i've only ever ridden modern bikes made after the year 2000, so while i love the look of pre-1980s motorcycles and sometimes consider getting one, i always wonder if they're totally sketchy to ride compared to current year machines. i'm thinking the skinny tires (bias ply only?), drum brakes and soft twisty frames could make them scary and unpredictable, or are they still somehow able to feel confident on the highway and in curves?
>>28804893 Pictured is the second to last bike I regularly rode. (As in daily driver) . They're not impossible, or deathtraps, you just ride within their limitations.But don't go thinking they're a modern bike, or that you're going to somehow "show" that guy on a late model small displacement Honda. You have to do a lot more maintenance, you have to be constantly replacing parts (like the rotten fork boots I never got around to fixing), and you have to have other means of getting around when the thing decides it needs a vacation (like the Lucas B-E-C cap in that Bonnie deciding to puke it's guts out one Phoenix summer).
Oh look you can have a 25 year old Kawasaki.
>>28804893Carbs are finicky. Tyres are narrow. Fun is major.Have a backup bike, I always have a backup vehicle.
>>28805090what beautiful fairings
>>28804893It's really nice. A bit heavy. if you're used to two finger braking, it's gonna feel like shit. And there's always something to do on it. But it always starts on the button and gets me home. But these things basically were the first modern bikes
They're great, but not daily driver great unless you're a bit dented in the head. >Muh tiresJust get modern tires>Muh drum brakesCompletely fine on a bike, shit the dual leading edge drums on my Ural are better than the twin caliper disks of my Moto Guzzi>Soft framesSon the frames of old bikes were built from REAL STEEL that WON THE WAR son like a 1911 handgun compared to some porcelain glock.>Muh carbsStop eating like a fat fuck, that being said fuel pissy devices are really easy and simple to work with as long as they're bot Italian. It's usually just 2 screws, one for the throttle idle position and one for how much fuel it dumps/air it lets in on idle.Adjusting a bike carb boils down to>Raise the rpm from the throttle screw till it idles>Raise the mixture till it stops stumbling and the idle reaches its highest point from that screw>Make it slightly richer just in case>Drop the throttle screw till it idles at a comfortable speed>check if the mixture screw can make it run a bit faster or not>Still leave it a bit on the rich side
>>28805400Biggest issues with vintage bikes are usually ignition bits which can be cheated with modern coils ran by the contacts and charging systems, which may be a major pain in the ass.For contact breakers you could also try some el cheapo optical or hall effect breaker for contactless ignition, they're usually piss easy to nigrig on almost any bike.
>>28804893Many bikes from the 50s and earlier have some serious quirks and are essentially completely alien from what we know today. Get used to stuff like manually retarding engine timing while riding the bike, non-standardised controls, kicking an old single over 50 times before it starts, and having hot oil shoot all over your legs and burn you alive when it isn't all over the floor of the garage. Not to mention, handling and braking was often a suggestion. These bikes are an experience but not for the faint hearted.Bikes basically got exponentially better year on year from the 1970s onwards, particularly once Honda entered the game. A Honda CB750 from 68 is a world apart from a British bike from the same era and you could probably ride every day if you wanted to. Good luck doing that with a Norton or a Triumph from that era. Skip forward to the 1980s and you have some seriously ridable bikes that stop, start and go around corners like proper race machines for the street starting from around 85 with the GSXR750 and the race replicas. Meanwhile, an 87 Goldwing will comfortably and reliably transport you across the country even today. By the end of the 90s bikes had basically reached modernity, the only thing really seperating them from todays bikes imo being all the electrical nannies and ABS you get now.
This is just over thirty years old. It is not my daily means of transport - strictly fun only - but it has always started. Things do keep going wrong including once losing a front wheel bolt. Just now the rear light has gone out again.I don't know how people manage to do stoppies as in this the front disc brake is good for slowing down but to stop quickly takes the back drum brake as well. That has lots more force.
>>28805400What about synching carbs? I always heard that multiple cylinders are a pain in the ass
>>28805644They have fancy tools for that which makes it ezpz, never used one on my bikes. I guess a pair of basic vacuum gauges could work too.Basically you want the flow rate/vacuum to be close to identical with those, it's a bit of a time-consuming thing to do, but it's not rocket science. I've always done it by ear on my boxer bikes. >Take the spark off one cylinder>Get the bike to barely idle on one cylinder>Swap sides>Same thing on the other sideThat usually gets you "close enough" with old bikes, they're not that stringent about carb adjustments, unless it's Italian.With jap inline bikes for example that have a carb battery sharing a single body, a manometer of some sort is definitely the way to go as trying to sync 4 cylinders by ear will probably be impossible, doubt you can get those to run on one cylinder.
>>28805669Thanks anon
For daily riding you'd be dumb to do it. Weekend leisure? Sure, just expect expensive repairs yearly. Bikes from 40+ years ago were working with the best tech and knowledge from 40+ years ago. Its why the cheapest shitbox today is simply better than a cadillac from the 1970s (other than looks). Same holds true for motorcycles: shocks have improved over the last 4 decades, engines and even carburetors have gotten better, tires and brake systems have gotten better, chassis/frames have gotten better. tl;dr they're good for hobby and fun riding. They're not as good as a cheaper modern bike. Pic related is an '82 Honda 250. A modern 250 is like a rocket ship compared to this.
I absolutely love vintage bikes, but they are a pain in the ass.
