Pic:
Story:
Bought it about 5 years ago for $500 from an acquaintance. When I got it, it was rust brown with the dorky standard handlebars and no fairing. Ran mint though, and had been well-maintained. I spent a few weeks repainting it and adding the cafe fairing and handlebar. All in my old condo's parking lot
. I didn't replace the decals, since I want people to mistake it for a Moto Guzzi
.
IIRC the engine puts out about 40HP
. It's kind of a bizarre architecture - transverse-mounted V-twin with pushrods. But it does have a 10K RPM redline. And it is still the bike of choice for London's messengers, which tells you something about its reliability.
I'm not ashamed to say even with the low power level I could scare myself for the first couple years I rode it. I've had it up to 100-110 a few times, and that's about as fast as I'd want to go knowing how the fairing is mounted. Now I'm more than used to the "power." But at this point I can't really justify a new bike, plus I have an affinity for machinery that has proved its value and then some, so I'll be holding on to her for a while.
Right now she needs a front brake rebuild - dragging a little. It's the first maintenance other than oil changes I will have done since I owned her.
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- it scared the crap out of me while I was there! 