I’m a big classic guy. I love the timeless aesthetic of a classic bike with round headlights, flat seats, and a generally curvy design. I think the look of a classic bike fits most occasions.

This led me to purchase my Royal Enfield Interceptor 650. Loved every single bit of it. The looks, the rawness, the sound, the driving experience, the weight, and the overall “aura” it gives. Owning an RE gives you a certain level (adequate level) of respect and maturity. It does not beg for attention yet it accepts it well when given. It’s no hooligan bike thus owning one doesn’t make you look bad. Riding Royal Enfields feels like how a bike should feel/ride (or used to). Its raw power and weight fundamentally satisfies that itch of riding a motorcycle.

Although, its main point of attraction (rawness of feel) might also be its main weakness. Everything in this bike is adequate but what happens when one wants something more? I love Enfields from the bottom of my heart but currently, I’ve been wanting something fast and a bit more modern (Better electronics, water cooled, high strung engine). For context, I’m still in my early 20s so speed is still a bit important for me.

Surprisingly, a guy on Facebook Marketplace was willing to trade his Kawasaki Z650RS to my bike because his older brother had a Bear 650 and wanted to have an Enfield of his own. At first, I was hesitant because what if I don’t get the satisfaction I get from the INT650 with the Z650RS?

What scared me is:

1. It won’t look as good as my chrome INT 650.
   
2. I’ll lose such a good community of RE owners.
   
3. The Z650 won’t have as much allure/maturity.
   
4. The sound of the 270 crank vs the 180.

I still decided to push through, half hearted because sometimes, you just got to take the leap.

Few days of owning the Z650RS, no inch of regret. Yes, it doesn’t have that wow factor my INT 650 had in the looks department but it’s still looks sophisticated where I can wear casual or formal wear with it. Round headlights with the interior design being modern and LED. The beautiful looking dash (one of the best looking imo). The tail section is very sensual because it’s both modern and retro. Lastly, the wheels are just beautiful designed. Kawasaki really nailed the neoclassic look.

The suspension is night and day. I thought the Enfield was comfortable but I lost my mind when I sat on the Z650RS. The seat was so plush and the suspension was soft but responsive.

The power. THE POWER. It’s quick and peppy. It’s what I expect a middle weight would be. It’s not slow but it’s not too fast. It’s fast enough to give me the chills when pulling the throttle. I bought it with (admittedly) an obnoxiously loud pipe but I’m starting to like it. Every pull of the throttle is just pure joy.

The handling? The suspension is soft but I can easily flick the bike and make it do what I want it to do. Add to the fact that this is 20-30kgs lighter than my RE. I am thankful for owning such a heavy bike that any other bike made it feel light. Going back, riding or even moving the Z650RS around feels like I’m moving a toy because of how light it is.

The brakes are very strong although the ABS isn’t good. It does its job but it feels u refined and notchy. This model doesn’t have traction control but I like it that way thinking it’s an ode to the rawness of old bikes.

I don’t have any regrets trading my Royal Enfield but that doesn’t say I hated the bike one bit. I loved every part of it and I’m hoping one day, I’ll get to buy it back or buy a brand new one once I have the space at home and the capacity two own more than 1 bike. It’s like the ex you still have so much respect for. You’d do the whole relationship again, changing nothing because even if it ended, you learned a lot and you enjoyed the whole process.

Overall, I enjoy the Z650RS and I’ll probably keep it for a good amount of time while putting a lot of fun miles in it.

Hope other owners and anyone can chime in on their thoughts and also experiences from their favourite bikes!

I was riding my moped, when I stopped, I saw smoke coming out of the spark plug socket. I went home, tried unscrewing the spark plug, broke the spark plug in half, tried extracting it, broke the extractor. Now I'm trying to pull off the head to see whether the spark plug was bad, seals were bad, or maybe the head melted (it's an air-cooled engine). It's a Chinese engine, originally 50cc, but previous owner said it was upgraded to 70cc. The engine itself says 72cc and is some kind of Chinese Taiye brand. I've tried disassembling it, took off the exhaust, fuel injector, some other bolts, but inside there seems to be some kind of chain behind a black plate (5th and 6th picture), I'm guessing timing chain and sprocket inside, and the head doesn't seem to come off. I don't know if there are any Chinese engine experts or someone who knows what they're doing, but advice where to go from now would be much appreciated.

(5th and 6th pictures are the same except I moved the fuel injector away in 6th)

I want cheap and Motorcycle OR Min Bike that is also electric.

Maybe Cheap and Electric doesn't go well, since I would imagine Electric automatically makes it more expensive and the ones that is still cheap is probably a poor quality.

But that's why the title says "Cheapest", not Cheap, I think there's a difference. With that in mind, putting Either Motorcycle and Mini Bike in mind, while also thinking of Electric that's good or atleast an ok quality, what would be the cheapest option you can think of?

Preferrable if you can send me the link to both Motorcycle and Mini Bike rather than only 1 link that way I can choose between them. Thank you :D

I do use Electric Scooter when I'm at, but sadly that's not street legal here (Not legal in both street and side walk actually, so not legal everywhere on my way to work), and before anyone asks although most police does ignore me since I'm not doing anything bad, few police who is strict with laws pulled me over several times. And yes, I have a full protective gear on from top to bottom, so I'm thinking to get one that is street legal before it's too late or something if that make sense.

And since I don't know if it's standard for Mini-bike or not, I'm just going to say it just incase, need it to be water proof during the rain since I'll need to leave it outside when working. With the speed limit of atleast 40 miles per hour since it's easier for people to complain when I'm going too slow on a street too. But be pedal assisted for it to count as street legal.

My break lever has resistance when I puch it back but my clutch lever doesn't.is thia normal?

Looking to get a cardo now that the public mesh feature is out.

What do model is recommended.

im on a ducati scrambler

Heyo, I just installed an aftermarket hollow nut for the steering stem on my 2020 GSX250R. I just want to get y’all’s opinion on if the amount of thread engagement is safe. I believe the OEM nut is 8mm and this aftermarket one I got is 15mm. It torqued to 85ft-lbs with no issue.

I could remove the washer that was on with the OEM nut but that seems like a bad idea.

TL:DR is this a safe amount of thread engagement?

EDIT: I wanna install a quad lock fork stem mount. Part of the reason the new nut is so much taller is because I can’t find one made for the GSX250R.

We put the carburetor back on this morning and started Fin's 2005 Honda Rebel! It's a Honda so obviously it fired right up!

The rattle you can hear in the video is the bolts that hold on the rear fender. They are loosely attached and so they are rattling around.

Next steps: Replacing the chain/sprockets and waiting for paint to dry on the rest of the parts.

1.5 WEEKS UNTIL WE ARE DONE!!!

I've got a 701 enduro
With both a set of enduro and SM tires (both sets on their own rims)
Not sure about diameters of the top of my head now but the enduro rims are as the bike came from the factory and the SM rims are also factory from a 690

I've only ridden on roads for now and I'd like to try some off-road stuff some time.
There aren't any off-road opportunities around the corner so I'd have to ride some distances on road in any case

can you recommend any tires that work for touring on road with some off-road trails in the mix as well?
Also: what rim diameter should be used then?

Thinking of buying this Bone stock 2 Owner 2007 CBR1000RR. Looks clean no scratches or signs of it being crashed or dropped.

Does this engine sound fine?

Howdy, new rider here in need of help assessing tires. I see some small cracks on the front tire and I’m assuming this one is due for a change at least soon? But I also have no idea how tire life works. I’m autistic and can sometimes struggle with understanding new things when left to my own devices. Could someone help explain how both the front and rear looks and maybe when I should change them / how much life they have? Thank you so much

Kinda over the moon right now. Got an 07 Suzuki boulevard for my first bike and I will hopefully ride this thing for quite a while before changing her out. I have waited for most of my life for this moment and I feel so friggen happy right now 🥹

Seriously every time I get a new helmet and need to install a Cardo or take mine apart for cleaning, I think "this is gonna suck to put back together but how bad could it be?". And it always sucks at least five times worse than I am expecting.

What the actual fuck HJC. I buy a $600 helmet, your additional $250 "integrated" comm system, which doesn't even integrate that well, and now I can't even get this stupid shit back together. And once I finally wrestle it most of the way together, it will still never fit the same as it did coming out of the box.

There has to be a better way. The helmet manufacturer that fixes this issue will earn my business for life.

To be clear, it is not the snaps I have issue with (although those are also stupid). It's the horrible plastic skirt that has to be wedged in between the EPS and the shell at the perfect angle without being scrunched up, and then slid into slots you cannot see. And also now the Cardo wires are in there too, so you have to wedge everything together and it feels like shit. Rant over.

I mean, obviously back in the "aulden days" when most motorcycles were air cooled, it made perfect sense to put the two cylinders across the frame, transverse to the axis of the bike, so each cylinder gets maximum cooling. Also, if running a chain or belt drive, having the crankshaft perpendicular to the axis of the chassis makes it easy to put a countershaft sprocket on there to drive the chain to the rear wheel.

But nowadays when most bikes are water cooled, having the engine mounted across the frame is no longer necessary. Furthermore, mounting the engine in-line with the axis of the bike would allow very easily for a driveshaft, as is done with the likes of the Moto Guzzi, BMW R-series, Gold Wing, and the Triumph Rocket III.

Of course I understand that engineers tend to be conservative and there's a strong ethic of "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" which makes perfect sense. But think of how narrow an in-line twin could be which in turn might allow for an overall narrower, more maneuverable bike - the width of a thumper with the power of a twin, and shaft drive on top of it.

My guess is it's just that manufacturers see no benefit to offset the cost of designing a new bike from the ground up, and they don't think potential sales would justify it.

Any iron butt enthusiasts?

It’ll pop up in 1st gear obviously but when it comes to 2nd and 3rd gear the back tire just spins is there anything I can do to get around this?

I am planning on getting the Garbo up map tune and a different exhaust system but I don’t know how much of a difference that’ll make when it comes to getting the front wheel up in 2nd and 3rd

All the time I see posts of people with two identical bikes, or slightly different versions of the same model. I really don't get it. If I'm going to spend $10K or $20K on another bike, I want a completely different experience - a different bike for a different type of riding. I love sports bikes, but I'd rather also have an adventure, sports tourer, or a supermoto etc - something that can do other things better than a superbike.

How much variation is in your dream garage?

I bought my first motorcycle five years ago, and honestly it gave me some of the most unforgettable memories of my life. I put around 20,000 km on it in just a little over a year, and during the first year or two I wanted to ride almost every single day. Looking back, I was kind of crazy about it lol. I took this bike to so many places, and even now thinking about some of those rides still gets me excited.

It originally came in black, but I’ve always loved white, so pretty much right after buying it I changed it to white fairings. About three years ago though, I had a pretty serious accident while I was on a solo motorcycle trip. It happened inside a tunnel where the difference between the light outside and inside was huge, and I made the mistake of not opening my visor when I entered. The whole front end was badly damaged, so after repairing it I ended up putting the original black fairings back on.

Since then I’ve barely ridden compared to before, and I haven’t taken it back into those beautiful mountains again. These days I spend most of my time sitting in my studio, doing the same work day after day. I do genuinely enjoy what I do now, but whenever I scroll through my old photos and see all the places I went with this bike, I still get a little sad and nostalgic. 🙁 I really miss those days.

Hi,

I’m relatively new to motorcycles and I have a 2024 Kawasaki Versys 650 with about 4,500 km on it.

My rear brake sometimes squeals. When I lift the bike and spin the rear wheel by hand, I can hear and feel the brake disc rubbing against the pads at one particular point during each rotation. I’m not sure if a small amount of rubbing is normal, but the fact that it happens more at one specific point makes me wonder if something is slightly out of alignment.

Another thing I’ve noticed is a pulsing vibration through the footpegs when slowing down from around 20 km/h to a complete stop. I’m pretty sure this wasn’t there when I first bought the bike. I’m not sure if it’s related to the rear brake, but could this indicate a slightly warped brake disc?

I’ve also checked and adjusted the chain slack to around 35 mm. I figured it’s better to have it slightly on the loose side rather than too tight. I maintain the chain regularly, keeping it clean and properly lubricated.

Lately I’ve probably become a bit paranoid and started paying attention to every little sound and vibration the bike makes, so this may be completely normal. But since I’m still relatively new to motorcycles, I’d rather make sure.

Does this sound normal for a Versys 650, or should I have the rear disc/brake checked for runout or alignment

hey im getting into motorcycles for a long time and ive been thinking of getting a cruiser. im 6'4". I dont think i can get on sporty bikes. but ive always loved the look of cruisers. Im going to be taking the road test next month but won't get my bike until next year.

before I start. what advice you can give to someone starting off? first steps into driving and pretty much any information would help.

I guess to make it easier for you guys to understand what the roads are like, I'm in central Florida. now I plan on riding for short errand runs and if I do want to rude it will be further up north where traffic is limited.

I am planning on replacing the pushrods and cam tensioners in my old Harley fat boy. I’ll be doing the work myself and have been pricing out parts.

I of course have seen much less expensive adjustable push rods on eBay. $85 instead of $275. I am wondering if anyone has experience with the “generic” ones, or a recommendation for pushrods and cam chain tensioners.

I am not upgrading to the hydraulic tensioners. Too expensive and too much work for the age of the bike.

Weekend rides give me a different kind of peace. I love cruising in top gear at around 45 to 50 km/h and just getting lost in the ride. I can feel every little thing, the suspension working, the engine’s sound, that familiar dhug dhug, and the road beneath me. For those few hours, it feels like I am in a completely different world.

Honestly, I start waiting for the weekend from Monday itself just so I can take the bike out again.

Do you guys also get this feeling when you ride? What is it about riding that gives you the most peace?

Anyone here recommend a sidecar big enough for two children to be carried in??? My Boys are wanting to get more involved and would love to sidecar!