nice.. ggs

14:50 I find I get a much higher success rate using a dead blow hammer. A rubber mallet absorbs a lot of the shock that breaks the fastener loose.

Enjoyed that lads, well done..a few challenges there!..can’t believe Phil isn’t having the frame lacquered even 🤦‍♂️…look forward to the next instalment! 👏🏼😀

Good progress.

I whent to P and H about 6 weeks ago, i wanted to look at the xsr gp, i wondered around the showroom for 20 minutes, nobody asked me if they could help me or anything!

Not too many positives for getting into riding, Crowded pot hole ridden roads, speed cameras everywhere, horrible weather for 9 months, expensive to get a license, insurance is expensive, riding gear is expensive, for decent stuff anyway, Bike thefts on the rise, ! Not surprising youngsters aren't interested.

It will be the Travel agents next, the financial squeeze is going to get worse come the budget.

Heathfield East Sussex , not Kent!

Take a look at Fowlers Motorcycles here in Bristol. That place is packed some days, look them up on companies house, made a gross profit of 8million last year. Someone is buying bikes and using them for services etc. 8£ million is better than all the local car dealers.

Motorcycle manufacturers and dealers survive (and can grow) when they can adapt to changing market demands and conditions. Government attracts blame, but not the customers who just want what they want.

You people are awesome. Keep doing you.

nice one, i got a s50/s65 also.. great to see some one build one up here on the tube.

How did you plan your route to Matlock? Really keen to do stuff like this next year. Based near Gatwick. Cheers

00-07 F650Gs & Dakar was also FI 00-03 had single spark plug 04-07 had 2 spark plugs the pre 2000 Funduro was carbed.

Some great points made there. Sad situation. The same is happening with dealerships in my neck of the woods

My wife is 40 and I had to pay £1100 insurance for her to ride a GSXR125. What will it cost my son in a few years when he’s 18. Poor sod has no chance! In the same year I’ve paid £3600 to insurance a new hayabusa. What young couple could afford to enjoy motorcycles! On top of mmmmm They’ve become luxury items but not by choice

I want to come on one of these with my 1977 c70

Thank you driver ,very well done ❤❤❤

Hi pezza what do you put in the satnav to find all them back roads ? I want to do some travelling but want to stay off the fast roads ? Cheers

The pile of Junk Grows...😄(only kidding lol)

Please don’t sit in a car with a steel ruler pointed at your head within a split second the state of Motorcycle will become irrelevant to you

Great little bike. I had one exactly the same to play around with in 1973 when I was 14 years old. Rebuilt the top end and it ran sweet. I wish I still had that bike today.

Motorcycles are great fun but you have to remember they're only as reliable as a 1910 car. Even a broken chain or a puncture can leave you stranded. Larger bikes with shaft drive are better but expensive. Small bikes only have a short mechanical life, 8000 miles if you're lucky, and small 4 strokes are bad news, prone to sudden seizures. Because of emissions regulations there are no more 2 strokes being sold in the UK. Having endured a small 4 stroke machine in the Sixties, with constant breakdowns, I changed to a scooter, first a Lambretta, and then a Vespa PX125e, bought in 1984, which I still have. My Vespa is 2 stroke, with Autolube, so no valves or timing chain, and is cog drive, so no drive chain, and carries a spare wheel, which can be changed in minutes. No wonder they stopped making them - not enough money for dealers in servicing them. The new models are 4 stroke, with valves, timing chain, belt and rollers for transmission, plenty to go wrong and need attention.

The weather in this bloody country is the real killer of motorcycling.

That's one noisy car - too difficult to hear.

That very expensive tool did probably not work because out of motion habit you did not think of pulling it downwards in a vice or something, having gravity help you. Just another way male anatomy ruins our creativity.

Lovely little bike and what a cracking shed! Look forward to watching the progress.

I bought a SYM 125fiddle III, (22plate, £1500 ) under seat storage,and a top box, charger, Over100 mpg, handles, I have used it daily, done two festivals, 3000 miles, and I am over 60years of age.. It’s like a breath of fresh air

WHAT A SHED! I’m very jealous🤘🏼

Great 'Shed' Terry - very tidy & well equipped

looking forward to the update

Your average horserider is pretty brave I reckon. Imagine riding a bike that weighed 400kg, had a mind of its own and scared easily? 😅

I nearly bought a bike off Superbike Factory , rear tyre was bald. They put a barely legal part-worn on it.

I was just getting into that and it ended lol 😐…cracking looking bike and that’s a lovely shed setup there, so much space!..I’m working with about 12.5ft by 9.5ft sigh - looking forward to the next part!

Wellyeah testosterone has been trending the same recently… as is depression ETC. We gotta conquer our vitality back, and start riding for adventure. What else is there to do.

I traded in my big bike last month for something a lot smaller, lighter, more fun and cheaper to run. Motorcycling has changed and many riders move on to other things, that has a knock on effect with those who are still riding when their bikers friends aren't around to meet anymore,

Looks like Wetton mill

The only reason I opened the review, I have this helmet for 2.5 years now and since I was a beginner at the time of purchase I thought it was how the view in helmets are. Good helmet but would recommend to explore your options and listen to vid before making a decision.

I still love messing around on my little bikes but there is something strange about riding round in large circles burning fossil fuels whilst inhaling other burnt fossil fuels, because we have always done it feels normal but am guessing younger folk might feel differently

It's definitely a combination of things. The expensive and complex licencing regulations. The price of new bikes. Insurance costs. The list goes on. I was talking to a dealer a while ago. He said you would be amazed how little they make from new bike sales.

Magnet Motos in Weybridge will sort your mate’s first service on that CF Moto. Assuming he isn’t sorted already

Man… I mean I don’t get it. I’m looking to buy my first trail ever and I’m looking towards 650GS BUT from what I see online it’s a 798cc twin from 2008 to 2013; also 19 inch front 17 back. It looks like yours isn’t the same bike AT ALL… I’m confused lol

I'll have to get in touch with JW Groombridge to find out what is going on. I bought my Kawasaki Versys 650cc from there in 2021and I normally got it serviced every year. Looks like I'll have to service it myself like I do my Yamaha MT-03 660cc.

Motorcycling is dying in U.K. but in much of the developing world, small capacity bikes still sell well.

It’s hard to resist the conclusion that the authorities have as an objective to minimise the number of motorcyclists. This is certainly the effect of policy and also the predictable effect of non-policy changes in society and the economy. It cannot be said that the authorities have in any way done anything to assist the sector, even though, at one time, it was a not insignificant contribution to the economy. Of course, we once (up to the end of the 1960s) were pretty good at making them, and indeed manufacturing many things (all things!) but we don’t any more. Am I being paranoid? Quite possibly. Then again, in an era of “woke”, I cannot think of a demographic the self-appointed “elites” despise more than the kind of young men (mostly white, mostly working class) who wanted the kind of thrills I got from my early motorcycles, more than they wanted safety. Safety never crossed my mind (until I fell off & later, crashed into the front of an oncoming car). Biking back then more or less required a person to develop independence of mind and some judgement as well as basic mechanical knowledge. We were forever messing around with settings and anything that might help it run faster. Expansion chambers were moving into retail from the race track. In the 1970s, when I began riding, the cost of entry was trivial. In 1977, I paid £115 for a rough Yamaha YAS-1 125cc two stroke twin. It was a 1971 model iirc and had had a very tough life at the hands of a succession of local, teenage boys. Much was wrong with it, but I had slightly older mates who fixed it at my cost for a very few parts, like plugs (one was loose in the head, both were wrong and not a pair), points (burned & obviously sand papered a few times), oil change (because I got no service history) in the gearbox and front forks and the idle circuit in one carburettor was plugged, as well as the float heights being wrong and different one from the other. I think all this cost around £20 & was the last of my small savings. I’m grateful to this day by the kindness of those older lads. They not only saved my bacon by fixing the abused lemon I’d bought, but I also got a crash course in entry level motorcycle maintenance, skills I still use today. I was also advised to save up for tyres, brake shoes as well as chain & sprockets. Someone gave me a very old, open face helmet without a peak or visor and scratches all down one side. It stunk and was too big. It was perfect. The rest of my gear was jeans, trainers and a non waterproof light jacket (no gloves yet). I got up early on my 17th birthday and rode all day. The next day I took it to college and dropped it right outside on a wet roundabout when on my way home. If I listen hard, I can just faintly hear the jeers and hand claps 😊 It would reach an indicated 70mph, with a very long run-up, chin on the clocks. Even now, some of my fondest biking memories were made on that machine. I passed my test in a few months and swapped it for a 1972 Yamaha YDS-7 250cc twin (because I couldn’t afford anything better). I’ve still got the metal plate in my wrist from a botched overtake, 46 years ago. It would reach an indicated 100mph downhill into Portsmouth on the M27. Glory days. My kids are grown up but neither lass was ever much interested in my bikes. Now I’m a grandpa of two small boys, much fun has reentered my workshop, because they like visiting & helping me by passing me tools. They rarely stop asking questions and touching the bikes & their mum mentioned they’ve both said that when they grow up, they’re going to get a Suzuki, just like grandpa. Bless.

Government is to blame again...they hate motorbikes

Enjoyed listening to the chat lads and yup, you both hit the nail on the head. Biking used to be a cheap mode of transport, way cheaper than cars so loads of people started off on bikes, found the love for them and stuck with them. But now, it’s cheaper and easier to get a car and also to do your car licence. Our bike licence structure is ridiculous. There should be one test..and then even if they restrict your bhp until you hit a certain age, that’s fair enough..but let’s just have the one test eh. I also don’t get why you need a cbt every two years. For instance, in my 125 days..I already had a car and a bus licence. So I could drive a bus full of people, all over Europe if I wanted to..forever…but to ride a 125 on my own, I need basic training every two years?!..what is that about man 🤷‍♂️. I also feel the manufacturers could do more to encourage young riders. They know their main audience is older folk, so almost everything seems to be targeted towards us older folks…(with the exception of some Chinese brands), how about they start targeting young people. It’s in their own interests..the older demographic won’t last forever, so what happens in 30 years when no young people have come through to replace the current older generation?..where are all the cool bikes from the 80s for 17 year olds?!..bah!..sorry, went on a bit of a rant there 😂

Just read the reviews on Google about Superbike Factory, start with the 1 stars. You're welcome.

A man asks how much, a poor man asks how much per month.