Picking my daughter up from uni tomorrow so checked on ebay to see if there was anything of interest for sale and put a deposit down on this... Been looking for a couple months for a nice one to play in the dirt on and kept missing them. Hopefully it's as good as it looks and it'll come home with me.
They seem to range from about £2500 to £4000 and this one is in the middle. I looked at loads of different bikes but they're either aimed at dirt to the extent that road riding is a pain or stupidly big like my 1190 adventure that feels like you're riding a fat drugged horse off road with my lack of skills. This seems to be able to do a bit of everything while I build up some ability on the local lanes but also allows me to ride on road to salisbury plain. Time will tell if pissing away all those hours on youtube was a waste of time or not.
You won't go far wrong with that. I had a 400s and it was bombproof. They can feel a little heavy compared to crfs etc but also don't need nowhere near the maintenance they need. A great bike.
Been out a couple of times on it and it's bloody weird compared to a road bike. Front feels so loose but it's starting to feel more natural. I hated the bar position so bought some spacers that lift it by an inch and push it forwards by an inch and that's miles better. I took the butchered seat apart, cut a bit more foam out, rebuilt it with gel pads and a top layer of camping mat and stapled the cover back on. Finally put the sheepskin on it and the height is back where I want it and it's far far more comfortable. Put a legal plate on it as small plates are too much hassle. Fitted some cheap led indicators from ebay and a cheap led flasher and they work fine and make me feel a bit less exposed. Still feels weird without a mirror but got a cheap Bell 'adventure' helmet which makes looking over your shoulder quickly a doddle. I adjusted the clutch and cut the lever down so it could be operated by two fingers without trapping the other too. Went out today with the aim to practice slow riding while standing up which went pretty well. Couldn't resist finding a lane to go for a wander down and had a really nice (albeit muddy) ride. Saw a few other bikes. Most non biking people were really friendly. Some just want to world to themselves and aren't worth wasting your time on if you're already being courteous. Lovely day for it...
Done a bit of work on the bike including all the stator loctite mods and the output shaft oil seal. Also had a slight weeping of fuel from the bottom of the carb and sorted that out by rebuilding the bottom of the carb with new o-rings etc. Also took off the e subframe a replaced with an s subframe that extends all the way to the back of the bike to make it better for carrying luggage. Booked in to the ABR festival in the summer and need to carry a tent. Also found that it had some lowering links on it so replaced those with the standard ones and it's far better. I went out on a novice run with the TRF around the lanes of east Berkshire yesterday and really enjoyed that. Really need to build my fitness though as 5 hours of that was utterly knackering. I think that by riding this on the lanes it'll help with fitness and strength for track days. The bike did really well and used hardly any fuel. It was happy(ish) at 60 on the motorway and a-roads when I was late and needed to make time although inducing head shake is very easy. It's really good on the lanes and coped well with gravel, rocky stuff, mud as well as ford and a couple of river crossings. Only problems that appeared is that the header gasket needs replacing as the bike started to back fire quite a lot at the end and I can see that the leak is at the engine end. Also I have oil seeping from the rocker cover so either this is an old crusty gasket or I've overfilled it with oil or both. Nice day though... Mine's the first bike over after the guy crossed and gets off his bike to film the rest of the group cross the river... Cheers
Looks like great craic.No legal green lanes here in N Ireland and we're not allowed through forests etc so we can't do as much off road stuff over here!It's a bit shit as I'd love a go at this.Love the wee bike.Best of luck with it.
Got it dirty at the ABR show trail yesterday... Show wasn't much to write home about but the trail was good fun. Camping overnight solo was relaxing and got me away from life for a little bit. Bike is really light on the front at 60mph and overtaking a lorry at that speed is probably not something I'll attempt again
Today I pulled out my Yamaha ttr 250/265 ( 2mm over size ). I swapped the super moto wheels for motocross wheels witch only took two minutes and I flew up the fields , there’s a few jumps trails , I love the mud , I bet my body pays for it tomorrow ? Now pull out jet wash and clean it it was worth it lots of fun. ,
Thanks. , I bought it for my son to teach him how to ride! But as soon as he was able to ride he wanted something newer . All of his friends had motocross bikes so bought him a Yamaha yz 125 witch he love , so the ttr was left to root in the back of the garage so over lock down I totally rebuilt it , I like it because it is light and it’s got the electric starter and kickstarter ! I would not like to know how much I’ve spent on it ? But better than me spending it on beer !
It looks a lot like my old one, I sold mine in 2018/19 to a guy in Berkshire. The reg number was K547EJH. It also had electric and kick start.
No mines ( M778 BMA ) but they looked very similar ! Bought 2018 near Liverpool I paid £1000 delivered, but like I said I’ve probably spent that again on it , if not more ? And a lot of time , I’m quite lucky I’ve got two garages so I never sell my bikes , I’ve just pulled out an old 465 Yamaha frame I’ve got ( two stroke). So I’m in the process of finding all the parts I’ve got and see what I need ?
Oh nice... I've got all the bits kicking around here somewhere to build a kx500 that's the next project on my list... at least I hope I have, I bought it 20 years ago.
I’m hoping that once I’ve got my built I would be able to get a daytime MOT on it and have a two stroke screamer ( supermoto and motocross). Just like the ttr ? Well the kx 500 was the best in there day Jeremy margrafh won every thing ! They make really good money now ?
