Old bikes never die, they are used as winter hacks by sports bike riders.
I bought a sports bike in 2007, it is my pride and joy and I love riding her. I have dropped her a couple of times, but never anything more serious than a tiny scratch or a damaged indicator. She holds onto the road like she is on rails and the computer controlled ignition means that she never fails to start on the first go. She is everything that I could want from a bike, except cheap to repair. The air box has four electronic sensors on it and it has to be plugged into a computer to tell me if there is anything wrong. Recently the engine management computer told me that it needed to talk to a dealer an then it turned off the lights. I still love her though.

So I face a winter of riding bikes to work, in all weathers and with last winter still a nasty memory in my head I began to falter. The sports bike is a 650cc Suzuki V-Twin, with aluminium frame and shiny bits. Winter salt will do untold damage to this lot unless she is carefully maintained and cleaned, which after a 50 hour week, I really can't be arsed with.

So with the other half doing the donkey work (scouring E-Bay) I prepare to buy some thing cheap, reliable and less delicate for the winter. I have dreams of an old rat bike of about 250cc, something that I can drop, crash and leave uncleaned. The wife had other plans and presented me with a grey import factory custom low rider 400CC Yamaha XJ in good condition, the joy of E-bay.

The bastard thing is won, picked up and brought home only to find that the people who sold it to us lied about it being in good order. It is amazing what a respray can hide... So with the undeclared crash damaged repaired and a new exhaust fitted properly, I go for a test ride. The sun was glorious, the roads were perfectly dry and even those little damp dark corners had finally gone away. I was hooked, my little chopper was a great bike. Back in the garage, I cleaned her up and she was locked to the ground anchor waiting for me to start my new job.

That was July, I started my new job last month. The roads are not dry anymore, there are leaves all over the road, diesel on every junction and those lovely cruiser tyres have as much grip as a newly soaped inmate in the nonce wing! My first day at work started with rain so heavy I could not see more than ten metres ahead. The car following behind me far too close had a huge fright when my tyres let go of the road and slid sideways across a drain cover and then a corner, making my thirty year old bike wobble like a fat bird shagging a concrete vibrator!

Thirty year old bikes have old style tyres that just cannot compete with modern super sticky sports bike tyres, they have engines that rely on choke levers to start and most of all they have to have a rider who has not been spoiled by the modern age to make the most of them. The XJ hates wet weather, it hates cold starts, it hates being in a hurry to get going and most of all it hates me. There have been days when I just have to admit defeat and leave it sulking in the garage and take my pride and joy to work because the old iron horse wont fecking start, again...

We have checked and rewired and sealed and changed and still I feel that my thirty year old bike is awesome, if only she started first time like the sports bike, went around corners like the sports bike, had brakes like the sports bike and was reliable like the sports bike. To be honest, the chop is perfect for those warm summer evening cruises, when the open road calls and time is something that has no meaning, those very evenings when I am actually riding my sports bike. I think that the Sports bike is going to get used a lot this cold dark winter!

Thirty year old bikes never die, they just sulk at the back of the garage refusing to move and occasionally popping just to show that they could fire up if they really wanted to. It sure does piss me off and I will admit that I have given it the odd kick in frustration and disgust.
( Rev. Jayneflakes Buy my book, I need the cash for drugs and hookers, Sat 6 Nov 2010, 21:53, 9 replies)

Masochist.
If you wanted a winter hack why not buy an old BMW RT. 80 or 100 makes little difference.

I bought my last bike (and my first for 21 years) off Ebay for £1200, with 123,000 on the clock. R100RT, 3 owners, never failed to start down to -11. OK, below freezing you had to pour boiling water on the carbs, but on one occasion I improvised. No longer agile enough to stop mid-stream and run round, I thawed one side, let her run on one pot for 2 minutes and both caught.

She went this week, having spat out a plug along with a fair bit of the head. 141000, and if I could have found someone to fix her for less than she eventually fetched as "spares or repair", I'd have kept her going. Apart from oil and plugs, the most I spent in 3 years overall was £500, mostly on a new clutch and gearbox rebuild.

R1100RS coming on Friday!
(all my scars face forward possesses 2.5% of a hyperalloy combat chassis, Sun 7 Nov 2010, 0:46, closed)

Seems like you checked everything,
..so all that leaves is a bad earth to the frame. Or your reg/rec unit is knackered. Or your ignition wiring is broken at the headlamp / switchgear.
Or you've got a crappy safety cut out somewhere like the side stand.

My bikes:

CB50J
Vespa 100
Kwak z250 single
Kwak z400 twin
Kwak GT 550/5
Honda 400/4
Honds Cd200 benly
Yam XS850 triple
Yam xs650 twin

I know my crappy old jap bikes.

Put some decent tyres and flat bars on, and teach yourself to ride a bike with a bit of torque instead of a load of revs.
(CADmonkey rollllllllled another one, just like the other one, Sun 7 Nov 2010, 12:22, closed)

A colleague bought a 1950s chinese bike while he was working out in Seoul
It had been sent to South Korea to be scrapped but he bought it off the scrap dealer and got it working again.

He then put some false plates on it, photoshopped a false registration document and rode it back overland to the UK.

The only time he got any trouble was from policemen wanting a bribe and when they wouldn't let him into Poland because they thought his registration documents were fake.

He showed it to us when he got back, proudly saying "it's even got an electric start".
( thistle, Sun 7 Nov 2010, 13:34, closed)

Should have got something lighter and more drop proof, old trial/trail bikes are good - watch out for an Yamaha DT175 perhaps?
(Benzyl, Sun 7 Nov 2010, 22:16, closed)

Keep at it, you'll iron out all the faults eventually
Pity you're not closer to Derbyshire, I'd offer a hand. Already rewired a bike from scratch, and it (mostly) works!
Good call up there about old Beemers. My mate has an R65 (styled by the same bloke who did the katana for suzuki). They've all got a reputation as an old mans bike, but they are bombproof, and have bags of torque. Ridden a couple, they have a lovely wobble from the boxer engine. I want something like an R80/100 for touring on. Though really you want something like a 250 for winter, not enough power to spit you off and light enough to pick up.

I too run a Honda 400/4, though that is my summer bike-it goes away when theres ice about. So far its been brilliant, though the headlamp has just packed up.
( Greenbat, Tue 9 Nov 2010, 9:57, closed)

Honda 400/4
Shares a front end with a CJ250. Yokes, forks, and everything attached.
(CADmonkey rollllllllled another one, just like the other one, Tue 9 Nov 2010, 16:43, closed)

At this rate, I will have tied it to a sack of kittens and thrown it in the sea!
Well that is how to get rid of old stones you don't want any more isn't it?

Yesterday the old Yam died on me in traffic, that was after it took me twenty minutes to get her started. Then she ran on three for a while, which saved fuel I guess, but she really lacked power. Finally just as I was about to give up she picked up and roared off down the road, almost on one wheel! When the engine pulls, it pulls like a steam train and feels lovely. One thing we need to check though, it seems that the inlet rubbers may have split slightly. With four of the buggers, I am not looking forwards to sorting that lot out.

Despite all of these niggles. I love my little Chop, she is awesome and will actually pull to an indicated 100MPH. Not bad for a thirty year old Rat bike wannabe.
( Rev. Jayneflakes Buy my book, I need the cash for drugs and hookers, Wed 10 Nov 2010, 15:52, closed)

that sounds like...
...a blocked pilot jet on whatever carb gets the fuel first.

Got an inline fuel filter for your petrol tank?

That, or you've got water in the tank. Maybe from condensation. Check for orange mud in the float bowls.

You can check the manofolds by pushing the carbs forward with the engine running. If the engine picks up, you have a split. You can also do this by spraying Damp Start on the manifolds (if any gets sucked into the engine, you'll hear it burn) You could also ID the bad carb by selectively disconnecting the HT leads.
(CADmonkey rollllllllled another one, just like the other one, Thu 11 Nov 2010, 8:30, closed)

OK, it died last night
The XJ broke down in big style last night, not only did the engine refuse to start again, but the right hand side rear shock absorber snapped. Getting home from work required that I phoned the wife and she picked me up in the car.

Time to admit defeat and learn to drive...
( Rev. Jayneflakes Buy my book, I need the cash for drugs and hookers, Thu 11 Nov 2010, 8:04, closed)