Chop it?

[johnr]

I am with Andy on this, seems perverse to take a bike that works ie handles OK etc
Steffan

And stick a bl00dy sidecar on it.

Only if you want to be able to carry more, not fall off in the snow and have handling that requires thinking on every corner.

Why do all these cruiser designs have the same small tank, long forks and wide bars? For practical considerations like stability a sidecar is a logical conclusion. When artists reach the same conclusion isn't it called derivative?


Andy

but thats the thing in the modern era, logic goes out of the window. if you want practical, buy a ford ka, better on juice, more reliable and probably costs less to tax. doesnt fall over in the snow and ice, starts every day, keeps you dry when it rains. you see, if you want to remove personal choice and taste from it all, and reduce transport to a purely practical method of transporting people from a to b, then sidecars, trikes and most bikes dont figure in it at all. however, if the choice is to be individual and left to the person doing the riding, then the method of transport is all their own, and they can choose whatever method it is that they think suits them. and if that method has a sidecar on the side, or a set of apehangers and 13 inch over front forks, then who are we to say its wrong?

[Ian]

Thats the beauty of biking and this club as well...Everyone has a different idea of what a "good idea"(bike) should be. Its whatever floats your boat. I too cant see the purpose of bikes that you have to ride like a monkey swinging from the trees but it suits some so let them enjoy. I too am looking for a project at the mo and I dont really know what Im looking for but I DO know what Im not looking for if that makes sense (none of my gibberish seems to of late).
 Just my tenpenn`orth for what its worth.

Ian

[el vencejo]

I'm with the practical side.  
Any changes I make to my bikes are to improve the functionality for how I ride (rapid and ragged) and where I ride (lots of bumpy hairpin bends); so big head angles and rigid frames are out.
If I lived down on the coast, slow roads, very gentle curves; then a chop might work.
I've never thought of my bike as a fashion accessory, so impractical bikes which may look pretty just do not appeal.

[guest1155]

chops look awesome, especially parked on the waterfront / in front of a pub / riding slowly past power rangers and their girlfriends. they hark back to the easy rider type roomanticism type stuff. i like em. however, there is a certain amount of eye of the beholder stuff with them. i also like going round corners. fast. so i prefer something with springs as my main bike. read that as only bike (at the moment) m,ainly because i had a hardtail and hit a large bump (torpoint road just before the seaton turnoff for anyone local to plymouth). the single most scary incident of my 17years on a bike  without actually having a ccrash. hardtails look good but arent great in the twisties.

[guest7]

I'm starting to appreciate the custom flat-tracker look. Anyone else here a fan of Sideburn magazine?



GC

[el vencejo]

¿flat-tracker?....

well, my RD09 has a shortened flat tracker seat,   

but it also has an XL500s tank, VFR clip-ons, SuperMoto wheels, high level cans

Apart from "hill climbing cafe mongrel" I don't know what to call it !

[guest868]

I'm starting to appreciate the custom flat-tracker look. Anyone else here a fan of Sideburn magazine?



GC

Yes, my SR was used in some of the pics in issue 3 or 4 I think.

[johnr]

saw em at stafford, have to say ive always liked the flat track style.

[guest7]

The flat-tracker Hinckley Bonneville on the Sideburn stand at Stafford was reputed to have cost £25k!

GC

[Andy M]

The flat-tracker Hinckley Bonneville on the Sideburn stand at Stafford was reputed to have cost £25k!

GC

 

Now that would make it a simple choice. A bike, or months off work to ride the standard one I have 

I thought the idea was to take things off? 

Andy

[guest7]

It had a pukka Trackmaster frame, trick Performance Machine alloys and all sorts of engine trickery pokery.

Whilst your there Metters, I heard a story the other day that may appeal to your interest in electronics. There's a bloke here in Cardiff that all the car garages use to diagnose electronic problems. He doesn't fix anything himself, he just tells the garages what's wrong. One garage rang him up about a fault with an Astra and he said, "Disconnect the (specified) block connector and redline the engine three times, reconnect the connector and it will be fixed". They did that and it was indeed fixed.

I find this close to witchcraft.

GC

[themoudie]

I suspect he's wired differently GC!

Dreams in 0's or 1's and programmes chips!

I can't even get my bi-metallic thermostat wired round the right way!

'Poor circulation'

[Andy M]

I find this close to witchcraft.

GC

I guess it's that complex it can seem that way. All he's doing is disconnecting something like the air flow meter which puts the ECU into a limp home/calibration mode, then re-teaching it the full rev range. When the bit that confused it (computer hell has 2's!!!!) comes back to life (reconnected) it works. It's actually a lot of very very simple components, but ends up a bit like trying to figure out how an ant hill works.

Andy

[johnr]

Whilst your there Metters, I heard a story the other day that may appeal to your interest in electronics. There's a bloke here in Cardiff that all the car garages use to diagnose electronic problems. He doesn't fix anything himself, he just tells the garages what's wrong. One garage rang him up about a fault with an Astra and he said, "Disconnect the (specified) block connector and redline the engine three times, reconnect the connector and it will be fixed". They did that and it was indeed fixed.


GC

is his name Dai Agnose?

[guest7]

LOL  

That's not the way it works here, he'd be more likely to be called Dai Wire or Dai Fuse. Dai Agnose is way funnier though.

From the Uxbridge English Dictionary (google it for more details):

Diary - To sound a bit welsh
Diabolical - Welsh fertility expert

GC