Poignard
Well-Known Member
Damned with faint praise."Fast becoming a classic".
Didn't age well, of interest to a few only.
Brokers' English
- Thread starter zoidberg
- Start date
BobnLesley
Well-Known Member
"Rare Japanese Classic" is regularly used in motorbike sale adverts, almost invariably referring to a model which was an unpopular, poorly selling, dog even when new."Fast becoming a classic".
Didn't age well, of interest to a few only.
Chiara’s slave
Well-Known Member
Like a Suzuki GT500. Horrible things, and slow with it, but prices are silly. I may still have an engine though. It would suit a mobility scooter.
Blueboatman
Well-Known Member
“One for the connoisseur”
Never quite sure how to take that
Never quite sure how to take that
rotrax
Well-Known Member
I agree. The bike was a choice for my first Manx Grand Prix ride in 1976. For was the disc front brake and electronic ignition.
Against was the non adjustable timing, as I was to tune the bike for serious racing, the ability to alter ignition timing was a must.
I chose the earlier model, the drum brake Suzuki T500M.
After a set of McFazdean expansion chambers, careful polishing of the ports, Boyer ignition and a tank, seat and fairing plus getting the jets right it went through the speed trap at over 120MPH.
Far faster than the GT500.
Stemar
Well-Known Member
On the other side of the coin, I got a Honda CX500 as a daily commuter round the North Circular. Ugly as sin, generally disparaged and looked down on, but it served me faithfully for several years until, in the middle of winter, I had two people try to kill me in a week, and someone offered me a little VW Golf with a recon diesel engine and a working heater.
Frogmogman
Well-Known Member
Tell me about it. I used to own a Kawasaki KH250 triple. She was evil smelling and evil handling. The joke in Southampton Uni bike club was that every time I filled Smelly Nelly with petrol she doubled in value.
Behold what I found recently in the small ads of a classic car magazine.
20 grand ? Utterly insane.
Chiara’s slave
Well-Known Member
2 strokes have achieved cult status. It’s the one trend I’ve been on the right side of, I have an Aprilia RS250. Which is in fact a justifiable classic. Mine is a mere 30 years old though.
LittleSister
Well-Known Member
Not at all! (Except perhaps by boy racers, and they don't count for such bikes).
They were the bike of choice for e.g. despatch riders and many tourers, with some reaching astonishingly high mileages. (This after Honda sorted a serious potential failing (valve timing related?) with the very earliest bikes.) I would loved to have had one at that time, but they were well beyond my financial reach. Funny to think now that their water cooling was relatively novel at the time, and some were dismissive of it as being unnecessary weight and complication.
As it was, I had to do my despatch riding on a Suzuki 250 2-stroke twin (and I loathed 2 strokes for their smell, sound and thirst, though ended up owning few due to poverty).
Frogmogman
Well-Known Member
My Yamaha RD350LC (which followed the Kwacker) I would say is definitely worthy of cult status, and deserves to be seen as a classic as it represented such a step forward. No self respecting motorcycle hooligan of the early 80s went without owning an LC.
The KH250, not so much.
KevinV
Well-Known Member
Ah, the joys of screaming along with your fingers poised on the clutch, your ears straining and your heart in full fight-or-flight mode - just waiting for the inevitable....
Rappey
Well-Known Member
Ahhh..all these little moped engines 
(only joking)
I had a 2.6 litre v6 2 stroke. The sound was amazing, the power was something else and it easily drank 25 litres of fuel in 5 mins..
Im sure AI can put a spin on it to make it more akin to brokerage speak if it were for sale.
(only joking) I had a 2.6 litre v6 2 stroke. The sound was amazing, the power was something else and it easily drank 25 litres of fuel in 5 mins..
Im sure AI can put a spin on it to make it more akin to brokerage speak if it were for sale.
Chiara’s slave
Well-Known Member
I have a soft spot for 3 cylinder bikes, and did own a H1 500 triple. And lived to tell the tale. More favourably to my character, several Laverda Jotas. Inevitably a YPVS350 too, which my wife used to commute from Docklands to Isleworth. I just caned it about, obviously for the purpose of reducing carbon build up in the exhausts….
Assume that was an outboard. I had the Yamaha version, they came as a pair, on an Edgewater 26. One of our less wise purchases, but the noise of 2 V6 2 strokes was a damn sight better than Wagners finest moment.Ahhh..all these little moped engines
I had a 2.6 litre v6 2 stroke. The sound was amazing, the power was something else and it easily drank 25 litres of fuel in 5 mins..
Im sure AI can put a spin on it to make it more akin to brokerage speak if it were for sale.
Frogmogman
Well-Known Member
I agree about 3 cylinder engines (including my yanmar
). My mate Lee justified buying a second laverda Jota to his wife on the basis that the 180 degree crankshaft model was very different to ride than the 120 degree one he already owned.
He then justified adding a Ducati 900 SuperLight to his collection by telling her that if you have Italian motorcycles, you need to have 3 to be sure that at least one is working at any one time
Stemar
Well-Known Member
Call me Mr Boring, but that sounds like a very good reason for not owning one Italian motorcycle.He then justified adding a Ducati 900 SuperLight to his collection by telling her that if you have Italian motorcycles, you need to have 3 to be sure that at least one is working at any one time
BobnLesley
Well-Known Member
With no permanent injuries either?
I recall the first time I climbed onto one, with the owner advising " point it roughly in the direction you want to go and start praying before cracking open the throttle" I'd foolishly assumed he was joking
.rotrax
Well-Known Member
After a 220 plus mile race in the MGP in 1976-before tailpipe silencers were required-I could hear the engine of my Suzuki 500 running, the gear changes upward and on overun-for more than two weeks after the race.
No hi-tec earplugs in those days, just a bit of cotton wool in your ears.
The Kawasaki four cylinder DOHC that replaced it was mild by comparison, even on a tuned length open pipe.
rotrax
Well-Known Member
With no permanent injuries either?
I recall the first time I climbed onto one, with the owner advising " point it roughly in the direction you want to go and start praying before cracking open the throttle" I'd foolishly assumed he was joking
A bloke who won the 500cc Production class on an H1 Kawasaki at the 1973 TT was invited to take part in the Senior TT.
He was able to change major parts as it was not a regulated 'Production' race.
He came into the 'Paddock Hotel'-the campsite behind the Grandstand-looking for better front forks.
"What type of forks do yer want mate?" asked a purveyor of motorbike bits.
"Heavy ones" came his answer "Bloody 'eavy ones!"
Chiara’s slave
Well-Known Member
Just a good excuse. Ducatis do have a rep for being finicky, I had a 250 Desmo and can vouch for the truth of that. But both my Aprilias are rock solid. I have a 750 as well as the baby ‘stroker. My Laverdas likewise gave no trouble, apart from an early CDI unit getting wet and self destructing.
KevinV
Well-Known Member
You are Mr Boring.
Everyone who knows anything about bikes, Italian or not, knows that the correct number to own is n+1