ULEZ and historic bikes

Bhud · World Chat Champion Joined: 11 Oct 2018 Karma :

It's all arguments and anecdotes and unless someone is actually relying on a 40 year old bike to make a necessary commute into London, it's all moot. It's obvious and common sense to choose a more modern bike if you have to commute through London on one, and that's why when you stand beside a busy road in London, the bikes and scooters you see there are all fairly modern. Or old by some people's standards. Just not 40 years old. Sure, I could ride into London on a 40 year old bike for the hell of it. But that proves nothing. Common sense prevails in real life.

Nobby the Bastard · Harley Gaydar Joined: 16 Aug 2013 Karma :

I'm prepared to bet money that people are commuting in on Superdreams still.
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trevor saxe-coburg-gotha:"Remember this simple rule - scooters are for men who like to feel the breeze on their huge, flapping cunt lips."
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Nobby the Bastard · Harley Gaydar Joined: 16 Aug 2013 Karma :

Pete. · Super Spammer Joined: 22 Aug 2006 Karma :

Easy-X · Super Spammer Joined: 08 Mar 2019 Karma :

Pete. · Super Spammer Joined: 22 Aug 2006 Karma :

There aren't enough commutable 40yr old bikes around to make it worthwhile TFL worrying about it.
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132.9mph off and walked away. Gear is good, gear is good, gear is very very good Very Happy

GSTEEL32 · Traffic Copper Joined: 24 Feb 2010 Karma :

Meh. Bikes are designed to tolerate bigger temperature swings than anyone in blighty can throw at them.

I just disliked the effect of your fairing acting like a chimney, by blowing hot air at your gonads, as soon as you were stationary for more than 10 seconds.

It was that and cvnts. Cvnts were the other thing in summer in London that I also disliked.

BTTD · World Chat Champion Joined: 22 Nov 2012 Karma :

MATTT · Renault 5 Driver Joined: 20 Dec 2015 Karma :

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that_impulse_guy · Nitrous Nuisance Joined: 07 Mar 2023 Karma :

I "get" whats been discussed here, but por favor...in 3 years or so we hit 1986 era, when watercooling became common enough. Buy something now, spend some time fixing it making it pretty and then treat yourself when 2026 comes around.

The scoot I'm currently preparing to give Kahn a big FU is 1986 suzuki, which has oil cooled pistons, water cooled head and air cooled cylinders. SATCS, and is fitted with an independent oil cooler in anycase.
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Gone: Yamaha DT50lc, Suzuki DR500, Suzuki A100, Kawasaki z250ltd, RD350YPVS, Suzuki DR Big, Kawasaki AR125, Kawasaki KMX200, Suzuki GS1000S, Katana 1100, GS550M, Suzuki RGV250
Now: Suzuki GSX400X, Suzuki RF900R

virus · World Chat Champion Joined: 17 Aug 2006 Karma :

You claim to have been doing one or 2 jap bike builds a year for a while yet then go on to suggest that they arent reliable and overheat often?

Have you considered you may not be as good at the mechanical side of things that you think you are?

to put it another way. Ive had roughly 15 or so different Japanese 80s oilcooled/ aircooled engines of varying CCs and configurations over the years, the ONLY one that overheated was a shitheap Z250 that are model specific known to have weak oil pumps.
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own: 81 xs1100g...
owned: 85 rat CG (sold), 91 GS500e (stolen), 84 gsx400f (scrapped), 81 z250 (siezed, siezed, scrapped), 83 cb250rs (sold), 84 gpz750r ratfighter (killed) 84gpz400 (sold), '80 cb650 ratfighter (wrote off) 95gsx6/12f ratfighter (killed) 91 xj900 (sold)
stinkwheel Well I just had my hands up a pigs fanny. Which makes your concerns pale into insignificance.

Bhud · World Chat Champion Joined: 11 Oct 2018 Karma :

Nobby the Bastard · Harley Gaydar Joined: 16 Aug 2013 Karma :

____________________
trevor saxe-coburg-gotha:"Remember this simple rule - scooters are for men who like to feel the breeze on their huge, flapping cunt lips."
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Bhud · World Chat Champion Joined: 11 Oct 2018 Karma :

Easy-X · Super Spammer Joined: 08 Mar 2019 Karma :

20mph is neither here nor there as at least there's some airflow. Stopping and starting a lot a lights makes the big difference, My father-in-law's Harley was marginally affected by overheating one time by such traffic/roads but what would one expect from a 1.7 litre engine built by unambitious Americans?

You still haven't shared your motives unless I've missed a post somewhere,
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Bhud · World Chat Champion Joined: 11 Oct 2018 Karma :

There's no ulterior motive - just that aircooled bikes are designed to be cooled down by the passage of air over them. Over the past 30 or so years, for example, the Hammersmith flyover has been regularly closed down. But it could be anything - a demonstration, an incident, or whatever. If there's a big build-up of traffic, a motorbike could be held up for quite a long time. In that situation, imagine you filter forwards as much as you can. You don't know when traffic will move. You switch off the engine after a few minutes. You think it will move so you turn it on again. You move forward a few metres. You wait several minutes, turn it off, etc. You just don't know how close you are to having a problem, if you have an aircooled bike, in that situation. What if it's a 40+ degree day, like in 2022? There is that uncertainty there. Most of the time, it will be fine. But how "most"? Is, for example, a 1 out of 50 possibility of failure an acceptable probability for a commuter?

Also, there's the point that the exemption will disappear just a little bit sooner if the bangernomics people jump on badly maintained, noisy and conspicuous old bikes to thumb their nose at Khan. But anyway, that can't be helped.

virus · World Chat Champion Joined: 17 Aug 2006 Karma :

Bhud · World Chat Champion Joined: 11 Oct 2018 Karma :

I only remembered it because I'd searched for GT550 stuff when I was doing that project, and came up with it on Google. That was years ago and it doesn't matter. The point is, we have to make decisions based on what we do know and what we don't know, and what we don't know can be more important than what we do know.

I mean, look at this guy's channel, for example:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcxcOWPcVIykzWG_lqWuRWg/videos

It's a horror story of one major mechanical failure after another, with those old bikes. I can't see any fun or utility in those bikes at all. Who wants a bike that's one headache after another? No wonder they don't get used. Those bikes may have lasted for not as long as more modern Japanese bikes, but the potential points of failure are in many cases the same. We fix issues as they arise, and this is normal "maintenance" - exactly the same as the owners of the old bikes on that channel once did or perhaps still do. But a time comes when something just wears out or breaks, and then it needs the expertise and tool skills of a specialist like that guy. So I'm not trying to be right here. I just think it's a bit left field to try to counter the ULEZ problem with a 40+ year old bike vs, say, a 15 year old compliant bike.

trevor saxe-coburg-gotha · World Chat Champion Joined: 22 Nov 2012 Karma :

Nobby the Bastard · Harley Gaydar Joined: 16 Aug 2013 Karma :

TBH, a 80s GT or GSX is less likely to be a pain that a highly stressed 90's 00's or 10's bike.

I know a guy who's still riding a FJ into the office as a daily rider.

In addition it's amazing how many air cooled bikes are still knocking round asia and africa where it's inherently warmer than the UK and with little maintenance.
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trevor saxe-coburg-gotha:"Remember this simple rule - scooters are for men who like to feel the breeze on their huge, flapping cunt lips."
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