Howdy Howdy

[colonial]

Indeed it was I who snaffled that one in Guernsey. Nice chap selling it, gave me a haynes, and a bunch of mags with aricles on the Katana. He has osteoporosis, and was very sad to part with the machine. It was as described, and almost completely original. I also grabbed that one in Scotland to ride while I restored the Guernsey. That however was a molested specimen, which, whilst going like a scalded kat was acutally a bit of a pup. It turned out to be a 1100 Katana engine in a 750 chassis, which I only recently spotted when I was viewing the V5. Simply put, I was had. He was evasive when I asked for photos of the other side of the bike, and the photos he had on there were at least a year out of date. I smelled a rat, but after a six hour van drive, each way, it seemd silly to reject it. Frankly for the money he made, I wonder if it was worth it, unless his conscience is not functioning. I will be selling it, in much better condition, with mostly standard parts, but I won't be hiding the flaws. I am not in this for the money, I sit at a desk for that!

I sent a mail to fossie to get the paypal subscription mail address. Have not had a reply yet, can anyone tell me what it is? Mind you I still haven't posted a photo yet either, so not criticising, just keen to get it done.


Thanks all for the warm welcome.

Peter

[colonial]

As promised some pictures prior to the strip and rebuild:

As you can see the frame needs a respray, but it is in excellent nick considering it is the original paint:

Engine neds the same treatment, mostly original paint, covered with satin black in parts:

It only took me a week to post those, my excuse: filthy weather.

[Katman]

Hi & welcome

[fossie]

We see you have paid, but we have no information from you colonial, you have a pm.
Many many of the clubs 1100's are 750 with 1100 engine in, it is a common upgrade, the 1100 is essentially a750 with different engine mounts.

[colonial]

Sorted that. The bike above is a genuine 1100, the other one I have was sold as an 1100, but isn't. Simple misrepresentation to inflate the value, which I don't think is kosher.

[sparki]

judging by those pics i'd just give that one a clean up and try to clean up a little of the rust... i certainlt wouldn't strip and paint it.... really nice to find an original one that hasn't been stripped and painted... just needs a set of pipes and you're good to go imo...

[colonial]

Quite right Steve, but I think I am going to go the whole hog on this one. Busy gathering bits for those which are tatty. This may well be the last bike I ever own, it is the only one I really like, despite the fact it is like a two wheeled torture rack on a long journey, and by long I mean anything over an hour! Various parts of me end up numb, and I walk like john wayne for a while afterwards too.

[bobster]

Its not just me then................

[Kryten]

welcome aboard.

Must have been interesting riding a bike out in Zimbabwe. I driven through Botswana up to Victoria Falls.

Over here if you hit the wildlife it tends to go "Splat". Over there if you hit the wildlife it hits/tramples/eats or is generally disrespectful back at you

[colonial]

Jim,

It certainly is. Without sounding like a drama queen, riding a motorcycle in modern day Zimbabwe is an extreme sport. There are no livestock fences anymore, the verges are not cut back, hence 6ft Elephant grass is common righ up to the edge of the road. Basically the likelihood of an animal ambush being terminal is quite high! I have a small bushplane in Zim, and that is now my preferred way to travel. I love spending time at the Falls and Kariba, two of my favourite places on earth. Sitting at my desk here in London, I often ask myself what life is all about, sitting on a deck chair at the edge of the Zaambezi, I can find absolute certainty what life is about.

That said, there was an old biker who was doing a lot of work in the Zambezi valley who regularly thrashed his 1980 GSX1100 E up and down the main road to Kariba/The Zambezi valley right up until he was sadly taken by cancer. Had a beer with him a few years ago, and he was telling me about the time he rode up to Kariba at a leisurely 160 km/h, got all the way there, then found he had to go back to town. He reckons he was regularly sitting at 200 km/h on his bike on the single lain roads all the way back to Harare, and then back again to Kariba.

He was a tough guy make no mistake, a dying breed, generous to a fault, tough as nails, and polite and pleasant to all.

Its this guy:
http://safarizimbabwe.webs.com/stevepopesbook.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;