Tuesday, 30 April 2013
Friday, 26 April 2013
Friday bike
Seen this bike before? More than a passing resemblance to the BMW F650 'Funduro', or the Aprilia Pegaso of the late 90s?
This is the Jialing JH 600, built in China. It's got a 600cc 4 valve single cylinder engine and is the first bike built in China with fuel injection. Woooo!
It's in a fairly low state of tune with a claimed 40 bhp and a top speed of 100 mph (161 km/h), although a US journalist could only get 94 mph (151 km/h) out of one during a test ride.
The bike passes the Euro 3 emision and noise test, so could be sold in Europe and the US, but until the Chinese manufacturers get their build/reliability standards up to a level that would be acceptable in the West, it's unlikely anyone would buy one. Judging by this forum they've still got a long way to go.
It's a pity because I could see this as a useful runabout/touring bike, much in the same way the MZ ETZ 250 was in the 80s and 90s. (Back when I rode them.) However, as it stands, I would much rather own a 10 or 15 year old BMW than a new one of these, in the same way that I would rather have a 10-15 year old Honda CG 125 than a new Chinese 'clone'.
Just for mr combo here's a picture of a sidecar version, as used by the Chinese Army.
And a video:
It's in a fairly low state of tune with a claimed 40 bhp and a top speed of 100 mph (161 km/h), although a US journalist could only get 94 mph (151 km/h) out of one during a test ride.
It's a pity because I could see this as a useful runabout/touring bike, much in the same way the MZ ETZ 250 was in the 80s and 90s. (Back when I rode them.) However, as it stands, I would much rather own a 10 or 15 year old BMW than a new one of these, in the same way that I would rather have a 10-15 year old Honda CG 125 than a new Chinese 'clone'.
Just for mr combo here's a picture of a sidecar version, as used by the Chinese Army.
Bargain corner
Was in my local Aldi this morning and saw they had paddock stands reduced to £19.99. I'd been thinking of buying one as the Yamaha hasn't got a centre stand, so thought that I'd give one a try at that price.
Opened the box and this is what you get:
Two 'loops' (for different widths for front and rear use), two 'arms', rollers, height adjusters, two lifting ends, and some nuts and bolts. There's also some instructions.
It all goes together easily enough. It's fairly cheaply made, but seems robust enough. The flat lifting ends (top left of picture), are actually made of some plastic/nylon material, but seemOK. The forked lifting ends (right side of picture, below loop) are supposed to fit to the bottom of your forks and will fit the Yamaha reasonably, but not the Skorpion or the Honda.
Wheeled the Yamaha out, adjusted the height and width of the lifting ends, and the bike goes onto the stand very easily and safely.
Bike is very secure on the stand, but the Yamaha has a particular problem.
Due to the cool, racing style, 'banana' swing arm, the only place you can lift the bike from is below the spindle, which makes it impossible to remove!
I lifted the Skorpion just to show how you can postion the stand on a bike with a more sensible swing arm
Verdict: worth the money if you're only going to be using it occasionally. If you're likely to need to use a paddock stand more often, or have a heavy bike, it would probably be better (and safer) to buy a higher quality stand.
Changing between front and rear use requires removing two nuts and bolts, changing the loops, and refitting the bolts. As these stands are very cheap I'm seriously thinking of buying another one and keeping one for the front and one for the rear to avoid having to keep changing. I'll make some new lifting ends to suit the Yamaha swing arm and the Skorpion forks (The Honda is light enough to not need a stand), but I'm fairly happy with my purchase.
Also in Aldi were fabric motocyle jackets for £50. To be honest, I didn't think they were worth the money and people like Hein Gericke would have something better for the price. There were also some garish full face helmets reduced to £19.99. I imagine they pass some sort of safety test, but they were really shoddy and looked like they would fall apart fairly quickly.
It all goes together easily enough. It's fairly cheaply made, but seems robust enough. The flat lifting ends (top left of picture), are actually made of some plastic/nylon material, but seemOK. The forked lifting ends (right side of picture, below loop) are supposed to fit to the bottom of your forks and will fit the Yamaha reasonably, but not the Skorpion or the Honda.
Wheeled the Yamaha out, adjusted the height and width of the lifting ends, and the bike goes onto the stand very easily and safely.
I lifted the Skorpion just to show how you can postion the stand on a bike with a more sensible swing arm
Changing between front and rear use requires removing two nuts and bolts, changing the loops, and refitting the bolts. As these stands are very cheap I'm seriously thinking of buying another one and keeping one for the front and one for the rear to avoid having to keep changing. I'll make some new lifting ends to suit the Yamaha swing arm and the Skorpion forks (The Honda is light enough to not need a stand), but I'm fairly happy with my purchase.
Also in Aldi were fabric motocyle jackets for £50. To be honest, I didn't think they were worth the money and people like Hein Gericke would have something better for the price. There were also some garish full face helmets reduced to £19.99. I imagine they pass some sort of safety test, but they were really shoddy and looked like they would fall apart fairly quickly.
Sunday, 21 April 2013
On my travels
Sorry things have been a bit quiet on the blog, but my current job involves a lot of working away from home, and this coupled with getting some work done on the house (and buying the Yamaha), has meant that I haven't really had much to blog about.
I've been to some really nice places (plus one that wasn't so nice, so I'll not mention that!), unfortunately in the car, but now that the evenings are getting longer I've managed to take some photos after work.
A few weeks ago I was in Chesterfield, Derbyshire - famous for its church with the leaning spire.
Despite numerous stories as to the reason, the spire only started to lean after the original wooden tiles were replaced with much heavier lead.
There's lots of really good and well preserved architecture.
As well as some unusual street names!
Well worth a visit if you're in the area.
Also worth a visit is Newmarket, Suffolk - home to lots of things to do with horse racing. Horse breeding and racing seems to be the major industry, and even the pavements are segregated with the piece next to the traffic for humans, and the bit behind the fence for horses.
Nice clock tower:
And in the window of a barber's shop was a very well restored Jawa twin port single (250cc?)
(Extra joke in the name for Glaswegian football fans!)
Note the ethnically confused restaurant!
I also found a Gentleman's Club, unfortunately closed when I passed.
I thought this was a good idea - a club where gentlemen could sip Madeira whilst discussing the topics of the day - where the best tailors were, where to buy monacles and cravats, whilst the womenfolk shopped for hats and ribbons.
The club also seemed to be interested in European folk culture, putting on performances by traditonal dancers from Poland and Lapland - well, I think that's what the sign meant.
I'll be working at home for the next while, so hopefully there will be more bike based posts.
I've been to some really nice places (plus one that wasn't so nice, so I'll not mention that!), unfortunately in the car, but now that the evenings are getting longer I've managed to take some photos after work.
A few weeks ago I was in Chesterfield, Derbyshire - famous for its church with the leaning spire.
There's lots of really good and well preserved architecture.
Also worth a visit is Newmarket, Suffolk - home to lots of things to do with horse racing. Horse breeding and racing seems to be the major industry, and even the pavements are segregated with the piece next to the traffic for humans, and the bit behind the fence for horses.
Nice clock tower:
And in the window of a barber's shop was a very well restored Jawa twin port single (250cc?)
Note the ethnically confused restaurant!
I also found a Gentleman's Club, unfortunately closed when I passed.
I thought this was a good idea - a club where gentlemen could sip Madeira whilst discussing the topics of the day - where the best tailors were, where to buy monacles and cravats, whilst the womenfolk shopped for hats and ribbons.
The club also seemed to be interested in European folk culture, putting on performances by traditonal dancers from Poland and Lapland - well, I think that's what the sign meant.
I'll be working at home for the next while, so hopefully there will be more bike based posts.
Friday bike
I think most of us tend to think of scooters as starting with the famous Vespa and Lambretta models. However, scooters had been built much earlier and one of the most stylish of the pre WW2 era was the Salsbury.
From Wikipedia:E. Foster Salsbury and Austin Elmore developed the Salsbury Motor Glide, a scooter with a seat above an enclosed drivetrain, and began production in 1936 in California. In 1938, Salsbury introduced a more powerful scooter with a continuously variable transmission (CVT). This was the first use of a CVT on a scooter.[20] It was such a success that Salsbury attempted to license the design to several European manufacturers including Piaggio. The Motor Glide set the standards for all later models. It inspired production of motor scooters by Powell, Moto-scoot, Cushman, Rock-Ola, and others.[21]
And here's a chap showing the correct riding costume to be worn with the Salsbury.
And here's one in action:
Groovy or what?
From Wikipedia:E. Foster Salsbury and Austin Elmore developed the Salsbury Motor Glide, a scooter with a seat above an enclosed drivetrain, and began production in 1936 in California. In 1938, Salsbury introduced a more powerful scooter with a continuously variable transmission (CVT). This was the first use of a CVT on a scooter.[20] It was such a success that Salsbury attempted to license the design to several European manufacturers including Piaggio. The Motor Glide set the standards for all later models. It inspired production of motor scooters by Powell, Moto-scoot, Cushman, Rock-Ola, and others.[21]
And here's one in action:
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