Topic: Greetings! I'm new

[deefree]

Ouch! That is horrible what happened to your bike. That must have been awful. I'm impressed you hung with it and resurrected your bike. Did you ever find out who the culprit was? That is a hanging offense IMO...

My 2nd bike, a Yamaha 80 2 stroke was stolen. I had it when I moved to Columbus and was going to college. I know who stole it and I didn't do anything about it. The bike was pretty much a mess anyway. Me and a close friend bought it and shared it. It only cost $75! That was in 1967.

It does get pretty wet or snowy around here from November to January. It dries up some in February but March is usually a soggy mess with some cold snaps and still snow. Most people around here ride from May to October, but the harder core folks will stretch it out as long as possible. We had an unseasonably warm day today, it was about 65 F which is I think is about 16 Centigrade. It was cloudy but dry and after work I took out the 200 and then the 400. It gets dark very early now, so I only had about an hour, and I snuck out of work about 90 minutes early! Otherwise it is already getting dark when I get home. (It is dicey at night now because you can't see the mud and leaves on the road and that stuff is everywhere. Plus there is a slippery dampness on the road when it cools at night this late in the Fall here)

One good thing I guess is that it is pretty dry and sunny around here most of the time from May to October. We get rainy periods of course, but mostly it is decent. Those lucky folks in the western U.S. can ride all year.

The rest of us take what we can get! 

[dave400]

I don’t think the person/persons who stole my bike ever got caught and hanging is too quick, a slow painful death would be a more fitting punishment.
 
I don’t get as much time as I’d like to get out on my bike in the summer months, the winter is even harder because of the weather I don’t mind the cold but cold and rain means I just don’t enjoy myself. I must be getting old, it never used to bother me but it does now. 

[deefree]

Well we are all getting older 

But riding in the rain SUCKS. If you get any speed going the rain begins to feel like hail...it actually hurts!

The first time I got caught in the rain, I was at least 15km from home. It was at night and there wasn't any shelter around, just open country roads. It was really coming down so I decided to get home as fast as possible. Big mistake. I was inexperienced and every time I turned left, the bike slipped out under me. The wipeouts were rather spectacular. It was so wet though that I just skidded on the pavement, just like going down a water slide at the pool. I crashed like that 3 times in a row but luckily I didn't mess myself up too much. That was on the Yamaha 80.

Ever since then I've avoided riding in the rain if possible.

Oh, by the way, I forgot to respond to something you said earlier. It was about mopeds...man I couldn't agree more. I've never had any desire to get on one of those, even when I was a teenager.

Here is a pic of the Kawasaki I recently sold.

[dave400]

I thought it was just me getting grumpy.

I’ve always had Dunlop TT100’s fitted on my 400, it came with the original plastic Bridgestone tyres in 1980 and they got changed as soon as I picked my bike up from the bloke selling it. I’ve never had any problems with wet roads using those tyres and you can go around corners with great confidence even in heavy downpours. I don’t think I’d try it these days at the sort of speed I used to travel around at but the times I’ve been caught out in the rain they’ve worked well, but I do prefer dry weather riding best like yourself.

As long as you where only falling off a Yam 80 that’s fine, for a moment I thought you were writing about your 400 and I was cringing about the damage getting done to the 400…phewww 

I wish I’d bought one of those mopeds now I’ve seen a nice Yam FS-1E we called them Fizzys sell for about $10K they are very collectable over here. I’m not sure they would have been a US bike, I think they got made for the UK 16 year old riding regulations in the 70’s but I could be wrong?

I’m not sure if the BBC link will work outside the UK, but if it does then watch from about 10 mins 6 secs

http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediaselector/check/england/realmedia/insideout/east/insideout?size=16x9&bgc=C0C0C0&nbram=1&bbram=1&nbwm=1&bbwm=1#

My friend had the European version of that Kwak it was called the SR650 over hear but it never had a seat like that!   

[deefree]

Yeah I'm pretty sure the seat was added by a previous owner. I don't think it is original to the bike. It was confortable which kind of went along with how the bike rode. Real smooth, easy to control and boring. The only time I had fun on it was to push it like crazy. The next thing I'd realize is I'm going way over the speed limit. In other words, the only way to have fun on that bike was too go real fast. That gets old after awhile too.

On the 400 it is completely different. I can be on side streets pretty much near the speed limit and the ride is still great. The 400 becomes an extension of your will and feels like its a part of you that is extended all the way to the pavement. Its a great rush and when you add in the sound it is awsome. Mine has the baffle taken out of the muffler and so it screams when I give it gas. Right now I wouldn't trade it for anything.

The 650 never came close to that. I think the 200 is even more fun than the 650. I find this amazing in a way because 15 years ago if someone asked me to pick a bike out of a lineup that had a CB200, CB400, KZ650SR & CB750, I would have picked the 750 without hesitating. Now ask me the same thing today and I would pick the CB400 in a heartbeat.

[dave400]

I rode another friends Z650 and I agree with you, I just felt my 400/4 was a bit more fun and agile riding around in the city traffic and even out in the countryside. I rode to the Cote d’ Azur on my 400/4 with him and another friend on his CB750 and I think I had the most fun out of all three of us following the Route de Napoleon over the Alps, that road I think was built with the 400 in mind. The little bugger also performed well on the motorway coming home from our adventure on the Mediterranean, it  took a full day less than the 750 to get home, and only ten mins behind the 650. 
 After my bike got stolen I never even thought about buying another one, I knew the next time I rode a bike it would be a 400 and preferably my original one, it took some time but like you the 400 ticks all the boxes and would be my first choice in any line up. 

[mercury66]

Hi, welcome from Scotland!

Great intro. Great to hear your 400/4 story 

Ewan

[deefree]

Thanks Ewen! I like your avatar too. That bucket of parts looks like how I feel some mornings... 

[deefree]

I rode another friends Z650 and I agree with you, I just felt my 400/4 was a bit more fun and agile riding around in the city traffic and even out in the countryside. I rode to the Cote d’ Azur on my 400/4 with him and another friend on his CB750 and I think I had the most fun out of all three of us following the Route de Napoleon over the Alps, that road I think was built with the 400 in mind. The little bugger also performed well on the motorway coming home from our adventure on the Mediterranean, it  took a full day less than the 750 to get home, and only ten mins behind the 650. 

Cool story Dave...sounds like one hell of a good ride! Now I'm severely jealous. It is unfortunately almost completely flat land around here. If I go 100km north there are some gentle hills and about the same distance southeast to some curvy hills. Nothing spectacular though...That would be at least a 5 hour drive away.   

[mercury66]

Yessiree.. buckets are cool - especially when you take the big bits oot and dip into the 10 yr old rusty oil goo of allen keys and carb bits at the bottom!

[dave400]

Hi, welcome from Scotland!

Great intro. Great to hear your 400/4 story 

Ewan

Ewen, looks like you have some work to do and I don’t envy you your challenge, good luck!

Dave

[dave400]

I rode another friends Z650 and I agree with you, I just felt my 400/4 was a bit more fun and agile riding around in the city traffic and even out in the countryside. I rode to the Cote d’ Azur on my 400/4 with him and another friend on his CB750 and I think I had the most fun out of all three of us following the Route de Napoleon over the Alps, that road I think was built with the 400 in mind. The little bugger also performed well on the motorway coming home from our adventure on the Mediterranean, it  took a full day less than the 750 to get home, and only ten mins behind the 650. 

Cool story Dave...sounds like one hell of a good ride! Now I'm severely jealous. It is unfortunately almost completely flat land around here. If I go 100km north there are some gentle hills and about the same distance southeast to some curvy hills. Nothing spectacular though...That would be at least a 5 hour drive away.   

The Alps are about an 800 mile ride from home and our campsite was about another 300 miles further down the road but what a road. I stopped and took a photo, the hole in the rock is the road going through…… awesome journey I’ll never forget and was made that much better by the way the 400 just did it with ease around some tight bends quite away up the mountains! 

[deefree]

Yessiree.. buckets are cool - especially when you take the big bits oot and dip into the 10 yr old rusty oil goo of allen keys and carb bits at the bottom!

Lovely Ewan! I apologize by the way for misspelling your name before, just careless. sorry.

[deefree]

Dave that picture is truly awesome...Wow! A trip of a lifetime. There are some scenes like that in the western U.S. but I've never been on a bike there. I imagine there is nothing like riding in that kind of beauty and awe-inspiring scale...just the hugeness of it all.

[dave400]

If you read this Ewan sorry about the name mistake oops sorry also from me!


 David   the trip through the Alps was a mistake but I enjoyed it, we got so lost we only had a map we picked up in a French supermarket on a napkin in the cafeteria and  the supermarket chain had no supermarkets in the south of the country. We thought Geneve was a French town down south when we seen the road signs so we rode that direction, it  was actually Switzerland Geneva a long storey but what a hoot. When we got stopped at the border at Switzerland you could have knocked us over with a feather, but we got talking with some other Brits at customs and the Alps seemed like a good Idea and I’m so glad we got lost. If you ever win your lotto take your 400 and ride that road down into Cannes, my photo never done justice to that part of the journey. I was so enjoying the ride I never took the photos I should have done.   

[deefree]

That is a great story Dave. Sometimes the best journeys are by accident. I guess it is too bad you didn't snap more pics, but you did experience it and that is what is important.

[deefree]

It is going to snow today and the riding in central Ohio is likely finished until next year. A sad day in motorcycle land.

[dave400]

I haven’t been out on my 400 since my MoT expired early September, I met up with Mick on his 750F (mcpuffett on this forum). I’ll probably not bother riding again until spring arrives. I’ll be doing some work on my bike during the colder months but in the garage this time,  I don’t envy all the snow you get over there!

Mine and Micks 750F parked up in a seaside town called Southport

http://i234.photobucket.com/albums/ee75/mcpuffett/southport002.jpg

[deefree]

I'm not just pulling your chain when I say that your bike truly looks awesome. It is beautiful! Both Hondas in the picture look nice, but yours really stands out. Actually I don't see the need for you to change the mag wheels either, they look very natural on your 400.

I thought we were going to get a couple of inches of snow but almost 6" have fallen overnight and this morning. Drivers in Columbus are awful in the snow. I grew up 150 miles north of here in Cleveland. We got what they called "lake effect" snow on the East side where I lived. Sometimes we would get up to 3 or 4 feet of snow. We used to build tunnels in it! Anyway, the drivers up there weren't intimidated by the snow because they were used to it. It was really an adjustment for me to learn how bad people drive in Columbus when it snows.

I don't think there will be any motorcycle riding here either until spring. It is supposed to warm up towards the end of the week, but the roads will probably be all slop. It won't be worth the trouble. So it is time to pull out the batteries and bring them inside. That is an annual ritual that always brings my spirits down.

[dave400]

Thanks for the kind words about our bikes, I like the mag wheels also they were fitted by Honda on 398cc versions and not the 408cc road 400/4’s for a race series here in the UK, from what I’ve read about them.
Blimey if we get more than inch of snow in this country, the whole place comes to a standstill and chaos is caused until it melts away. I dread to think what it would be like if we had more than three foot of snow fall and stay! I realise now why bike for sale on ebay US seem to have such low mileage I wouldn’t drive mine in those sort of conditions during winter either. 
Get the batteries out and on charge, it’s going to be spring in no time at all I’m sure, well it will be over here in coldish rainy England.