Dodgy old Zed chop...
Discussion
As some pic's were requested on another thread... and I don't have many pic's, but I do have this write up...
This was my old Z650SR chop. I bought it to replace my "Weed Triple" - the infamous, piss take, black and white streetfightery/urban traily/chop XS750 thing. This one was basically a standard frame cut just behind the fuel tank and a home made hardtail welded on. Drag pipes, custom made seat, home made forward controls, Bates headlamp, 5.00 x 16 rear wheel When I bought it from my mate, it was even rougher than it looked in my ownership. He wasn't the best at looking after bikes, various bits were hanging off, the bars were bent, the forwards damaged and the battery box was made out of an old Stella Artois multipack cardboard box (wrapped in tape to give it some weatherproofing!). He'd not long completely destroyed the original engine on the way to the Bulldog Bash - by "completely destroyed", I mean there was about half an inch of big end play. Literally, it had been running on the conrods after the bearings had collapsed. Until I stripped it, I was under the impression that I'd rebuild it - but I've rarely seen an engine so comprehensively trashed. I was told afterwards, by some mates who witnessed it, that the bike was flat out in the right hand lane of a dual carriageway when it started to smoke really badly. My mate, the owner, just stopped at the next garage, bought a couple of litres of oil and topped it up - which, apparently then came pretty much straight out of the exhausts. They then carried on flat out 'til they got to Long Marston. Thankfully a half decent engine turned up cheap.
I rebuilt bits of it and used it as my daily/commuter to get to the various offices where I was temping at the time. When I worked for the water Research Council, I was asked not to start it up under the Director's office, and when I worked for an internationally known building company, I was asked to park it where it couldn't be seen by visitors... At one work site, I was head down in accounts when the boss's secretary stamped up to me and loudly shouted, "My other toy has tits!". She was somewhat affronted by the legend on the no. plate - a left over from the previous owner. Still, it racked up thousands of miles toing and froing to offices, supermarkets and camping trips.
It was a huge amount of fun, on the cheap, when I was living alone, in and out of work and had very little money. Half the time, I practically lived on this bike - and spent a lot of time back and forth between N. Devon, Wales and N.Wilts. Broke it a few times, but always fixed it for near enough free... It would happily cruise at a ton for as long as you could take it, which was a good few miles as it was one of the comfiest bikes I've owned, was a pretty good drag racer (but after I'd rebuilt the forwards you had to remember "one up, four down", which was easy to forget in the heat of the moment resulting in many a locked up rear wheel), and performed wheelies and rolling burnouts surprisingly well! Handling was entertaining, ground could be covered at a decent rate, the lack of ground clearance being its biggest drawback, it would dig in the pipes, lift the rear wheel and flip the back end round before dumping it back on the tarmac - great fun in the dry, less predictable in the wet.
I replaced it when a good mate offered me a really nice1400 Intruder for a pittance, as I'd helped him out of a hole.
In the first two pic's it had just had one of its rare washes... The two up pic' was taken over at Runnymede, the site of the signing of the Magna Carta.
This was my old Z650SR chop. I bought it to replace my "Weed Triple" - the infamous, piss take, black and white streetfightery/urban traily/chop XS750 thing. This one was basically a standard frame cut just behind the fuel tank and a home made hardtail welded on. Drag pipes, custom made seat, home made forward controls, Bates headlamp, 5.00 x 16 rear wheel When I bought it from my mate, it was even rougher than it looked in my ownership. He wasn't the best at looking after bikes, various bits were hanging off, the bars were bent, the forwards damaged and the battery box was made out of an old Stella Artois multipack cardboard box (wrapped in tape to give it some weatherproofing!). He'd not long completely destroyed the original engine on the way to the Bulldog Bash - by "completely destroyed", I mean there was about half an inch of big end play. Literally, it had been running on the conrods after the bearings had collapsed. Until I stripped it, I was under the impression that I'd rebuild it - but I've rarely seen an engine so comprehensively trashed. I was told afterwards, by some mates who witnessed it, that the bike was flat out in the right hand lane of a dual carriageway when it started to smoke really badly. My mate, the owner, just stopped at the next garage, bought a couple of litres of oil and topped it up - which, apparently then came pretty much straight out of the exhausts. They then carried on flat out 'til they got to Long Marston. Thankfully a half decent engine turned up cheap.
I rebuilt bits of it and used it as my daily/commuter to get to the various offices where I was temping at the time. When I worked for the water Research Council, I was asked not to start it up under the Director's office, and when I worked for an internationally known building company, I was asked to park it where it couldn't be seen by visitors... At one work site, I was head down in accounts when the boss's secretary stamped up to me and loudly shouted, "My other toy has tits!". She was somewhat affronted by the legend on the no. plate - a left over from the previous owner. Still, it racked up thousands of miles toing and froing to offices, supermarkets and camping trips.
It was a huge amount of fun, on the cheap, when I was living alone, in and out of work and had very little money. Half the time, I practically lived on this bike - and spent a lot of time back and forth between N. Devon, Wales and N.Wilts. Broke it a few times, but always fixed it for near enough free... It would happily cruise at a ton for as long as you could take it, which was a good few miles as it was one of the comfiest bikes I've owned, was a pretty good drag racer (but after I'd rebuilt the forwards you had to remember "one up, four down", which was easy to forget in the heat of the moment resulting in many a locked up rear wheel), and performed wheelies and rolling burnouts surprisingly well! Handling was entertaining, ground could be covered at a decent rate, the lack of ground clearance being its biggest drawback, it would dig in the pipes, lift the rear wheel and flip the back end round before dumping it back on the tarmac - great fun in the dry, less predictable in the wet.
I replaced it when a good mate offered me a really nice1400 Intruder for a pittance, as I'd helped him out of a hole.
In the first two pic's it had just had one of its rare washes... The two up pic' was taken over at Runnymede, the site of the signing of the Magna Carta.
Love it, nice simple chop. Probably not to most people's taste on here, but that's right up my street.
This was mine, used Suzuki teapot engine and running gear. Had loads of help to build it, then stupidly sold it after I bought a Harley (then decided I didn't really enjoy the Harley that much). Wish I'd kept it and got someone to go over it and sort out all the little things I didn't do very well.
This was mine, used Suzuki teapot engine and running gear. Had loads of help to build it, then stupidly sold it after I bought a Harley (then decided I didn't really enjoy the Harley that much). Wish I'd kept it and got someone to go over it and sort out all the little things I didn't do very well.
DrEMa said:
Love it, nice simple chop. Probably not to most people's taste on here, but that's right up my street.
This was mine, used Suzuki teapot engine and running gear. Had loads of help to build it, then stupidly sold it after I bought a Harley (then decided I didn't really enjoy the Harley that much). Wish I'd kept it and got someone to go over it and sort out all the little things I didn't do very well.
That has potential, i'd have to lose the ape hangers thoughThis was mine, used Suzuki teapot engine and running gear. Had loads of help to build it, then stupidly sold it after I bought a Harley (then decided I didn't really enjoy the Harley that much). Wish I'd kept it and got someone to go over it and sort out all the little things I didn't do very well.
They're not actually apes - z1000 bars on big risers - just what I had lying around and what I was given, but yeah, they don't look great. Same with the side panels and seat - just made from scrap metal without me really knowing what I was doing. Unfortunately looks like it hasn't been about since 2014 so guessing it was just broken for parts.
DrEMa said:
They're not actually apes - z1000 bars on big risers - just what I had lying around and what I was given, but yeah, they don't look great. Same with the side panels and seat - just made from scrap metal without me really knowing what I was doing. Unfortunately looks like it hasn't been about since 2014 so guessing it was just broken for parts.
But isn't that the whole point of choppers? They aren't traditionally blingy type bikes, they are traditionally industrial - for want of a better word - it's only since the American Chopper/Jesse James/Biker Build Off that they have been associated with shiny and blingy.I like it, the bars don't work for my own personal taste but otherwise i like that and it has or rather had, serious potential
Yeah, just the quality of construction was poor and pretty bodgy in places (definitely a 10 foot away bike). Was a great learning experience though and managed to get it featured in the short lived Britchopper magazine. Have caught the bug to chop something about again recently, top of the list being something like a royal enfield bullet, think a little chopped dug dug would be cool.
DrEMa said:
Yeah, just the quality of construction was poor and pretty bodgy in places (definitely a 10 foot away bike). Was a great learning experience though and managed to get it featured in the short lived Britchopper magazine. Have caught the bug to chop something about again recently, top of the list being something like a royal enfield bullet, think a little chopped dug dug would be cool.
I can see that, i've often thought a chopper/cafe racer round a Suzuki DR800 would be a riotWasn't expecting my post to get any reaction, but nice to see a few more chop owners/riders/fans on here... I've had loads, but we didn't used to carry cameras all the time.
In that strange way that the world has for coincidences that would appear contrived in a novel, a new chapter to the chop story was revealed to me today.
A couple of weeks back, whilst recovering from eye surgery, I joined a local online bike group. Not the sort of thing I would normally have done. I was contacted by an old schoolmate that I haven't seen for nearly forty years - he'd just got back into bikes and joined the same group. A couple of days back, I posted a picture of the old blue chop. He then messaged me to say how he'd owned a similar looking bike back around twenty years ago. 'Twas only the same ol' Zed, he'd bought it from the mate that I'd sold it on to... He sent me a pic' of it when he owned it. Small world. He also said that the upside down gear change had also caught him out when enjoying the moment a little too much...
In that strange way that the world has for coincidences that would appear contrived in a novel, a new chapter to the chop story was revealed to me today.
A couple of weeks back, whilst recovering from eye surgery, I joined a local online bike group. Not the sort of thing I would normally have done. I was contacted by an old schoolmate that I haven't seen for nearly forty years - he'd just got back into bikes and joined the same group. A couple of days back, I posted a picture of the old blue chop. He then messaged me to say how he'd owned a similar looking bike back around twenty years ago. 'Twas only the same ol' Zed, he'd bought it from the mate that I'd sold it on to... He sent me a pic' of it when he owned it. Small world. He also said that the upside down gear change had also caught him out when enjoying the moment a little too much...
Edited by spoodler on Wednesday 21st June 18:59
Lost Soul said:
I can see that, i've often thought a chopper/cafe racer round a Suzuki DR800 would be a riot
A big thumper would make a cool chop (got a mate with a 350 project, but he also has about 7 Harleys, including a lovely shovel hardtail, so it'll probably just sit).spoodler said:
Wasn't expecting my post to get any reaction, but nice to see a few more chop owners/riders/fans on here... I've had loads, but we didn't used to carry cameras all the time.
In that strange way that the world has for coincidences that would appear contrived in a novel, a new chapter to the chop story was revealed to me today.
A couple of weeks back, whilst recovering from eye surgery, I joined a local online bike group. Not the sort of thing I would normally have done. I was contacted by an old schoolmate that I haven't seen for nearly forty years - he'd just got back into bikes and joined the same group. A couple of days back, I posted a picture of the old blue chop. He then messaged me to say how he'd owned a similar looking bike back around twenty years ago. 'Twas only the same ol' Zed, he'd bought it from the mate that I'd sold it on to... He sent me a pic' of it when he owned it. Small world. He also said that the upside down gear change had also caught him out when enjoying the moment a little too much...
Brilliant, want to do something similar, exhaust wise to my current bike (custom xjr1300). In between windown shopping for a Royal Enfield or w650 or bonneville, or sportster... In that strange way that the world has for coincidences that would appear contrived in a novel, a new chapter to the chop story was revealed to me today.
A couple of weeks back, whilst recovering from eye surgery, I joined a local online bike group. Not the sort of thing I would normally have done. I was contacted by an old schoolmate that I haven't seen for nearly forty years - he'd just got back into bikes and joined the same group. A couple of days back, I posted a picture of the old blue chop. He then messaged me to say how he'd owned a similar looking bike back around twenty years ago. 'Twas only the same ol' Zed, he'd bought it from the mate that I'd sold it on to... He sent me a pic' of it when he owned it. Small world. He also said that the upside down gear change had also caught him out when enjoying the moment a little too much...
Edited by spoodler on Wednesday 21st June 18:59
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