I scored very low on the autie test. I’m cheerful, happy, confident, like meeting new people, chatty and largely sociable. What the fuck am I doing on this forum?
NorfolkNWeigh wrote: ↑Fri Apr 02, 2021 6:26 pm
I’d forgotten about all those MZs buzzing around London , always had a bottle of 2-stroke oil wedged between the clocks. I did 2 years as a messenger on company bikes , started with a CG1225 before I was even 17, then convinced them to buy me a 250 RS then CX500 Eurosport, I also did some distance work for Security Despatch and KingWings in Covent Garden , nice money as I only had to pay for the petrol as I was using my company bike.
MZs, Honda Benlys and later GT550s always remind me of those days. Just remembered the Post Office 250 RS’ with the big fairings and the old guy on the MZ advertising heated gloves and suits. Picking up,Red Star parcels from Euston then racing down into the West End like the start of Le Touquet...
It is not nothing, they will be making power before the powerband, but then they make lots of power.
It's all subjective I suppose, lots of fun on a deserted, twisty road on a sunny afternoon.
Not so much fun on a freezing cold, wet monday at 06:00.
As for the smell, I don't actually know if it is the smell I like, or the memories it brings back.
DodgeRover wrote: ↑Fri Apr 02, 2021 4:04 pm
This was my first bike on the road at 16
1979_X1_white_leftside_800.jpg
Having ridden a 250 trials bike since I was 12 or 13 this was always going to be a disappointment, all the size and weight of a big bike with the power of a hair dryer.
Bought it from a mate with a failed stator for £50, sold it a year later for £115.
Any sort of a hill had you down to 19mph in first gear at about 9000rpm.
Would do an indicated 45 on the flat with a favourable wind and a couple of miles run up.
Did about 2000 miles over a year and I swear most of that was done pushing the soding thing. A friend had the same bike and a dad who owned a dispatch agency, he used to do about 100 miles a night on his up and down the A1 with no problems except the electrics weren't enough to charge the battery and run the lights so they were about as good as a candle after 20 minutes or so.
X1 wheels fitted to a GP100 (or 125 with 100 side panels) was a popular mod back in the mid '80s.
Back in 1986 no self respecting 16 year old would be seen dead on a restricted 50. There were a few exceptions though, a Yamahe RD/DT50 or a Kawasaki AR/AE50 were bought by wealthier kids and fitted with the head and barrels off the 80cc versions which not just allowed them to keep up, but indeed head the pack when we were riding en mass to the local amusement arcades that used to litter the seaside town of New Brighton where we lived. Eventually our youthful antics attracted the attention of the local plod, in particular one PC Smith who was more clued up than most about bike legislation and went full on bezerk on the lads with newer bikes after spotting us riding along the local by pass at 45mph.
One lad called Sean who was a year older than us rode a Honda Dax ST70 monkey bike which he'd leant me to go and buy beer from the local "easy" off licence as it was the only bike we had with a top box. I set off with another lad called Jay, a total bullshitter then as he is now, on his tuned RD50MX and we rode the two miles to the no questions asked offy without incident. Top box filled with Merrydown Gold Cider, Carlsberg Special Brew and a bottle of Stock, a Happy Shopper version of Martini, for the token ladies in our group, we set off home. For some reason, either blindness, stupidity, inexperience or most probably a combination of all three, Jay managed to sideswipe yours truly whilst we were doing a U turn outside the shop forcing me onto the pavement and into a lamp post! He claimed it was because I was so low to the ground and therefore didn't see me but to this day it's the nearest I've ever come to being thrown off a bike. The ST70 suffered twisted forks but no lasting damage so we at least made it back to Simon's garage where we were all based.
Sean was less than impressed! We hammered the forks straight and he promptly part ex'd it for a brand new Honda H100S on a C plate. Now this Honda was a fucking weapon! Easily the fastest bike in our gang and the acceleration from a standstill was much better than a GP100. Sadly, the Honda met its demise when Sean rode it into the side of a Montego doing an illegal U turn outside the local Cadbury's factory.
Another thing that pissed myself and my mates off back in 1987 was the yawning gap in the air cooled, two stroke Suzuki range when they replaced the GT models.
That's why I had a MZ ETZ150, couldn't afford to go up a band, but 14.7hp meant being able to overtake lorries on the motorway and do 75, instead of getting up to the cab and hit the wind wall.
Eddie Honda wrote: ↑Sat Apr 03, 2021 12:48 am
It'd cost the same to insure as a 200 anyway
(101-225cc for the old rider's policy)
That's why I had a MZ ETZ150, couldn't afford to go up a band, but 14.7hp meant being able to overtake lorries on the motorway and do 75, instead of getting up to the cab and hit the wind wall.
