Friday bike

2003 Triumph Bonneville T100

What’s so special about this bike? I’ve just bought it!

 

I’ve been riding only MZ Skorpions for 16 years now and fancied a change. I’ve always liked the Bonneville so when one came up at the right price....

Useful accessories like centrestand, fork gaiters, windscreen, heated grips, Scottoiler and after market shocks had been fitted by the previous owner.

 

It also has a rack, but I’m going to replace it with a Hepco & Becker rack and pannier frames so I can use the panniers I already have.

 

13893 miles = 22359 km - not a lot for a 13 year old bike.

I’ll let you know how I get on.

Friday bikes

These Police bikes

The City of Brighton and Hove in Sussex, on the South coast of England, is well known for its very welcoming and tolerant society. This has led to it being voted 'Happiest Place in Britain to Stay' in 2015, and the establishment of a very large LGBT community.

Every year in August there is the 'Brighton Pride' event which regularly attracts 160,000 visitors to the city, and last year Sussex Police decorated a Police car and bike to commemorate the event.

This led some criticism and accusations of 'wasting tax payers' money' (what? do LGBT people not pay tax?) so this year the head of Brighton and Hove Police issued this statement (like the rainbow shoelaces!)

And this is the van.

And they also decorated a second bike.

This is what I call 'community policing' - working with the local people and not against them.

In return, the people of Brighton and Hove crowdfunded the painting of the vehicles, thereby bypassing any 'wasting money' comments.

Friday bike

Velocette Vogue 1963 - 68

The Vogue was a sort of 'touring' version of Velocette's existing 'LE' model, and shared its 200cc, water cooled, sidevalve, boxer engine, complete with shaft drive. The bodywork was made of Glass Fibre, and the screen and panniers were options.

Unfortunately, it was more expensive than the similar and more powerful Ariel Leader, and only 400 examples were built during its 5 year production run.

It was very neatly finished with footboards and a car like dash, but the engine only produced 8 bhp which gave a top speed of around 60 mph/ 100 km/h.

Very rare now, I've never seen one other than in a museum, but it's an interesting example of a 'different' type of bike.

Friday bike

.... and now for something completely different......

Found this, ahem 'interesting' bike on American Ebay.

The listing says that it's fitted with a Buell engine and as it appears to be a single, I assume it's from the 500cc 'Blast' model that we didn't get in the UK.

If you're interested, it's listed here, and at time of writing it's reached $3000 and there are two days left.

Don't really know what to say about this bike other than if I look at it for too long my brain hurts!

Touring ideas

I don't usually buy motorbike magazines, but this month's copy of RiDE had a couple of touring articles I was interested in.

Previously I'd mentioned the North Coast 500, a touring route round the north of Scotland. Ride tested a group of 'Adventure Sport' bike on the route, well worth a read even if you can't afford any of the bikes!

It also had a supplement which I had thought was about touring in the Alps. Turns out it covers most of the other mountain ranges in Europe as well.

To be honest, it's just a catalogue of routes on their website, all with maps and downloadable Sat Nav files. Lots of good touring ideas.

I also found this website of unusual and cheap places to stay in Scotland. Lots of ideas for trips, and I particularly liked the Inversnaid Bunkhouse.

As you can see, it's housed in a converted church complete with wooden beams and stained glass windows. It's only an hour or so's ride from my house, so I might take a run up to have a look at it.

Friday bike

And now for something completely different........

1988 MOKO Powa D10

Based on the Yamaha FZ750, Swiss company MOKO made only 10 examples of their Powa D10. The streamlined bodywork is no doubt very aerodynamic, which should give the bike a high top speed and good fuel economy, along with some, err, 'eye-catching' styling.

Apparently there are only 6 examples still in existence, and this particular one is on sale on the Catawiki auction site.

Guide price is £16,530 - 21,490, and the bike is located in France, so you could have a good ride back getting to know your 'very individual' bike. Don't all get into a bidding war, I know you all want it!

Friday bike

Some time ago I featured the rather ugly Ossa Urbe as a Friday bike and mentioned it was based on the much better looking Copa Formula 3. Being built in Spain and never officially imported into the UK, I haven't seen one. However, one is on British Ebay at the moment.

This particular example has been tuned, but the standard 250cc engine was powerful to propel the bike to a claimed 160 Km/h (c. 100 mph).

This bike is listed here at a 'Buy it now' price of £4000. When you look at the price bikes like Yamaha RD250, Suzuki X7, and Kawasaki KH250 command this doesn't look too bad. And you're unlikely to see another one!

(Anyone else spot that in the top picture the front tyre is fitted the wrong way round!!!)