Hi Peeps
I've been lurking for ages and I keep seeing threads I wanna contribute to but it seems kinda rude to jump in without any sort of introduction so here is my first post:
Back in Feb I was trawling ebay looking for a bike suitable for riding with a mate of mine who succumbed to the strange allure of harley ownership.
The challenge for me was could I find something slow enough
to keep up that could still be fun and less embarrassing than a mid-life crises on wheels (apologies harley owners. only kidding, I'd quite like one really. well..., only if it was in a buell cos I'm allergic to tassels).
In the end I bought an XBR, mainly because I've always liked them and remembered the positive reviews when they came out (Gosh, I must have spent hundreds on motorcycle mags in the eighties!).
I've put a few miles on it now and its great to be reminded how much fun you can have on light small bikes (wish I'd never sold the X7's of my youth..Brian 'Badger' Crighton tune, microns, K&Ns allspeed reeds.. aaah those were days...).
Anyway, I digress, back to the XBR. Impressions after 3000 miles:
The lazy rake takes a bit of getting used to - It felt like it didn't want to lean, but now I'm used to it I like it, it makes it feel very planted for such a light bike.
I was a bit disappointed with the poke at first especially as the motad is sposed to be an improvement on stock pipes, but a new air filter and an iridium plug as championed (pun?) on this forum has livened it up a little.
It dies every now and then especially coming to a stop on a closed throttle, (I've open up the tappets to the revised gaps but I don't know what main jet its on and the primary screw is seized) but I can live with that for now, (plenty blipping!) and I'm getting about 60mpg - that's gotta be good.
What is it with the weird lack of compression thing if you leave it standing? I thought the kickstart mechanism was iffy the first time I experienced that - It doesn't burn oil so what on earth causes it?
Can't beat the styling (would have preferred spoked wheels tho), its all just so nice and simple, nothing extraneous - you could just use a pic of it in the dictionary to define the the word motorcycle.
And I love the exhaust note and the way it burbles on the overrun it feels so right thumping round the back-lanes and villages, that how a bike should sound.
Right thats enough lyrical waxing (makes me saddlesore
), just wanted to say hello all and thanks for all the good advice on this forum.
Mark
