PlanetCatfish.com

Marc Van Arc wrote:Answer by Sidguppy, who's just showing his new motorcycle atm

Any chance of some more details?

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Mats

Yeah!

Your first machine? Or another one? I just cannot wait any longer to take my baby out of garage and feel the wind again
Damn snow :/

hey Guys!

nice topic you got here

It's this bike:
http://www.motorbikes.be/nl/Yamaha_XJ_7 ... _1985.aspx
there's too much in there where I don't know the English words of....my motor technique English is a bit lacking, unfortunately.
maybe marc can chime in and translate.

but it's the Yamaha maxim, 700 cubic centimeters, 4 piston engine, build in 1985 (it's an oldie!), it's bordeaux red in color and a LOT of chrome (me likes)
this is it....

not an example, but the very bike that is now mine

it's my first. I started with driving quite late, cause in the past I really couldn't afford it.
driving lessons are horribly expensive over here.

also the Netherlands are crowded. not a bit, but REALLY.
I mean, take a small country the size of an American shopping mall or a French garden and dump in the daily traffic of London City and you have a fair impression of the insanity we call "Dutch constipated traffic".

so when I finally started driving I was given the advice (Marc and several others) to first learn the car, do it for a couple of years, then go motorbike.
reverse is not a good idea. it's simply too dangerous nowadays.

I REALLY like to drive motorcycles. started in late summer, flunked all 3 exams (yes, we have 3 these days), so my drivinglessons lasted through winter, come rain, come snow, some wind, some storm, kept going
passed with good results january 15th!
then looked for a good helmet, motorsuit, boots, the whole thingy.
once I got a neat suit, started looking for a decent bike.

I took a LOT of advice from several experienced bikers, and I saved a whopping load of secondhand bike ads.
last tuesday both Marc and Wim were here, wich meant there was together almost 60 years of motorcycle experience in the home
fine oppertunity to let us root through the ads, checked the auctioneering site (marktplaats.nl = "marketspace.nl") and found this bauty.
;)

Hey,

well I've started my driving adventure on a bike. I don't know if it was cleaver or not but I'm too affraid to go faster than 50 km/h through city traffic so I guess i'm pretty safe ;). True fun starts on ountry side with lots of turns ;).
Well Sid! Really good and nice bike you have there! Mine is smaller (500cc) but I love it .
Well good luck! Take additional lessons in special motorcycle schools as soon as you will feel comfortable on your new machine and read few good books. I'm reading right now "A Perfect Motorcycle Man" (i'm not sure if I've translated the title properly but book was written by David L. Hough which Marc has heard about for sure). This book is on "must read" for new bikers.

Well ride safe, ride free! And hopefully one day we will meet on a motorcycle meeting ;)


My Honda Shadow Vt'500 C '84.

As you can see I'm practising on roads without almost any traffic ;). Well I've said almost because I've met several deers .

Regards.

Good choice o bike Sid, If I had been there you would have had 78yrs road experience and 84 motorcycle experience.
(I rebuilt my first bike engine when I was 10yrs old)

Hey Sid Wanna spray job?

This is what I do in my spare time.













Whaddathink? I do sports bikes as well but havn't any photos to hand.

Matt

My bike is a ZX-9R, which is a bit sportier (and could probably do with a bit of a "grokefish" treatment - but as it is currently sitting unused in the garage since a couple of years, I guess it's not urgent to "tart it" either).

But both bikes photographed above look nice and tidy, and I'm sure they are big enough to reach and exceed the speed limit sufficiently to end up in deep trouble - and how much more than that do you need? ;)

I haven't got a shot of my own bike, but I do have one, that I took, of the same model bike with some minor modifications and a better rider:


--
Mats

Mats if you ever require a bit of "Tarty bike" then gissa shout, you can get a planet catfish special rate.
I could do it like your favorite sucky fish if you want, now that would be cool............

Matt

Starting up a bike thread? I'm in!

Here's my old pride & joy, build in 1976 and in my possession since 1980. Still going strong

Awsome, A 550 four,You have really looked after that Marc!
My mates dad will be sooooooo jealous! I'm gonna send a link to him.


Matt

Wow!

Now that is a beautiful bike Marc .
Need a lot of effort to keep it in good shape for so many years . It is older than I am and for sure looking better

Thanks for the compliments guys.
Last summer I took her to the first European CB SOHC Rallye, which was held in Limburg, some 60 kms away from my place. Didn't expect too much of it, but how wrong can one be: at least 200 bikes were present at the event and all were in very good shape. I had a fantastic day.
Just to give you an impression of the (initial) crowdedness:

wow

what a load of oldtimers

awesome.....

there's a couple of tons of chrome blinkin'

guess I can handle the ol' rag in the future myself as well!

my car looks like a piece of crap, it's more dirty than an open sewer, but with the Maximus I'm not planning to turn it into a ratbike, no way ;)

wow

judging by the pix it's about time I gotta do some healthy stuff, I'm like Fat Bob's feet!
getting my head squeezed by a brandnew helmet doesn't help, nor does the big bulging motorsuit





pix made by Marc

Let it roll Sid ;)

Eh I wish we could have winter like this in Poland.
Today snowed again. Early in the morning, right before my house there was almost 0,5 of snow .

I'm with all the rest of you when it comes to getting the bike out. I rode mine to work today. The high here was about at the freezing mark, 32F or 0C, and it snowed while I was driving to work. This picture was taken during much better summer weather but it is what I ride. I ride down to a few degrees above freezing usually but the winter pause was getting the better of me so I rode today. It was the first time in over 2 weeks and that had been the first time since the new year.