Category Archives: Bikes

Bike stuff

Who Remembers Comerfords?

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When checking the prices of bikes back in the 70’s, Comerfords ad was always the first stop.

In 1970, they had a regular “slot” on the back page of “Motor Cycle” – a weekly newspaper of the time.

Here’s one from the 18th November 1970:

£695 for a CB750! That’ll be the K0 – now worth in the region of £5k – £10k.

Life Helmet Adverts from the 70’s (yes… those girls with the bodypaint…)

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Who remembers those iconic full colour ads from the motorcycle press in the 70’s?

I had an A1-sized poster on my wall at Uni that I picked up from one of the bikes shows of the time (probably the Racing & Sporting Show at the Victoria Horticultural Halls – now that’s another “Anyone remember…” thread!). That one had two of the girls on a sidecar outfit, full “kitted out” in Life helmets and bodypaint.

I recently found a pile of old bike papers in the back of a cupboard:

This is from Motorcycle Weekly of 25/3/78 and features a Suzuki GS (by the looks of it), oh…  and some bodypaint.

If anyone out there has any more of these I’d be delighted to put them up here! [I have Google-imaged “Life Helmet Advert Bodypaint] to no avail – there’s some interesting bodypaint out there (just make sure you have safesearch turned off!

Update:

Various bike forums have responded to my challenge and have dug up the picture that I remember as the poster on my wall:

The model “Tula”, was famous later in the 80’s as she was “outed” by the tabloids as a transexual…

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caroline_Cossey

Plus – found a magazine version (as opposed to the newspaper print above):

Note the different helmet…

Repairing a Broken Zip

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After 3 1/2 years and about 30k miles, my trusty Alpinestars SMX-4WP boots have suffered a broken zip! These boots have been brilliant – they are the Gore-Tex version (hence the “WP”) and haven’t leaked a drop in all that time.

Luckily, the broken part was the zip puller and so a simple fix with a large paperclip got me home from work that night.

I had seen those repair kits for zips that basically provide a plastic clip that goes over the paperclip but couldn’t find one anywhere.

Trying eBay (as you do), I came across this rather neat little gadget from Minerva Crafts & Fabrics

£1.99 plus 99p postage

Job done!

Solus Rideout (?)

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OK, I know the weather forecast was dreadful and that the actual weather was wet and windy, but this is the first time in 3 years that absolutely no Bulldog RATs have shown up for an organised rideout.

so·lus
[saw-loos;  Eng.  soh-luhs]
–adjective Latin
(referring to a man) alone; by oneself

I hope that you are all ashamed of yourselves…

So, quickly back home to catch up on the Japanese MotoGP on the Red Button and/or iPlayer (plus coffee and a warm dry house of course)

Triumph Street Triple

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… and a revisit of the latest Speed Triple 1050

On what was possibly the last sunny day of 2010 (felt like it anyway), I decided to celebrate the successful submission of both my company accounts and my personal tax return (don’t you just love the online service – no more traipsing down to the Post Office for Registered Mail and waiting for an acknowledgment).

An Earl Grey tea (they were out of my normal espresso-strength coffee) and I decided on the spur of the moment to take out the latest Speed Triple and the Street Triple for a back-to-back run.

First the Speedy:

This one was Tornado Red with a White stripe (very nice…)

More-or-less as I remember it from April this year but note that the Brembo caliper is now highlighted in red.

Sounds lovely and went as well as I remember. I was a little disappointed with the harshness of the front forks – maybe my old Sprint is just a little soft. It was quite uncomfortable on some of our pockmarked roads.

I tried a 90mph blast along the M4 and must admit that the natty little fly screen/deflector thingy seems to work well. No buffeting at all – the arm-stretch is still there though and I wouldn’t want to go any faster for long.

The clocks are nice – I like the white on black digits.

So, back at the dealer, another Earl Grey (still no coffee) and a go on the Street:

First impressions (100 yards up the road): WOW!

This is brilliant! Smaller, lighter, (cheaper), lovely feeling from the front forks. Very flickable.

The brakes are not as good as the Speedy – maybe I need to try the Street Triple R.

There’s also no burble and pop on the overrun. Maybe an aftermarket can would fix that.

There’s a very useful gear indicator (showing “n” for neutral – I initially thought that it had a dead LCD element). Also a silly line of blue lamps (LEDs?) that come on at 8k revs – presumably a “change gear now” indicator)

I had a ball on this bike.

Better than the Speed Triple?

Miles!

Triumph Sprint ST 955 Heel Guard

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The rear brake light switch on a Sprint 955 is “protected” by a rubber cover that sits right next to the rider’s right heel. After a while, constant movement of the rider’s boot destroys the rubber cover – check next time you see a 955 – there won’t be many that aren’t trashed!

I had seen some bikes fitted with what looked like a carbon heel guard or protector but have failed to track down where these came from.

Then I bought my black Sprint STealth

First thing I noticed was that it had one of these phantom heel guards fitted!

Even better – the previous owner had kept the fitting instructions and they were included in the documentation pack.

So, if you are looking for one of these:

The good news: It’s a Triumph part.

The bad news: It’s obsolete.

Here are the part numbers:

Heel Guard Kit Part number: A9728003
Heel Guard: A9720007
Spacer: A9750109 (2)
Flat Washer: 3550180-T03 (2)
Instructions: A99000093

Honda CBX550 FII (1982)

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I have just had the old CBX out for an MOT before it goes off to it’s new owner in Kent. I had forgotten just how much fun these old fours are.

It’s a tiny bike, even with the fairing perched in front of you. Not a clunk from the gearbox and an awesome noise from the original exhaust (OK, it has a small leak which helps with the sound a little).

A very revvy engine and good brakes (for their time). Honda tried these “in-board” disc brakes for a time in the early eighties in an attempt to deal with the performance of stainless discs in the wet. It worked, but there are horror stories about how difficult it is to service and change pads…

Both of these shots were taken by Phil Masters, a professional photographer who was working with Roland Brown on the day that he tested the CBX550. We are indebted to Phil for these two excellent pictures.

This is the bike that MCN borrowed for a week or two back in August 2008 – if we’d known that they were going to thrash the b******s off it, maybe we would have thought twice about lending it to them!

It came back safe and sound though – not many owners can prove that their 25 year old 550 is good for 117 mph! That was 750 territory in those days.

MCN ran a feature on this bike split into three parts and published on August 6th, 13th and 20th 2008.

They put it up against a CBR600RR (gulp) and the series was entitled “What difference does 25 years make?”

Results:

Standing 1/4 mile:
CBX: 14.02 seconds @ 96.4 mph
CBR: 11.48 seconds @ 126.8 mph

Top Speed:
CBX: 117.35 mph
CBR: 160.04 mph

On the dyno:
CBX: 53.02 bhp, 31.70 ftlb
CBR: 108.07 bhp, 44.59 ftlb

Verdict:
“The CBX, outdated, out-moded and out-performed or not had two massive things going for it even by modern standards: it was impressively comfortable and roomy (especially for pillions) and, better yet, it had bags of character. And maybe that’s why today’s bikers, more than ever, often have a superb modern bike – but also either own or lust after a classic from their youth too.”

That’s us then…  🙂

Triumph Sprint STealth – White Van saga now closed

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I have replaced my “White Van” Sprint ST with this black beauty:

Sprint STealth

I have had three Tornado Red Sprints over the last 4 years and decided to go for something a little different. Black was only available for two years (1999-2000) and although you see them around, this one lived in Kent and had only 9,955 miles on the clock with a full service history, MOTs, the lot.

I rode it home through what the weathermen had warned as a  “severe weather warning” – it was certainly severe; picking your way between/around the standing water on the M2 and M20.

Funny thing is, by the time I got to the M25/M3 junction, the sun was shining and there hadn’t seemed to have been any rain all day.

I have fitted the SW Motech Rack and Givi box and the TOR race can and my local dealer has checked the current map (well out of date) and uploaded the TOR map.

Jobs to do:

  • Front brake is soft and squeals – suspect pad contamination as the previous owner kept the bike well sprayed with WD40 to protect against corrosion
  • Fit heated grips (no rush)
  • Fit Givi touring screen and bar risers (again, no rush as this one seems perfectly comfortable as it is)
  • Fit rear fender extender

Done the rear fender extender and the front brake. Now I’m filthy. How is it that servicing brakes is such a dirty job?