StinkyPete's Quest for a Lighter Bike

[Bodø]

over weight, over powered gopher 

 

[Wild Rose]

I got my Spyder RT Limited serviced last week and they gave me a Spyder F3 LTD as a loan bike and found it quite nice to ride and it does look good in black

[Brookester]

Has JohnnyTED still got his Spyder for sale?

[Gadget]

I believe so.

Sent from my SM-N986B using Tapatalk

[StinkyPete]

Well I got out on two wheels again today.   My son and I rode the Amy Gillett Trail, a 30km round trip in the Adelaide Hills.   He was on a heavily modified "Dirt Surfer" which is an electric two wheeled thingo that is steered by shifting body weigh, a bit like riding a bicycle with no hands and with a hand held throttle/brake.   I rode his more traditional electric scooter, which was a lot of fun and handled like a small shopping trolly.   This kind of stuff will soon be legal in SA, as the legislation has passed parliament and some accompanying regs are being fine tuned.

[Williamson]

Looks like fun.

..... This kind of stuff will soon be legal in SA, as the legislation has passed parliament and some accompanying regs are being fine tuned.

I heard a rumour that there are soon to be some changes in VIC to regulations re. eBikes and eScooters and the like.  Not sure what good it will do other than legitimise what about 5% of what eBike and eScooter riders already do, and safely do at that.  The other 95% are outta control and do many, many risky, dangerous things on roads and paths.

In Feb '24 we had a coupla weeks on the Gold Coast, the number of eBikes / eScooters was around 10 fold more (probably a weather thing) and problem was exponentially worse. 

[Langers]

By the look of the picture Pete, you were wearing ATGATT - well done.

[Shiney]

Not quite a motorbike but it looks like you were having an awesome time

[Williamson]

Just in case the search is on-going ......

Spotted this brand new, 2022 CFMoto at Team Moto today (when getting 1st service on my 700 CLX).  At $7995 ride away, includes the fruit (there's about $1000 in the SHAD boxes and rack), and with only 19km, it's a steal.

I think I mighta been ripped orff.

[Wild Rose]

Honda is supposed to be bringing out a 2026 NT700 Deauville.
I can't wait to see what is going to be like. Apparently shaft drive like the 2005
Might be worth a look

[StinkyPete]

Honda is supposed to be bringing out a 2026 NT700 Deauville.
I can't wait to see what is going to be like. Apparently shaft drive like the 2005
Might be worth a look

 A video review unfortunately shows chain drive. 

[Wild Rose]

Honda is supposed to be bringing out a 2026 NT700 Deauville.
I can't wait to see what is going to be like. Apparently shaft drive like the 2005
Might be worth a look

 A video review unfortunately shows chain drive.

Yes it does but they do say in the review it is shaft
So wait and see when it is finally released

[ruSTynutz]

I wouldn't get too excited as I reckon it's all just AI generated rubbish...

[Bodø]

Honda is supposed to be bringing out a 2026 NT700 Deauville.
I can't wait to see what is going to be like. Apparently shaft drive like the 2005
Might be worth a look

 A video review unfortunately shows chain drive.

Excuse my ignorance but why are so many people anti chain drive?  I have both, but don't really prefer one over the other.

[StinkyPete]

Excuse my ignorance but why are so many people anti chain drive?  I have both, but don't really prefer one over the other.

I think it's simply because a shaft drive is very low maintenance, but on the other hand a chain drive does not soak up as much of the engine power.  On my long trips with my XJR1300 chain drive bike, I found the regular chain cleaning and oiling to be rather tedious.

[Wild Rose]

Excuse my ignorance but why are so many people anti chain drive?  I have both, but don't really prefer one over the other.

I think it's simply because a shaft drive is very low maintenance, but on the other hand a chain drive does not soak up as much of the engine power.  On my long trips with my XJR1300 chain drive bike, I found the regular chain cleaning and oiling to be rather tedious.

Even though I love my NT1100 I would be interested as likewise I dislike cleaning and oiling the chain

[Williamson]

Even though I love my NT1100 I would be interested as likewise I dislike cleaning and oiling the chain

Yes, so keep that to a minimum, or less.

Well oiled chains, especially if too oily, leads to collecting dirt and dust, leads to cleaning.  Sometimes less is better; that's the approach I took with my last chain drive bike, the Honda CB1300.

Got it at around 28,000km, previous owner said that it was due for a new chain and sprockets.  Pfft, I think it was and around 50 or 60,000km that I changed them.  In the meantime, it had a clean and oil before and after every long ride, that was about once a year or at around 5000km intervals.   The chain and sprockets were changed again at around 110,000km (when I sold it).

This strectched the chain and sprocket maintenance intervals out quite a bit, but the chain and sprocket longevity was probably no less / worse than normally expected.

I had a mate that was (probably still is) obessed with chain maintenance.  On a couple of interstate trips he would oil his chain on his  Suzuki Bandit 1250 at the end of every second (~500km ) day.  Other mates and I would spend our end of day time more wisely, sitting in a bar.

Another mate installed a Scott oiler, all good until it had some sort of hissy fit and made an awful effing mess.  I think it got tossed into the bushes on the side of the New England Highway somewhere north of Armidale.

I think it's simply because a shaft drive is very low maintenance, but on the other hand a chain drive does not soak up as much of the engine power.  On my long trips with my XJR1300 chain drive bike, I found the regular chain cleaning and oiling to be rather tedious.

Imagine how fast a chain drive ST1300 would be.

[Langers]

Yes, so keep that to a minimum, or less.

Well oiled chains, especially if too oily, leads to collecting dirt and dust, leads to cleaning.  Sometimes less is better;

I totally agree. The modern chain is an O or X ring sealed affair and you really only need to clean and oil the chain to keep it from rusting IMHO. I use a bit of diesel to clean the chain, perhaps a chain brush if it's particularly dirty from riding dirt roads. Before a really long ride I might treat it to some chain oil or wax. In saying this, I do miss the ST and the shaft drive and would pick shaft drive every time if available.

My son has just bought a new Honda CB125F (last year's model <$3K) and I'm helping with the run in. I do hope it loosens up in the next 500 - 1000km, it does struggle when I'm riding it - can't imagine why. Anyway, the reason I mention it, is whilst it's chain drive, it's encased within a plastic chain case and I haven't quite worked out just what maintenance and schedule it required to maximise chain life.

[Bodø]

I've never cleaned or oiled my chain, although I do spray it once a fortnight or at the end of the day on days of a lot of dirt or rain.

[Williamson]

I've never cleaned or oiled my chain, although I do spray it once a fortnight or at the end of the day on days of a lot of dirt or rain.

And if a minimalist approach works, all the better - IMHO.

[StinkyPete]

After much time and consideration, I've finally come to a decision.    The motorcycling adventure season in my life has come to an end.   My back injury continues to improve after more than a year and a half, but still gives me grief from time to time, and I don't want to buy a bike that will sit in the shed for much of it's life, only get ridden for the occasional short coffee run.  The long interstate rides have always been my passion and love, and I no longer feel that my body will let me do that.   However, I'll still turn up from time to time on four wheels.

There is another factor in my decision.  My nephew is a kart racer and recently had a nasty accident, breaking his collar bone and sufffering a stable fracture of one thoracic vertebrae that required surgery.   He asked about the other patients in the spinal ward, and was told that they were all motorcycle accidents, and all were paralysed to some extent. That scared me a bit, and I consider myself fortunate that in the hundreds off thousand of kilometers on the bike, I've never had an accident, and think I'll quit while I'm ahead.

[Shiney]

It's awesome to hear that your back is continuing to improve
And completely understandable that you are giving up the bikes (I'm sure it wasn't an easy decision)

I hope that you'll be well enough to make it to a National Rally sometime, I'm sure everyone would love to see you

[StinkyPete]

I hope that you'll be well enough to make it to a National Rally sometime, I'm sure everyone would love to see you

We are definitely heading to Canberra in March,  and look forward to catching up.   

[Wild Rose]

Hoping to see you there
I'm am going in next year for a double knee replacement
I see the orthopaedic surgeon on the 28th January
Not sure when or if he will do it next year
But hoping to be back on the bike in about 3 months after surgery
But I do have the Spyder which will be my golf to bike

[Williamson]

About 491 days since you first raised this topic.  A lot of time for a lot of thought, I think it's fair to say that you haven't come to this decision lightly.

Hopefully all your other ventures will, if not already, fill the gap left without a bike.

See you at Sutton 2026.