Shep
Shep of the Dessert
Got mesen a new bike! I've been looking at all these really nice airheads with interest for a year or so, but they seen to fetch big money which I havn't got, so I bided my time till a reasonably (I thought) priced bike came along that I liked and here it is
It all started last week when it was advertised on this site, i popped over to take a look we agreed a price and the deal was done, i had agreed to pick it up after the GOTC last weekend.
Due to a work issue I ended up unable to go to the GOTC
SO as I finished work at midday on friday I phoned the vendor up and arranged to pick it up early afternoon with the thought of getting an MOT and getting the bike legal for a trip to the WEEkend workshop at Proffs,a tight schedule but doable with a little luck, I managed to get a little garage near Cardiff to test the bike and it passed with a little fiddling
Back on the trailer and to Basingstoke, the missus had got the insurance ready so all I needed was some tax (it was 'sorned' at the time) Saturday morning came with yet another issue with work
so I had to give a little time there, I eventually got the Tax at about midday Saturday, so iut was all looking a bit iffy for the Proffs 'do'.
I hadn't even ridden it by then
so I fired her up and ventured out into the world unsure of what kind of experience I was about to endure, I had packed a tarp and a wrap blanket (really daft as I had come down with a shitty cold over the last day or two and by the time I had done 50 miles down the A303 it was evident I was suffering from the cold/wet in a bad way) so I decided discretion was in order and ran for home after a warming cup of tea.
The bike? Well I really enjoyed it, very smooth and flowing in its power delivery, handling was OK but was suffering from a mismatch of tyres, a tourance on the back and a semi knobbly on the front, little twitches and squirms made fast corners a little nervy, it actually felt I was going 30MPH faster than I was
. And if that was unnerving, the brakes also made it feel like I was doing 30MPH more than I was, FFS they initially felt so crap I stopped to make sure they wern't covered in oil (they wern't of course) but after a while I got used to giving them the big squeeze far in advance of what I had got used to on the 12GSA and all was fine again, I had to relearn to ride a 'normal' bike after 5 years on linked brake bikes, but it didn't take long to get into the groove again and I started to enjoy the experience.
I've now done 150miles just bimbling about the backlanes and I'm very impressed and as my circumstances have changed somewhat in the last year
I might just keep this one and moove the GSA on to pastures new
Now the inevitable questions
The bike runs well, starts immediatly when warm but is a fiddle when stone cold, is full choke the way to go and then try and catch it on the throttle? Or am I looking at starter issues if I try and start it that way?
Brakes whats the cheapest best method of getting an improvement, bearing in mind if I really squeeze the front brake I can feel the forks deflecting and moving about now so perhaps a change in riding style would be as effective as uprated brakes
Once hot (50+ miles) the engine shows a reluctance to drop to tickover, revving a bit before settling down, its not the cables because I can feel they are returning OK so perhaps maybe something amiss in the carbs (but then again its running smooth so it I'd guess its an issue with both carbs, seems unlikely even though the bike has done very little miles recently)
Sorry it's a bit of a story But you can tell I'm quite impressed with it
Shep
It all started last week when it was advertised on this site, i popped over to take a look we agreed a price and the deal was done, i had agreed to pick it up after the GOTC last weekend.
Due to a work issue I ended up unable to go to the GOTC
SO as I finished work at midday on friday I phoned the vendor up and arranged to pick it up early afternoon with the thought of getting an MOT and getting the bike legal for a trip to the WEEkend workshop at Proffs,a tight schedule but doable with a little luck, I managed to get a little garage near Cardiff to test the bike and it passed with a little fiddlingBack on the trailer and to Basingstoke, the missus had got the insurance ready so all I needed was some tax (it was 'sorned' at the time) Saturday morning came with yet another issue with work
so I had to give a little time there, I eventually got the Tax at about midday Saturday, so iut was all looking a bit iffy for the Proffs 'do'.I hadn't even ridden it by then
so I fired her up and ventured out into the world unsure of what kind of experience I was about to endure, I had packed a tarp and a wrap blanket (really daft as I had come down with a shitty cold over the last day or two and by the time I had done 50 miles down the A303 it was evident I was suffering from the cold/wet in a bad way) so I decided discretion was in order and ran for home after a warming cup of tea.The bike? Well I really enjoyed it, very smooth and flowing in its power delivery, handling was OK but was suffering from a mismatch of tyres, a tourance on the back and a semi knobbly on the front, little twitches and squirms made fast corners a little nervy, it actually felt I was going 30MPH faster than I was
. And if that was unnerving, the brakes also made it feel like I was doing 30MPH more than I was, FFS they initially felt so crap I stopped to make sure they wern't covered in oil (they wern't of course) but after a while I got used to giving them the big squeeze far in advance of what I had got used to on the 12GSA and all was fine again, I had to relearn to ride a 'normal' bike after 5 years on linked brake bikes, but it didn't take long to get into the groove again and I started to enjoy the experience.I've now done 150miles just bimbling about the backlanes and I'm very impressed and as my circumstances have changed somewhat in the last year
I might just keep this one and moove the GSA on to pastures new
Now the inevitable questions
The bike runs well, starts immediatly when warm but is a fiddle when stone cold, is full choke the way to go and then try and catch it on the throttle? Or am I looking at starter issues if I try and start it that way?
Brakes whats the cheapest best method of getting an improvement, bearing in mind if I really squeeze the front brake I can feel the forks deflecting and moving about now so perhaps a change in riding style would be as effective as uprated brakes
Once hot (50+ miles) the engine shows a reluctance to drop to tickover, revving a bit before settling down, its not the cables because I can feel they are returning OK so perhaps maybe something amiss in the carbs (but then again its running smooth so it I'd guess its an issue with both carbs, seems unlikely even though the bike has done very little miles recently)
Sorry it's a bit of a story
But you can tell I'm quite impressed with itShep
Shep...
