90's bikes are the best!

[weeksy]

IME the money, time and ability to do it are rarely in harmony.

You just have to do what you can when you can.
Most people that have anything classic have always got jobs pending or on the go.

I don't do 'pending' or 'on the go' i either own a bike that's working and right or i don't own it... The world is that simple for me. Hence it being complicated in the classic ownership context.

I dunno - if you swap 'cleaning it' with 'maintaining it', then you're 90% there. There's not a huge amount of a classic bike to keep clean (compared with a modern faired bike)

It would and may require a completely different mindset though that i'm not sure i have yet. The mindset to ride a bike in a purely cruising context, just round the lanes at traffic speed. I don't have that within me at this moment. Bikes are for power, speed, fun.... I don't really get fun at 40mph on a motorbike.

[Mr. Dazzle]

My (wife's) Bonneville deffo ain't for cruising at 40mph

Fair enough it ain't gonna outrun even an A2 bike these days, but you certainly don't hang around on it! I think it surprises people a bit when the 'old boy' on a black and silvers bike goes tearing past them on the way out of roundabouts.

Dont forget they were the superbikes of their day.

[Mr. Dazzle]

Actually..might outrun an A2 bike, not sure.

Its nominally about 50bhp but its much lighter than a modern bike. It's tiny. It also has a really long stroke engine so it's really torquey with loads of bottom end. Only got 4 gears though.

It'll still pull away from 90% of cars at the lights. You don't need to ride it like an old fart. Those old boys you see tooling along at 50mph aren't necessarily being constrained by what the bike can do.

[Rockburner]

I don't do 'pending' or 'on the go' i either own a bike that's working and right or i don't own it... The world is that simple for me. Hence it being complicated in the classic ownership context.

I dunno - if you swap 'cleaning it' with 'maintaining it', then you're 90% there. There's not a huge amount of a classic bike to keep clean (compared with a modern faired bike)

It would and may require a completely different mindset though that i'm not sure i have yet. The mindset to ride a bike in a purely cruising context, just round the lanes at traffic speed. I don't have that within me at this moment. Bikes are for power, speed, fun.... I don't really get fun at 40mph on a motorbike.

I know it's been a while, but the only 'classic' I ever "pottered" on was the Matchless G3*, the Comet, the G80, the Commando were all (ab)used in the approved manner. . The Bantam wouldn't pull it's own weight up a hill, but trying to keep it flat out at all times was more fun than you'd expect I seriously feel a need to get back on the old bikes tbh.

They ARE a different riding mentality - you can't throw them around like a modern bike, a considered approach is needed, but they don't have to be ridden slowly.



* and even then I managed to miss a corner and take it inadvertently off-roading : allegedly it has the same frame as the 'Scrambles' bikes... bollox to that I say!

[weeksy]

My (wife's) Bonneville deffo ain't for cruising at 40mph

Fair enough it ain't gonna outrun even an A2 bike these days, but you certainly don't hang around on it! I think it surprises people a bit when the 'old boy' on a black and silvers bike goes tearing past them on the way out of roundabouts.

Dont forget they were the superbikes of their day.

True enough, but your classic ain't my classic for sure. Mine would be a 250/350 Ducati/MV and they i imagine are a chunk slower.

[Rockburner]

My (wife's) Bonneville deffo ain't for cruising at 40mph

Fair enough it ain't gonna outrun even an A2 bike these days, but you certainly don't hang around on it! I think it surprises people a bit when the 'old boy' on a black and silvers bike goes tearing past them on the way out of roundabouts.

Dont forget they were the superbikes of their day.

True enough, but your classic ain't my classic for sure. Mine would be a 250/350 Ducati/MV and they i imagine are a chunk slower.

Don't you believe it - that's a proven road-race bike, good for (nigh on) 3 figure speeds when new*. Why do you think they're a highly desirable classic?

* Maybe not THAT one, which is done up as a scrambler, but with the appropriate road/race-oriented frame etc.

[weeksy]

My (wife's) Bonneville deffo ain't for cruising at 40mph

Fair enough it ain't gonna outrun even an A2 bike these days, but you certainly don't hang around on it! I think it surprises people a bit when the 'old boy' on a black and silvers bike goes tearing past them on the way out of roundabouts.

Dont forget they were the superbikes of their day.

True enough, but your classic ain't my classic for sure. Mine would be a 250/350 Ducati/MV and they i imagine are a chunk slower.

Don't you believe it - that's a proven road-race bike, good for (nigh on) 3 figure speeds when new. Why do you think they're a highly desirable classic?

Because they're exceptionally pretty.

Right then, who's sending me £7000 for my 50th next year ?

[Yorick]

True enough, but your classic ain't my classic for sure. Mine would be a 250/350 Ducati/MV and they i imagine are a chunk slower.

Don't you believe it - that's a proven road-race bike, good for (nigh on) 3 figure speeds when new. Why do you think they're a highly desirable classic?

Because they're exceptionally pretty.

Right then, who's sending me £7000 for my 50th next year ?

Take it out of the subs jar

[weeksy]

LOL We'd need a LOT more people signing up for that mate, we're on 353 of which 2 are mine

[Potter]

I don't do 'pending' or 'on the go' i either own a bike that's working and right or i don't own it... The world is that simple for me. Hence it being complicated in the classic ownership context.

I feel the same sometimes, if something isn't right then it eats away at me.
But I grew up tinkering with bikes and often ran about on the fields with stuff held together with blind faith, so managing with what you've got is something I got used to.

Finding parts is an adventure and learning the skills to fettle the bike properly is as much fun.
It's very frustrating at times and sometimes I wonder why I do it, but like everything in life that is worth the effort you have those moments where it feels worth it.

[Mr. Dazzle]

Other way around for me. Even a brand spanking new bike has a million things wrong with it, or which could have been done better.

So I don't worry about it.

[Potter]

My old bike looked that new once, now it's all oily and looks like it's been ridden and enjoyed a lot.

The perfect look for me is when one of those 80yr old blokes pulls up on a bike that looks like the bike and rider have been to hell and back - but he's owned it from new and it's in perfect mechanical order. No hipster red hanky bollox or shiny bike, just something well loved and well ridden.

[weeksy]

My old bike looked that new once, now it's all oily and looks like it's been ridden and enjoyed a lot.

The perfect look for me is when one of those 80yr old blokes pulls up on a bike that looks like the bike and rider have been to hell and back - but he's owned it from new and it's in perfect mechanical order. No hipster red hanky bollox or shiny bike, just something well loved and well ridden.

I believe to an extent you can have both

A bike that's well used, but still perfect...

I may be overly optimistic though

[Potter]

There are definitely two types of classic owners, some of the people I ride with keep their bikes super shiny and clean, even taking a rag out with them to wipe it down.

Then there are people who leave them nice and oily and like them to look used.

[Mr. Dazzle]

No such thing as an old Brit bike which ain't oily. Not one that runs at least

[Le_Fromage_Grande]

Classic bike ownership is a weird thing, and also something I never thought I'd do, I think you have to want the classic bikes you've bought (once you've bought one, you'll buy more)
My collection consist of two bikes I wanted to revisit (FZ750 and RD350YPVS), one bike I've always wanted to own (Kawasaki J series twin shock 1100) and my FZR400RR I bought because I wanted a bike for trackdays, it had to be eligible for Classic Bike Trackdays, I wanted a 400 because I enjoy riding them on track and a Yamaha because I like Yamahas.
The FZ and FZR never really need any work apart from basic maintenance, both look used, but I'm happy with that
The Kawasaki is a work in progress trying to turn a big touring bike into a track bike, it's also a constant battle against 38 year old metal that's been apart many times.
The YPVS is an ex proddie race bike that had sat in a garage for 25 years and was bought cheap and is in the process of being turned into a useable bike by undoing previous owners butchery, but it will never be a showroom bike, that would cost more than it would be worth.

So classic ownership can be as easy as owning a modern bike - or it can be a project, the choice is yours and largely depends on how much money you want to spend, both my FZ and FZR are as much fun as the modern bikes I've owned, but much cheaper to buy, the FZ was £721 and the FZR was £1100, but these were cheap because they weren't popular classics at the time I bought them, showroom condition Power Valves are going for between £6K and £9K, my skanky one cost £2.3K and will cost me another £1K minimum to get it how I want it. The Kawasaki is a money pit.

And I keep thinking about a bike that looks like the CB750F that Freddie Spencer raced in the early 80s - but we're now onto the whole world of owning Specials - which is worse than Classics

[dayglo jim]

VFR 750 and Fireblade definitely changed the game. It looks lardy now but comparing the CBR900RR with (its predecessor) the CBR1000F was like chalk and cheese.

[Rockburner]

There are definitely two types of classic owners, some of the people I ride with keep their bikes super shiny and clean, even taking a rag out with them to wipe it down.

The kind who trailer/van their bike to shows to give them the best chance of winning the (tinpot) trophy despite the fact that the thing is a shell with no engine internals and hasn't been run since he bought it.

Then there are people who leave them nice and oily and like to use them.

[Taipan]

Eye of the beholder and all that, but i thought 90s superbikes were hideous. Putting lights on, or cobbling lights on, to race look bikes just spoilt the whole look of the bike for me. At least with todays bike the lights blend in with the panel lines.

[Nidge]

Eye of the beholder and all that, but i thought 90s superbikes were hideous. Putting lights on, or cobbling lights on, to race look bikes just spoilt the whole look of the bike for me. At least with todays bike the lights blend in with the panel lines.

Yeah I’ve got three words for you:
Vi Ra and Go