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Anybody had a Yamaha SR400?

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BusterGonads
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PostPosted: 09:26 - 02 Sep 2018    Post subject: Anybody had a Yamaha SR400? Reply with quote

I know, I know - it has the power of an old 250 and costs an arm and a leg.

But - I want one.

It's nostalgia. I started riding legally in 1969, but as a young toerag, rode all sorts of worn out 1950s rubbish around the fields and tracks long before. The SR is like the bike I would have dreamed about back in the day. Plastic covered 100 hp race style bikes leave me cold; a well crafted naked single in the 1950s style gets the juices going.

I was out of bikes since 1995 until this May when on impulse, I bought an old CG125 for knocking about the country lanes on. Knocking about on it I did, having covered just over 3000 miles in four months - 3000 pretty much faultless miles albeit at gentle commuter speeds mostly. Not a single breakdown even though the bike is 18 years old. It's far too slow for A roads though and I want something not that dissimilar that can do 60 -70 on an A road without screaming its nuts off. A few times, I've ridden the CG forty miles down to Newcastle at 60 miles an hour on the A69 but it's a strain and if the wind blows in my face, I'm down to 50 at times which is unacceptable on a national speed limit two lane A road. I don't like having a forty tonne truck on my tail with the driver getting quite rightly annoyed. Mostly, I'm riding twisty, hilly, C roads at 45 to 50, but I must be able to keep ahead of the traffic on a busy road if I need to go on one. So to avoid disappointment after shelling out £4k on a low miles, pristine SR400, direct experience would be appreciated.

So, has anyone had one and got any feedback to give?

https://pictures.topspeed.com/IMG/jpg/201510/yamaha-sr400-7.jpg
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trevor saxe-coburg-gotha
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PostPosted: 13:30 - 02 Sep 2018    Post subject: Reply with quote

It looks lovely - classy, and classical. Even better looking than the heavier, more powerful - and betterer - w650. I suspect its looks have erm seduced you because a far better proposition from almost every angle bar weight and looks is the old '90s cb500. An SR400 won't "keep ahead" of A-road traffic, but it will probably be able to keep UP with it. Heck, it might even overtake stuff on the odd occasion. I've definitely fantasised about owning an sr400 before. But I bought a w650 and that cured me of hankerings for bikes from the classy classical class. Had it a year and it went. Meanwhile, for some inexplicable reason, there's still a cb500 in the darker recesses of my garage somewhere. You could probably get three half decent cb500s for the price of one sr400 - one for caning fuck out of on track days, one for a winter hack that you coat w/ acf50 and forget about, and a third as a present to your mother in law.
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BusterGonads
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PostPosted: 13:43 - 02 Sep 2018    Post subject: Reply with quote

Ha ha ha - yes - brilliant Trevor. You've got me sussed about the looks seducing me. It's the same with women, isn't it. We get reeled in by some pretty thing and only later realise we got landed with a bi tch.... Meanwhile, back in the garage is a real gem - less lovely, but far more practical. I'll take note of what you say. Thanks.

Interesting about the W650 and W800. I looked at them too. Very reminiscent in appearance to my old A10 BSA. Of course as you know, Kawasaki made a copy of the A10's little brother the 500 CC A7 back in the day and that is the origin of the DNA of the W series. style wise at least. Completely different motor in all important ways except the 360 degree twin and basic look of the lump.I'm wondering what you hated about owning it, but don't want to scratch a scab if it is annoying.... Smile
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Snod Blatter
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PostPosted: 13:56 - 02 Sep 2018    Post subject: Reply with quote

I also fancied one of these when they came out, but the local dealer wouldn't entertain a test ride as they had none in stock - if you wanted one they would ship one in specially for you, but there were none in the dealerships!

Anyway, not to get too linuxyeti about it but have you considered a Mash 400? They even come dressed up as a Francis Barnett if you feel the need. Or, if you prefer to have a Honda badge on the tank, there are always a few imported CB400SS's on ebay. I suppose there are also Enfields but that way madness lies..
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BusterGonads
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PostPosted: 16:00 - 02 Sep 2018    Post subject: Reply with quote

Snod Blatter wrote:
I also fancied one of these when they came out, but the local dealer wouldn't entertain a test ride as they had none in stock - if you wanted one they would ship one in specially for you, but there were none in the dealerships!

Anyway, not to get too linuxyeti about it but have you considered a Mash 400? They even come dressed up as a Francis Barnett if you feel the need. Or, if you prefer to have a Honda badge on the tank, there are always a few imported CB400SS's on ebay. I suppose there are also Enfields but that way madness lies..


Thanks I did notice that there were not that many about, but rather suspiciously, there seem to be about five <700 mile bikes on ebay and gumtree. One got sold so call it four just now. I spotted another elsewhere - again about the 700 mile mark and I'm talking total mileage not 700 miles from here. This makes me ask why? Maybe they are all bought by old gits like me who suddenly realise they don't like kicks starting a 400 cc bike anymore and realise that because you used to kcick over afive hundred single in your youth, it doesn't mean you can do it when you are coming up on seventy. Maybe it's just because they are horrible bikes and people want rid as soon as they take them out on a couple of rides.... i doubt that. I reckon the folk who buy them are probably well aware of what a single is like, what a kick start is for and what 24 horse gves you and what it doesn't.

I have looked at the Mash and I've seen linuxyetti's posts here and elsewhere, but I've decided against what Mr Teff calls Chinesium bikes. I almost closed on a Herald Retrostar at about a third of the price of the SRs and next to no miles, but I then found a Facebook group for their owners and they were full of tales like, 'Why did my three year old low miles Retrostar 250 fail its MOT with shot swinging arm bushes, when I've only done two thousand miles?' and such like nonsense followed up by a regular mantra about not being able to source anything for them but consumables even though they seem to wear out pretty damned quick... No. Looks nice but cheaply made. The SR is made in Japan.

Enfields.... Hmmm. Loads of cheap old Indian Enfields but the 350 has bugger all more poke than my CG125 and a LOT less reliability. The five hundreds are fragile. I know a bloke who has one and it has cost him a fortune to keep up. Any bike design that has an oil pump driven by a worm gear that strips its drive and starves the engine of oil, if the oil pressure goes high, but has no oil pressure relief valve, like my friends 500 did (and they do this regularly) does not deserve my money.

Thanks for your input. I'm wavering. The CB500 is so damned ugly I'm not going there. If it looked like an SR I'd be on it like a shot.
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Teflon-Mike
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PostPosted: 20:53 - 02 Sep 2018    Post subject: Reply with quote

Chinesium? Rolling Eyes

Oh-Kay... few years back, Bloore Trump launched the Neauvo Bonnie twin & comparison with the W65 was rife, a-n-d with use for one at the time, I was offered one at quite favorable price.... b-u-t! Before exitement prised wallet open, begged a bit of backing up apraisal, and I looked at what I could get for the same money in the 'Genuine' classic world.

Conclusion was... T140. A late Meriden example with 12v lights, disc brake and cast wheels, was possibly one of the least loved and least valued Meriden Bonnies, and a decent road-going example, at the time was no more expensive to procure than a second hand W65 and a lot less than a brand new or ex demo Hinkley model....

Bought as a 'rider', it would likely feature a fair few conscientious user mods/upgrades, like electronic ignition, and be a pretty well 'sorted' old bike. Meanwhile.... unlike the 'Retro' offerings, it was the 'real-deal', genuine classic, and unlike them, in five years time was likely to still be worth what I paid for it, and not just another 'old' bike, meanwhile, the newness of such a reproduction, WASN'T going to 'really' pay for itself in lower maintenance or easier spares availability of anything.

In fact, time has shown that the W65 particularly, is actually harder to get spares for, as a Japanese bike that's no longer in the brochures, where the real-deal, has all the classic support it ever had, with forty year production history, and oh-so-much made in repro to support the classic resto scene, and as just an older bike, ever less worthy of having that time, hassle and money to do repairs/maintenance chucked at it.

This, really made the merit of the Retro's some-what perverse; and IF you really want a classic.... why not go buy a REAL classic?

For £4K you still have a lot of choice of real-deal classics, and not just skin-deep cosmetic make-overs; that sort of money gets you into the arena of near concourse show-bikes in many cases, particularly if you dont look for the cult icons like a wire wheel 750-Four or pre-unit Bonny....

A-N-D... loads and loads of stuff, that's not so appreciated, particularly in the smaller displacements that can be an absolute steal.

Lots and lots of possible ponderation; And I would probably start with that Kick-Start... it IS a chore, and you dont find much made before maybe 1980 that has an electric-boot. But, if you can live with it, opens up a whole raft of genuine classics to consider.

Brit-Bike vs other world offerings, is probably the next big question. The brit-bikes on the whole are in the majority and are well documented and well supported and have been the back-bone of the classic world for thirty odd years....

Actually a conundrum there; I was looking at photo's I took back at one of the early Stafford Classics back in about 1990, as expected plenty of Triumph and BSA Twins and Gold-starts taking pride of place; but also quite a lot of wops and making a showing early Japs.... bizarely, the 'scene' despite the growing 'Japanese Classic' movement, seems to have tightened its ranks around those old Brit-Bikes of the 50's and 60's...

So a Brit-Bike is still the safe-bet, and that T140 still stands out as something of a bench-mark in the arena. B-U-T, stepping away from the center, plenty of things like Morini 3&1/2 or BMW R45's that are still almost as livable and just as cheap, and not British...

So I would chuck at you just as brain-teaser:-

https://www.bmbikes.co.uk/photos/schemephotos/R80%20Colorado%20Red%20Code%20613%20(1).JPG

Electric start; 50bhp, and 200Kg... it's a tad on the heavy side by standards of it's contemporaries, but it actually isn't heavy by modern standards for a bike of that displacement, its actually on the lighter side of the norm. Renowned reliability, well supported, and loads and loads of them about thanks to UK police use. Wight it has is also low down and well balanced, its not such a hard to manage machine, and mechanics with 2/3 the engine poking out either side are pretty user-freindly DIY able, and a lot more than most, whilst again, its well supported.

How many boxes do you need tick?

And its electric start!!!! This would for me be pretty strong sales feature! All the virtues are pretty much the same as Er bludi-Guzzi sat outside, TBH, and with £4K to chuck at the notion, that would lead me, personally to go hunting for a Mille GT, which I know I could get for probably half that, or for less weight a V50.. infact for £4K should have choice of 'genuine' V50 monza's.... if I could get scrunch myself up onto one!

Its all worth a lot of thunk.... B-U-T if its genuine classic looks that are the main attraction..... go look at genuine classics! They probably have a lot more to offer than just the styling, and a rarer repro probably doesn't have so much to offer as you think, just by dint of being younger.
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trevor saxe-coburg-gotha
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PostPosted: 13:06 - 03 Sep 2018    Post subject: Reply with quote

Teflon-Mike wrote:
In fact, time has shown that the W65 particularly, is actually harder to get spares for, as a Japanese bike that's no longer in the brochures, where the real-deal, has all the classic support it ever had,


That may all be very true - but one thing also worth noting is that the w650 doesn't *need* any spares. £3k will probably get you a molly coddled bike w/ 10k on it. Nothing goes wrong with them other than consumables, which can obviously be bought.
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linuxyeti
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PostPosted: 13:23 - 03 Sep 2018    Post subject: Reply with quote

To be fair ..

My Mash hasn't needed anything but consumables, and even the air filter doesn't seem to get dirty. And, because of the oil tank setup, oil changes are really easy using an oil suction pump..

Spares are easy to find though, if you want.. By all accounts the dealer/importer seem to be very good at supplying spares if needed, plus there's always tabao, and, even, if you don't go that route, then, Jawa 350 spares would be just as good (It's the same bike essentially)
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BusterGonads
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PostPosted: 13:31 - 03 Sep 2018    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thanks Teff and Trevor.

The bike I had before I packed in motorcycling in 1995 (before my latest foray which began on May3rd this year) was in fact a boxer twin from BMW. It was an R65. Well what can I say. It weighed a tonne or felt like it did and that was 23 years ago when I was young - or younger. I'm 68 next March. I really don't fancy maneuvering an 800 boxer twin about. My property is up a rough track, by the way and only accessible by a footbridge. I might have said elsewhere, I live up the Tyne Valley. The R65 was a strange motorcycle. Uninspiring, I would call it. The engine behaved far more like a car engine than a bike one. It was very reliable - that was in its favour, but it handled like a bull and had a weird tendency to twist laterally when you revved it up, like it was trying to turn over on its side. It wasn't violent twisting, but very weird and not good on a machine that steers by changing its angle relative to the ground. The R65 also had a horrible induction roar when driven with a goodly throttle opening so it wasn't pleasant on a motorway. I've also had the use of an R45 which was the same but less powerful.

The thing about the SR400 is that they are very under stressed and reliable and all I want regarding maximum speed is to keep up with A road traffic without revving the nuts off it like I have been doing with my CG125 since May. I've found one with 700 miles on it and a new MOT. It is in the possession and has only ever been ridden by a man who is now 70 and finds it too heavy to manage. It's been garaged and ridden only in direct sunlight. I'm tempted. Pity it's fcking GREY and not black which looks very classy, but it isn't even that far from me - a 2 hour ride home.
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BusterGonads
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PostPosted: 13:41 - 03 Sep 2018    Post subject: Reply with quote

linuxyeti wrote:
To be fair ..

My Mash hasn't needed anything but consumables, and even the air filter doesn't seem to get dirty. And, because of the oil tank setup, oil changes are really easy using an oil suction pump..

Spares are easy to find though, if you want.. By all accounts the dealer/importer seem to be very good at supplying spares if needed, plus there's always tabao, and, even, if you don't go that route, then, Jawa 350 spares would be just as good (It's the same bike essentially)


I've read probably everything you've written on them linuxyeti and found a couple of places where you had published your very good experience of the bike. The bike is quite similar to the SR400 I think, but based on the XBR engine, I'm assuming it has a balance shaft which will improve its smoothness and it has more power. It looks like a four valve single. The killer for me about the Sr400 is that I'm getting a next to new bike built in Japan for £3.9K and one which owners describe as having beautiful fit and finish. I did a price comparison check on insurance and with no ncd I can get comprehensive insurance for £150. It is sheer robbery that I can't count my forty year no claim car record against a bike, but there we are.
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BusterGonads
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PostPosted: 13:51 - 03 Sep 2018    Post subject: Reply with quote

trevor saxe-coburg-gotha wrote:


That may all be very true - but one thing also worth noting is that the w650 doesn't *need* any spares. £3k will probably get you a molly coddled bike w/ 10k on it. Nothing goes wrong with them other than consumables, which can obviously be bought.


I really like the bevel gear driven camshaft on the W650 and W800. It's a classy way to drive the camshaft. Not so sure how easy the valve clearances are to do. You seem to have to slide the rockers sideways and pop out shims. Never done any shim stuff, but never mind. I've always hated cam chains and belts. They seem to me to be a designed in disaster just waiting to happen. It was one thing to have a big old, short chunky cam chain on a car. They could rattle away out of adjustment and not make the motor commit commit harakiri, but on bikes they seem a weak link - slender and long and just waiting to go wrong. No such risk with that bevel drive on the Kawasaki W series.
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Last edited by BusterGonads on 13:53 - 03 Sep 2018; edited 1 time in total
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linuxyeti
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PostPosted: 13:52 - 03 Sep 2018    Post subject: Reply with quote

tony1951 wrote:
linuxyeti wrote:
To be fair ..

My Mash hasn't needed anything but consumables, and even the air filter doesn't seem to get dirty. And, because of the oil tank setup, oil changes are really easy using an oil suction pump..

Spares are easy to find though, if you want.. By all accounts the dealer/importer seem to be very good at supplying spares if needed, plus there's always tabao, and, even, if you don't go that route, then, Jawa 350 spares would be just as good (It's the same bike essentially)


I've read probably everything you've written on them linuxyeti and found a couple of places where you had published your very good experience of the bike. The bike is quite similar to the SR400 I think, but based on the XBR engine, I'm assuming it has a balance shaft which will improve its smoothness and it has more power. It looks like a four valve single. The killer for me about the Sr400 is that I'm getting a next to new bike built in Japan for £3.9K and one which owners describe as having beautiful fit and finish. I did a price comparison check on insurance and with no ncd I can get comprehensive insurance for £150. It is sheer robbery that I can't count my forty year no claim car record against a bike, but there we are.


No, that's fine, not saying not to get the SR, I looked at 1 myself, but, preferred t he Mash in the end, and haven't regretted it 1 bit. Also, the SR is now out of production, again !. Based on my ownership, quality wise, reliability wise, it has matched my Honda VTX1300, and, strangely enough, has not suffered corrosion as badly as the VTX did on the lower forks and Exhaust shrouds. It's also never left me stranded on the M6 like my VTX did once. The VTX is overall though, still probably my favourite bike, and now that my stepson has got himself 1, I am a little jealous !!. But, for cruising, I have my ST7 Thumbs Up
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BusterGonads
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PostPosted: 14:04 - 03 Sep 2018    Post subject: Reply with quote

Yes - just a note - I don't think the SR is out of production; it is not being imported to the EU. The SR sells in Japan and has done since about 1978, virtually unchanged. Its appeal is that to all intents ad purposes it IS a seventies bike. I doubt ABS, linked brakes and some kind of water cooled engine to make it meet the Euro4 regs would be the same. As far as I know it is still being made in Japan....I'm not certain, but I think it is.

I'm glad your Mash is everything you say. It's time the Chinese manufacturers dropped the shoddy corner cutting that has dogged their reputation. we know they can make high quality, but there is a tendency to make trash when they are pressed on price. Clearly from your experience Shinerai have not done that on this bike.
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linuxyeti
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PostPosted: 14:19 - 03 Sep 2018    Post subject: Reply with quote

tony1951 wrote:
Yes - just a note - I don't think the SR is out of production; it is not being imported to the EU. The SR sells in Japan and has done since about 1978, virtually unchanged.


https://sr500club.org/2017/09/yamaha-ends-production-of-the-sr400/

tony1951 wrote:

I'm glad your Mash is everything you say. It's time the Chinese manufacturers dropped the shoddy corner cutting that has dogged their reputation. we know they can make high quality, but there is a tendency to make trash when they are pressed on price. Clearly from your experience Shinerai have not done that on this bike.


To be fair, it's not neccessarily the manufacturers, but the dealers/importers who specify the the components an quality thereof ..

However, for the most part, for bikes imported into europe, the 'shoddy' corner cutting has been largely eliminated.

However, they are not alone in that, look at BMW with their TVS sourced bikes, Triumph with their Thai manufactured bikes, the Japanese manufacturers have done it for years, look at the quality of the brazilian CG125's, and for the most part smaller cc'd Suzuki's, Honda's and Yamaha's are manufactured in China

Really, if you want a 'living classic' Royal Enfield is the way to go
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PostPosted: 14:48 - 03 Sep 2018    Post subject: Reply with quote

The R80 wasn't a recommend, just a stick in the ground, for alternative ideas.

Weight.... don't get hung up on it!

The SR400 is from specs about 160Kg, its not such a light weight light weight! That's about as heavy as an R6, for comparison, or a Moto-Guzzi V50, and it it doesn't have very much correlation to manageability, either on the road or man-handling about the yard.

Shaft-Drive / inline crank torque reaction? Oh yes! Snowie actually Christened 'err-bludi-guzzi' "Weeble" because of it! lol.

Intriguing you mention the R65, Bill, the MOT man, had one on his ramps a year or two back as his fill-in project; fantasic factory 'two-tone' paint if I remember, very 1970's dodgem car! We had to shove that out the way to level up a headlamp istr, and rather like err-nibs bludi-guzzi, its not the weight so much as the balance, and man-handling technique, that makes you feel the weight, and for a heavier bike, the 'naked' Bimmer and Guzzi are a lot more manageable than a lot of stuff, especially stuff with a fairing.

The Cota is the lightest bike I own, about 75Kg, believe me, THAT is not nice to man-handle at times! Once or twice I did considered abandoning the thing in the bottom of a quarry in Derbyshire rather than try lift it back on the trailer! But still!

Her 'Weeble' man handles more nicely than the 125 Super-Dreams in my opinion 'cos of the low down CofG and overall balance, and I'd mush rather be asked to move the AJS or the T120 in Unc's shed than the TZ350 'Special', regardless of the weight discrepancies!

I really wouldn't be picking a very uncommon motorcycle, like the SR400, based purely on the brochure specs and presumption that it would be any easier to ride or shove about than anything else.... but your call. Point was for classic 'looks' plenty of real classics that could tick as many if not more of your boxes on all fronts, and worth thinking about.
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BusterGonads
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PostPosted: 14:50 - 03 Sep 2018    Post subject: Reply with quote

linuxyeti wrote:
tony1951 wrote:
Yes - just a note - I don't think the SR is out of production; it is not being imported to the EU. The SR sells in Japan and has done since about 1978, virtually unchanged.


https://sr500club.org/2017/09/yamaha-ends-production-of-the-sr400/

tony1951 wrote:

I'm glad your Mash is everything you say. It's time the Chinese manufacturers dropped the shoddy corner cutting that has dogged their reputation. we know they can make high quality, but there is a tendency to make trash when they are pressed on price. Clearly from your experience Shinerai have not done that on this bike.


To be fair, it's not neccessarily the manufacturers, but the dealers/importers who specify the the components an quality thereof ..

However, for the most part, for bikes imported into europe, the 'shoddy' corner cutting has been largely eliminated.

However, they are not alone in that, look at BMW with their TVS sourced bikes, Triumph with their Thai manufactured bikes, the Japanese manufacturers have done it for years, look at the quality of the brazilian CG125's, and for the most part smaller cc'd Suzuki's, Honda's and Yamaha's are manufactured in China

Really, if you want a 'living classic' Royal Enfield is the way to go


Right - well that's me told then. I'm wrong. Thanks for the info. Smile

I know a guy who has an Indian Enfield. It is the pre -EFI one and he used to go on about it describing the big smile he had on his face when he was riding it. It was the love of his life - or so I thought. So after I'd bought my little CG in May and decided that after all I wasn't giving up motorcycling in 1995 and probably would need something a bit more powerful than the little 11HP workhorse, I went around to his place when I was next in Newcastle where I used to live and I expected him to encourage me to get one. I only went around there to ask him what I should be looking out for and if he knew of any good 'uns on sale. He shook his head and said, 'No mate. Get a Triumph'. I was a bit surprised because previously, he was always upbeat about the Enfield. The last straw for him was that his had stripped its oil pump drive shaft and wrecked his engine and cost him an arm and a leg to get the parts to rebuild it. He still has it, but it is more of a museum piece let out for a few short summer runs arounds. He went on to say he had been recovered on the Enfield by the AA from a whole list of local villages when it conked out about twenty miles out of town, but when him and his missus fancied a jaunt on the Triumph, they could say, 'Let's go to Switzerland,' and they could jump on the Bonneville and drive there and back with absolute certainty that they would not need recovery. When his wife went out of the room he confided that he had spent thousands on his Enfield replacing and upgrading parts, mostly on repairs, which is probably why he can't bring himself to part with it and keeps it under a sheet in the garage. Bear in mind this guy isn't someone who would be fazed by a nut winding itself loose. he is well able to strip and rebuild his engine, albeit that he would have to get an engineering workshop to press apart the crank and fit a new big end and balance it all up again. If he can no longer live with it, I'm not going to. Besides - since May, after I'd sorted out a few rough edges to do with chain and vibes from loose engine mountings and done the tappets, I've ridden my little CG125 just over three thousand miles without a single breakdown apart from a blown bulb and a fiddle in the first few days with a broken circuit board in the flasher unit, which I re soldered and repaired. It is as reliable as the day is long and I can ride it all day long and only have to put in petrol. I'm not going from that state to the one I remember in the 1960s and 1970s when I couldn't leave home without a pile of spanners and had to expect a break down every twenty miles.
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BusterGonads
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PostPosted: 15:06 - 03 Sep 2018    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thanks for your input Tef. I appreciate the ideas and for sure the Beemer is far from the most tricky bike to handle and wheel about the place.
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linuxyeti
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PostPosted: 15:26 - 03 Sep 2018    Post subject: Reply with quote

tony1951 wrote:

I know a guy who has an Indian Enfield. It is the pre -EFI o.......


I loved my Enfield 350 Bullet, definitely pre EFI !! It was quirky, but never actually let me down, came close on occasion, in the end, it was riding the A5 out of Shrewsbury towards Telford, and not being able to get above 50 that convinced me it was time for it to go, especially as by then I had the Mash, I'd had it 6 years. I certainly wouldn't rule out getting another, and I'm keeping an eye on the new 650's
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BusterGonads
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PostPosted: 15:49 - 03 Sep 2018    Post subject: Reply with quote

linuxyeti wrote:
tony1951 wrote:

I know a guy who has an Indian Enfield. It is the pre -EFI o.......


I loved my Enfield 350 Bullet, definitely pre EFI !! It was quirky, but never actually let me down, came close on occasion, in the end, it was riding the A5 out of Shrewsbury towards Telford, and not being able to get above 50 that convinced me it was time for it to go, especially as by then I had the Mash, I'd had it 6 years. I certainly wouldn't rule out getting another, and I'm keeping an eye on the new 650's


Interesting. It seems to me that the 350 Bullet won't have much more get up and go than my very reliable CG125, although it would sound nicer I think. I was walking th dog the other day down a rural road and two bullets came by at about forty. What a lovely sound they made. took me right back to the 1950s. Bop bop bop bop bop........ There was chap a couple of doors down from where we lived around 1958 that had a bike with the exact same sound. I was offered a 350 bullet (right hand gears) for £1500. Looked lovely, but I walked away. There's a chap on here who has one - Stinkwheel he is called. I think he lives not far from me over to the west about twenty miles. I deduce this from things he said in posts.
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linuxyeti
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PostPosted: 17:22 - 03 Sep 2018    Post subject: Reply with quote

That's same as was with my Bullet 350. Could climb any hill you pointed it, just not particularly quickly Smile Lovely bike though, all the same.
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redeem ouzzer
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PostPosted: 08:50 - 08 Sep 2018    Post subject: Reply with quote

The SR has an advantage, it’s easy to tune. Lots of XT/TT500 bits around. I wouldn’t have a standard one, the SR500 was slow enough so I assume the 400 is glacially slow. However they do handle ok and the front drum is awesome.
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trevor saxe-coburg-gotha
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PostPosted: 08:58 - 08 Sep 2018    Post subject: Reply with quote

They're on disc now.
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redeem ouzzer
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PostPosted: 09:04 - 08 Sep 2018    Post subject: Reply with quote

trevor saxe-coburg-gotha wrote:
They're on disc now.


Shame, the TLS drum looks better and probably stops better too.
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stevo as b4
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PostPosted: 11:32 - 08 Sep 2018    Post subject: Reply with quote

Can see the good looks and the appeal, and as I guess buying and re-building an original 500 isn't even vaguely possible for £4k then a new/newish one could sound a good buy.

Personally I'm not so much must have about the cool styling. I think for alot less than £4k I could buy a tatty 90's CB 500, and make it very tidy and even improve or tune it. I know the CB gives a great ride, unless your mostly in town where it's a bit chuggey. There'd also be enough budget left for a simple off roader with a day time MOT for gentle trail riding etc.

I know that's not the direction you want to take, and Hey you've got to like what your sitting on or there's no point to any non essential vehicle.

Have you thought about these modern retro style Guzzi 750's they are fairly cheap and very softly tuned for cruising about on? I'd be happy on an SRX600 or similar, but you'd only have a bike like that if your really feeling it for 80's styling.

Its just a shame those Chinqs never decided to make a Kawasaki KH400 replica or something?

Those AJS and Matchless style things do have a place, but they don't have any character to go with the look, which kills it for me.
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BusterGonads
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PostPosted: 19:36 - 09 Sep 2018    Post subject: Reply with quote

The CB 500 has been recommended to me a good few times. I almost pulled the trigger on an SR400, but backed off. The thing is all about th style and the type of engine really for me - nostalgia on steroids, but I take the points people are making and that's why I haven't jumped in. One guy offered me a 3 year old 700 mile mint bike for 3.5K. I'm sorely tempted but don't want to be in a world of buyer's remorse two days down the line. I've been there before, but not with a bike, except maybe the R65 a bit.

The new SR400s are fuel injected which makes tuning VERY technical. Power Commanders and all kinds of electrimatrickery. The main put off for that is remembering what happens when you get it wrong and run weak...... red hot exhaust pipes and valves eaten away .... or even seats which is a lot worse. Did that on my A10. red hot exhaust pipe half way between London and Newcastle at midnight. I knew it was running dog rough, but didn't notice the glowing pipe until it was dark. Got away with it quite lightly. Finished the journey on one cylinder, shaking and rattling and only had to buy an exhaust valve, a pot of grinding compound and a head gasket.
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