Page 60 - Motorcycle Trader (February 2020)

Spanner
n’
Strooth
I’d rather have a
shed full of bikes
I understand than
one new, reliable one
I tried to circumvent the bike’s electronics by
wiring the pump to run off 12 volts straight
from the battery but, of course, the ECU never
gave the pump 12 volts – it varied the voltage
according to the throttle position. We were so
far from civilisation that it took Honda three
weeks to pick the bike up. It might take me
a bit longer to get to Perth on the Himalayan
but I’m pretty sure it wouldn’t do anything to
me that I couldn’t fix on the spot. That’s why
everyone’s so excited by the Tenere. The bloke
who designed it said it should be light, cheap
and fun to ride. What more do you really want?
ROOTHY: Couldn’t agree more. Funny
though, I love my Harleys and they’re
certainly not light or cheap! But they are
simple, or at least anything pre-2000 is. My
’84 has points and an S&S and is so simple
the most likely breakdown these days is my
knee after a day’s pub crawling starts. I spat
a chain leaving Lightning Ridge years ago
and the first bloke to stop was a harvester
mechanic. We looped the old chain back on
and fashioned a joiner from a riddle link and
a nail. The throttle cable snapped at the carby
once and I got to the next town riding with a
piece of fencing wire looped over one thigh.
Older Harleys are pretty simple beasts.
That was a major appeal in 1979 when I
bought my first Shovelhead. Big, easy-to-find
drain plugs, simple filters, bolts instead of
screws and clips, a bush mechanic’s dream
to maintain. It had to be. And, like the rest of
my Harleys, it never saw a dealer’s workshop
while I had it. The Evos are such better
motors, though.
60 MOTORCYCLE TRADER
I’d bet riders of new age machines are just
as interested in what’s going on between
their legs but it’s increasingly academic isn’t
it? Technology alienates people from shed
time with their machines. Are the old days
gone forever?
SPANNER: Shit no. Good on Yamaha for
releasing a bike in 2020 that gets us back
in touch with our inner-mechanic. It’s
interesting: its closest rival is likely to be
the KTM 790 Adventure, which is a far more
sophisticated design – and more expensive –
but it will be fascinating what people actually
buy. I’m guessing both will do well, which
means we’ll be seeing a lot of both of them
on the road, but I reckon in 40 years’ time Spot the similarities:
there’ll still be Tenere 700s crossing Russia simple, air-cooled
and the 790 will be a memory from the 2020s Yamaha thumpers.
when off-road bikes got too smart for their Roothy’s Road King
own boots. Having said that, if I wanted to has long gone, but
he might’ve picked
win a race like the Finke this year, I’d be first up another in more
in line at my KTM dealer. recent times. Watch
this space...
ROOTHY: We were lucky to live through
the best times of real motorcycling, when
man and machine could be intimate on more
levels than just the ride. Mind you, modern
bikes don’t break as much, do they? There’s
not much simpler than Tommo’s ’84 BMW
R65, but rarely a week goes by when he’s not
sorting something. It’s a struggle keeping a
geriatric bike as a daily ride. The older they
get, the longer it takes to get through the
fix list. He loves it but yesterday he had to
borrow the Himalayan because his indicators
went to slow glow.
No worries, I’ve sort of got this rotation thing
going now. Something’s always ready for a
long trip. I’d rather have a shed full of bikes
I understand than one new, reliable one. But
people reckon I’m nearly as weird as you, so…