How everything started...

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Speed Freak
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How everything started...

#1 Post by Speed Freak » Thu Nov 02, 2017 6:26 pm

Was searching for some pictures today and came to old bike pics...

Until I was 17 the only 2 wheeler I used was my bicycle - I never had an 50cc drivin license (15-18 years in Austria)
Close to 18 I started to make my drivin license and I decided "I want a motorcycle"...
This was 2007.

First 2 years are restricted here (34hp) - it`s possible to use a restricted 500-600cc bike but I decided to go for a NSR125 (28hp) because I wanted to avoid that I will throw out the restriction after 2 month...
Wasn`t that fast (swiss spec bike) with measured 21hp (rear wheel) even with Jolly Moto pipe.
Nice looking bike, cheap, light, only 7800km...
Got it 1 week before I got the driving license and due to time issues I decided to make the bike license first (car was 2 weeks later) :smt003
Image

It was a nice season, I made 10000km from start of May.
End of the season I decided to make "one last tour" with this tires and I wanted to change them over winter.
First lession learned - change 10 year old tires immediately...
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Ater I saw that the frame was cracked I decided to sell the bike in parts.
I think I made a loss of only ~300€

I found another NSR125 even cheaper (13000km).
This time it was an Italian spec bike, but the power was... same as the old one.
Did not think a lot about the power, I was happy to drive this bike another year.
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Next season (2009) I was allowed to drive unrestricted bikes - I bought a CBR 600 FS PC35
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2010 Year I had my first track day:
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Stat of 2011 I had a small accident with the second NSR, nothing special but this was the reason to make a detailed technical check.
I found out that one of the exhaust flaps was stuck in closed position.
Removed the flaps and experienced how much power such a 125cc bike can have :mrgreen:
I think it had real 28hp with a top speed of 160km/h...
I had so much fun that I decided not to sell it this season.

Had a lot of fun with the fully open NSR125 so I came to the idea to buy something bigger with a 2-stroke engine.
I found an RD350 on ebay... Fairing and front disassembled but complete with running engine + second bike for spare parts 1000€
Maybe one of my best decisions :mrgreen:

2011:

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2012:

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2015:
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I`m wondering a bit how I survived this time... But somehow from 2011 I had no accident on the road again.
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2011 I aloso learned why it`s better to have a track bike instead of using the road bike...
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So end of 2011 also a cheap track bike went into my garage.
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Now I had 4 bikes... One had to leave => NSR125 sold

2012 I took the opportunity to buy my "deam bike" => CBR600 sold
I took my RD350 to drive to the dealer to buy this one:
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When I stopped at the dealer a guy, maybe 50-60 years old started to talk about the RD350.
To make it short... It was the start of this project:
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Somehow since 2013 everything slowed down in my life...
Only the NS400R entered my garage last year, all other bikes are still there and the RD500 is still in work.
I think I have to hurry up with this project :smt005
Last edited by Speed Freak on Thu Nov 02, 2017 7:52 pm, edited 1 time in total.
My bikes:
RD500 YPVS 1GE
RD350 YPVS 31K 1985
Honda CBR 1000 RR SC57
Yamaha R1 RN04

RuZty
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Re: How everything started...

#2 Post by RuZty » Thu Nov 02, 2017 7:46 pm

Nice story. After all your other posts I am surprised to see that you weren't born until the year I finished university. You make very good use of your time. :smt023

vma500
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Re: How everything started...

#3 Post by vma500 » Fri Nov 03, 2017 12:18 pm

Nice story indeed

Nice rd 350 f1 too ,u re really confident in buying 2 strokes ......and that in Austria Europe......
ur not afraid that it will be outlawned soon?
Did nt know the nsr 125 had such rare frame,did the single sided disc brake well ?
Am currently restoring a tzr125 2rl ,also 1 front disc,that s why the questian!
my bikes :RD500 2X ,RD 350 F2 , RD 350 31K,RD350 4LO,RG500,RG250 WW,RGV250,TZR250 3MA,TZR250 3XV,NS400r,NSr250 mc21,KR1250S,

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Speed Freak
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Re: How everything started...

#4 Post by Speed Freak » Fri Nov 03, 2017 6:16 pm

No, I`m not really afraid.
Some years ago there was a discussion about this emission zones in Graz (where I`m working) like in Germany.
In the end there was a survey and about 70% voted against this emission zone.

In the parliamentary elections mid of october the green party missed the 4% to get into the national council...
I think the first time they missed this target since some decades?!

The discussion is mainly about diesel engines, nobody cares about motorcycles.
And also in case of the diesel discussion I think they understood that nobody will vote for them when they are talking about banning existing vehicles.
Maybe because we have ~60% diesel cars here...

And in the end all the bikes are over 30 years old and for sure rare enough, so they can be registered as historic bikes.
Only restriction - it`s only allowed to use them 60 days/year when they are registered as historic vehicle.
Maybe this would be a good thing because then I have to use all of the bikes :smt003


Frame of the NSR125 is Aluminum HPDC, from outside it looks quite massive but from the inner there is just a lot of air :smt003
It`s quite brittle, sometimes this frames get cracks around the engine mounts from regular use.
Image

Front brake was good, maybe a bit too good for the available tires and the front fork.
Both of my accidents where overbraking of the front wheel.
One time because I did not see a sharp corner (wide right corner and after that a really really sharp left corner + slightly wet road + 10 year old Dunlop Arrowmax)
Second time I had my eyes on a car which was coming from the right to a crossing (I was on the main road) and I missed that the big yellow Ford van in front of me was braking to turn left... Grabbed the brake, front wheel slipped away at maybe 40-50km/h (BT45, early spring and cold dirty road).

It`s a really nice and cheap bike, 50000km with first cylinder are standard.
Sold the yellow one with 45000km, was running like new.
Quality is good even if it`s not 100% Honda quality as they were produced in Italy.
But it`a road bike, not a real sports bike like TZR, RS or Mito.

2016 the A1 driving license was introduced (16 years, 125cc, 15hp).
As all 125cc bikes are registered with 15hp the price of this bike went up - I think some of the kids know that they just need to unrestrict it to have nearly double power without any restrictions mentioned in the documents :smt018 :smt016
Not so much left on the market as they were not really popular before in Austria.
My bikes:
RD500 YPVS 1GE
RD350 YPVS 31K 1985
Honda CBR 1000 RR SC57
Yamaha R1 RN04

vma500
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Re: How everything started...

#5 Post by vma500 » Tue Nov 07, 2017 6:03 pm

Thanks for the head ups

In my country also a war against diesel cars , but also complaints from the bycicle union and organisaties that Little 2strokes smell and polute more then diesel trucks :smt017 ,the green politics get more then 10 % but sofar no outlawning from any motorcycles yet. Lucky me :razz:

And yes ,maybe the oldtimer route is the solution for our bikes, some insurances already offering unlimited policies, Just not allowing home/work traffic.....can live with that though!

But I ve also seen this evolution in the eastern world ....Thailand, philipines,malaysia all the 2strokes seem to be replaced by Little 4 strokes ,so don t be too optimistic

At least we have a big market for our bikes with the USA going back to the good old prehystoric times :mrgreen: While we go electric and experiance a big huge electrical lockdown in Europe ..? Betting on one horse is very naive is nt it?
Just doomthinking..... sorry :smt013

Regards
mario
my bikes :RD500 2X ,RD 350 F2 , RD 350 31K,RD350 4LO,RG500,RG250 WW,RGV250,TZR250 3MA,TZR250 3XV,NS400r,NSr250 mc21,KR1250S,

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Speed Freak
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Re: How everything started...

#6 Post by Speed Freak » Wed Nov 08, 2017 6:21 am

I have no problem with technical progress.
It`s OK to replace all this 50cc china scooters by new/better technology.
In case of scooters my opinion is anyway that electric driving is way better as long as it is kept simple.

But this replacement of old cars/bikes should not be done by banning existing vehicles which will do for what they are meant to be for another 10 years.

Electric driving is the future for me because an electric motor is very simple and if designed right it needs nearly no maintenance.
But all the electric cars are way too complex in my opinion, same as modern cars with IC engine.
Don`t try to repair them, if something is broken it`s often impossible to find what`s wrong - and finding the failure needs a lot of time/money.
In the end it`s a small problem, but because of cost saving/integration of a lot of functions in complex parts you have to replace big expensive assemblys.

That`s my view to vehicles for daily use - they are nothing special for me, i have no "emotions" when I go from A to B with my car...
They simply have to work - and bring me from A to B without a lot of buttons and touchscreens and all this sh*t

For the bikes that`s different, there I`m interested in the special engine design. The more special the more interesting.
NR750 oval piston, Norton with wankel engine, NS400R V3 engine, RD/RG500 with the 2 crankshaft design...
Electric motor? Boring... :smt019

Thats the reason why I`m design engineer for IC engines and not in the electric department
:smt003
My bikes:
RD500 YPVS 1GE
RD350 YPVS 31K 1985
Honda CBR 1000 RR SC57
Yamaha R1 RN04

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