My COVID year in bikes

[IanB]

Happy New Year everyone.

This should probably be in the Projects & Owners Bikes section but hopefully it also qualifies as Motorbike Chat so here we go with a stream of consciousness about my two wheeled purchases during 2020. I was having a bit of fun & also trying to keep myself sane(ish) but I’ll let you be the judge of that.

February. The First one. The Best Bike in The World?

I needed a bike to do a tour through France & into the Pyrenees I had planned for later in the year with GP & few mates. I had a budget of £2.5k, I’ve read great things about the Honda VFR750 & it seemed like a no brainer to see what the fuss was all about.

I found a 20 thousand mile 1996 example in the correct colour on Ebay, it was a few hundred miles away from home but it looked good in the advert. I asked the seller to WhatsApp me a load more photos & on the basis of these I took a punt & bought it for £2,100 which included delivery to me in Wiltshire. When it arrived there were no nasties & it came with loads of paperwork & a Givi rack. Result.

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The bike was quite frankly brilliant – comfy, fast, easy to ride & that V4 engine was ace. However, the continental tour had now been cancelled due to COVID so I didn’t really need it any more & if I’m honest the bike wasn’t quite quirky enough for me in standard form to be a keeper.

I fitted a Black Widow end can to see if the freed up engine note would help but to my ears it didn’t suit the relaxed sophisticated nature of the bike so it came off.

After a few months & some really enjoyable rides I sold it to a friend.

I lost £100 on the bike but I kept the Givi rack & the hideous top box that was attached to it so I reckon I can reduce this loss to £50 when I sell them. Happy with that.


May. The Second one. The Barn Find Shitter.

This purchase was evidence, if any were needed, that I need an alarm speaker fitted to my laptop for any interesting things I see on Ebay after about 10 pm.

“Step away from the keyboard”. “Step away”. “You do not need a 1970s dirt bike - easy project”. “Barn find my ass”. You get the drift.

With the absence of such useful safeguarding technology I did a deal, sight unseen again, on probably the shittiest 1979 Yamaha DT175MX on the lockdown market. It had no log book & I can’t bring myself to say in public how much I paid for it.

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In fairness though cleaning, sourcing some replacement consumables & a bit of fettling kept me (& Yambits) occupied for quite a few months.

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The DVLA finally issued a V5 for it in November so it now actually officially exists & I am now the proud legal owner of a classic Japanese motorcycle.

It’s nearly (as is nowhere nearly) finished & will almost certainly remain in this state for the foreseeable future. I console myself with the possibility that these bikes are going up in value & one day it might actually be worth what I paid for it. Man maths & optimism, it’s a winning combination.

June. The Third one. The Perfect Ducati?

Those that know me will probably have seen my yellow 1994 Ducati 900 Superlight & know how much I love her. She’s an old lady now & a bit underpowered for spirited road riding but if I could get a bike like her with a stronger engine, lighter wheels, plusher suspension & a free flowing exhaust system, that would surely tick all my boxes?

Enter the Ducati 1000ss ie, you might know it as the ugly one. Looks aside the bike spec on the final year run-out model is absolutely perfect for me with a 1000cc fuel injected, dual spark air cooled engine, Marchenessi lightweight wheels, Ohlins shock & open Termi pipes.

I found a 2005 model on Ebay about 250 miles from me & after the seller sent me a load of detail photos a deal was struck again sight unseen. I phoned the guy who delivered the VFR & he delivered this one to me a few days later for £110.

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When it arrived it was immaculate & the Senna colour scheme does a reasonable job of disguising its pond life front end. Another result.

A few hundred miles on the road & a thrash around Pembrey on the TRC track day in August had me hooked on the torquey engine, the plush Ohlins suspension & the stunning soundtrack from the Termis.

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I really wanted this bike to be a keeper but in reality the riding position was all wrong for me & I couldn’t go more than a hundred miles on it at a time.

When I bought it I assumed it had the same chassis as my carby Superlight, which is all day comfy, but actually the rear subframe is completely different on this bike & you need stupidly long arms to the clip ons - too much for medium sized me. I toyed with the idea of buying a carby frame & transferring all the good bits into it to create a special but in a rare moment of clarity I recognised that the last thing I need is another project I won’t finish, so it had to go.

I sold it to a mate with gibbon like proportions, I made £700 profit & he loves the bike. Result.

August. The Fourth one. Will I Ever Learn?

I was getting frustrated with my lack of progress on the 175mx shitter. Summer was running out, my patience & mechanical enthusiasm had already run out & what any sensible person would have done was to sell the bike. What I did was buy another one. Yes you guessed it, this was a late night purchase.

This time I found a “complete, just needs a few bits sorting to finish” example from 1978 which I could jump on & enjoy virtually straight away. Sight unseen (obviously) I had the bike delivered.

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My thought process was that once I got this one up & running I could then either flog the shitter or keep it for spare parts, some of which are now as rare as the proverbial rocking horse excrement.

To be fair when it was wheeled out of the delivery van it was ok & after some minor fettling I had the bike running, road legal & ready to hit the green lanes. However, despite the fact that the edge of Salisbury Plain is less than 10 miles from my house, it hasn’t been further than the end of my road.

Maybe I don’t need a dirt bike after all.

October. The Fifth one. Those Crazy Germans.

In my defence, I do like quirky motorcycles. With this in mind I found a 2006 BMW R1200s on Facebook marketplace about 15 miles from home, which meant I could actually see it if I decided to pull the trigger. This was a complete novelty for me.

Once the seller wheeled it out of his garage & I saw the condition & took in just how, well different, it was to your normal motorcycle I knew I had to have it.

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The following day it was mine & I was riding it home. £5k well spent? I think so for a left-field boxer with just 12k miles under its wheels but time will tell.

This one is the sport model with wider rear wheel & Ohlins rear shock. At the front it has a telelever suspension system rather than telescopic forks & that also has an Ohlins shock. When you blip the throttle the torque reaction of the boxer engine is comical. Quirky? You can say that again.

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Mine also has a full Laser exhaust system with de cat & no baffles in the twin 916 look-alike high level silencers. It’s really loud but it’s an unusual noise, I like to think it sounds like a WW2 Messerschmitt plane in a full-on fly pass but I read a road test on a BMW boxer with a loud pipe & the tester said it sounded like a donkey having a fart. I thought that was harsh.

I had a BMW R1100s a few years ago & do know that you have to do a few hundred miles on these bikes before you can fully appreciate them so I’ll report back my thoughts on this one in a couple of month time - I’m a fair weather rider & the roads around here are covered in shite at the moment.

I can’t Remember Which Month. The Sixth one. The Hybrid.

Nearly forgot about this little beauty, which was a gift from a friend who was moving house.

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Looking to unsuspecting road users like a sensible Dutch shopping bicycle, this bad boy has a 50cc 2 stroke engine fitted to the rear wheel.

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One day this will be fixed & quite literally smoking up the road taking me to the pub.

Anyone remember going to the pub?


Well that was it for 2020. Gowd knows what this year will bring, I’m weighed & paid for Weeksy’s track day at Portimao in May & I need to buy something appropriate for that so watch this space.

Thanks for reading this nonsense & stay safe folks.

[weeksy]

Post of the year up to now.

I can't wait to see what Portimao bike you come up with

[Skub]

A cool read IanB,needz two like buttons!

I had a DT175 in the dim and distant past,I remember it as a lovely little off roader,not too focussed.

[Bigyin]

Good read that, Not surprised you got rid of that lovely Ducati as the riding position reach to the bars was more akin to someone my size when i sat on it at Pembrey

Love the big Beemer out of all of your purchaes .... I reckon thats a potential Portimao surprise package as you can get away with murder on the telelever front ends when you are a bit late on the brakes

[Tricky]

Best post I've read for ages, had me properly grinning

Any current thoughts on which way you're going to go for Portimao (other than buying unseen , of course ) ?

[IanB]

Any current thoughts on which way you're going to go for Portimao (other than buying unseen , of course ) ?

Well mate,

My logical brain is telling me to buy a K7 GSXR 750

My "you only live once" brain is telling me to buy a Ducati 959

Weeksy keeps telling me to buy a KTM 790

With my history though I'll probably buy something late at night in the Ebay equivalent of pinning the tail on the donkey. Your guess will be as good as mine!

[Tricky]

Any current thoughts on which way you're going to go for Portimao (other than buying unseen , of course ) ?

Well mate,

My logical brain is telling me to buy a K7 GSXR 750

My "you only live once" brain is telling me to buy a Ducati 959

Weeksy keeps telling me to buy a KTM 790

With my history though I'll probably buy something late at night in the Ebay equivalent of pinning the tail on the donkey. Your guess will be as good as mine!

I'll just leave this here then...
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Ducati-959-P ... Swa1xfiIzq

[weeksy]

Lol I do, but not necessarily for Portimao

You rode the XSR, that's imo a better road bike than the 790

[Tricky]

Well, if it's going to be a bike with mandlebars, got to be an 890R- gwaaan!

[weeksy]

Might as well go all in!

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2016-DUCATI- ... SwQ2tf7wh9

[weeksy]

There's Trickys new purchase too.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/765RS-Track- ... SwKIhf7hbF

[Tricky]

Just watched Chris Eade's re-started latest BVG vid ( a bit strange in some ways but that's another discussion) , and it made me think of @IanB 's 1200RS- boxers with a nice pipe (and ideally a QS too ) make such a glorious noise, it's made me want to buy one purely for the noise - jump to09:30 or 10:40ish if he annoys you and you just want to hear the bike noise


Speaking of which - Ian- have you still got it or did it go?

[IanB]

Speaking of which - Ian- have you still got it or did it go?

The 1200s was nearly a keeper mate, but I couldn't quite gel with it so I sold it shortly after I came back from Pembrey. It was surprisingly great on track but surprisingly average on the road. It was a wrong way round sports tourer

I was taken with the boxer engine though so I bought an 09 1200gs to see what all the fuss is about, & to be honest I can see why they are so popular.

I'll probably sell that soon

[Taipan]

Just watched Chris Eade's re-started latest BVG vid ( a bit strange in some ways but that's another discussion) , and it made me think of @IanB 's 1200RS- boxers with a nice pipe (and ideally a QS too ) make such a glorious noise, it's made me want to buy one purely for the noise - jump to09:30 or 10:40ish if he annoys you and you just want to hear the bike noise


Speaking of which - Ian- have you still got it or did it go?

Great video. Would have been better if he'd shut up moaning, but I guess as it's his channel he's allowed! Thank God for a knackered knee, which are words I didn't expect to hear myself say, otherwise I'd be shopping right now. I can't help but love a boxer engine!

[Dodgy69]

Speaking of which - Ian- have you still got it or did it go?

The 1200s was nearly a keeper mate, but I couldn't quite gel with it so I sold it shortly after I came back from Pembrey. It was surprisingly great on track but surprisingly average on the road. It was a wrong way round sports tourer

I was taken with the boxer engine though so I bought an 09 1200gs to see what all the fuss is about, & to be honest I can see why they are so popular.

I'll probably sell that soon

Thought that was a lovely looking bike and a bit quirky, but not in a Buell way. Shame it's gone.