End of February, weather getting better, decided to brave the salt and take Missy for a short run. Had to clean off the worst of the road dirt afterwards but it was worth it.
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Most noticeable off the recent changes is the new EBC brake disc & pads - definitely more stopping power. If being picky, would still prefer more feel, but in that respect the current setup is miles better than the old rubber brake line and original master cylinder. There's certainly enough front brake for the bike's performance, well alright, enough for the way I ride it.
Looking at the bike in the low winter sun, it occurred to me how far it's come since I bought it. Looks better. Goes, handles, stops. Reliable even - ooh, tempting fate there.
That is now a bike I can just jump on and take for a run without having to make due allowances for how old it is.
A practical classic?
Precisely....and as Mary Poppins said...."
Practically, perfect in every way".
I have been riding motorcycles since the mid-1970s (with a big break between 1990 and 2015) and I have truly enjoyed all of my bikes. From the little Honda CB360T (the ideal beginner bike), the nimble tough and sexy Suzuki SV650ABS to the big powerful BMW R100RS, Suzuki GS850G and Honda ST1300 (the quintessential fast sport tourers of their respective eras), each of these machines was special, each excelled at certain things and each holds a place of affection in my memory (and in the case of the Bimmer, a place in my garage).
But, for general booting around and just
going for a bike ride....
nothing (with
one or
two possible exceptions - see below) beats the XS650 and with modern mods to enhance reliability (electronic ignition, a re-wound alternator rotor by Jim, head and taillight modulators for safety, upgraded brakes as per Raymond's description above and a set of decent tires), they are, in my opinion, fully up to modern standards for safety and reliability too.
I just watched a review of the 2021 Royal Enfield Interceptor 650 and it seemed as though the reviewer (Zack of Revzilla)
wanted to dislike the bike - but in the end, he came to like it very much. Unfortunately, most of what he said about it was inaccurate or dead wrong (
"R-Es are unreliable, the Interceptor is just an old 1950s-70s design that has been tarted-up with a few modern gizmos" etc. etc.) but overall, he missed the point: as a bike to use for just
going for a ride, a motorcycle like this is exactly what most riders of today want. That is why R-Es are flying off the showroom floor everywhere they are sold. Peg-scrapin' teeny-boppers might not like them, but sales figures don't lie...
Like our XS650s back in the 1970s, these bikes run well, last a long time, ride great, they're comfy and sound fabulous, they aren't "styled" like a kid's Transformer toy and best of all, they are inexpensive and simple enough that they can be fixed by anyone with a screwdriver and a 10mm wrench and socket (
now where the he!! is my 10mm socket...?).
So much of what is on modern bikes - and what makes them cost the price of a car, or more, is simply not useful. Just because engineers
can put some tech on a bike, it doesn’t mean that they
should do it. All I have added to my classic bikes are light modulators and a USB charger - and they are now just what I want. A motorcycle that works well and costs $5,700 USD makes a lot more sense than one that works 5% better and costs $12,670 USD. The Kawasaki W800 falls in the same category - and one of my clubmates has one - which he loves for all the same reasons.
In my view, the J4 and Triumph, MotoGuzzi, BMW, Ducati, KTM and Co. had better watch out - the
classic bikes (like our old Yamahas) and the
modern classic bikes (like the R-E Interceptor and Kawasaki W800) are comin' for their market share.....
