati's, the other gripe is the handlebar mirrors give a great view of your forearms, another 70m on each or bar end mirrors would have helped. Would I have one? If I had not ridden a 1200 probably yes, that said its a great bike.
Thank you, a useful review that. Carole has a Monster arriving in May and is hoping that it will deliver better performance than her Scrambler and be a lot lighter and easier to handle than the Diavel she has just sold. Obviously not going to deliver the grunt of the Diavel but should be up to cracking the throttle whilst out and about. Think I will source an Oberon bar end mirror just to be on the safe side. Andy
That was in the workshop being serviced t'other day. I met the owner and had a chat with him about it too
For me it was a toss up between a new Monster and the SFV2. I know I've made the right decision, but the Monster does look good.
So did I, he asked if I’d like to sit on it to check out the suspension, so like a big kid I did. Sound guy.
Send the fork tubes off for re chrome. Everytime I meddle with this bike, I have to replace or repair something. Thats coming to an end soon - everything will be new!
Took the Rapid Bike Evo (that I’ve literally just fitted) off of the bike to be sold. The nail in the coffin was discovering standard Lambda sensors don’t seem to fit the Reparto Corse Exhaust After another call to Moto Rapido and also a reputable tuner in Plymouth, the advice is to leave the bike as is, remove the RBE, forget reinstalling the O2 sensors and leave the bike running the SSTK 13 map. Not too disappointed, I’ve enjoyed the process, every days a school day.
Fitted a new set of battery leads from Exact start to my 900SS - nice little kit that didn't take long at all to fit and more importantly did exactly what I hoped... The bike regularly doesn't start first push of the button - especially if it's been off the trickle charger for a few days or not been run for a week or so - so I've not been on the bike since last weekend and it's not been on the charger, replaced the cables, thumbed the starter and ... nothing.... I'd not pushed the connector back into the starter relay. Re-fitted that, thumbed the starter and it fired up immediately Lovely job - very pleased
