They do say classic design never fades and that copying is the highest form of flattery in which case the 1980’s original Japanese bike designers must have got something right. Meandering around one of the Heptanese islands I have been struck by the number of copycat small monkey bikes and narrow engineered enduros – all are perfectly designed for the islands and rough gravel and pitted roads. This well used and sun bleached Skyteam ST200 model was born in 2007 and with 17HP is faster than much of the local taxi and tourist traffic. The ST200 looks like a slimmer love child created by blending a 1991 Honda XR250 and a 1993 Suzuki DR350 – nice to know that classic design lives on care of the Jiangsu Sacin Motorcycle Company based in Nanjing. But one question remains – now that Honda have announced the release of a new 125cc classic monkey bike following on from the success of the Grom, maybe design is going full circle with Honda recreating the Skyteam copy of a Suzuki copy of a Yamaha copy of a Honda original – I can see patent lawyers rubbing their hands together from here…
Category Archives: Running Repairs
So what is in my Africa Twin toolkit?
I have had lots of requests to make up toolkits for riders and my advice is almost always the same, you only need to worry and carry the tools you both know how to use and will fix the bits on your bike you know how to fix… That said, as promised, apart from spare tubes here is what I carry in my CRF1000L toolkit…
- 8mm, 10mm, 11mm, 12mm and a 15mm open end and ratchet spanner (all these will do the chain adjusters, and all the remaining odd nuts and bolts on the CRF).
- Three MotionPro tyre levers (08-0284 12-13mm), (08-0288 27mm), (08-0286 22mm).
- Two MotionPro Rim Shield II plastic covers.
- 27mm and 22mm socket and drive (you will not break the rear axle torque with the MotionPro levers so either under torque your axle or carry these).
- 8mm, 10mm and 12mm long reach socket and small driver.
- HW5 Hex.
- 17mm Axle key.
- Flat and cross head screwdriver.
- Tube patches, glue and rubber gloves.
- Cable ties.
- Spare brake lever (53170-MEJ-016) – the only thing that has stopped me dead on the CRF is a broken front brake lever.
- All in a Kriega tool roll and wrapped in a Karrimore waterproof kit bag.
Preplanned service is always best…
First bit of preplanned roadside maintenance required on the Honda in the form of replacement rear pads – after about 11,500km on the DCT and a lot of mountain and track work the rear pads are looking decidedly worn with less than 1mm left of the 8mm original – I have to say the bike is very balanced, but dragging the rear brake and using the DCT G mode is the best way I have found to maintain effective low speed control on the loose stuff. The job is best done early in the comfort of my present location, with a small swimming pool handy and in the shade rather than later in the next week or so by the side of the road in +33 degree temperatures. I am sticking to conventional organic fibre pads (EBCFA174) and the job is simple, a couple of torx and a slider pin to move followed by maybe a cold beer… These will see me out for the rest of this trip and beyond… and before anyone comments, apart from tubes and my puncture kit and tools these were the only parts I carried with me as I could foresee this happening looking at the existing wear rate, but they were not worn enough to change pre trip. One questions remains… why is it EBC fibre pads smell so badly of fish?
Africa Twin Owners Manual
Some of you have asked for a copy of the Honda CRF1000 A-D Owners Manual so at 7Mb here it is…
The clutch lever is dead, long live the clutch lever
So I finally took the plunge… last weekend I picked up my Honda CRF1000D, a victory red Africa Twin. Initial impressions of the bike are very good and the DCT gearbox is exceptionally smooth, it is certianly intuitive and perhaps even better than I thought it might be. So far I have only been off road in the Epynt Ranges but the gravel and forest tracks locally proved how good the G Mode DCT box can be – and with the traction control light flashing away, warning and then controlling the rear wheel slip, I scrubbed in the standard Dunlop Trailmax road tyres. I took some stick from bikers old and new telling me it was not a real bike, but I’ve been riding since the age of 16 and I am now aged 52, so even with my poor maths that’s 36 years on two wheels… I don’t have anything else to prove. I am still keeping a manual bike but quite honestly if the technology is this is good then one might wonder if the clutch lever is going to become redundant – I suspect not, or at least not quite yet.
Always a pot of gold – Karma
Riding down the coast road near Ytre Svartvik, I was pondering the need for waterproofs… if you ride you know that time. Picture this, it looks like its going to rain so you need to decide if the chance of wetness is greater than the faff required to put on a one piece over-suit designed to keep your textiles from dripping all over the place at the campsite? Trust me putting on wet clothing the following morning is not a pleasant experience but then is neither squeezing yourself into your boil in the bag waterproof over-suit. As I waited, contemplating outpacing the clouds, an Italian scooter rider stopped and with the international language of gesticulation we agreed he needed petrol and with the R1150GSA holding 30 litres I gave him enough to see him on his way, I thought that was my good deed of the day but then I got a puncture…. so much for karma!