Thread: Which Bike ??

Originally Posted by berg243

its all cool and fun till a bee stings you on your old fella.

Its not the bee's that are the problem, its wasps. My Bro was riding his XL to school in his uniform shorts many moons ago and he collected a wasp on the thigh (inside about halfway up) and it stung him about 6 or so times in a line as the wind blew it up his shorts. It got pretty close to a serious swelling.......Neither he or the wasp seemed happy about the situation.

Are we talking KX500 with 17" wheels or RZ500/RG500 here?

Sage advice. I just need to find a way to implement it at 61 though.

Originally Posted by timattalon

Its not the bee's that are the problem, its wasps. My Bro was riding his XL to school in his uniform shorts many moons ago and he collected a wasp on the thigh (inside about halfway up) and it stung him about 6 or so times in a line as the wind blew it up his shorts. It got pretty close to a serious swelling.......Neither he or the wasp seemed happy about the situation.

I had one get stuck on the only mesh part of my leathers which happened to be in the arm pit, bugger stung me three times through it.

Originally Posted by outlander

Are we talking KX500 with 17" wheels or RZ500/RG500 here?

I was thinking TSS RS500GP would be fun.

Yea bloody wasps, I've been got a few times, worse was riding the XT550, corner of rocks road & beach in Nelson, with visor up, bastard got me on the check, 7-8 times, before I got bike hauled up and helmet off. Lucky was a cop following, as that has to be, one of the most distracting, sections of road, in the country in, summer.

I had been thinking of a new bike as mine was put on hold six years ago. I could not justify the high rego cost with the low use it was getting as my hip joint deteriorated and riding became painful. Now that the new hip is improving and so is the weather I decided to drag it out from under the covers where it was parked in the carport. It didn't look good but it scrubed up well with plenty of carwash.An oil and filter change, pump up the tyres remove the plugs (last changed 20 yrs ago)add a little oil to the bores spun it over untill the oil light went out, replaced the same plugs and it started and ran like it had never been put to sleep.Its 35 years old and only one owner who took it for quick spin today. Maybe I need a couple more years to really decide if I will keep it. New rego and wof soon, very little traffic around here so might need some more road testing first.

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Originally Posted by john m

I had been thinking of a new bike as mine was put on hold six years ago. I could not justify the high rego cost with the low use it was getting as my hip joint deteriorated and riding became painful. Now that the new hip is improving and so is the weather I decided to drag it out from under the covers where it was parked in the carport. It didn't look good but it scrubed up well with plenty of carwash.An oil and filter change, pump up the tyres remove the plugs (last changed 20 yrs ago)add a little oil to the bores spun it over untill the oil light went out, replaced the same plugs and it started and ran like it had never been put to sleep.Its 35 years old and only one owner who took it for quick spin today. Maybe I need a couple more years to really decide if I will keep it. New rego and wof soon, very little traffic around here so might need some more road testing first.

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What condition are the tyres like after sitting so long?

It had new tyres just before getting parked they will have hardened but look and feel good

Originally Posted by outlander

Are we talking KX500 with 17" wheels or RZ500/RG500 here?

I owned an RG500 gamma for about 7 years. Absolute blast to ride.
Then came children and a mortgage.....
Now both have gone and it's a Z1000 and a KLE 500

Originally Posted by Shearer

I owned an RG500 gamma for about 7 years. Absolute blast to ride.
Then came children and a mortgage.....
Now both have gone and it's a Z1000 and a KLE 500

Mate you can still hold your head high with both those bikes. I had a ZIR years ago and sold it to buy a Z1000 turbo ( 78 model ). The turbo was insane, some crazy mechanical genius built it. Wisco low compression pistons, Ape clutch , no wastegate and boosting over 30 psi when wide open. Thing used to go that fast that the front end would start to lift over 160mph , saw 190 mph one day with the needle still creeping up, evil and wicked. Cold winter days were the best when the air was cool and dense , crack it open and it felt like God had just picked you up and thrown you down the highway the acceleration was so brutal.
I added water injection , fuel pump off a GT mini 1275 cause it couldn't get enough gas under heavy boost, it was a combination of mechanical wizardry and a healthy dose of insanity .

Originally Posted by viper

Mate you can still hold your head high with both those bikes. I had a ZIR years ago and sold it to buy a Z1000 turbo ( 78 model ). The turbo was insane, some crazy mechanical genius built it. Wisco low compression pistons, Ape clutch , no wastegate and boosting over 30 psi when wide open. Thing used to go that fast that the front end would start to lift over 160mph , saw 190 mph one day with the needle still creeping up, evil and wicked. Cold winter days were the best when the air was cool and dense , crack it open and it felt like God had just picked you up and thrown you down the highway the acceleration was so brutal.
I added water injection , fuel pump off a GT mini 1275 cause it couldn't get enough gas under heavy boost, it was a combination of mechanical wizardry and a healthy dose of insanity .

Like more than once.

Originally Posted by southernman

Yea bloody wasps, I've been got a few times, worse was riding the XT550, corner of rocks road & beach in Nelson, with visor up, bastard got me on the check, 7-8 times, before I got bike hauled up and helmet off. Lucky was a cop following, as that has to be, one of the most distracting, sections of road, in the country in, summer.

We did the Molesworth one year. Stinking hot say and were riding with visors up and doing about 50 on gravel on road bikes (XV1000 and a XJ750 circa mid 80s.) We both still ride the same two bikes some 25 years later. Anyway the mate n the 750 had a wee off. A few bruises a dented ego and scratches in the paintwork. Bit to cap his day off, before we got to hamner he had two bee stings, one right between the eyes and one in the middle of the forehead. Both swelled up comething fierce and we still had the trip from Hamner to Kiakoura and up to Blenheim to go. Great day, great trip, but came with a cost.......

Holy hell! I had a new '77 Z1000. The bastard thing made me sea sick from weaving at anything beyond 180 kmh. A turbo on that...you a brave man for sure!