chickenstrip Super Spammer
Joined: 06 Dec 2013 Karma :
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Posted: 22:24 - 12 Jul 2018 Post subject: |
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GT200Fan79 wrote: | The GS is shit. The only thing in it's favour is that better front and rear ends are easy to fit. |
Smarter to start with something better in the first place though. Better front and rear rear ends will still only make a shit sandwich with good quality bread. ____________________ Chickenystripgeezer's Biking Life (Latest update 19/10/18) Belgium, France, Italy, Austria tour 2016 Picos de Europa, Pyrenees and French Alps tour 2017 Scotland Trip 1, now with BONUS FEATURE edit, 5/10/19, on page 2 Scotland Trip 2 Luxembourg, Black Forest, Switzerland, Vosges Trip 2017
THERE'S MILLIONS OF CHICKENSTRIPS OUT THERE! |
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trevor saxe-coburg-gotha World Chat Champion
Joined: 22 Nov 2012 Karma :
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stevo as b4 World Chat Champion
Joined: 17 Jul 2003 Karma :
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Teflon-Mike tl;dr
Joined: 01 Jun 2010 Karma :
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Posted: 02:25 - 13 Jul 2018 Post subject: |
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stevo as b4 wrote: | I passed my test on an ER5, and I wished it had had a lightened balanced and gas flowed GPZ engine (Tef your wrong) and a chassis re-built with better quality components, suspension and finish. |
Teflon-Mike wrote: | ER5.... with a de-tuned GPZ500 twin engine, originally hailed as 'half a ZX10, the (then) worlds fastest production motorcycle... it was in many ways probably a better bike than the GPz.... cost cutting saw that one offered with simple twin-shock rear suspension, which is a heck of a lot easier to look after than the intricate and prone to wear or seize multi-link mono-shock of the GPz; the 'de-tuned' engine, only made about 50bhp at peak over the GPz's 60, but actually had a lot more 'area-under-the-graph' power in the low and mid-range, and point-to-point on the road, could actually be quicker, the tractability meaning that power could be put to the road more often.... but it didn't have the 6K 'hump' where things seemed to wake up and get a move on... so it felt 'bland', a sensation enforced by more conservative un-sporty geometry and suspension |
I am? all depends on perspective really. 'better' is very subjective.
One thing the ER5 has over the GPz is that twin-shock back suspension, that can be overhauled and even uprated for a couple of hundred quid in about... oooh... twenty minutes! With a pair of replacement shocks from Alf Hagon and a bit of grease; where replacing saggy shock on a GPz would beg a £300 aftermarket replacement no better than OE, and however many man hours and more quids worth of work to unsieze mono-shock linkages and re-bush them. In that respect you'd far more likely get the 'better' suspension you suggest you'd like on the thing.
As to engine characteristics? Again more relative; the soft tractability of the ER5's tune, doesn't have any pezaz, but it does have low down drive you can and easily put to work for point to point fast if not top speed. Bit like the difference between an early RD350LC and a Moto-Guzzi V50... RD makes a tad more 'peak' power, but does it with very much more pronounced hump as it comes on the pipe and a lot more drama; the old V50, even with shaft drive, could show one a clean pair of heels on a twisty road, without so much peak power, but also without the drama, just laying down what it got without the fuss. Not as entertaining perhaps, but certainly more efective.. which is 'better'?
Main thing though, is that with £1000 in my pocket; if I wanted entertainment... not sure I'd get past the local massage parlor actually! But An old ZX6R would probably be as much fun as I could get my hands on... but an absolutely NO fun if I couldn't afford to replace the tyres, or it had sloppy springs and creaky brakes. An ER5 or even a CB500, wouldn't deliver the peak thrills... but it would get me to and from work every day without a lot of fuss... and probably be able to deliver more fun, more often, being more easily fixable for the money. Which is 'better'? Its all relative.
Was actually topic of deliberation when eldest was at uni and on 33bhp restricted, suffering an ultimately thrashed to death (by him!) GPz5, and a spares or repairs ER5, and whether to use the good bits of the ER5 to make his GPz move again, or good bits off his GPz to repair ER5.. Idea of that more grunty motor in the GPz appealed, but so did the more revvy GPz motor in the simpler ER5 frame.... but all academic in that old knacker gaffer tape and cable tie world! Anything that works is more fun than the bus!
Its all relative and 'best' or 'better' depends so much on point of view, aspirations and expectations; and for me, I actually quite appreciate 'boring' in a road bike; the thrills of any road-bike is, to me, pretty small compared to the heat of competition 'off-road', and most sportier road-bikes leave me feeling that the bike has sooo much more to offer... on a track where it could be found, and without risking life or licence! I also like cheap, and easy mechanics... especially on a bike that I actually want to get me places, rather than sit in the work-shop being an over-sized mechano set! ____________________ My Webby'Tef's-tQ, loads of stuff about my bikes, my Land-Rovers, and the stuff I do with them!
Current Bikes:'Honda VF1000F' ;'CB750F2N' ;'CB125TD ( 6 3 of em!)'; 'Montesa Cota 248'. Learner FAQ's:= 'U want to Ride a Motorbike! Where Do U start?' |
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Tdibs Traffic Copper
Joined: 16 Jan 2015 Karma :
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