From: The Raven on

"Nev.." <idiot(a)mindless.com> wrote in message
news:48706849$0$7171$5a62ac22(a)per-qv1-newsreader-01.iinet.net.au...
> The Raven wrote:
>> "Zebee Johnstone" <zebeej(a)gmail.com> wrote in message
>> news:slrng6vomf.ith.zebeej(a)gmail.com...
>>> In aus.motorcycles on Sat, 5 Jul 2008 21:50:12 +1000
>>> The Raven <swilson150(a)yahoo.com.au> wrote:
>>>> I'd consider an Royal Enfield far easier to work on than a modern
>>>> Ducati
>>>> but, then a Ducati wouldn't need much maintenance by comparison.
>>> So... you want a good looking bike that you can work on yourself, is
>>> fun to ride, isn't the same old boring as everyone else has...
>>>
>>> You need a Guzzi you do!
>>
>> I know, but given I'm planning a return to riding I don't want to jump on
>> anything too sporty. Call me an old fart but I'll start with something
>> less likely to encourage me to launch off into the scenery.
>
> I'm confused. Your motives for wanting an Enfield seem to change. From
> reading your original posts you seemed to want the Enfield because you
> liked the idea of riding (and fixing) an Enfield.

I like the look and old school styling of the Enfield. Routine maintenance
is a trade off I can tolerate....up to a point.

> You've obviously had a very long break from motorcycling if you think
> anything Moto Guzzi make would fall into the "too sporty" category.

Forgive me, I did reply incorrectly to the last post and I can see how my
response seemed contradictory. Somehow I confused Guzzi with another brand,
which I won't mention for fear of upsetting the Guzzi fans. Yes, a Guzzi
isn't 'too sporty' but it's not quite my thing either..not that I've looked
at recent models.



From: Nev.. on
The Raven wrote:
> "Nev.." <idiot(a)mindless.com> wrote in message
> news:48706849$0$7171$5a62ac22(a)per-qv1-newsreader-01.iinet.net.au...
>> The Raven wrote:
>>> "Zebee Johnstone" <zebeej(a)gmail.com> wrote in message
>>> news:slrng6vomf.ith.zebeej(a)gmail.com...
>>>> In aus.motorcycles on Sat, 5 Jul 2008 21:50:12 +1000
>>>> The Raven <swilson150(a)yahoo.com.au> wrote:
>>>>> I'd consider an Royal Enfield far easier to work on than a modern
>>>>> Ducati
>>>>> but, then a Ducati wouldn't need much maintenance by comparison.
>>>> So... you want a good looking bike that you can work on yourself, is
>>>> fun to ride, isn't the same old boring as everyone else has...
>>>>
>>>> You need a Guzzi you do!
>>> I know, but given I'm planning a return to riding I don't want to jump on
>>> anything too sporty. Call me an old fart but I'll start with something
>>> less likely to encourage me to launch off into the scenery.
>> I'm confused. Your motives for wanting an Enfield seem to change. From
>> reading your original posts you seemed to want the Enfield because you
>> liked the idea of riding (and fixing) an Enfield.
>
> I like the look and old school styling of the Enfield. Routine maintenance
> is a trade off I can tolerate....up to a point.

They're great fun to ride. I rode a 350cc Enfield through parts of Nth
India last year. Well suited to riding in India with their much lower
overall traffic speeds than in Australia. Not sure if the gearing on
the bike I was riding was stock or changed by our mechanic to better
handle the slower riding we were doing on bad roads, but the 350 was
flat out at about 80kph on the [relatively] good conditions of the Grand
Trunk Road north of Delhi, but doubt it would sustain those sorts of
speeds for long before something went wrong. At 70kph it was fine, and
the disk brakes on the front probably made the bike much more user
friendly than standard. If I owned one here I'd probably want a
mechanic to be on-call with a ute-ful of spares.

Nev..
'07 XB12X
From: Zebee Johnstone on
In aus.motorcycles on Sun, 06 Jul 2008 19:56:06 +1000
Nev.. <idiot(a)mindless.com> wrote:
> the disk brakes on the front probably made the bike much more user
> friendly than standard. If I owned one here I'd probably want a
> mechanic to be on-call with a ute-ful of spares.

how many times did the one you were on break down, and what are the
differences between it and the ones available here in terms of
orginaly specs and QC, and the life it has led?

Zebee
From: SteveB on
On Jul 6, 1:47 pm, "bikerbetty" <bikerbe...(a)gmail.com> wrote:
> "Kevin Gleeson" <kevinglee...(a)imagine-it.com.au> wrote in message
>
> news:808074lsei569i6tgtokp511f12okiurp8(a)4ax.com...
>
>
>
> > On 5 Jul 2008 09:40:23 GMT, Zebee Johnstone <zeb...(a)gmail.com> wrote:
>
> >>In aus.motorcycles on Sat, 05 Jul 2008 19:05:11 +1000
> >>MJ <mjp...(a)yahoo.com.au> wrote:
> >>> Knobdoodle wrote...
>
> >>>> It's like these wankers that use L8R, 2MORROW, PH@T and all these other
> >>>> stupid kiddy-spellings; they actually take more keystrokes than just
> >>>> keying
> >>>> the word in english!
>
> >>> Unless those mobiles that they target kids with have these words already
> >>> programmed into the predictive text database...
>
> >>> And yes, the phone that I use definately would require 4 or 5 extra
> >>> keystrokes
> >>> just to enter 3 characters compared to its predictive text input.
>
> >>I am old... because I can recall when there wasn't predictive text and
> >>those abbreviations were in heavy use.
>
> >>Now my Nokia has them in the predictive text...
>
> >>Zebee
>
> > I go the other way. I refuse to use abbreviated text. Have always
> > done.
>
> > The only time I'll crunch it down is if I'm broke and know I have to
> > go to short form to save money, but that is rare and I cringe.
>
> > I find it quite funny when my 70+ year old parents SMS me using
> > abbreviated text and sound like teenagers. Getting a text from someone
> > who is 72 saying "when RU coming here" is just a little weird.
>
> Here in Canberra the oh-so-hip traffic people have put some
> mega-cringeworthy signage around the place... I almost fell off my bike the
> first time I passed a sign that said DRIVE N TEXT? U B NEXT
>
> There is no hope!
>
> I erase misplaced apostrophes from cafe chalkboards every chance I get, and
> would dearly love to "red pen" these signs! Alas, I am too short!!!
>
> betty

Betty

Those light weight two step ladders are available in most of the
better hardware stores/megabarns now. Easy to carry on the bike ;-)

SteveB
(just being helpfull)
From: atec77 on
SteveB wrote:
> On Jul 6, 1:47 pm, "bikerbetty" <bikerbe...(a)gmail.com> wrote:
>> "Kevin Gleeson" <kevinglee...(a)imagine-it.com.au> wrote in message
>>
>> news:808074lsei569i6tgtokp511f12okiurp8(a)4ax.com...
>>
>>
>>
>>> On 5 Jul 2008 09:40:23 GMT, Zebee Johnstone <zeb...(a)gmail.com> wrote:
>>>> In aus.motorcycles on Sat, 05 Jul 2008 19:05:11 +1000
>>>> MJ <mjp...(a)yahoo.com.au> wrote:
>>>>> Knobdoodle wrote...
>>>>>> It's like these wankers that use L8R, 2MORROW, PH@T and all these other
>>>>>> stupid kiddy-spellings; they actually take more keystrokes than just
>>>>>> keying
>>>>>> the word in english!
>>>>> Unless those mobiles that they target kids with have these words already
>>>>> programmed into the predictive text database...
>>>>> And yes, the phone that I use definately would require 4 or 5 extra
>>>>> keystrokes
>>>>> just to enter 3 characters compared to its predictive text input.
>>>> I am old... because I can recall when there wasn't predictive text and
>>>> those abbreviations were in heavy use.
>>>> Now my Nokia has them in the predictive text...
>>>> Zebee
>>> I go the other way. I refuse to use abbreviated text. Have always
>>> done.
>>> The only time I'll crunch it down is if I'm broke and know I have to
>>> go to short form to save money, but that is rare and I cringe.
>>> I find it quite funny when my 70+ year old parents SMS me using
>>> abbreviated text and sound like teenagers. Getting a text from someone
>>> who is 72 saying "when RU coming here" is just a little weird.
>> Here in Canberra the oh-so-hip traffic people have put some
>> mega-cringeworthy signage around the place... I almost fell off my bike the
>> first time I passed a sign that said DRIVE N TEXT? U B NEXT
>>
>> There is no hope!
>>
>> I erase misplaced apostrophes from cafe chalkboards every chance I get, and
>> would dearly love to "red pen" these signs! Alas, I am too short!!!
>>
>> betty
>
> Betty
>
> Those light weight two step ladders are available in most of the
> better hardware stores/megabarns now. Easy to carry on the bike ;-)
>
> SteveB
> (just being helpfull)
I should have though a milk crate and it would make an excellent carry
box as well :)