03-09-2017, 01:09 PM
Some of you might have notices my other motorbike thread has dried up recently. Sadly the little SR 125 went back to her rightful owner and this left me with a empty space in my garden.
I decided to fill that space with a proper motorbike and hopefully having a bike outside will spur me on to pass my test (both mod 1 and mod 2 booked for November) I bought a Yamaha XJ900 blind off ebay for £700 from a classified ad with best offer. The advert was only 2 lines long but it was black (rather than the usual hideous green or burgundy colour they all seem to come in, it had half a tank of fuel, nearly a years MOT and oddly even though it's 10 years older it has the same 65,000 miles as my Impreza.
Took my mate up to collect it as he has a full license he can ride it back, bought 1 day bike insurance online in the car on the way up. I did have a bit of an "Oh, here we go" moment as the seller started going on about "This is a trade sale, sold as seen, no warranty given or implied" but the bike is lovely (for 22 yars old and 65k) and came with a load of bits not mentioned in the advert such as Goodridge hoses, 12v and USB sockets, heated grips, throttle lock etc. Riding it back my buddy was whinging about it when we stopped to fill her up after 5 miles but by the time we got home he loved her.
For those of you who don't know bikes the XJ900 tends to be classified as a "sports tourer" but is a bit of a jack of all trades, master of none or as I have seen it called, the Vauxhall Astra of bikes. It's 250kg, 89bhp, shaft drive, air cooled, 4 cylinders, 891cc, will do about 130mph on the limiter in 5th and has a nice upright seating position.
Here she is next to my mates bike, a similar Yamaha but 10 years newer.
The next evening I decided I was going to crack on with removing the lower rear mud guard and the broken back box rack to clean up the look of the back end. Most of the bolts were missing or loose which made an easy job and I also fitted some new indicators as the old ones were part of the rack. Ended up having to take apart most of the rear of the bike which made me realise how bad the bodywork is.
Ended up with a nice pile of removed bits and a slightly lighter bike
Next day (when it arrived in the post) fitted a slightly smaller plate with characters that are still legal sized (I do also have one even smaller than that but it looks obviously wrong) and I put some little round reflectors on to keep it legal.
Also bought a magnetic tank bag as wearing a rucksack while riding is crap and a waterproof cover cos nobody wants to sit on a wet motorbike.
And a cheeky final picture to round out the 10 than I can upload into 1 post. Can't wait to take her on the road as shes lovely riding her round the garden. Plans are maybe sorting some of the bodywork out and fitting a 4-2-1 exhaust as well a service and new tyres before she hits the road as although the tyres are perfectly legal they are both rather squared off and the front has a slow puncture.
I decided to fill that space with a proper motorbike and hopefully having a bike outside will spur me on to pass my test (both mod 1 and mod 2 booked for November) I bought a Yamaha XJ900 blind off ebay for £700 from a classified ad with best offer. The advert was only 2 lines long but it was black (rather than the usual hideous green or burgundy colour they all seem to come in, it had half a tank of fuel, nearly a years MOT and oddly even though it's 10 years older it has the same 65,000 miles as my Impreza.
Took my mate up to collect it as he has a full license he can ride it back, bought 1 day bike insurance online in the car on the way up. I did have a bit of an "Oh, here we go" moment as the seller started going on about "This is a trade sale, sold as seen, no warranty given or implied" but the bike is lovely (for 22 yars old and 65k) and came with a load of bits not mentioned in the advert such as Goodridge hoses, 12v and USB sockets, heated grips, throttle lock etc. Riding it back my buddy was whinging about it when we stopped to fill her up after 5 miles but by the time we got home he loved her.
For those of you who don't know bikes the XJ900 tends to be classified as a "sports tourer" but is a bit of a jack of all trades, master of none or as I have seen it called, the Vauxhall Astra of bikes. It's 250kg, 89bhp, shaft drive, air cooled, 4 cylinders, 891cc, will do about 130mph on the limiter in 5th and has a nice upright seating position.
Here she is next to my mates bike, a similar Yamaha but 10 years newer.
The next evening I decided I was going to crack on with removing the lower rear mud guard and the broken back box rack to clean up the look of the back end. Most of the bolts were missing or loose which made an easy job and I also fitted some new indicators as the old ones were part of the rack. Ended up having to take apart most of the rear of the bike which made me realise how bad the bodywork is.
Ended up with a nice pile of removed bits and a slightly lighter bike
Next day (when it arrived in the post) fitted a slightly smaller plate with characters that are still legal sized (I do also have one even smaller than that but it looks obviously wrong) and I put some little round reflectors on to keep it legal.
Also bought a magnetic tank bag as wearing a rucksack while riding is crap and a waterproof cover cos nobody wants to sit on a wet motorbike.
And a cheeky final picture to round out the 10 than I can upload into 1 post. Can't wait to take her on the road as shes lovely riding her round the garden. Plans are maybe sorting some of the bodywork out and fitting a 4-2-1 exhaust as well a service and new tyres before she hits the road as although the tyres are perfectly legal they are both rather squared off and the front has a slow puncture.
