looking for a new motorcycle

J

jason41987

New Member
im selling my CB550F, and buying a one or two cylinder.. im not even sure i want to stay with honda.. im thinking i might go yamaha or kawasaki, but dont have any personal experience with them to be able to compare reliability vs the honda... id be willing to spend more if i could find something non-japanese.. like a harley sportster, triumph, moto guzzi, etc..

criteria.. i want something 1 or 2 cylinder, chain driven, kickstarter, something thatll make a nice cafe project... really, im pretty open to any ideas at this point, so.. lets say my budget was $1500 for a running, ridable bike, and $500 for a japanese project bike.. and for non-japanese brands id obviously be willing to pay more, since theyre worth more..

so.. suggestions?
 
Re: looking for a new motorcycle, 1 or 2 cylinder



Im selling this 900 bucks nonrunning titled 1970 cl450
 

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well, im not buying anything until after i move... im moving to another state, halfway across the country soon, and ill probably wait until then to buy a new bike, so until then im going to look into my options, explore new options, and see what it is i want to buy

i really do like the cafe racer look.. would still love to go the cafe route.. but just tired of dealing with four cylinders and since the bike is a commuter first, tourer second it would be best to just find a two cylinder... unless i can be convinced of a thumper?.. anyway, what would be some options i should look into if i set my max limit for a completed, running, titled, street worthy bike to $2000, project bike to $750?.. id be willing to spend $1500 on a project bike alone if i could get something like a triumph, norton, harley, moto guzzi, etc
 
SR/XT500.

I'd go the XT as first preference because they are stupidly simple to work on and you could probably pick one of those up cheaper than the SR.
 
my only concern with the SR/XT500 is the vibration associated with thumpers.. has anyone with an SR500 been able to tame the vibration enough to be able to ride for 10 hours in a single day?
 
jason41987 said:
my only concern with the SR/XT500 is the vibration associated with thumpers.. has anyone with an SR500 been able to tame the vibration enough to be able to ride for 10 hours in a single day?
Click to expand...

The vibration on my XT500 isn't bad - it's just "different" to a 4 cylinder. In fact, I find 4 cylinder vibrations far more annoying on long rides than the thump of a single.

10 hour rides? I've done it on my VL1500, but I wouldn't be trying that on any old bike...unless it's a BMW ;)
 
so how does the comfort level on long rides compare between a thumper and a two cylinder?.. and why exactly did the four feel more annoying?
 
It's a bit apples and oranges comparing singles to twins to fours. I can't say I've ridden a parallel twin over any great distance, but the VL is a v twin cruiser which is another kettle of fish again.

4 cylinder bikes inherently have resonant vibrations around the 4-5k rev range - which happens to be around highway cruising speeds for bigger fours. The result is buzzing through the bars and pegs which IMO is really annoying. Some bikes have tried balance shafts to reduce this but in my experience that has had limited success.

Tingling hands and feet happens sooner for me on a 4 cyl bike than a thumper...but has never happened on the cruiser.
 
thats interesting, the consensus ive seen so far is that fours inherently vibrate less.. but i hear with thumpers and twins you can dampen the vibrations by sticking a rubber tube inside the handlebars, going with a larger sprocket so your cruising speeds on the highway will occur in a lower RPM range.. and rubber mounting the engines.. which apparently helps a ton vs just a standard thumper with no tweaks made
 
There's vibration...and there's resonant vibration. Fours are smoother overall, but they do get resonant vibration or buzzing at certain RPMs.

Thumpers and big twins also have a more relaxed / lower RPM at cruising speeds which makes the long distance rides less "frantic" for want of a better term.
 
thats interesting.. i should really consider an SR500 then.. there are a couple sold near here, they seem like theyd be incredibly simple to work on

does anyone else like thumpers for highway?
 
Like I said - XT/SR500's are as about as simple in the engine dept as a motorcycle gets (the XT is simpler due to it's 6v system, doesn't need a battery to run, etc).


As a highway bike? Probably asking a bit much of a stock one for prolonged high speed, but if you slot a 90mm piston in there they definitely come to life ;)
 
...just not easy to keep all the spinning bits happy and within the confines of the engine cases should you decide to test the limits . Do not under any circumstances test those limits with the stock oiling system , crank , rod or piston .
The best modifications are for torque and reliability . Optimize the pipe , get the carburettor off the head , give it a huge air cleaner , pay attention to top end oiling without compromising rod big end oil supply .

Most of these modifications are well documented despite their differing opinions on solutions . YMMV .

~kop
 
hmm, so the XT500 can be kickstart only with no battery, no starting motor.. i like the sound of that, less crap to go wrong... probably wont be right for me though.. since im moving to a new state, i dont know where anything is and i really need a GPS
 
aww man.. now you guys have me staring and drooling over SR500 photos, reading some history about it at how it was designed to be comfortable to ride on highways, and designed to be incredibly simple mechanically... and if i ever wanted to do a carb upgrade... i only need one of them.. the bike i have now id have to times that price by four.. just not worth it

but, i think im actually starting to like the SR500 in its stock configuration, as opposed to a cafe racer... so i think if i did try the cafe thing on this bike, i could never bring myself to do any permanent modifications.. too beautiful of a bike to do anything permanent to.. but you know what.. ive had four cylinders, had twins... never had a thumper... maybe its time i give that a try since this bike is going to be 95% commuter and 5% tourer, the added simplicity, reliability will to me more than make up for the loss smoothness over a four

my question now is.. these things have pretty larger aftermarket support, right?.. and looking at the TT500, if i ever wanted a dual-sport/adventure bike, i could go that route with this.. i suggest this because the roads where im at, and possibly where im moving to are crap, and if the suspension isnt atleast a little bit off road id be likely to break something hitting a pot hole

i actually have the new springs and cartridge fork emulators i was going to install into this piece of crap CB550 i was working on.. for a 35mm set of forks, since the sr500 also uses 35mm forks, its possible i could apply the same supsension upgrades i already have.. but i could do this on an XS400 as well (the other bike im strongly considering)...

yeah.. im going for it.. im going to try to find an SR500 locally.. since i doubt a GPS is going to work on a motorcycle without a battery, im going to go with the SR500 over the XT.. ive always wanted a bike i could ride without a battery or starting system, but it would only leave me at a disadvantage at this point
 
I don't know where you're located, but the reason I never owned a second SR500 is the prices sky rocketed. Around here you can buy a Sportster for less than a SR500. Also these bikes are small, when I was a kid I hauled ass around on them, but now that I weigh twice as much and used to more power, I wouldn't use that bike for anything but around town and very short blasts on the highway. Not sure why you're getting so much vibration out of a four, do you have good rubbers on the pegs and under the bars? I've never had a four chase me off because of vibration, maybe an annoying buzz that could sometimes be remedied by foam grips or a sprocket change. SR 500 are neat little bikes, but I don't know if it's going in the right direction.. How about a SRX6 or a Hawk GT650? neat bikes and a little more umph...
 
i dont want anything larger than 500cc.. since i am looking for a commuter for 90% of the time, id rather have something lighter and more nimble for whichever city im living in... and i dont get much vibration out of a four, i just dont want to deal with the added cost and complexity with dealing with them anymore.. sure, they may be more comfortable on the highway... but a lot more parts thats can go wrong and a lot more to maintain... so im looking for an SR500 now... seems like id love one if i had it...

im curious, since the SR500 cost more.. would it be possible to convert an XT500 to a 12v system later on if i wanted a battery for a GPS, or heated vest on colder days?... or perhaps convert a TT500 into a dual-sport or adventure version of the SR500?... do they use the same tank, frame, etc?.. how compatible are the parts between the SR500, XT500, and TT500? and i believe the SR400 just has a shorter stroke, to pass certain regulations.. so could i reconvert an SR400 to an SR500 with some parts from the 500?
 
Jason, I don't know how tall you are, but something like this http://ventura.craigslist.org/mcy/3811591912.html are a little cheaper to find, and they are quite stout. I understand your want for a simple bike. I've been lucky over the years and once my multi's we're set up, they were quite reliable. I wish I knew more about the XT500's, my understanding the engines are the same, But I think it might be a little costly to convert to 12v, but maybe somebody on here will prove me wrong. Is there a way to have a remote power source for your GPS? Honda also had a GB 500 that got kinda pricey around here, but I still see an Ascot or two around for a reasonable price.

Me personally when it comes to little bikes, I would kill for a 68 450 bomber, actually pretty much any cb450 would do it for me.....
 
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