Any Motörbike riders here?

rpr

They've staring making these again, in India this time IIRC-http://royalenfield.com/.  very cool and relatively inexpensive My grandad had an original in the 50s

randomhandclaps

Prior to the explosion of the Japanese motorbike industry, all British bikes had gear shift on the right.  Some European bikes had left-hand gear shift.  The Japanese builders all went left-hand.  When they started gaining success British makers feared sales would plummet as people would become used to left-hand and they changed manufacture to the from the right to left and started converting existing bikes. 

strumjoughlamps

How many years ago was this? 24 years ago when I was taught to ride a bike the way I was taught was your left side of the bike deals with gearing(left hand clutch left foot change) and right side deals with braking(right hand front right foot back).

randomhandclaps

I don't know about others but Triumph switched over in 1975.  Anything pre-'75 is right-hand side gear or has been converted.  Norton kept right hand side far longer than most.

hywelg

1974 it was when I got rid of my leaky noisy unreliable BSA B25 and got a beautiful Kawasaki S3 400 triple in red. Rocket ship! Outgunned my mates Bonneville. By that time Japanese bikes were everywhere.

littlegreenman

Got my first bike in 86 so only ever known left foot gear shift, down and then up. Makes sense to have a worldwide standard I guess. (insert Luddite caveat here! )

DrBob

octatonic said:

Decided to get a bike license for my daily commute.

I'm not from the UK so not entirely sure of the process- can someone who rides give me a summary of what I need to do and what sort of bike I should learn on?

I'm a big guy- 6ft 2, 100kg so not sure if a 125cc is the way to go.

I'm assuming I'll get a bike to learn on before getting something bigger but I don't know exactly what sort of thing.

I'm not interested in racing type bikes- I like custom cruisers and the like.

Can anyone help me out here?

I'm 6'6" and 120kg, passed my bike licence on the Direct Access route in 98, went from never having ridden a bike before to running a CBR600 inside of a week, went from that through a ZXR750,ZX7-R,ZX-9R, then a 5 year lay off and a Fazer600.
However through all those bikes my favourite was the last one an ER6N.

Small, not particularly powerful, but so light, so forgiving, like a BMX with an engine, I cannot recommend it highly enough

breakstuff

Did my CBT on a twist and go then went out and bought this

http://i1352.photobucket.com/albums/q659/breakstuff42/IMG_47900631325761_zps30aa898f.jpg

Suzuki VL125 Intruder.Fantastic bike,not the fastest but plenty of torque due to the V twin engine.Looks and sounds like a much bigger bike.Great fuel economy too.

octatonic

breakstuff said:

Did my CBT on a twist and go then went out and bought this

http://i1352.photobucket.com/albums/q659/breakstuff42/IMG_47900631325761_zps30aa898f.jpg

Suzuki VL125 Intruder.Fantastic bike,not the fastest but plenty of torque due to the V twin engine.Looks and sounds like a much bigger bike.Great fuel economy too.

That looks great- ok I'll check out VL125's as well as YBR's.

octatonic

Anyone have opinions on the Triumph Thunderbird?

Been reading that it is a better ride and better equipped than the Harley equivalent.

Phil_aka_Pip

randomhandclaps said:

Prior to the explosion of the Japanese motorbike industry, all British bikes had gear shift on the right.  Some European bikes had left-hand gear shift.  The Japanese builders all went left-hand.  When they started gaining success British makers feared sales would plummet as people would become used to left-hand and they changed manufacture to the from the right to left and started converting existing bikes. 

I think the main pressure came from America. Which IIRC displeased H-D, but the Japanese liked it. Putting the gearshift on the primary drive side severely weakened the castings of the Triumph and Norton gearboxes. It was a bad move.

Old farts like me (although we can get used to upside down gears on the wrong side when we're thinking about it) will always try to change gear with the brake pedal or push the gear shift when reacting automatically to a hazard. 1 up and 3 down made for the fastest accelleration because you didn't spend too many milliseconds between gears (and hence slowing down again). On the right made sense because the primary drive was on the left and you didn't want the gearshift shaft going through the primary chaincase before it could get into the gearbox. Another advantage was when your final chain broke it wouldn't take the clutch pushrod with it, as the clutch pushrod was operated from the timing side and went through the gearbox i/p shaft from the back of the clutch so it was fully encased and protected.

Phil_aka_Pip

octatonic said:

Anyone have opinions on the Triumph Thunderbird?

Been reading that it is a better ride and better equipped than the Harley equivalent.

Deffo. Harleys don't handle, they don't hold the road, and they shake themselves apart. Triumphs always scored on the first two, and it would seem that the new ones also score on the last.

Phil_aka_Pip

hywelg said:

1974 it was when I got rid of my leaky noisy unreliable BSA B25 and got a beautiful Kawasaki S3 400 triple in red. Rocket ship! Outgunned my mates Bonneville. By that time Japanese bikes were everywhere.

Shame about the B25, it were a good handling bike, and easily serviced, but unfortunately badly engineered. The Kwacker triples had a hinge in the middle, and yes they went like snot off a stick, but they could equally spit you off as soon as look at you.

chillidoggy

My mate's a paramedic. He says there are only two types of biker: Those that have fallen off, and those that are going to fall off.

octatonic

You can have my retinas, chillstoid!

randomhandclaps

There I was expecting the retort - "There are only two types of biker: Those that have had your Mum, and those that are going to have your Mum." - I'm disappointed.

Grunfeld

octatonic said:

Decided to get a bike license for my daily commute.

I'm not from the UK so not entirely sure of the process- can someone who rides give me a summary of what I need to do and what sort of bike I should learn on?

I'm a big guy- 6ft 2, 100kg so not sure if a 125cc is the way to go.

I'm assuming I'll get a bike to learn on before getting something bigger but I don't know exactly what sort of thing.

I'm not interested in racing type bikes- I like custom cruisers and the like.

Can anyone help me out here?

I'm 6ft.  When I was despatch riding I was doing between 700 and 1000 miles per week.  Mostly in London, but inevitably some long-distance too.  That kind of riding kills a lot of bikes so choosing well was important.  I found that the best despatch bikes also made really good commuter bikes too.

Much will come down to personal taste but as I was earning my living riding I needed bikes that were going to be comfortable (cos I was riding 8-10 hours a day); and very reliable; and economical.

Having tried all sizes I settled on a string of mid-range Japs.  All around the 500-650 cc mark.  For despatch work I came to strongly prefer shaft drives.  For commuting it wasn't so important. 

I don't know what the favoured despatch bikes are now but if I were looking to get a bike again that's where I'd start looking.  My last commuter bike was a Honda CB 500.  Boringly reliable.  Plenty rapid up to 60mph (obviously it goes faster, about 110mph iirc, but that was where the quick acceleration ran out on the stock bike).  Economical.  Cheap enough and parts cheap too.  The only problem with it was journeys over 100 miles in length felt a bit cramped, but there was no problem at all with comfort with journeys below that distance.

chillidoggy

octatonic said:

You can have my retinas, chillstoid!

The kidneys would be better, thanks.

octatonic

Is there any reason why I shouldn't buy one of these?

http://www.triumphrocket.com/images/r3_2_1024x768.jpg

jd0272

It's the size of a house may do it..