Motorbikes and scooters

Since I started clearing things out in preparation for moving house, I have spent some time on Gumtree.  The original reason was to post some "it's free!" ads for some things I want to get rid of but are still fully functional and someone might still want.  Possibly.  I know, there isn't a big market in slide projectors, for example, but that's the point really.  If you found a load of slides in your loft, and you'd thrown your slide projector away in 1997 when you went digital, you might want a free one, no? 

Anyway Gumtree has seen me before, and it shows me pictures of motorbikes without me even having to ask, which is very distracting.  If you recall, my last post included a picture of a modified Honda C90.  Long story short, I found out that if you want to buy a Honda C90, there are a few to choose from.  At the bottom of the market, if your budget stops at £195, you're limited to this:

Not very encouraging really.  If you want to move up to something that might actually move, you need £1000 to get one like this:

which is a little bit rusty, but not too bad.  If you really want a nice one, here's what £2750 buys you:

Very smart indeed, although it is the late model shape with the somewhat unattractive rectangular headlight.  I'm guessing that the porta-potti on the back come with it too.

But I also noticed that you could have this instead:

which is a 2000 Honda CBR 929 Fireblade, with 26,000 miles on it, together with an expensive aftermarket carbon-fibre silencer, and an expensive aftermarket rear shock.  To get an idea of just how clean this bike is, look at the inaccessible-to-clean castings, inner fairing and bolt heads in this picture.

The exhaust system is titanium, by the way, so it doesn't go rusty.  When it was new it made 152bhp and topped out at 176mph;  I expect it still does.  Oh, and you get to keep six hundred of your hard-earned pounds to spend on whatever you like, because the asking price is a mere £2150.  Somehow, the idea of creating an amusing if completely unusable special out of a C90 seems somewhat absurd.

And the Fireblade is for sale right now in Exeter, by the way. 

Either way, roll on the double garage...