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Messages - flatfour
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31
« on: March 27, 2023, 04:56:27 PM »
Julie, for the first time in years, I've had three close encounters with birds of prey in as many weeks!
Living on the edge of Thetford Forest, I'm always on the lookout for wildlife, particularly in the early morning. However, on each occasion the birds have dived down on me out of hedgerows and, at the last minute as I ducked changed course and flown over my head. My wife thinks that it might be due to the fluorescent vest that I wear attracting their attention, though I've worn it for a few years now without incident.
32
« on: March 27, 2023, 04:50:51 PM »
I sold my Kawasaki Versys 1000 to The Superbike Factory a few years ago. The local dealer was not buying stock (September) due to the approaching winter, and his Sales Manager recommended them. At the time, I needed to find a bike with lower pillion footrests, as a hip operation meant that my wife (who is quite small) could not climb on board the Versys.
I was issued an offer over the 'phone and they collected it at the stated time and transferred the offer price to my bank whilst their driver was looking the bike over in my garage. They put it up for sale next day, and sold it immediately at, I think £1000 more than I was paid. I thought that this was fair (the bike was showroom fresh, with some 14,000 miles on it and I was the only owner) because they collected it and, as pointed out needed to put a warranty on the bike etc.
The offer price was MUCH better than the competition and fitted the dealership estimate of its worth as a straight sale, so I was pleased and would certainly be happy to use them again.
33
« on: March 21, 2023, 04:53:52 PM »
we were recommended to use MIAMOVESBIKESLTD (spelling and lettering as per business card) when my daughter wanted to move her Honda NC 700X from Crawley to us, for storage.
The company is based in Norfolk and used by local dealers extensively. From memory the bike arrived within two days or so after the request was made and we paid on delivery (approx £150.00) We were kept informed of the pick up date and time, as well as delivery time to us (he called us when around half - an - hour away to make sure that we were ready to receive it).
Previously, I had tried a number of other movers with little success (return calls not made after initial contact etc).
If you want to contact the company, call Ben on 07722 561649 or email miamovesbikes@yahoo.co.uk. Their website is at miamovesbikes.co.uk.
Hope it helps!
34
« on: January 24, 2023, 03:02:03 PM »
I have used Footman James for a "modern bike" as well as classics for some 20 years now. Premiums seem fair to me, as the modern bikes are always large capacity tourers (BMW K1300GT, Kawasaki 1400 GTR etc). Costs usually around the £300 mark, without any restrictions on mileage.
35
« on: December 10, 2022, 03:13:00 PM »
Was that for a Benelli six, Ted?
Apparently the bike was trailered to Wales for the work, the company concerned measuring it all up on site before manufacturing the pipes. I understand that the bike was with them for some three weeks.
We have a very well known and respected exhaust system manufacturer locally and, when the pipes rusted through on my 350/4 I asked for a quote for a replacement in stainless (around 2015). He refused to offer a price, simply saying that I would never pay that much in any case!
36
« on: December 09, 2022, 09:29:12 AM »
The previous owner of my Benelli 750/6 had a set of stainless exhausts fabricated in 2003. The cost then (agreed there were six of them) was over £3,000!
I took them off when Silentium manufactured a further batch of original pipes and was amazed at the weight of the stainless set. At 6' tall and 14 stones I could barely carry them.
37
« on: November 30, 2022, 03:57:08 PM »
My daughter has a Honda NC700X (the predecessor of the NC750X) that she bought new in 2012. As she works away most of the time and gave up her London flat with its garage during COVID, I keep it here and use it quite often to keep it in good shape.
At first, I found it quite a surprise to ride, there is almost no sound at all from it and it just gathers up speed pretty quickly. I often look down to see speeds some 20 mph than I expect to be travelling at. In addition, there is a long hill near to me (about one mile in length and perhaps 10% gradient) and, with half throttle or so it accelerates all of the way up. It also delivers around 70 mpg when we ride it (none too gently).
There are two things that regularly catch me out however, the first is that because it is so quiet it is easy to hit the rev limiter on overtakes. The second is that modern Honda's have the indicator switch fitted below the horn button and when cancelling indicators, I often hit the horn button.
My other bikes currently on the road are a BMW K1300GT and Honda CB750 K2. I think that the NC is, in its own way the equal of either of them!
38
« on: November 11, 2022, 02:53:15 PM »
I believe that fibre timing gears were originally introduced to cut down on noise. In many cases, metal gears were an aftermarket "mod" in the day to improve durability, however that did come at the expense of considerably more noise from the gears.
39
« on: October 08, 2022, 06:58:45 PM »
Ted, I think that I have an undamaged top yoke for a 500/4. I replaced both on mine once the tester discovered that the lower was damaged on the lock stop.
If that's the case, you are welcome to it if you arrange collection from me (Norfolk). Previous experience does suggest that most carriers will allow you to organise it from your side, leaving me to simply pack it and hand to the courier.
Let me know and if you need it, I'll look in my stock of spares tomorrow.
40
« on: October 07, 2022, 07:49:36 PM »
My 500/4 had the same damage to the lock stop and it was found on an MOT (albeit many years after it became mine, and the umpteenth MOT at the same dealer).
It didn't fail because the bars didn't touch the tank, although I replaced it as a matter of course when I renewed the steering head bearings as the differences in available lock left and right proved an irritation after the issue was pointed out to me.
41
« on: October 07, 2022, 02:50:01 PM »
My daughter and I met Phil read many times at the Coupe de Moto Legende in Dijon. He was always charming and courteous; at one point she even helped him out with the running of his stand when his usual assistant was not available, and he was busy signing autographs.
On a similar note, she also met Agostini at the same festival and he sat with her for some 45 minutes, chatting. He was similarly accommodating to me.
The regular at the Coupe that was perhaps most relaxed seemed to be Ron Chandler, who let my daughter sit on his bikes and push them around the paddock whilst he was at lunch.
All of them (and Jim Redman too) were always more than pleasant to us over very many years and have left us with some much-treasured memories and photos.
R.I.P Phil!
42
« on: October 01, 2022, 05:06:51 PM »
I've investigated this process for Japan albeit a few years ago, as we have a house there (my wife is Japanese).
The cost for a classic Honda was then around £1,600 for registration, compulsory insurance for road use and the "Shaken" inspection. Shipping is not included in this cost. The costs for a particular machine can be established by the shipping agent submitting the VIN and other details to their import facility in Japan. They can then determine eligibility and charges.
I do remember at the time that there was a clear cut - off point for manufacture (2004 I believe) after which the process became MUCH more expensive (around £6,000 for a typical motorcycle) due to the need to comply with more legislative requirements.
Do remember that if the bike is over 400cc then a special (and difficult to obtain) licence is needed to ride it (I think that the test failure rate is over 80% at first attempt, and very few establishments can offer the necessary training) and that spare parts for the larger capacity machines will probably need to come from outside of Japan, even if the machine was originally made there, as it probably was not offered to the domestic market.
From memory, it was also a requirement that the importer was entitled to residency in Japan.
In short, unless there are very strong reasons for taking a particular bike or car over, it's probably not worth it for your own use.
Of course, if you are selling the bike to a Japanese citizen, it might change everything!
43
« on: September 23, 2022, 06:36:59 PM »
On my 500/4 I found it impossible to ride the bike with full - length boots, due to the choke activating on some upshifts - not what you want when overtaking! (I'm a size 10, by the way).
The answer was to wear only ankle boots when using it, something that I found so comfortable that my new full - length boots remain virtually unused, except in very cold weather or when touring.
By chance, I ended up fitting a 750-gear lever on the 500 as the splines became worn on the original and I had a 750 lever in my box of spares. I subsequently found that, after riding my BMW and jumping straight on to the 500 in full - length boots, it had cured the tendency for me to catch the choke lever on upshifts - something that you might like to try yourself?
44
« on: September 12, 2022, 05:44:58 PM »
On the subject of brake lever travel, I (and a good few other riders that I know from our evening bike meets) have found that replacing the original Honda master cylinder (smooth reservoir) with a pattern type (fluted reservoir) reduces lever travel immediately, for reasons that I am unsure of, but assume that perhaps the piston sizes differ slightly?
45
« on: August 30, 2022, 07:24:02 AM »
Many thanks to all for your helpful advice.
I'll pass it on and let you know the outcome.
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