billc@sun.uucp (Bill Courington) (05/16/84)
I am looking for a machine in the 500-650cc range, a bike that is like a sports car. By this I mean that handling, braking, res- ponsiveness and so on are given priority over brute power. Light weight, decent reliability and reasonable cost of repair are also important to me. The Moto Guzzi V50 and BMW R65 look good to me, but I have no direct experience with either. But maybe a GPZ 550 is really superior, even by my criteria....Comments?
ken@ihuxq.UUCP (ken perlow) (05/16/84)
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Good handling? Responsive? 500-650cc? If you want fast and
light, as opposed to touring, the Yamaha SR500 has it, though
it never caught on. Made from 79 to 82 (I think), it's a single
(very easy maintenance), low rpm, high torque, and will do
wheelies stock, although kits to bore it to 605 are available.
Surprisingly vibration-free until you hit 70. Nice lines,
no silly frills like electric start (though a compression release
ensures that you won't break your ankles kicking it over).
It's very light and narrow, and has a lot of ground clearance
so you can really lean into a turn (though I don't trust the
stock Bridgestone tires--too soft). Good mileage too--about 70 mpg.
As you might have guessed, I own one, but I find I'm doing a lot
more touring than expected. More than 2 hours on a rather stiff seat
with the "magic fingers" treatment is not a lot of fun, and the
gas tank is only 2 1/2 gal. So I'm looking to sell old Thumper.
There's sure to be others around, and with so little demand, they've
got to be a good deal.
--
*** ***
JE MAINTIENDRAI ***** *****
****** ****** 16 May 84 [27 Floreal An CXCII]
ken perlow ***** *****
(312)979-7261 ** ** ** **
..ihnp4!ihuxq!ken *** ***an@hou2h.UUCP (A.NGUYEN) (05/17/84)
-- Yamaha SR500 a good handling sport bike?! Come on now, Ken! Have you heard of screen editors? And GPz 550's?!!! Let's face it, Ken, the age of the big thumper has come and gone, and if there is any intrinsic worth in the design, nobody is spending enough development money to find out. Say what you like about character, if you want a sport bike that excels all around, there's no sense in going back to the past. Au "Of course, it all still depends on the rider."
david@tekig.UUCP (David Hayes) (05/17/84)
The best handling middleweight sports machine available is the new Honda VF500F. However, unless you have access to a race course to hone the skills, it is unreasonable to expect you will ever get "the most" out of one of these new sport bikes. A 99th percentile rider will have experimented to the point where a two wheel drift is controlled, or is pretty comfortable wearing off the sidewalls. An SR500 Yamaha might not instill the confidence a VF500 would, but relatively few riders on the whole could use the Yamaha to its limits. Any comments from netville, Au? To find the limits, you have to have exceeded them at least once. dave
ken@ihuxq.UUCP (ken perlow) (05/17/84)
-- >> Yamaha SR500 a good handling sport bike?! Come on now, Ken! >> Have you heard of screen editors? And GPz 550's?!!! Let's face it, >> Ken, the age of the big thumper has come and gone, and if there is >> any intrinsic worth in the design, nobody is spending enough >> development money to find out. >> Say what you like about character, if you want a sport bike that >> excels all around, there's no sense in going back to the past. >> Au What do you mean? Surely you don't consider those mega-monstr6ities with radiators, fuel pumps, and no kick-starters motorcycles. I like to think of them as cars you have to balance and get wet on. And then, when I consider "high performance" I think of a *TOTAL* time: quarter mile *PLUS* tuning it up. By the time you've fiddled with 24 valves, I've made it clean out of state. When it comes to the new so-called bkes, you can't fault the alloy technology, only bad taste. As for screen editors--REAL Un*x programmers modify their files by echoing the changes and piping it through "sed"! (* Unix is, of course, a trademark of AT&T Bell Laboratories.) -- *** *** JE MAINTIENDRAI ***** ***** ****** ****** 17 May 84 [28 Floreal An CXCII] ken perlow ***** ***** (312)979-7261 ** ** ** ** ..ihnp4!ihuxq!ken *** ***
an@hou2h.UUCP (A.NGUYEN) (05/18/84)
-- > Surely you don't consider those mega-monstrosities with radiators, > fuel pumps, and no kick-starters motorcycles. You know what General Custer thought of the Winchester repeating rifle? Didn't like 'em at all! The Indians? Oh, they like 'em just fine! The rest is ... > .. When I consider "high performance" I think of a *TOTAL* time: > quarter mile *PLUS* tuning it up. By the time you've fiddled with > 24 valves, I've made it clean out of state. Maintenance?! What's maintenance? Is that what you pay your condo management? (-: Seriously now, my '81 KZ550 (8 valves, no kickstarter) needed only two valve adjustments during the 21000 miles that I've had it. My old '74 Honda 360 (4 valves, kickstarter, points, manual cam chain tensioner, not to mention an oil filtering screen cleverly hidden behind the clutch cover and the right exhaust pipe! AAAAAAARGH!) needed a valve adjustment every 1500 miles, just like the book sez! Au