Badly supported bike?

[pepperami]

As regulars on here will know Pepperami has a weird preference when it comes to bikes.
And I have paid the price in time and inconvenience for that, in not being able find spares or dealers prepared to work on the bikes .
Hey ho, I get by with a bit of bike knowledge and persistence.

So for example I have scouted around the dealerships in my region that claim to support Hyosung, quite honestly I wouldn’t trust them to service my lawn mower.
I certainly wouldn’t leave my bike with them.


So my question is oh mighty BCF , what bikes do you own that you struggle with to get parts/spares for or dealers won’t go near.

Some of you must have a little bit of an unusual bike tucked away that you’re reluctant to use in case it goes wrong and you can’t fix it for months.

Thank God for the net and search engines.
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I am the sum total of my own existence, what went before makes me who I am now!

[Riejufixing]

[1198]

My Huoniao 125. Most places wouldn’t go near it and spares availability was, ummm, a little awkward. It’s gone downhill since though, I think the firm has gone pop.

[MarJay]

Buell have gone bad in the last 5 or so years. One of the reasons I got rid of mine.
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British beauty: Triumph Street Triple R; Loony stroker: KR1S; Track fun: GSXR750 L1; Commuter Missile: GSX-S1000F; Cheap project: CBR900RR FireBlade
Remember kids, bikes aren't like lego. You can't easily take a part from one bike and then fit it to another.

[pepperami]

[steve the grease]

My 1987 Cagiva 350 T4E ex French army bike. Even though Cagiva are still going the original company folded. There are like No spares.

Filters plugs, pads, batteries and chains OK yes , but here goes: Exhaust front pipe Germany , silencer Hungary , speedo drive Italy. And this is after hours and hours searching ( do you what the Italian for speedo drive is? for example) and cross referencing part numbers with different models and manufacturers.
I bought a spare engine with a cam which had been run dry, that should keep me going in spares for a while. I consider the obscurity to be part of the fun of ownership actually.

[pepperami]

[Teflon-Mike]

A lot of the rime it's who you know rather than what you know.
I've lived with a two model year only, pre-honda Montesa for nie on forty years; and destroyed and rebuilt it more tomes than I care not to remember. For most of that time 'spares' were for a lot of folk near unobtanium; you had to hope that the main importer, Jim Sandiford up in Burnley atill had dome stock, or that Sammy Miller's emporium of all old trials iron had a suitable 'universal' offering. But, armed with their telephone numbers, you could, as I did, run and wreck even the more obscure machines on an every Sunday basis.

Fantics were another matter... batch built on a week-by week basis, the design changed frequently through each season! I would night-mare at the idea of taking on one of them for a resto, let alone regular competition! Known the odd fella that has though... and believe me they were certainly odd... but with the sort of trade eontacts to get more obscure and obsolete bits, or the dedication to make do and mend, they coped or even thought it 'easy' and wondered what all the fuss about the long running and get ANY part for Yamaha TY's was about!

In resto, uncs shed saw a load of old Brit and wop iron, and again, armed with Norman Hyde's catalogue and a couple of other's, old Norton's and Trumpets are comparatively a 'doddle' to get bits for' even building a 'dream' Triton complete with multi leading shoe over size racing drums an Italian flange alloy rims.
Chuck in some utterly obscure Italian, Spanish and middle European mopeds.. when Unc had in his mid-life madness... and yeah.. a lathe milling machine and surface grinder CAN be useful.... other than that?

All things are possible; You just have to remember that /some-one' had to build the thing, so you should be able to pull it to bits, and more, make or repair anything along the way to put it back together.... whether its worth it or not a a very different, and personal matter!!

What WOULD give me apoplexy these days is taking on an original 16" wheel Kawasaki GPZ600.... probably about THE worst candidate for resto I can envisage, yet probably the most deservant, defining the once ubiquitous 600 class, weaning the eLCie boys off two-strokes, and paving the way the 'new' wave of bigger cc four strokes with race-bike handling. BUT so many bits specific to that model, do much made, like the plastics on dedicated tooling, you couldn't really replicate in a home workshop with even more dedicated tooling, like a lathe or surface grinder or mig-welder, let alone hammer and dollies; and THEN you would have the small problem of finding 16" tyres to fit it's wheels let alone ones that suited the bike....

So a Lot I think is down to expectation, as we see in work-shop so often, with folk expecting to be able o buy any part they might need like they would for a mass market Ford Escort, by make, model, year, no engin-uity required...

But back to that same expectation; depends what you are expecting; if you are expecting a but and bolt concourse restoration... well, you are probably going to be rather frustrated by almost anything... even the old stuff you can hammer and weld that were probably built in sheds not a lot different to your own common-a-garden variety, only possibly a bit bigger... thirty odd years ago folk restoring old Matchless or James or DOT's ran foul of screw counters marking them down for the 'wrong' sort of bolt heads on their primary drive cover etc..... so ad mi-grandas used to say, there's little new in the world (of engineering) since Archemeded got screwed!

But like the example of the GPZ600, I don't think that anything has got any 'easier' its just moved the goal-posts, and the internet, has opened up a LOT of doors.... whether there is anything useful behind them, is another matter... b-u-t, when it comes to restoring or running an old bike... I don't think that there's anything that's a definite no-no, it's just a question of how deep your pockets, how much of a masochist you are or are prepared to become!!!!!

The two that stand out as bench-marks though have to be the unit construction Meriden Trumpets, that are soooo well supported that they are the defacto my first resto-project, (ISTR one of the Classic bike journo's commenting that you could, even s late as 20 years, ago, build a 'brand new' Bonny from catalogue 'spares') and that GPZ600, that's so unsuported, you can easily find pretty much any and all the hastles any resto could chuck at you.. the two book end the playing field.. so is it a game you even 'want' to get into.....

Now.. my old VF thou... err nah... I'll do the Montesa... a-g-a-i-n.. I think! Daftl.y the VF when launched was oine of the most expensive bikes you could buy on a show-room... now even a really good one wont fetch much over a grand.. Cota on the other hand? Cost about £500 new ion 1981, now worth factorial more than it did even brand new.. and its the easier to tackle! Not least cos it don't have a cam chain!!! Could be done... b-u-t.... just W-H-Y!!!! Even EYE am mot quite T-H-A-T mad... my psychiatrist says so!!!!
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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?'

[linuxyeti]

[ThatDippyTwat]

My work hack - Daelim VJF250R.

That said, it's essentially a CBR250R single, so I've ordered some OEM and some CBR aprts, and we'll have a little see what's interchangeable and isn't.
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'98 VFR800 (touring) - '12 VFR800 Crosrunner (Commuting) - '01 KDX220 (Big Green Antisocial Machine)

[barrkel]

I sold my MV Brutale in part because of how hard it was to get someone to actually deliver ignition coils for it - various vendors online (whose websites were so similar I'm inclined to think they were actually the same) couldn't supply the coils even when advertised as in stock. One site advised me that there was a three month lead time for parts from some factory in Italy.

Fantastic bike when in good running fettle, the harshness of the throttle response made my S1000R feel underpowered, though mostly it's just smoother. But not something you could rely on longer term.
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Bikes: S1000R, SH350; Exes: Vity 125, PS125, YBR125, ER6f, VFR800, Brutale 920, CB600F, SH300x4
Best road ever ridden: www.youtube.com/watch?v=s2MhNxUEYtQ

[kolu]

[pepperami]

[wr6133]

This thing

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49329840562_644a399e84_k.jpg

What doesn't help is not only are some parts like rocking horse shit but eBay sellers have a habit of selling parts for it that are actually for a Honda cub (and are not cross compatible).

[linuxyeti]

[linuxyeti]

[ThatDippyTwat]

[stinkwheel]

Nope. I specifically chose bikes that have good parts availability.

Of all the ones I've had, the Royal Enfields are best in that regard. I suppose a 70 year production run will do that.
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“Rule one: Always stick around for one more drink. That's when things happen. That's when you find out everything you want to know.”
I did the 2010 Round Britain Rally on my 350 Bullet. 89 landmarks, 3 months, 9,500 miles.

[Robby]

I haven't come across many poorly supported bike in terms of general spares, but I have bought some bikes with a surprisingly small amount of aftermarket tuning or styling parts available.

VFR750 RC24. Loads of bits for VFR750s, but not that model.
Harley XR1200. Loads of bits for Harleys. Loads of bits for Sportsters. Not many for XR1200s, or there used to be but they aren't made any more.

Quite a few for my Guzzi, which was surprising seeing as it wasn't a popular model. I think they stopped making it after 4 years. Lots of parts from Italy.