NBT

[Eclipse]

I grew up on motorbikes and during the 80's & 90's had loads of them to name a few-
c50, 70 and 90 , sp370 , yz250 , rm 250. rd 250 ac , cb750 , cr500 , xt 500 , mz 125 , dt125mx etc.
I never had a full license so only road the 125's on the streets

When I got to about 25 things started going wrong, lost my parents and elder brother in a short space of time and I
pretty much pulled away from everything and everyone and I piled on lots of weight, lots and lots of it and ended up
at about 47st. In the last 5 years I have lost some of it and am now around 30st.

I have a younger brother that I lost contact with for about 10 years but we are back together again
and he's moved down to my area and got a job close to me, we see eachother most days as he pops in after work for a coffee.
He has always been in to bikes too and we wanted to go out for rides together so he got a CRF450X as he has friends that
do a bit of green laning.

I bought a stolen recovered Chinese bike off a breakers on ebay just to see if I could actually ride a bike still and I could ride it fine.
so did that up and got a years mot on it and sold it for more than I paid for it and started searching for a suitable replacement.
Whilst searching I completed the CBT

I have a big belly overhang and it's not easy for me to get on a bike and get comfortable on it but after a few months I decided
on a Suzuki VanVan 125 and the picture below was taken this morning when it was delivered.

Only changes I want to make is remove the heated grips and change the rear shock, the shock doesn't bottom out and theres about
1-1.5 inch of travel left when I am sitting on it and it feels fine to ride but I know its not ideal and will be replaced when funds allow.
I also want to get some extra wide mirrors for it.

vv1.jpeg (826.32 KiB) Viewed 1249 times

[Rockburner]

Keep the heated grips, the only reason i can think of to remove them would be if they're wired in badly. They're useful even in summer of you get an unexpectedly cold day.

A longer shock should be findable.

Welcome back to biking!

[Bigyin]

Like RB said, if the grips work properly and are fitted properly keep them

Have a hunt for an owners forum as they will know where to source aftermarket bits and work arounds

[weeksy]

Cracking story and love the bike... You must be ecstatic.

[kendo57]

Its a Van Van , what's not to like.

[Taipan]

Nice one mate and I take my hat off to you for that weight loss. Hagon will build a shock to your spec, so will fit the best spring available for you. Keep us posted.

[Supermofo]

Van Vans are proper cool

[Eclipse]

Keep the heated grips, the only reason i can think of to remove them would be if they're wired in badly. They're useful even in summer of you get an unexpectedly cold day.

A longer shock should be findable.

Welcome back to biking!

The heated grips look to be nicely fitted and they work so will leave them on there and thank you
I think the shock from a Sinnis Apache is meant to fit and is longer with preload adjustment, I will look in to that more
to see if it's viable.

Like RB said, if the grips work properly and are fitted properly keep them

Have a hunt for an owners forum as they will know where to source aftermarket bits and work arounds

There are lots of FB groups for them with all the info I will ever need also Haynes make a workshop manual for them.

My daughter had a Van Van for a few years for commuting and I can't remember if the standard shock has a basic preload adjustment, if it has make sure that's turned all the way up.

The shock has no adjustment at all, do you have any pics of your daughters VanVan ? would love to see it.

Cracking story and love the bike... You must be ecstatic.

I much prefer the look of older bikes than modern ones and this one is in pretty good nick so yeah very happy here.

Nice one mate and I take my hat off to you for that weight loss. Hagon will build a shock to your spec, so will fit the best spring available for you. Keep us posted.

Thanks , After all the Hagon suggestions I have been looking in to them and they seem to be around 350-450 but I guess that's very spec dependant, when funds allow I will give them a bell and have a chat to them about it see what they recommend.



Did some more miles over the weekend and I am blown away at how easy and comfortable it is to ride.
It does a good job of keeping up with traffic to 30, slows down from 30-40 and 45 is about the max with me on it,
and that's fine for me because at the moment I have very little confidence so am happy sitting at 40, I just have to avoid faster roads.
I have never been in to going fast on the road as I like taking in the surroundings and seeing stuff I would normally miss in a car.
Eventually I would like to upgrade to maybe a 250 so I can cruise at 60 for longer journeys.

Here's a few pics from the weekend. The CRF is my brothers (he's the one on the back of the vanvan) the guy on the front is my best friend who has been coming to see me every sunday for about 10 years, he's a beast and cycles from watford to hemel and back (14 miles each day) 6 days a week
and his mum makes me christmas dinner.

[Eclipse]

A few weeks ago my brother and I went to a bike meet at the John Bunyan pub is St Albans, brother sold his CRF450X as he needs to commute on a bike now so bought a Z1000. Below is a video of my ride there, I start by following my brother to leverstock green where he continues to Hemel Hempstead to meet up with the guy on the black R1 but I turn right and make my own way to the pub, we meet a couple of friends there which turned up on a red CBR. I think there were something like 200 bikes and 96 scooters which turned up during the day.

VanVan is going well only things I have done to it since last post is fit new exhaust as it sounded like a sewing machine before
and fit bar end mirrors as the old ones were too close together and I couldn't see anything behind me at all.

[Supermofo]

That's made me miss the summer even more Good turn out for the meet though, lots of shiny metal.

I've not been out in near 3 weeks now, hopefully this weekend but looks like it's going to be significantly colder Roll on spring

[Buckaroo]

You keep that little mill spinning like a goodun!! I recognised a fair few roads. Amazing how a sunny day makes you feel when buzzing around.

[Skub]

What does your bro think of the Z1000? Looks like a set of Campbells on that,they'll not be quiet.

[ChrisW]

Some of that was my old commute home to Harpenden - happy memories!

[Eclipse]

That's made me miss the summer even more Good turn out for the meet though, lots of shiny metal.

I've not been out in near 3 weeks now, hopefully this weekend but looks like it's going to be significantly colder Roll on spring

There will be lots good riding days during Autumn & Winter

You keep that little mill spinning like a goodun!! I recognised a fair few roads. Amazing how a sunny day makes you feel when buzzing around.

It's a fun little bike to ride, you have to work the gearbox but that makes it more enjoyable for me.

Some of that was my old commute home to Harpenden - happy memories!

I used to go to school with a guy from Harpenden, Longfield road I think it was, I rode from Hemel Hempstead to his house on many interesting and not so legal motorbikes when I was younger lol.

What does your bro think of the Z1000? Looks like a set of Campbells on that,they'll not be quiet.

Well spotted on the Exhausts, he really likes the bike as it's a lot nicer to ride than the CRF and it's ideal for his commute.
We are used to his CRF450 with Yoshi system which used to rattle my back door when he blipped it in the back garden so
the Z1000 is not quite so loud and much nicer (so my neighbours tell me).

[Skub]

What does your bro think of the Z1000? Looks like a set of Campbells on that,they'll not be quiet.

Well spotted on the Exhausts, he really likes the bike as it's a lot nicer to ride than the CRF and it's ideal for his commute.
We are used to his CRF450 with Yoshi system which used to rattle my back door when he blipped it in the back garden so
the Z1000 is not quite so loud and much nicer (so my neighbours tell me).

That's a super clean example.

The Campbells look and sound great on those early Zeds. Those pipes are well sought after among Zed owners,so he'd easily sell them if he was changing,or selling the bike.