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Supreme Being
Group: Forum Members
Last Login: 23rd August 2010 20:19
Posts: 1,002,
Visits: 1,795
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| Rain forecast for Sunday afternoon, and I had already mowed the grass, so I took the Bandit off to get some go-juice in for the working week ahead. Between the petrol station and my turning, there is a stretch of the A40, about a mile and a half, almost straight, good surface. If there's not much traffic about, it's a good place for a tazz. So, there I was, full tank and a warm engine, pulling out of the petrol station. Aha, thinks I, I wonder what it will actually do in first gear? The bike has an amazing amount of stomp, and I rarely use all the revs, being happy to bang along using the mid-range. Coming home along a similar stretch the other evening, I found out that it will top the ton in second, so what would it do in first? Purely as an experiment, you understand. Well, the answer is over 70 @ 11k rpm. The problem is, the howl from the exhaust at that speed is totally addictive, so it was up a gear and off towards the horizon. So I was doing well into three figures when I spotted a bike in a lay-by. I clocked the name on the tank, and started to slow down, but it was a good few hundred metres further on before I could turn round. A Black Norton Commando, rider standing alongside taking off his helmet and gloves. I turned in the road, pulled up and took off the lid. "Smoke break", he said, "but thanks for stopping." So that was the next half hour gone. We had a good old chat and I admired the bike rather longingly. It looked just like an Interstate with the big tank, but it turns out he had imported it from Saudi, where it had seen service with the Police - it was an Interplod. 1973, still with the right-hand gearchange and no electric foot. He'd restored it over four years, removing several kilos of sand in the process, and it looked lovely. He had been running it for a year since restoration, so it had that well-used look about it (blued pipes and creased seat, and the look of a lot of hand-polishing rather than that soulless cleanliness that new paint and chrome have). The tank was new, as were the pea-shooter silencers. He had ridden it over from Norfolk (a good 200+ miles from me) so that his wife could visit her grandparents, and he had gone out for a circuit of Pembrokeshire on his "day off". I told him a couple of good ways back, warned him about some dangerous bends ahead, and let him get on with rolling another one, just like the other one. One day, one day ... I just have to win the lottery and retire first. And get a decent shed.
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2003 ST1300 Pan Euro
1995 Yam XT600E
http://goingfastgettingnowhere.blogspot.com/
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Supreme Being
Group: Administrators
Last Login: 15th July 2009 14:41
Posts: 377,
Visits: 2,187
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| It's nice to have an old bike but in my experience it's just not quite the same as modern tech. I would have to be wailing at the walls of desperation city with bleeding stumps for fingers before I sold my classic bike, but The Mighty nine is much more fun, and a new bike over the Nine, well it's a bloody revelation! Like your Harley Itch BD, part of a stable only, with lottery funding and resulting early retirement you could then become a gentleman motobicyclist and choose your mount as your mood dictates, but for goodness sake keep a dependable, well handling and fast modern bike in their as well.
Sideways through time
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Supreme Being
Group: Forum Members
Last Login: 23rd August 2010 20:19
Posts: 1,002,
Visits: 1,795
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Oh, I shall, I shall ...
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2003 ST1300 Pan Euro
1995 Yam XT600E
http://goingfastgettingnowhere.blogspot.com/
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Supreme Being
Group: Administrators
Last Login: 15th July 2009 14:41
Posts: 377,
Visits: 2,187
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Supreme Being
Group: Forum Members
Last Login: 23rd August 2010 20:19
Posts: 1,002,
Visits: 1,795
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| Aye, saw those. An ES2 at 2 grand has either got to be someone who has no idea of its value or a complete dog. They usually go for around 5 grand. If I hadn't spent all my pocket money this month, I would be going to have a look. As it is, I shall keep looking.
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2003 ST1300 Pan Euro
1995 Yam XT600E
http://goingfastgettingnowhere.blogspot.com/
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