Wedg1e
They call me Mr. Bodge-angles
- Messages
- 7,756
- Location
- Teesside, England
My bro had a 1200 Bandit for which he designed a set of new yokes to take the 'upside-down' front end from something GSXR-ish. Got a mate with a machine shop to make him the bits, improved the handling no end, right up to the point he had a tankslapper on the Helmsley road at 80mph and it spat him off. Amazingly, the bike was hardly damaged at all, rear subframe a bit bent as I recall, few scuffs and wore a tiny hole through the lefthand engine cover but that was it. Nadgered two of his fingers which put paid to his rock-climbing career though.
Rebuilt it, rode it for a couple more years then decided he fancied a BMW R1150S but was offered farcical trade-ins as the bike was too non-standard. Couldn't sell it privately for a price worth having so broke it for spares and got the thick end of 3 grand for it (it was worth about 1800 complete!).
I think he still has the frame and other bits in his shed.
Anyway, point is, it wasn't the rust-bucket some claim they are; maybe Suzuki were putting the paint on a bit thicker that year, maybe he just looked after it, I dunno. Don't think he rode it in all weathers but it certainly went out on nice winter days.
Still think for a couple of £K, Chunko, you might give an ST100 a try. You could run it for a year and I guarantee you'd get your money back. Yes it's big, yes it's heavy, but as soon as the wheels start turning the weight disappears... and there's no sin in having size on your side on today's roads
Rebuilt it, rode it for a couple more years then decided he fancied a BMW R1150S but was offered farcical trade-ins as the bike was too non-standard. Couldn't sell it privately for a price worth having so broke it for spares and got the thick end of 3 grand for it (it was worth about 1800 complete!).
I think he still has the frame and other bits in his shed.
Anyway, point is, it wasn't the rust-bucket some claim they are; maybe Suzuki were putting the paint on a bit thicker that year, maybe he just looked after it, I dunno. Don't think he rode it in all weathers but it certainly went out on nice winter days.
Still think for a couple of £K, Chunko, you might give an ST100 a try. You could run it for a year and I guarantee you'd get your money back. Yes it's big, yes it's heavy, but as soon as the wheels start turning the weight disappears... and there's no sin in having size on your side on today's roads
