The old girl turned 75 last Monday as I took a 150 mile ride around Lincolnshire. I had planned on heading into Yorkshire but the wind was bad enough to convince me that crossing the Humber bridge would be unpleasant. The flat sided fairings are very susceptible to crosswinds. One night-time trip up the M62 heading for the 02:15 from Heysham saw us being blown the full width of one lane when the gusts caught us. Anyway, bought in July 1995 from Danny who bought it new from Kevark Grimsby in Aug 94. He put about 5,500 miles on the clock, the rest are all mine via rides mainly in England, but also France, Switzerland, Italy and more than a few laps of the Isle of Man. Sleet and carb icing on the Stelvio were interesting. Carb icing on the way home from Mablethorpe Sandraces on winters day was challenging as the throttle refused to close heading downhill towards a roundabout on Louth bypass. Improvisation with the kill switch kept us upright. The limited steering lock required care on some of the Alpine passes. Several hours at a steady 110mph with chin resting on tankbag was normal when heading South or back North on the autoroutes in France. Actually seen 150 on the speedometer twice (many years ago), once on a flat road near home with a very generous tailwind and once down the long hill into Foxholes on the road to Scarborough. Snapped a head stud at around 14,000, whipped the engine out and took it to Baines for treatment. Did a rectifier at about 33,000 in southern France, bought a battery charger for overnight top ups on campsites and ran it without headlights for the next few days, except for short periods when monsieur le Gendarme pointed his finger at me. The replacement Newtronic rectifier decided to melt a few weeks ago and has been succeeded by an electrex RR51 from my spares cache. Had piston rings at around 40,000 and valve guides a while afterwards. Smokes a bit in the over run and a litre of oil is now part of the tool kit on trips over multiple days. In deference to its age though I don't push much over 5000 rpm these days. Carbs are std with dynojet and pipercross filter and chopped airbox top, exhaust cans are F1 items sold by Moto Cinelli many moons ago. Rear shock is an Ohlins from the later ie models. Forks are original apart from a couple of oil changes and we had the first seal failure just after 70,000 miles. On my 3rd headlight, one broken by a stone and one suffered a severely deteriorated reflector. Plenty of wear and tear if you get close up but its not too bad from a few yards away. Still Love It, Obviously.
KEVARKS now theres a blast from the past as for the roads on the way to Scarborough lovely rides round there
Great write up, enjoyed reading it. Hope there are many more happy, and safe miles left in her. Cheers Gaz
It's nice to see a bike being used for what it was designed to do. And cared for whilst doing it. And by doing so you build a real 'relationship' with it that becomes more rewarding with time. I'm gonna guess you give him/her a friendly pat on the tank when you park up .
Ventura works well...you can reverse the bag support and bag so the pack is behind the rear seat if you wanted to have a passenger at the same time.
+1 for Ventura. I use one on the SPS too. If I recall correctly, the recommended rack for the 900 was the same as the one for the 916 Biposto ventura #14 but it pushed down into the seat a bit, whereas the one for the SPS ventura #16 sits a bit higher and has a comfortable clearance. Keep an eye on ebay etc. they come up every now and then. Alternatively just a set of soft panniers, unless you have high level cans. A bit of tape or venture shield on the rear panels and job done. I did a few tours in France like that.
Great post. Thank you. My SS has had all those engine items replaced and it's only done half the mileage! My 1991 CBR 600 on the other hand has barely been serviced and has just passed 60,000 miles!
