# Bike and Car pictures



## Andy

Lets have some vehicle pictures.

I've just done a handlebar conversion to my R12C from the rather ridiculously high "ape hangers" to the flat one's. Should have been a two hour job but ended up taking all afternoon. I'll do a picture later as I'm too knackered to bother now.

Eric how about letting us see the rest of your HD.


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## ericp

Here she is...Taken on the same day as I did the "pretty in pink" picture.


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## ericp

Inside the Mondial QV Cabrio...


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## ericp

And here is William in the Aston


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## ericp

I am a complete petrol head....

I added a Triumph Trident (1998 model with 6500 miles) to the garage today.

One of the nicest bikes I have ridden for a long time.

Very tall first gear though.


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## Mrcrowley

please tell me you dont keep it in that shed


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## Mrcrowley

The Harley I mean


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## ericp

No....

Thats the granny flat !!!


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## Andy

I used to have one of these.

I don't have any digital photos of it, but it was exactly the same model as this Messerschmitt KR200 but Green.

It had a rear mounted, 200cc single cylinder two stroke engine.

It could hold 60mph with two people and luggage. Amazing engine.

Had loads of fun, (and misery) with it but it was a death trap on todays roads.

The one to have is the four wheeled, 500cc Tiger version which is capable of 120mph.

Rather you than me mate.


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## 036

Very good Eric


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## 036

I have always really liked BMW Isettas (have I got the name right?), gorgeous.


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## scottishcammy

Hi all, don't seem to have a minute to myself just now, constantly away on various squads. I've missed my 'forum fix'! Good to see you are all alive and well! Here's me and my brother in the Elise.


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## ericp

Good looking car....

I did a couple of courses driving a Lotus similar to that model...


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## scottishcammy

Hi eric, amazing handling on the car. It takes corners like nothing else, as long as you don't back off! I'm currently thinking of getting a Subaru Impreza Estate........justify the 'family' bit to my wife and still have a really good driver's car. Or that's the plan at least!


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## ericp

The Nissan Skyline (R34) was a good Family Car.... 4 Seats, large(ish) boot....

"of course its economical dear, thats why I want one" 

Good luck with the Scooby. Watch out for the local constabulary though


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## 036

The most exciting electrifying car I have been in was a Golf Rallye, it was left hand drive and was a short production run (? for rally homologisation) 4 wheel drive superchrged (maybe turbo not sure) Mk II Golf.

Awesome. Esp on empty country roads in Northern Ireland.


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## Sargon

Apparently not anyone's taste here, but here's my beast. With more trucks and SUV's on the road than cars it doesn't seem safe to me to drive a car on the road, let alone those tissue paper vehicals you lot have.


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## Guest

Very nice Sargon

They build some cracking pick ups in the US.

Never caught on here as recreational vehicles. Different environment.

I have a pick up I keep for work, Nissan D21, 2 litre petrol model, not really in the same class as yours although it has been fantastically reliable.

Neil.


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## Andy

Sargon said:


> Apparently not anyone's taste here, but here's my beast. With more trucks and SUV's on the road than cars it doesn't seem safe to me to drive a car on the road, let alone those tissue paper vehicals you lot have.


 Sargon

You guys can afford to run these monsters because you have the relative luxury,(compared to us), of cheap gas.

We currently pay about Â£3.50 per UK Gallon (4.54 litres).

Thats about $6 according to my calculations.

Now maybe you understand why we mostly drive tissue box's


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## Griff

The Rover 75 aint no tissue box and I'm aiming to make it my next vehicle


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## Andy

My BMW R1200 with the new flat bars I fitted yesterday.










The only trouble is they've added over four inches to the overall width









S**T


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## ericp

Andy,

Good looking bike....

A bit "street fighter" ish.


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## Guest

The Beemer is lookin good Andy. I always find that the clutch/brake cables are never the same length when you put the new set of bars on. Its just one of those things. Heres a quick snap of mine....


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## Andy

Thanks Eric. Music to my ears.

That is exactly the look I wanted and was trying to achieve with the bars.

G.

Yep I had to change the lines as well.

Is that a Corbin saddle I see on yours.

From what I know of the bikers on this forum I think we al have great taste.


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## Roger

A colleague of mine has a Subaru Imprezza Turbo WRX Prodrive, he says it goes well. looks totally "boy racer" and the interior is really crappy....almost up to 1990's Korean standard.


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## Sargon

$6.00 a gallon?? Yikes!!! Gas is very expensive here at the moment. I pay about $1.75 a gallon. If I drive a little out of my way to the indian reservation (no tax) I can get it for $1.40.


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## Fred

Nice car Griff, i have just got one, fred.


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## Guest

Well spotted Andy







Ive made a few tasteful modifications to the bike actually. Full 944 kit (big carbs, dual plug heads, cams, pistons, lighter flywheel, flow job). Carbon fiber and magnesium EVERYWHERE. Titanium and annodized aluminum nuts, bolts, and washers EVERYWHERE. Mag rims, new brake and clutch lines, new pads. Modified to use Ducati city bags, oh and the saddle you saw.


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## ericp

I am hoping to do some "tweaking" on the 750 Triumph Trident I just bought.

Think "Johnny English"







)

Photos will of course follow....


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## Guest

Look forward to seein the pics Eric.

Andy,

How do you find the shaft drive on the BMW? Is it as smooth as they say. Ive never ridden a bike with shaft drive. I had a hyabusa when they first came on the scene and it was forever snapping chains, went like s*** off a stick though so i didnt mind


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## Garry

My old Suzi SV650s, sold it about 18 months ago and missing it like mad...










G.


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## Andy

Gspotter said:


> Andy,
> 
> How do you find the shaft drive on the BMW? Is it as smooth as they say.


 Erm, actually no.

I've had shaft drive bikes before.The BMW's transmission is a bit cluncky and does feel a bit cumbersome at low rpm.

On the move though it smooths out a lot but I don't think shaft drive will ever be as smooth as a properly adjusted chain.

I reckon belt drive, as used on Harleys and Buells would be the best compromise.

Gary nice bike.

I have a friend in the second hand bike trade who tells me he can never have enough of those.

Evidently they are one of the most sought after used bikes.


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## Garry

Hi Andy,

Yep, I was an idiot to sell, one of the best bikes I ever had - not the fastest, but handling was the dogs. I advertised it on the net and sold it in 2 days for full asking price. I've never seen a bad test on one and would highly recommend them.

Will have a change this time once I've sold my Merc, but still cant make up my mind between something retro like a 1300 Bandit, or a balls out sporter. Looking closely at the Kawasaki ZR7's at the moment!!.

G.


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## Griff

At the risk of attracting scorn, are there still CZ's and MZ's?

Are/were they any good? Most say Russian bikes were the pits.........but where they? Have heard some say the MZ's were extremely durable!!!?


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## Andy

Griff said:


> At the risk of attracting scorn, are there still CZ's and MZ's?
> 
> Are/were they any good? Most say Russian bikes were the pits.........but where they? Have heard some say the MZ's were extremely durable!!!?


 Don't know about CZ's but the old MZ 2 strokes are still built, I think in India or somewhere like that. Some factory owner bought all the tooling and is producing them. The importer is nr. Brands Hatch.

I had a look but the 251cc costs nearly Â£2500









I think thats to much for what it is.

When I started riding in 1981 you could still ride up to 250cc on L plates but the law changed to 125cc in 82.

I didn't get my test in time so bought an MZ 125 to tide me over.

When I got my test I tried to sell it .

To cut a long story short I ended up advertising it FREE to whoever would collect but I still couldn't get rid of the bloody thing.

Basically a very robust, quite reliable, utilitarian vehicle with an image problem, and image counts, even at this end of the market.


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## Andy

Oh and regarding Russian bikes.

The only one's I know of are the old re-hashed, wartime BMW's.

Neval I think there called. Still available and the Combo's are quite popular.

I have no experience of these but I hear reliability is an issue.

Evidently they should have been used in one of the Indiana Jones films when he's being chased by bike mounted German soldiers but they were breaking down to often.

In the end Suzuki Trial bikes were used.

If you watch the sequence closely you will see that the riders have saddlebags draped over the fuel tanks.

Apparently that was to hide this.


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## ericp

I had an MZ250 for a while......

There were a number of strange things....

The "key" supplied with the bike for the "ignition lock" is basically a hollow tube with a pin sticking out of it.

The engine looks like a teapot and produces less power than a sowing machine.

The exhaust pipe was about 12 inches longer than the rest of the bike and was supported by a lump of metal that sprouted from under the seat somewhere.

I once rode it from Colchester to Cheltenham. It appeared not to use any fuel on this journey, and the since the tyres appeared to be made out of concrete running costs were always going to be quite low.

However my mother in law reversed over it in the drive........

I was quite pleased really.


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## Griff

Is the Scorpion a bike of Russian make!?


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## Andy

Could be although I suspect your thinking of the MuZ Scorpion

MZ relaunched themselves as a brand some years ago, became MuZ, and started going all high tech by using Japanese parts, specifically engines, the most popular example being the Yamaha 660 single cylinder.

I believe the bikes were quite good but pricewise, pitched in direct competition with there Japanese counterparts.

No matter what they did the company always has, and always will, be percieved as a budget brand and so competing against the mainstream makes in that way was a very brave step.

I don't think there has ever been any danger of a Russian brand going hi tech.

The Neval's are basically watime BMW's and have remained unchanged since BMW produced them for the German Army. They then sold everything to the Russian company who have carried on producing them. I did hear that up till recently, the sidecars still had the mounting plate for a machine gun.

The Neval combinations still have a driven sidecar wheel, giving it two wheel drive but only with the chair mounted on the right, which is illegal here.


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## Andy

I found a picture of one.

Amazing to think that you can still buy this historical artifact NEW today.

Question is

Would you want to


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## MarkF

Great pic of the 1200 Andy, what happened to the alloy wheel?

The bars, good grief, you say they are flatter? Then how high were the standard factory fit ones









I'm getting there but still need a ride!


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## Andy

Hi Mark

I only put the alloy on to see what it looked like.

When I get the front to go with it I'll put it on but it looks a bit odd with the spoked up front.

The old bars were much higher than these









Eric

Where's this Triumph then


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## ericp

Triumph pictures coming soon..

Although the customisation will take some time...


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## Griff

Nissan Skyline got nowt on this


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## ericp

When I used to do hill climbing I met who chap who had a Skoda Rapdie that was something else....

Huge engine, wide wheels and alot of stomp...

Most entertaining...


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## pauluspaolo

Here's a picture of my old kit car - a Midas Bronze - owned it for 8 years and eventually sold it to a Mini enthusiast in Holland who sems to like it as much as I did. My friends hated it! Went exceptionally well too with a 1275cc Metro engine in it - 100mph was easy but scary! Long journeys were a bit of an ordeal due to the noise and the lack of a 5th gear, the ride was very firm too which helped the handling (which was superb) but did zero for comfort!


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## pauluspaolo

Here's my current Lancia. Just come back from touring Scotland, stayed with a friend close to Aberdeen, then went up to Dunnet Head (the most northerly point in the UK), back down to Loch Ness and then on to Loch Lomond before heading for home in Leeds. Ended up doing about 1150 miles in 5 days and the car never missed a beat and went like stink, it's a worthy Midas replacement! Much nicer than the Saab 900 which I bought immediately after selling the Midas and kept for less than a year!


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## pauluspaolo

Here's the interior of the Lancia - very comfy.


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## Stan

Talking of MZâ€™s, I rode them some years ago and they were Ok as a commuter â€˜bike.

But the thing I remember was meeting a guy called Karl-Heinz Wagner, who had some victories riding MZâ€™s for the factory in the ISDT. I canâ€™t remember the details, but he seemed like a good bloke.

Anyway Iâ€™ve got a Ford KA since some pratt wrote my series two Golf GTI 8 valve off.









The KA is not a bad little car, handles very well and itâ€™s cheap.


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## Garry

Hi Paul,

I used to have an HPE 2 litre, brilliant car, have not seen one on the road for years though. Always fancied a Monte Carlo, but you just don't see them around, or for sale - shame.

G.


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## pauluspaolo

Hi Garry

Have you looked on Findit or Ebay for Lancias? HPE's in rough shape seem to go for little money (but would probably cost a fair wedge to put right), however ones in decent nick don't seem to go for that much either. I'd love a supercharged HPE or Coupe. I didn't pay much for my Lancia, but decided to take the plunge as it has a low(ish) mileage at less than 70,000, a known history and I know that the chap selling it is a real Lancia enthusiast! I've spent quite a bit putting it right (corrosion and mechanical bits and bobs!) but now I feel I have a decent, rare car for less than Â£1500. I'm hooked!! If you are serious about finding one the joining the Lancia Motor Club would be a good idea, they have a website with membership details.

Monte Carlo's turn up occasionally on the above 2 sites but can make a lot of money. I went to a Lancia specialist not far from where I live a month or so ago and he had an immaculate Monte Carlo. Looked superb in pale blue with contrasting split rim alloy wheels. I suspect it had been seriously tinkered with, not sure if it was for sale or not! The trouble with that sort of car is that it's not really very practical - 2 seats only, small boot etc. I had an impractical car with the Midas, the Delta is a 5 door hatch with seriously good performance but very practical with it.

I know that Lancias aren't imported any more but in 1100+ miles touring Scotland I saw only one other and that was from Germany (I think)! It was some sort of salloon, about equal to a BMW 3 series in size and looked very, very tasty. I ended up parking behind it at Loch Ness, unfortunately the owners English was about as good as my German i.e. non existent, I doubt if "Achtung! Spitzenfuhren!" would have got the conversation off to a good start







!

Cheers

Paul


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## Garry

Thanks for that Paul.

One that interests me a lot would be a black volumex saloon - great cars.

G.


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## Fred

Hi, got this a couple of days ago, from a chap near Coventry, has had a lot work done to it by a chap who works for one of the Brittish Ducati Super bike Team's. 1976 860cc Ducati GTS. fred.


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## pauluspaolo

Fred

That looks superb. I wish I could ride a bike









Paul


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## Fred

Hi Paul, thanks for the reply. You will have to get out there and learn, it good fun and you know what, it will make you a better car driver, Most bikers who drive a car are better drivers than car drivers who dont ride. The Ducati has had a massive amount of work done to it , it's a bit of a one off thats one of the reasons i liked it, it's all but a new bike, and 1976 at that, thanks again, fred.


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