A picture a day...biker banter (Vol 5)

[hiccy18]

Yogioes said:

we have a winner. Well spotted with not much to go on.
I reckon it was around 1980.

First two pictures were in sequence which made it easier, I've got plenty of pictures from those two angles too Couldn't quite place where the third pic was but guessing back straight; lack of kerbs definitely dates it.

Bangers look smashing Dibble

[jjones]

Yogioes said:

Love these type of photos.

[moanthebairns]

hiccy18 said:

Yogioes said:

we have a winner. Well spotted with not much to go on.
I reckon it was around 1980.

First two pictures were in sequence which made it easier, I've got plenty of pictures from those two angles too Couldn't quite place where the third pic was but guessing back straight; lack of kerbs definitely dates it.

Bangers look smashing Dibble

Looks like out of hislops on the third. I'm often amazed how rough it looked twenty years ago.

[Yogioes]

I’m pretty sure the third pic of no11 was on the main straight after the footbridge.

[moanthebairns]

Yogioes said:

I’m pretty sure the third pic of no11 was on the main straight after the footbridge.

That would explain the grass at the nearside at that point. But not as why he's still under the screen and not breaking for duffus or maybe that's just me.

[Benni]

Can´t cope with these riding pix ( look at that tiny contact patch in Knockhill pic 1 ) ,

but am well chuffed with my chain slack spanner.



Almost invisible when mounted ( black power coating to follow ) ,
and keeping the slack part of the chain from slapping / cutting the alu swing arm.

Spring-loaded axle, heavy-duty from a swing ( saloon-type ) door, hidden torsion spring is adjustable.

( This is just a dummy case, the real one is machined around the front sprocket for clearance. )

[Dibble]

hiccy18 said:

Bangers look smashing Dibble

Cheers pal. Another angle...



I’d rather be posting actual bike pictures, if I’m honest. Although I’m thinking I’ll be lucky to even be back on a bike before next year, as my surgery provisionally listed for July is looking increasingly unlikely. I can live with that to be honest, a few more months on top of three years isn’t such a big deal. I feel real sorry for people who’ve got stuff booked for this year who’ll miss out, or even people who can’t ride while we’re on lockdown. I know some people are still riding regardless, but I think most people are probably not riding unless they’re shopping/commuting.

Keep smiling, everyone. It’s frustrating not being able to ride, as I well know, but it will hopefully only be for a few months at most. There are more important things for us all to worry about now, such as keeping ourselves and our families/friends/colleagues safe and healthy and not burdening the NHS unnecessarily. Having seen the NHS much more And much more closely than I’d have liked, I know just how good and committed the majority of the (frontline) staff are. We should ALL be bloody grateful for them and remember it when all this shoite has calmed down and we are back to “normal” (I realise normal is relative, especially for us lot on BB!).

[rat840771]

My old house mate sent me this picture the other day, my 1st experience of a 4 stroke, that bike was amazing

[Birky_41]

rat840771 said:

My old house mate sent me this picture the other day, my 1st experience of a 4 stroke, that bike was amazing

I remember riding a SRAD 'R' Reg 1998 in 1999. It was between that on an R6 and for whatever reason I went with the R6 as it revved higher and felt faster (I was 17)

Think now if I did it again I would have gone Suzuki. They handled so good and sounded amazing. I never liked the 60 profile on the R6 and crashed my second one trying to be a hero on a local roundabout with my mates getting pics

[philcray]

jjones said:

Yogioes said:

Love these type of photos.

yes, great picture! I think I recognise an MZ, a friend had one of those and I can still hear the distinctive "b'ding ding ding" of the 2 stroke...

I thought the Suzuki was an X7 at first glance but then spotted it's a 4 stroke, a friend had an X7 and I had an RD250, classics, another friend had a 250 Superdream which was a crap bike even back then...

Is the other bike a Yam XR(?)650 with shaft drive, reviewed as the best real world bike back in the day.... I nearly bought a Yam XS550 but ended up with a second hand CX500 instead, happy days indeed....

[gareth_r]

Yamaha XJ650

[rat840771]

Back in the day we were lunatics, I do recall being side my side with a 98 blade and mine pulled away flat out in 5th. I also recall a tussle with a T595 and the Srad demolished it. It was awesome and did great wheelies in 2nd if you snapped the throttle at the sweet spot. It was a big change from the RD350LC that it replaced. This was in the days of parallel imports
Just checked the reg on MoT checker and it looks like it died in 2007

Birky_41 said:

rat840771 said:

My old house mate sent me this picture the other day, my 1st experience of a 4 stroke, that bike was amazing

I remember riding a SRAD 'R' Reg 1998 in 1999. It was between that on an R6 and for whatever reason I went with the R6 as it revved higher and felt faster (I was 17)

Think now if I did it again I would have gone Suzuki. They handled so good and sounded amazing. I never liked the 60 profile on the R6 and crashed my second one trying to be a hero on a local roundabout with my mates getting pics

[Yogioes]

philcray said:

jjones said:

Yogioes said:

Love these type of photos.

yes, great picture! I think I recognise an MZ, a friend had one of those and I can still hear the distinctive "b'ding ding ding" of the 2 stroke...

I thought the Suzuki was an X7 at first glance but then spotted it's a 4 stroke, a friend had an X7 and I had an RD250, classics, another friend had a 250 Superdream which was a crap bike even back then...

Is the other bike a Yam XR(?)650 with shaft drive, reviewed as the best real world bike back in the day.... I nearly bought a Yam XS550 but ended up with a second hand CX500 instead, happy days indeed....

gareth_r is correct with the silver Yamaha, an XJ650.
It was indeed an MZ250. There were three guys who owned them locally.
The blue Suzuki was a GSX250.

As an aside, none of them were mine. It would be another 25 years before I got a licence and a bike!
However, while out on the MZ following a GS550 which belonged to the guy in the white t shirt but with the guy on the left (the MZ owner) and the guy on the right as his pillion, it was wet and I managed to lock the front wheel, fall off and send both bikes and all three of us rolling down the road.
No injuries but it was a costly experience and I still have a healthy fear of too much front brake!

[podman]

Yogioes said:

I took hundreds of 35mm pictures at bike racing. Eventually cleared out all the dross and I was left with these three as the best...










And this happy memory of simpler days

Great pics, thanks for sharing....is that a CB250RS do we think?

[podman]

rat840771 said:

Back in the day we were lunatics, I do recall being side my side with a 98 blade and mine pulled away flat out in 5th. I also recall a tussle with a T595 and the Srad demolished it. It was awesome and did great wheelies in 2nd if you snapped the throttle at the sweet spot. It was a big change from the RD350LC that it replaced. This was in the days of parallel imports
Just checked the reg on MoT checker and it looks like it died in 2007

Birky_41 said:

rat840771 said:

My old house mate sent me this picture the other day, my 1st experience of a 4 stroke, that bike was amazing

I remember riding a SRAD 'R' Reg 1998 in 1999. It was between that on an R6 and for whatever reason I went with the R6 as it revved higher and felt faster (I was 17)

Think now if I did it again I would have gone Suzuki. They handled so good and sounded amazing. I never liked the 60 profile on the R6 and crashed my second one trying to be a hero on a local roundabout with my mates getting pics

Great bikes the SRADs, my brother bought one new in 1998, main reason being it came with a free years insurance, so as a new licence holder, the SRAD was considerably cheaper to buy new than anything else.

I also owned one back in 2010/11 I think, paid £1000 for it, was scruffy around the edges and needed a little bit of TLC but I did a trackday with it, loads of road thrashing, whacked a box on it, rode it down to the South of France at a more or less constant 9,000RPM, ...sold it for £1400 a couple of Summers later. Would defintley have another.

[Yogioes]

podman said:

Yogioes said:

I took hundreds of 35mm pictures at bike racing. Eventually cleared out all the dross and I was left with these three as the best...










And this happy memory of simpler days

Great pics, thanks for sharing....is that a CB250RS do we think?

I think you might be correct.
I recall thinking they were odd having two pipes on a single cylinder bike.

[gareth_r]

Yogioes said:

I think you might be correct.
I recall thinking they were odd having two pipes on a single cylinder bike.

That was a big thing in the '20s and '30s.

[carinaman]

gareth_r said:

Yogioes said:

I think you might be correct.
I recall thinking they were odd having two pipes on a single cylinder bike.

That was a big thing in the '20s and '30s.

Both 4 valves? Having two pipes makes for a simpler cylinder head casting?

[gareth_r]

carinaman said:

Both 4 valves? Having two pipes makes for a simpler cylinder head casting?

Some were (pre-war), but it was mostly fashion, I think.

[carinaman]

gareth_r said:

carinaman said:

Both 4 valves? Having two pipes makes for a simpler cylinder head casting?

Some were (pre-war), but it was mostly fashion, I think.

The Honda XBR500 is the same, but the KTM 390 and 690 4 valve singles only have one pipe.