04-11-14, 01:33 PM
My first bike was a Honda XL250S, it was 'V' reg and i got it in '81, as soon as i was 17. Passing my test in late '81, mainly just to get rid of the big flappy 'L' plate. I totally abused that bike, never having heard of mechanical sympathy and would regularly ride id down the beach when the tide was out. When i changed to oil it was speckly with all the Ally that the flapping Cam chain had removed as it carved a new route. How it never came off I'll never know.
Next came my X7. I bought it off a friend who's Dad work on the oil rigs in Libya, more money than sense. He'd seized it within 5 months and I bought it off him. A local motorcross shop did the Big ends and slightly tuned it for me with some mild porting work, Boyeson reed valves and Micron exhausts. It was so loud, my parents could hear me coming home late at night from miles away. I could have the heads off and barrels replace the Small ends, pistons and rings and have it back together in under an hour, with Tea breaks and a few fag breaks too. So easy to work on. I sold that to a mate and bought a Stan tuned RD400E from a guy who had raced it, When i bought it he had just put the Tank and plastic stuff back on and it looked brand new. It rode around town like crap, no bottom end so i was always revving it to stop it bogging down, i was lucky ever to get above 15 MPG But as soon as the road opened up there was nothing that could keep with it. I seized that up going flat out on the motorway, luckily pulling the clutch in and saving any big damage. Once apart you could see how Ported the pistons were
After that was my RD350LC, after the 400 i realized what a smooth running and handling should be like. A friend who was a copper rode it, his daily ride was a BMW R100 Police bike, afterwards he realized why he was never going to catch anyone again. He couldn't believe the power once it got going, and of course the lightness compared to his Police bike.
On some of my later 4 strokes I'd put a capful of 'R' in with my petrol. I must go and buy a bottle? Just for a whiff of nostalgia.
Mickey
Next came my X7. I bought it off a friend who's Dad work on the oil rigs in Libya, more money than sense. He'd seized it within 5 months and I bought it off him. A local motorcross shop did the Big ends and slightly tuned it for me with some mild porting work, Boyeson reed valves and Micron exhausts. It was so loud, my parents could hear me coming home late at night from miles away. I could have the heads off and barrels replace the Small ends, pistons and rings and have it back together in under an hour, with Tea breaks and a few fag breaks too. So easy to work on. I sold that to a mate and bought a Stan tuned RD400E from a guy who had raced it, When i bought it he had just put the Tank and plastic stuff back on and it looked brand new. It rode around town like crap, no bottom end so i was always revving it to stop it bogging down, i was lucky ever to get above 15 MPG But as soon as the road opened up there was nothing that could keep with it. I seized that up going flat out on the motorway, luckily pulling the clutch in and saving any big damage. Once apart you could see how Ported the pistons were
After that was my RD350LC, after the 400 i realized what a smooth running and handling should be like. A friend who was a copper rode it, his daily ride was a BMW R100 Police bike, afterwards he realized why he was never going to catch anyone again. He couldn't believe the power once it got going, and of course the lightness compared to his Police bike.
On some of my later 4 strokes I'd put a capful of 'R' in with my petrol. I must go and buy a bottle? Just for a whiff of nostalgia.
Mickey
Sent from my villa in the South of France.
![[Image: 73337.png]](http://mefi.us/images/fuelly/smallsig-uk/73337.png)