Other Bikes » My potted bike history

On the previous site there was a previous bikes thread, I never got my act together enough to post on there, so here is my (potted) bike history.

First bike Suzuki GP100 single cylinder two stroke (10hp on a good day) – picture is from a few years after I passed my test on it and had given it back to my Dad, he’s replacing the clutch cable IIRC.

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After my test I got a second-hand Suzuki GT250 X7 twin cylinder two stroke and the giddy heights of near 20hp (at a guess) – fun bike but no brakes to speak of. Fuel tank started to leak one day (rusted through, so patched it with petrol safe filler, then repainted it and the rest of the bike various blacks, hence picture of non-standard paint scheme. It got stolen.

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X7’s replacement was a Honda CB250RS four stroke single with 4 valve head, it was a panic buy, I needed to get to work after X7 was nicked (commuting 60 miles a day), and I ended up with a bit of a dog. It drank oil like the two strokes had! So replaced the first one with a red one, which was a gem. Superb brake, could get the front tyre to howl or chirp under heavy braking and once managed a stoppie 2 up on some shell grip tarmac when mate, on pillion, asked me how good the brakes were, in demonstrating we did the stoppie. In the picture it is parked up at the Lizard point in Cornwall (most southerly point of mainland Britain).

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Another few years pass I bought BMW R65 twin off same mate did pillion stoppie with; he’d since (the stoppie) started working for BMW UK in Bracknell (and could get parts cheap). He bought it as a non-runner and did it up. It was another gem; well I say that but, after a couple of years it did drop an exhaust value - to be fair I did use to rag it and was approaching the red line - when the valve head jumped of the stem, which terminated the engine (I still have the resulting piston with hole in crown). So I had to buy a second-hand motor and fit it. Ended up scratching through the valve covers on that one, going around the local roundabouts enthusiastically, had to turn them (the valve covers) upside down to stop oil leaking out until I could source some (affordable) second-hand ones.

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Sold the R65 to a work colleague who ran it for many more years. I had a few years pause, marriage and kids.

Bought a basket case 1984 Kawasaki GPz900R (Ninja) for £500 and made it road worth and safe but cosmetically it was rough (photo is of its good side), I didn’t care though, I was back on a bike and on one I’d dreamt of owning back in the GP100/X7 days, which if I had I’d of killed myself, this was a beast – 900cc inline 4 cylinder 109hp. I owned it for 5 years and enjoyed the majority of them, the bit I didn’t enjoy was discovering the down side of owning a 20+year old bike – I spent as long maintaining it as I did riding it, forever balancing the carbs, unblocking the fuel lines, servicing bushes, replacing bearing, rewiring the (now brittle copper) loom and it must have bust 5 or more speedo drives or speedo drive cables. I could really never trust it, it would always get me home but there would always be something to fix or replace on route or once home, I wanted something more modern and reliable.

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Suzuki SV1000S 1000cc twin 100+hp. Not much, if at all faster, than the GPz from A to B but so much more modern and reliable (at least for the next 8 years). The picture is from my second trip to Scotland on it, where it let me down for the first time and I had to be trucked home but I did fix that problem and still sits (on stands) in my garage.

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Yet I wanted to cover even more distance and had, for the first time in my life, some spare money to do with as I pleased. I had seen the BMW R1200RS in a bike mag and it appealed to me, then that bloke Bravo (who also owned an SV1000 went an bought one and couldn’t stop raving about it on the SV forum) – so thought I’d give one a go, it must have been the BMW Salesman’s easiest day of the year, I was hooked 10 miles into my 130mile test ride. I haven’t regretted it, other than the weekend the sump plug came out, but the dealer took responsibility for that and sorted it and all was well. Took it 2,500 miles round Scotland last year and tomorrow I’m off on a two week 3,600mile trip to the French Italian border, to ride the Col’s and canyons.

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JasonQ

Great report! You are stimulating me to do a report of my own. Guess I'll post it on this thread even though I don't know the translation of the Brit term 'potted' :-)

Zitat von Bob Aint Stoppin im Beitrag #2

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I don't know the translation of the Brit term 'potted' :-)

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Zitat von Lee im Beitrag #3

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Zitat von Bob Aint Stoppin im Beitrag #2

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I don't know the translation of the Brit term 'potted' :-)

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Same here.

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One of the fun things about international forums is the language differences. I like the Brit words and do understand a few of them. My favorites are 'plinth' and 'whilst'. Not used in the colonies, but descriptive.

"potted" I've always taken to mean the short form or summarised version, no idea of the origins.

JasonQ

Zitat von wessie im Beitrag #6

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Zitat von Lee im Beitrag #3

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Zitat von Bob Aint Stoppin im Beitrag #2

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I don't know the translation of the Brit term 'potted' :-)

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Same here.

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Think of it like Carnation milk which in the UK comes in a can which is just a metal pot. Carnation is condensed or potted.

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