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Heikos motorcycles
199x[1]-1998 Honda FT 500 '82
After I crashed my car, I bought this motorcycle (the one in front; Kampfbonsais GPZ900 in the back).
What sums this bike up for me?
- had Koni back shock absorber
- bad front shock absorber
- oil leaking cylinder head[2]
- something loose in the exhaust
- simple tech, easy to fix and maintain
- good handling
- Schuh mount and cases, looking not very stable but never let me down
- won't start if not used for 14 days. Also when temperatures below zero. Unfortunately the FT is missing the XL's kickstart. :-(
- pretty ugly :-)
After I bought the Pegaso my father inhertited the machine and drives it since.
1998-2001 Aprilia Pegaso '98
I rode this bike about 26Mm and sold it for the BMW.
What sums this bike up for me?
- a beauty
- badly designed ignition box, after "adjusting"[3] it, the hickup below 5000rpm was gone
- weak Sachs back shock absorber, died after 15Mm, exchanged it for one with handwheel for adjustment, luckily I could convince someone in italy[4] to get it on warranty
- Hepco and Becker sucks - those folks even denied that there is such thing as resonance frequency, which was in fact exactly at 4000rpm, wenn the whole mount began shaking and buzzing
- loosing screws
- a beauty[5]
2001-2008 BMW R1150GS '01
Bought in 2001...
...I rode it for nearly 8 years and 35Mm until I sold it 2008.
What sums this bike up for me?
- Badly designed ABS, if she was not moved for some days (especially winter), or it was below zero, ABS won't initialize for the next 100km[6]
- Badly designed rear brakes, when heavily breaking[7] (f.e. when driving down hill like at Stelvio Pass) the brakes fail
- Badly sized battery, when temperature below zero she most likely won't start (even if you have an fully loaded (but cold) battery)
- Very comfortable
- Very reliable[8]
- Paralever and Telelever are such a great thing!
- Can take a hell of a beating and still bring me home
- Yellow
2010-now Honda NTV 650 '91
I bought this Revere[9] in June 2010, with 71,700 km. (more to come)
Modifications:
- front springs from Wilbers
- SAE10 oil instead of SAE5 in front fork
- adjustable pegs from Thurn
- Bridgestone BT45
- Hepco & Becker case mount
What sums this bike up for me?
- yet to find out
(preliminary:
- Reliable
- Nearly unbeatable uphill, but very weak downhill due to the brakes
- Good handling in narrow bends, better than the GS
- Could use some extra hp
- Eierlegendewollmilchsaufuerwenigkohle
)
Footnotes:
- ↑ I have to look this up in the papers
- ↑ Typical for the XL500 engine
- ↑ The garage removed some resistors
- ↑ Yes, I had to talk to some italian call center...*sigh*
- ↑ Am I repeating myself?
- ↑ You might think, that especially in winter ABS should work - I agree. BMW obviously doesn't.
- ↑ Okay, by "braking" I mean: Drive downhill as fast as possible. Braking in the last moment until ABS kicks in. Repeating this for >40 turns
- ↑ besides the battery-, ABS- and the braking-issue, but that were minor (Okay - probably not minor. It's probably the reality distortion field (or just the need for justifying the price) problems :-) )
- ↑ Revere looks like an french word, but is actually english (german readers know what I mean). See here. More about the Revere.