too many toys.

[growler_south]

Summer's coming! Get out on the road on this sporty, reliable and immaculate VTR250. Baby Ducati looks, torquey V-twin engine and superb handling add up to a bike that's ideal for a beginner but rewarding for the experienced rider too.

Owned and maintained by a bike nut, this bike has been cleaned and serviced as much as ridden. Has only done 20,000km and the engine is smooth and powerful. Preventative maintenance done in the last 2000km includes rear wheel bearings, complete brake rebuild, new O-ring chain. Oil and filter change. Moving parts regularly cleaned and oiled and chain lubricated weekly. Has near new Pirelli Sport Demon tyres and bike alarm with 2x remotes. Sold with a can of chain lube and 2.5litres of oil for the next oil change.

Easily runs at 100kph and on to about 140 (on a private road of course, officer). Smooth and tractable around town, and so economical. The bike makes for happy city commuting during the week and even happier riding through the coromandel in the weekend!

Good points:
-looks
-handling
-performance
-fuel economy plus
-fastidiously maintained

Bad points:
-tiny dent in tank and scratch on muffler from where someone knocked it off the stand. Too subtle to photograph.
-Left rear indicator mount has been repaired (plastic welded). Strong but not 100% original.
-I have a new toy and cant afford to keep my baby bike as well!

Comments

[growler-south.livejournal.com]

*sigh* I wish.. you'd be the envy of all your friends on this I imagine. I try not to go through *too* many vehicles in a year, because if I hit 5 I arouse the suspicion of the tax department. I just like cars and bikes :-) (to be honest, this year has been a remarkable one with... oh shit, 5 vehicles changing hands. Ah well.)

Chain lubing takes 5 minutes- after a long run you grab an old rag, lift the rear wheel, grasp the chain with the rag and spin the wheel, threby wiping the chain of dust and grime. Then you take your can of chain lube, spin the wheel again, and spray the chain with lube. Takes 5 minutes and doubles the life of your sprockets. (I also change my chain every year/10,000km simply because a chain costs a lot less than a pair of sprockets- and sprockets simply dont wear if the chain is new.)

[sinnabor.livejournal.com]

lift the rear wheel

Boy that bike must be light. :-)

Time to get another trackstand, I suppose. I hated my last trackstand - which is why I pushed it off on the purchaser of my Zephyr. Nobody makes a centerstand for the Vulcan 500 - nobody makes anything for the Vulcan 500. It's such a starter bike.

grasp the chain with the rag and spin the wheel

My friend Jason was doing this with the engine running and in gear, while the bike was on a center stand. The rag caught, and pulled his hand in between the chain and the rear sprocket, stalling the engine. His screams brought around a neighbor, who had to be coached through his squeamishness to put the bike in neutral and rotate the tire back.

Fortunately, the chain and sprocket were undamaged. (And Jason has only minor scars.)

At the moment, with no stand, I have to spray some chain, walk the bike forward, spray some chain, walk the bike forward, etc, etc, etc. Tedious.

[growler-south.livejournal.com]

I guess it depends where your bike's centre of balance is, and which side the side stand is on. And how heavy it is too. I can stand on the stand side, lean over the bike to grasp the swingarm and just rock the bike towards me, it pivots nicely on the sidestand and front wheel and I can use my body to keep it balanced there while I spray.

I wouldnt go anywhere near a chain while the engine's running, thats just asking for trouble!! Ouch!!

[bleepkeeper.livejournal.com]

What about using something like this?

[sinnabor.livejournal.com]

Hmmmm. Maaaaybe. I've seen variants of that thing around, and it just scares me a bit.