This blog started when I owned and MZ Skorpion Traveller and a bike magazine dismissed it with the phrase 'you can't tour on a single'. The Skorpion's gone and I now have a Triumph Bonneville, but I can't be bothered changing the title of the blog!
Saturday, 25 August 2012
Retro bikes 1
Came across a really cool 'retro' bike on Ebay that I hadn't heard of before.
A 1999 Suzuki ST 400 Tempter. Japanese home market bike not sold in the UK (why do they Japs keep all the cool bikes for themselves?), the engine looks similar to the 650 Savage custom that we got.
Just look how slim it is
Did a bit of looking around the Web and found a couple more pictures. This one (re)painted gold:
Looks a bit like a mid 60s Ducati. And this one for sale in New Zealand with an aftermarket silencer that give it a more 60s look.
If any one is interested, the one in the top picture is on sale on British Ebay here.
I also found a 'walk round' on YouTube, the tank badges will confuse old codgers!
A couple more retros, this time new and for sale on Ebay:
A Skyteam Ace 125 Cafe Racer, looks a bit like a 60s Honda, and
A CPI Sprint 125, styled to look a bit like a BSA (check the tank badge!)
Both probably built in China, with all that that bring with it.
A friend of mine fell in love with the Savage 650 motor, and wanted one to put in an older British single. He bought a BSA B-33 rolling chassis. Ended up finding a Honda 600 single motor. One of these days he might get the two together. Curious about those chinese motors, wondering if the quality is getting better? Have looked at them on-line recently.
There's a company called Ryca Motors in California who make cafe racer kits for the Savage: http://www.rycamotors.com/ Might be an easier way to build a 'retro' from one. As for the Chinese bikes, I don't think there's much hope of them getting better. Although there are some bikes built there for other manufacturers (BMW, Honda, Yamaha, etc), these are built to their standards. The Chinese firms have such a vast home market, that exports probably account for a tiny percentage of their production, so it isn't worth their time building a relatively small number of better bikes. I could be wrong, though!
A friend of mine fell in love with the Savage 650 motor, and wanted one to put in an older British single. He bought a BSA B-33 rolling chassis. Ended up finding a Honda 600 single motor. One of these days he might get the two together. Curious about those chinese motors, wondering if the quality is getting better? Have looked at them on-line recently.
ReplyDeleteThere's a company called Ryca Motors in California who make cafe racer kits for the Savage: http://www.rycamotors.com/ Might be an easier way to build a 'retro' from one.
ReplyDeleteAs for the Chinese bikes, I don't think there's much hope of them getting better. Although there are some bikes built there for other manufacturers (BMW, Honda, Yamaha, etc), these are built to their standards. The Chinese firms have such a vast home market, that exports probably account for a tiny percentage of their production, so it isn't worth their time building a relatively small number of better bikes. I could be wrong, though!
Hello.,,,,
ReplyDeletevery nice blog post for the new retro bikes for the single sheet for the blog post is good information sharing.
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