The Unofficial Motorcycle Thread!

[Old_Crow]

It's a custom chopper.

Which appears to be built from about a '68 BSA.

 

[Boat Bum]

I was gonna say the engine appears to be of British ancestry, I had a 72 Triumph Daytona Twin 500cc back in the day.

 

[DonTom]

It's a custom chopper.

Yeah, that much is obvious, but which engine has the word 'WAR" on it? What was it mostly made from?

-Don- Douglas, AZ

 

[Boat Bum]

Yeah, that much is obvious, but which engine has the word 'WAR" on it? What was it mostly made from?

-Don- Douglas, AZ

You asked the type.

 

[triplethreat]

I'm thinking the motor is a maybe 60s era BSA something. One thing is for certain, there are a lot better motor choices that could have gone into it!

 

[Old_Crow]

I'm thinking the motor is a maybe 60s era BSA something. One thing is for certain, there are a lot better motor choices that could have gone into it!

I had a few choppers back in the day. Had 2 different 650 Triumphs, both of which were over 9' long and a '74 Ironhead Sportster that was built to resemble the "Billy Bike" from the Easyriders movie.

 

[triplethreat]

I had a few choppers back in the day. Had 2 different 650 Triumphs, both of which were over 9' long and a '74 Ironhead Sportster that was built to resemble the "Billy Bike" from the Easyriders movie.

I'm old enough to remember when I heard "Triumph", I knew that it was trouble. I'm talking about back in the 50s, 60s, and even the 70s. I'm not sure at what point they really turned it around, but as you can see in my avatar pic....I'm the proud owner of a 2025 Triumph Street Triple RS 765. My wife has one identical to mine and they are great bikes so far, but haven't had them long enough to give a "long term" opinion.

 

[DonTom]

I will have another "what is it" bike I just took a photo of here, when I get back to my RV.

I am now in Bizio Café having lunch.

-Don- Av 6 348, INFONAVIT 1, 84200 Agua Prieta, Son., Mexico

 

[Old_Crow]

I'm old enough to remember when I heard "Triumph", I knew that it was trouble. I'm talking about back in the 50s, 60s, and even the 70s. I'm not sure at what point they really turned it around, but as you can see in my avatar pic....I'm the proud owner of a 2025 Triumph Street Triple RS 765. My wife has one identical to mine and they are great bikes so far, but haven't had them long enough to give a "long term" opinion.

The 2 Triumphs were a '57 pre-unit and a '68 Bonneville. Yes, both "Prince of Darkness" era bikes. I'm kinda funny like that in that I also at one point kept 2 Ironhead Sportsters running at once for about 10 years. When I sold my Sporty and went to a big twin it was an '82 FLTC Tour Glide, the Shovelhead predecessor to the current Road Glide. That one had an S&S 4 3/4" stroker kit good for 92" in a full fairing plus lowers fully loaded touring bike. I truly miss that one, it was a hoot.

That being said, when I went to pick up the current Honda, if I hadn't already paid for it, I'd have left the shop with a nice late model ('13 I think) T120 that he had for sale instead of the Honda.

 

[DonTom]

I saw this bike while walking around in Agua Prieta today.

What is it?

​

 

[DonTom]

I saw this bike while walking around in Agua Prieta today.

What is it?

View attachment 2405575

​

It is an old Italika motorcycle. Built in Mexico with Chinese parts. Will not meet smog requirements for the USA so we do not see them here.

I think these are the same bikes I saw in mainland China 20 years ago. The number on the gas tank--you will not find two with the same number. But I do not know what the number means.

-Don- Douglas, AZ

 

[DonTom]

I was a little late for this show, but did anybody here make it?

-Don- OPCNM, AZ

 

[DonTom]

The

Verge TS Pro.​

-Don- Auburn, CA

 

[DonTom]

I am junking my 2002 Suzuki DR200SE because of what happened on Wednesday, 1, July 2026.

I was riding at WOT, which is only around 60 MPH on this bike and the engine dies instantly. Sixth gear, I think, but perhaps 5th. I was just trying to keep up with the traffic, 65 MPH speed limit there.

Only 3,761 miles on this bike. It's my least used bike of my dozen.

So I try to restart the bike and notice the engine sounds like it has no compression, starter spinning way too fast. Right there, I know to call for a tow truck.

I was assuming the cam chain broke or fell off or whatever, but that was NOT what happened at all.

I have a big hole in the piston. Here is what the sparkplug looks like that I removed the day after. This plug has more than a thousand miles on it with no problems.

I have heard of preignition, but this looks more like the piston hit the plug. A few threads got cut off, and the plug was very difficult to remove because of that.

But how can the piston hit the plug? It is the correct sparkplug, and has around 3 threads gone and the center Electrode is broken off way inside.

For the next couple of days, I went around looking at new bikes to replace my 2002 Suzuki DR200SE dual sport. Owning electric bikes make me lazy, so lazy I refuse to replace the piston or check for other damage, which would not be that difficult on this little 199 cc bike. Also, having more cash than I need makes me lazy.

So I was looking at dual sport bikes the day after and I went to all the MC dealers in Reno except for one and found nothing interesting. I would consider a slightly larger gas bike, but my preference was electric, of course.

Reno EuroCycles was especially disappointing with their very poor selection of Zero electrics, which was very good a year ago. But they have several non-road legal Zero electric dirt bikes. I am not interested in those. Even all the rarely used unpaved roads in the Reno area (many!) require a street legal vehicle.

The only dealer I did not go to the first day looking for dual sports in Reno was Michael's Powersports which is way farther south and it was getting late.

So I went there the next day. I did NOT expect them to have electric motorcycles, but, boy was I wrong! They had MANY! All Can-Ams.

I didn't even know Can Am made electric motorcycles but they had exactly the type of bike I was looking for.

A new 2025 Can-Am J8SE Origin.

Has a water cooled 8.9 KWH battery (never heard of water cooled battery on a motorcycle before). Also the charger and the inverter is water cooled.

Has a 6.6 KW AC J-1772 charger.

Has an enclosed fully covered drive chain with gear oil to keep the chain lubed and quiet. Just change the gear oil every couple of years or so.

The bike has a reverse.

Top speed set in the computer to 80 MPH, which probably means it will go uphill into a headwind at that 80 MPH. So keeping up with the trafiic to get to the unpaved roads will not be an issue.

They deliver it here on Tuesday or Wednesday. It was $12,151.77 out the door (cash).

I ignore specs for range and charge times. I can do the math myself.

I will expect this 400 lbs bike to average 7 miles per KWH in average, normal riding in average normal temps. A little on the heavy side for a dual sport, but I sure like everything else.

The 8.9 KWH battery is supposed to be useable capacity. Unlike Zero, they do not even mention the max capacity (includes the useless capacity that the bike can never use).

So I will expect a range of 62.3 miles in my normal driving in the real world at average temps, average speeds, average hills, etc. for the all year average.

Just a little short of their BS claim of 71 miles mixed riding. Not too far off, IMO, for an electric motorcycle.

They claim:

52 miles at 50 MPH.
71 miles mixed.
90 miles city.

I don't care much about the range as long as I can make it to the next J-1772 charge station, if I ever need such at all on this type of bike. I like to take breaks, I am in no hurry. A double KWH battery just means charge less often but for twice the amount of time at each stop. Not that much difference in total charge time for the day.

A weird coincidence is that I purchased my 2002 Suzuki DR200SE at the same place on the same day in year 2003.

The 2025 Can-Am Origin. Same bike as the 2026, so I don't care about that, it has one mile on the odometer.

-Don- Reno, NV

 

[meierjn]

Congrats on the new bike. It looks good! Keep us update after you get is and have a chance to get it out for a ride or two.

 

[DonTom]

Congrats on the new bike. It looks good! Keep us update after you get is and have a chance to get it out for a ride or two.

Will do, but first I will be making the too heavy dual sport bike even heavier by adding crash bars, luggage and much more. And a lot of small stuff too, such as a TPMS, GPS, Bullet Brake (electric bikes have no gears so they always as if in neutral--no parking brake).

I assume I will ride this bike a lot more than I did the Suzuki, but even if I don't, I will no longer have to worry about things such as the gasoline getting too old.

-Don- Reno, NV

 

[old_toys]

engine guards sounds less scary than crash bars.

 

[DonTom]

engine guards sounds less scary than crash bars.

Motor guards in this case. Called "side guards" my Can-Am.

BTW, the way they have recently reduced prices on the bikes as well as all of the accessories makes me wonder if they are going out of business, at least with their two-wheeled electrics. Reducing prices is often the first sign of such.

All motorcycles are poor sellers these days, but especially electric motorcycles, which is my preference for MOST of my rides. The strange thing is there are countless models of motorcycles to choose from these days unlike when they were hot sellers (back in the early 1980's).

1984 was the very peak.

"Peak motorcycle sales in the USA occurred in 1984, with approximately 1.3 million new motorcycles sold. Since then, the market has settled into a much smaller range, typically hovering between 450,000 and 550,000 units annually."


-Don- Reno, NV

 

[DonTom]

The dealer just now phoned me and told me they have people out sick and other BS and they will not be able to deliver my new toy until Friday.

And then I can expect another call. But the accessory stuff I ordered will be here on Friday, so it will be nice if I get it all on Friday.

-Don- Reno, NV

 

[DonTom]

The dealer just now phoned me and told me they have people out sick and other BS and they will not be able to deliver my new toy until Friday.

And then I can expect another call. But the accessory stuff I ordered will be here on Friday, so it will be nice if I get it all on Friday.

-Don- Reno, NV

What a bunch of BS that call from the dealer was.

The bank called me to confirm the 12K$ check was really mine just a few minutes after the shop called me. When I told the bank to honor the check, then no more than five minutes later, the shop called me back to tell me the bike is on the way. I doubt if that was just a coincidence. The shop didn't say why there was no longer a problem, and I wasn't going to ask just to be fed more BS.

TBH, I cannot say I blame them for these days, as fraud is getting to be the norm.

Anyway, my new toy is now in my garage. I am just taking a short break from the heat as I have been working adding stuff to the bike such as a GPS and TPMS and other goodies.

A lot more stuff coming in by the end of the week to add to the bike. My first ride on it comes after the entire bike is ready (not counting the real first ride of a few feet to into my garage after bike delivered here).

-Don- Reno, NV