Retros Vs The Real Thing

Agree hence why I bought a street twin

Plus of course there's the added bonus of a touch of wolf in sheeps clothing
I led a group the other week and when we stopped the guy on the zx1000 commented on " I didn't know them things handled so well!"

"Well sort of" was my response, "but I like the wiggles as it feels faster without the licence risk"

New cam on the way and 70 bhp will be mine....... eventually!

Laughable that there's a perfectly good 765 in the garage pushing out a good 50 bhp more than this bike, yet at the moment the 765 isn't getting a look in.

Buy what ticks your box and job done
If it turns out a damp squib, then sell it and move on with something else, who cares if it's original or not just do your own thing..... no right answer here to fit all!

 

There's a lot of satisfaction in wringing a smaller bikes neck!

 

This has been discussed many a time in the past with my riding buddies and I fully agree.... Oh it is so satisfying!

Here's a couple of examples.....

I once raced a buddies YZ 125 after he was bragging how fast it was, on a very slippy tight track (part of a special test for anyone in the know) using my mates sons XR 75 (just because it was there).
The enduro club I was with were laughing their heads off as under the conditions the 125 was at a real disadvantage and the 75 cc motor was singing it's head off and leaving the motocross motor way behind

Another mate had a works Superdream ( no not works tuned, think more despatch rider company owned back in the day) and I had a Kawasaki 550. We had a great thrash around the Dales on the Sunday with plenty of derring do from him in order to keep up or get by

.... then he had to report the demise of the engine to work Monday morning

 

For me, owning a "real classic" is down to one thing, nostalgia. You have to have owned one back in the day and really liked it or become attached to it.
Look at what something like a Z1 offers, mediocre brakes, and handling and not that fast ( by modern standards).
That's why people fitted Brembo brakes, box section swingarms and tweaked the engines with non standard filters and exhausts.
A friend of mine had a Z1B back in the late 70's/early 80's which was "Yoshed" as he put it. Yoshimura cams and exhaust, bigger carbs (can't remember exactly what), Phil Manzano head, aluminium box section swingarm (Metmachex IIRC) and uprated brakes. It was good for over130 2 up.
I have a soft spot for the early Z1300 as it was my first bike after passing my test and thought it was great but I'm under no illusion that I would probably find it shite to ride after the ZZR, way less power, 40kg heavier and nothing like as nimble as the SS.

 

I have space for only one bike right now. So it needs to have legs... but we plan to move in the next few years to where the houses are cheaper and a double garage is on my needs list.

 

You may hanker after a double garage, as I once did, but when is enough, enough!

Never

Add more bikes and toys then hey presto..... you'll now need more

 

Sounds like a plan!

 

A well sorted classic will run forever if maintained but a newer one, (if kept clean so it doesn't melt in the rain) will start on the button and have lots of gizmos to tell you where you are over the Atlas mountains.

I really don't ride that much these days as I enjoy the spannering. A no MOT, no tax, low insurance bike suits me. Still some way to go yet on this oine

 

As has been said what bike(s) you own and ride is a deeply personal thing.
The question on whether an old classic or a new modern classic is easy to answer for me, as I don’t have the knowledge to repair or maintain these old bikes they are definitely not for me. So it has to be a modern classic every day.
I have a mate who has spent huge amounts of money on 70’s Hondas and Suzuki’s and is unlikely to ever recover what he had spent. But more importantly they have spent more time the garage or with specialist classic repair shops than out on the road being enjoyed.
I want a bike that is good to look at, is reliable i.e starts every time I pull it out of the garage to ride.
Don’t misunderstand me I do think the original bikes from back in the day are lovely looking and do invoke memories of a time gone by in my youth. But for me today this is where they remain, a happy memory

 

A well sorted classic will run forever if maintained.

As long as you can get descent quality parts....big prob for me with my 60s BSA.

 

A well sorted classic will run forever if maintained.

As long as you can get descent quality parts....big prob for me with my 60s BSA.

 

Rusty retro!

 

I've always found this video from Bell a great watch; it evokes memories from my teens and twenties and it idealises the whole classic bike ownership thing. However, whilst I love the notion of the lifestyle I also realise it could never be me. I know my own limitations!

 

One thing to consider as we get older of course is the importance of the starter motor. At my age, I couldn't see myself kick starting a stubborn four stroke motor at all, AT ALL. Maybe a two stroke if it was a regular first time starter. In my mind, I can see myself on a 850 Norton Commando but as for kick starting it, forget it.

 

I hear you....
Next year, 2024, this baby is mot and tax free UK
My 15 year old already has designs on it once he's 19 and on an A2 licence ( pass a test and restricted horsepower, not a full unrestricted licence).

A stereotypical British bike with external anti corrosive solution (oil) applied all over, including the block paving, on start up

 

Yep certainly something to consider before purchase.
What seems to affect some, more than others, is also which side the kickstart is on with right side seeming to be the preferred option.
My Armstrong and Beta off road bikes both have a left hand kick which means I'm quite used to either and with knee issues in both legs it makes little difference to me - Snapped ACL in right leg and trimmed cartilage in left knee.

 

Most of the old classic bikes will be right foot gearchange too, so changing front classic to modern can be kind of interesting.
What has been said about kick starting is so right, any of us who rode those BSAs, Bonnie's, Commandos etc will probably have knackered knees, I know have.
Would love a T160 or Commando but would need a good leccy starter, and I couldn't afford one anyway.
Aren't the prices of these classics daft? No way can they be worth these crazy figures.

 

Umm something very much to be aware of indeed.

My best mates dad had a Velocette and a Moto Guzzi.
After an extended period riding the British bike with left rear brake, he went out on his Guzzi. A Range Rover stopped rather sharpish in front so he promptly, and frantically, changed gear as he planted his helmet through the back window

On hindsight analysis, whilst we chatted to him in hospital the next day, it was agreed that someone had moved the brake pedal

A bloke in his 70's getting a broken tibia and fibia is no laughing matter though...... although worse was to come three years later.

 

I would love to have my CB750 K1 back. Sold for £500 in 1974. In concourse spec it would now cost £35-45K

 

I think you have to find your own "sweet spot" when it comes to what you ride. I did the Japanese thing for a number of years and never liked them. They had no "personality". I gave 2 Yamaha's away. Both XS1100's. Like riding a Buick. Terrible brakes. Terrible handling. I now have an early, carbureted America. No pain. No problems. Had it for years. No EFI. No goofy gadgets I neither need nor want. No right answers here, but that is my story. ...J.D.