Midweek topic

[guest7]

You lightweights! My outfit (or at least some of it) is approaching 160,000 miles

Aha! no wonder it's fucked! 

GC

[Steve Lake]

Graham.....I suggest that whatever bike you end up with......you will still end up with a garage/shed full of cr*p.....just the way you are mate......
Also....I'd stick with the devil you know......all your own parts......and your labour....you know thats what you want to do really.....and then you don't have to get stressed out about an untidy workshop/shed...it's part of the deal

I'm in the same situation.....4 srx's (2 track, 2 road) and sufficient parts to build probably 3 more (admittedly 400's unless i go hunting for 600 lumps)....and had the same thoughts about possibly going for something that i spent more time riding than tinkering.....but i like the idea of having a bike/s 25 years old, that, but for my benovlent ministrations would be on the scrap heap,   I also appreciate that I now work 3 days a week, and my bikes are more for fun than workhorses.....which doesn't map onto your situation too well.

[guest18]

You lightweights! My outfit (or at least some of it) is approaching 160,000 miles

Aha! no wonder it's fucked! 

GC

On the other hand I know how reliable machines get past 60K... and I guess you do to now  it's perfectly possible to keep them going indefinetely, but after a while you end up spending the cost of a replacement (either in cash or time or both) just to keep it going, and then you need two bikes just in case something major goes on your "main" bike, and then they each get half the maintenance so the breakdowns get more frequent.... and so on and so forth until you end up with a double garage full of spare bikes just to keep one on the road  (ringing any bells yet?  ) fine if it's a hobby, but when it's your primary means of transport it becomes a pita!
If I want to continue enjoying the lifestyle I do my bike has to behave like a car, it needs to start and be useable 99.9% of the time, if I can't trust it it affects my livelihood and indeed relationships adversely in many ways (eg fail to make appointments once or twice and you become the guy who is unreliable, even if you made it on time fifty or sixty times before...).

There is a very big difference between hobby bikes and workhorses, both have their place but they have very different requirements. A workhorse can often do both, a hobby bike....

[Steve H]

You lightweights! My outfit (or at least some of it) is approaching 160,000 miles

Aha! no wonder it's fucked! 

GC

Your comment reminded me of this quote from Only Fools and Horses

http://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/onlyfools/quotes/quote11.shtml

Only in your case it would be

GC And that's what I've done. Maintained it for 160,000 mils. This old XBR's had 17 new engines and 14 new frames in its time.
Steve How the hell can it be the same bloody XBR then?
GC Theres the number plate. What more proof do you need?

[guest7]

Hurrumph! 

I was pondering on this topic and a good example of being more selective came to mind. A few of us on this forum carry on fettling late 70s/early 80s Boxers. At the end of the day we have fairly mundane looking standard(ish) BMWs (no offence intended here btw).

Another contirbutor, Furry John, spent his money (and not much of it) on an R75 with R90s barrels and carbs, disk brake front end and sundry other superb little touches. Every time he goes to the garage he sees a superb classic BMW with performance to humble many a more modern boxer.

On one hand my boxer cost £100 and is very slowly being restored (but is essentially a bag of shite). John's cost a fair bit more, but he will have ridden many summers on his stunner before mine sees action again.

GC

[guest7]

You lightweights! My outfit (or at least some of it) is approaching 160,000 miles

Aha! no wonder it's fucked! 

GC

Your comment reminded me of this quote from Only Fools and Horses

http://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/onlyfools/quotes/quote11.shtml

Only in your case it would be

GC And that's what I've done. Maintained it for 160,000 mils. This old XBR's had 17 new engines and 14 new frames in its time.
Steve How the hell can it be the same bloody XBR then?
GC Theres the number plate. What more proof do you need?

It's almost as bad as that 

Bought with 80k on the clock with a blown up motor.

Rebuilt with a different motor then hitched to a chair.

Changed the motor to a 650

Changed back to the original motor (so 3 motors, one of which, still in place, is the original)

Frame changed after a catastrophic breakage (so that's 2 frames)

Wheels, switchgear and bodywork have been swapped around so often it's hard to say if any of that is the original.

But, the engine and the first frame did virtually all of the 160k so I think it's fair to say that the same bike did the miles... isn't it? 

GC