Britbike forum Forums General discussion The Rod and Tappet I've had a bike notion ....

Had a Hodaka when I was a teen. I loved the 'ring-a-ding-ding-ding-ding' sound. (My next bike was a Triumph...still have it.)

Years later, I think 2 strokes make the most obnoxious sound on the planet and you could not give me a 2-stroke bike....

Perhaps its just me.

rick not just you i had CZ race bikes as a vigorous youth would go up and down street road testing with expansion chamber would call cops now if some punk did that in front of my house!!

Lannis, for what you want to do, IMO, you would be better off looking newer. There are some decent 250's that have been built recently that have good suspension/brakes, can do some distance, and are not terrible on height.

IMO, if you want vintage, then it is hard to beat the Honda XL250/350 bikes. Parts are not terrible to find, they can do the 80 miles on the road.

Doing 80 miles on a vintage "enduro", especially a 2 stroke, is gonna be less then fun.

Makes me remember a Montesa 250 I had in the early seventies. New piston, new crank seals but it always felt like it wanted to sieze when I rode it on the freeway.

My '73 Yamaha 175 CT-3 was a pretty well mannered road bike. A couple of times, I rode it from my school to Fay's for the weekend, about 120 miles each way, and it wasn't hard, at least not when I was 20 years old! I can't remember the route exactly, but I had to either ride up Christiansburg Mountain on US11, or on Interstate 81. I can remember laying on the tank with my left hand on the front fork to hold 55 MPH going up the hill, and the bike didn't mind it .....

Lannis

Probably not just you. If 20 years of listening to kids of all ages revving up their 2-strokes at Ohio Valley and VMD, riding up and down up and down up and down, just working the throttle from idle to pinned as fast as their wrist will move, even on the flat at a constant speed, just to make noise, has not put me off wanting another two-stroke, then nothing will ...

Lannis

PINEMONKEY - PM in your box.

Lannis

Lannis-
Replied.

There's a new, 0 miles 76 Hercules 125 in the show for $14,000 (!), there's a 350 Bultaco Alpina for $2000 calling to me, a couple of 175 CT3 Yamahas, a little 250 Triumph..... The indecision, it burns....

Buy the alpina! I'll come up and ride it for you

After looking at hundreds of trail bikes at York, I know what I'm going to get now.

Gotta get hooked up with the right guys, but soon I'll be reliving my youth on the trails, rose colored glasses and all.

A venue like York is perfect for seeing every kind of bike in every condition, from rusty wreck to gleaming show bikes.

Thanks for everyone's help, I'll send a photo when this four year process is over!

Lannis

I was there too, asking questions of the great Jeff Smith about his first ride on a B40. He's a real gentleman.
Was riding my '53 Goldie. Still in uglified, barn find, raced to death condition.

You must have been the culprit who prompted his comparison of the unit singles and Gold Stars as scramblers, and Bert Perrigo's reaction.
I thought all of the guest speakers were great. Even the Highway Patrol cops were good public speakers.

The tent was utterly packed for all of them, and rightly so.

I hate that I missed it, just not in the cards this year. I honestly cannot specifically recall the last great swap meet I went to? Must've been Barber 6 years ago? Dunno...
Anyway, I can't wait to see some pictures!
Anyone score treasures?

Well, my plan doesn't seem to be working out .... the guys at York who seemed interested in getting me into a vintage dirt bike have vanished, not returning my Emails or texts, so I have a funny feeling that it isn't going to happen that way. I don't really blame them ... sometimes you get interested in talking about doing something while you're in a big bright room with a thousand bikes and 2000 bikers wandering about, but then you get home to the work-a-day world and find that helping some random dude get into riding one of your club's brand of motorcycles doesn't seem so important any more.

So (while waiting with less and less hope that something might happen in that area), I've been checking out other options. (300 pound or less, 150 - 300cc dual purpose bikes 1968 on ...).

Went to the Honda dealer to look at their CR300L. Nothing to look at. They've only been able to get three this year which haven't even arrived yet, they all have deposits on them, and they don't know when or if they'll get any more. Brave new world we live in here, for sure. Besides, they're almost $7000 out the door - everything is full price+ due to demand, no deals. Just a bit over my budget, not much though.

Nothing in the classifieds except beaters and race-bikes. Everyone seems to be holding on to the decent road-legal riders. I want one that needs NO WORK to start riding ....

Lannis

"I want one that needs NO WORK to start riding ...."

Good luck with that my friend.

So why not tell us the brand that hasn't panned out? Just curious.

Gordon

I'm sure it's possible to buy a ready to ride bike.... I've bought and sold many bikes of just that description over the years. I saw a bunch of them at York but they just were outside my wish criteria, which is a bit wider now.

Someone out there has got one that they're ready to let go. I might still be able to get our local BSA Singles expert to put me together a nice ISDT styled Moto Giro ready B25!

It would be hard to pick the "perfect" bike. You've mentioned a bunch of VERY nice options.

I rode small Honda's and BSA unit singles. Owned a couple of Spanish bikes but kept falling off of them. Tried a Husky 250 Desert Master .....fell off that sucker too.

But ALL of them were a lot of fun.

Good luck.....it's out there.

Gordon

PS, my last trip on my C25 was around 600 miles, round trip. It's been undercover ever since. I "like" the bike but it isn't my favorite at all. I like the 441s over it and the B50.

The B44 seems to be in the just right zone.

It sort of is ... but I was going back to constraining myself to a bike that I could use in Moto Giro events too, which a 67-68 B25/T25 would be. You can't ask one bike to do too many things, but I've realized that for my own peace of mind, I need to get the number of bikes I'm dealing with to a minimum.

I may be overspecifying, but I'm giving it a try.

Lannis

IME.......the main Giro ride was one of the eligible Honda twins.....with several to chose from. You can tell that the fellow who started and made up the rules for the GIRO USA.....was a Honda fan.....hence the 305cc max displacement.

Lannis, I wanted to do a Giro for a long time. Ended up doing 4 before I finally gave them up. I 'think" you'd enjoy doing one.....but not sure it's be something you'd do a lot of. I just never seemed to fit in with that group. Might have been a different experience if I had some folks from this site along. That only happened at one Giro......but Ed broke down before lunch and I didn't get to see him again until after the evening dinner.

I do understand that "to a minimum". My little trip into the XS650 world caused my BSA's a lot of grief.......I miss them but I'm glad they are gone.

Gordon

Lannis lad, only ONE bike comes to my mind, and I think it's truly PERFICK for your requirements, you'll be riding on the T.A.T enjoying life and even paying a visit to the Horizons Unlimited ADV show in Virginia on it IF you got one.....


Royal Enfield Himalayan....

Cheap as chips, light as you like, and I've ridden one so you'll fit on it too.....

Royal Enfield Himalayan.... thumbsup

Perfect indeed......EXCEPT.......you'd have to get him to forget about doing a GIRO USA on it.

Cut off date of manufacture is 1968 with a 305cc max.

They have been known to "bend" the rules a bit.....but that'd be a lot of bending.

Gordon

PS: The GIRO USA sidecar class has NO limitations as far as engine size or manufacture date. That does kinda stray away from the intent IMO but could/would be an option for someone wanting to GIRO two times a year. So a Himalayan with a Cozy?????

Just the other day a young woman rode past my house on a 1960s Honda 50. Looked like a fun ride. Like a modern e-bike but better.

Now I feel left out .

I still don't fit in but bring my wife or a daughter along to keep me company. The cliques I think are broken down to the hard core USCRA guys and guys who come as a group. My Allstate never really attracted much attention or acted as an ice breaker, but the Greeves seems to have done pretty well in breaking the ice.

The Honda's are plentiful. There are a couple of B25's from Virginia that have been there for awhile that I inevitably end up around and annoying at some point. I acquired a 67 Starfire that I am slowly trying to bring back to life so I can bring 2 bikes in the same class in the event of a mechanical failure or another crash.

A 250 Allstate (Puch) is a good choice as well and seem to be sort of cheap and available.

Just my 2 cents as I would like to be a part of a team / group someday.


Geoff