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Cymro50
Posts: 23
Joined: Tue Aug 14, 2018 7:17 am
Rides:: Spitfire Mk II, R75/5, Pegaso 650
Location: North Wales

Hi folks

Post by Cymro50 » Tue Aug 14, 2018 9:22 am

Hi all,

Been around bikes for more than 50 years but very new to C90s so advice may be requested at some point in the future. Looking through existing posts I think I should be able to find most things here!

Got the C90 completely by chance - I have big plans to get another of my bikes back on the road as a kind of compensation for having eye surgery which has changed my life. That's going to involve a re-spray and my compressor's motor is fubar. In any case, it really needs more grunt than anything I can afford so I was hazily thinking of maybe using a petrol engine out of a generator or something - they're usually about 6.5 HP and duff gennies with no output aren't usually expensive on the Bay.

Couple of years ago a very good friend said his bike had failed the MOT so he'd bought a brand new Lexmoto something or other - said he was going to give the other bike to the scrapman. I promptly forgot about it as I thought it was a done deal. We meet up as part of a group most months so I was chatting to him a couple of months ago when I mentioned the bike I want back on the road and my idea with the generator motor, when he asked me if I wanted the C90. My first response was to laugh - like, 'Yeah, right . . . ' but he told me he'd kept it. Asked how much he wanted for it and he said he just wanted it out of the way. I thanked him, and started trying to clear some room at home - I'm a terrible hoarder. At this point I was thinking about using the engine to power the compressor, but then I started thinking about fixing it up and using it on the road myself. I knew that the MOT fail was caused by corrosion to the rear mudguard area - looked it up on YouTube and found a video showing a successful fix. Worst case - if I can't fix it I've still got an engine for the compressor . . .

Still don't have any room, but I went and picked the bike up yesterday. He was the second owner since 2000, having bought it in 2002 and put nearly 30,000 on the clock commuting to and from work and to Oulton Park every weekend during the season. It's been outside since he bought the other bike, but under a lean-to so out of direct rain. There's some surface rust but hey, it's 18 years old. The worst is on the exhaust but I could live with it; the rest should succumb to Solvol Autosol and wire wool. He's been starting the bike regularly and it started second kick yesterday.

There is a hidden cost - while we were putting the C90 on the trailer he asked me if I knew any blacksmiths. 'Blacksmiths?' I asked, 'Why do you need a blacksmith . . . ?' Turns out the exhaust hanger bracket on the Lexmoto thing has fatigued and he wants it repairing. He's been on to the importer and the part would be £30 if they had it but it's on back order so he wondered if it could be repaired. He knows full well I can weld (I've welded bits of mowers for him . . . ) so it's going to take me a couple of hours to drive to his, remove the bracket, bring it to mine to weld and return it. Cheap at half the price if you ask me . . . ;-)

User avatar
wightegi
Posts: 9710
Joined: Tue Sep 01, 2009 7:23 pm
Rides:: 12v 1988 e start C90,Royal Enfield Interceptor 650
Location: Isle of Wight

Re: Hi folks

Post by wightegi » Tue Aug 14, 2018 11:41 am

Hi and welcome to the madhouse , stick your location in your details , Mk 2 is that the faster one ?.
All the information you need is on here but if in doubt ask . we have a few meets through out the year ,the next is on The Isle of Wight this weekend .

Cymro50
Posts: 23
Joined: Tue Aug 14, 2018 7:17 am
Rides:: Spitfire Mk II, R75/5, Pegaso 650
Location: North Wales

Re: Hi folks

Post by Cymro50 » Tue Aug 14, 2018 1:08 pm

Thanks for the welcome. Looking at the work to be done on this bike alone, I doubt I'll be able to make the Isle of Wight this weekend . . . ;)

User avatar
wightegi
Posts: 9710
Joined: Tue Sep 01, 2009 7:23 pm
Rides:: 12v 1988 e start C90,Royal Enfield Interceptor 650
Location: Isle of Wight

Re: Hi folks

Post by wightegi » Tue Aug 14, 2018 3:15 pm

You will have to get a move on ,or there is the Dragon in February .

Cymro50
Posts: 23
Joined: Tue Aug 14, 2018 7:17 am
Rides:: Spitfire Mk II, R75/5, Pegaso 650
Location: North Wales

Re: Hi folks

Post by Cymro50 » Tue Aug 14, 2018 4:36 pm

Been to the Elefantentreffen and the FIM in Romania, along with some more local rallies (like the north of Scotland) when I considered myself *hardcore* but have never done the Dragon. Plenty of time yet - I'm planning on living to 140 or so . . . ;-)

User avatar
wightegi
Posts: 9710
Joined: Tue Sep 01, 2009 7:23 pm
Rides:: 12v 1988 e start C90,Royal Enfield Interceptor 650
Location: Isle of Wight

Re: Hi folks

Post by wightegi » Tue Aug 14, 2018 9:08 pm

A few of us meet up for the Dragon ,some even come in cars :o and go for a drive :roll: :lol:

User avatar
Capitano
Posts: 5757
Joined: Wed Oct 27, 2010 8:05 pm
Rides:: '92 C90, '97 Divvy 6, 36V home-built e-bike
Location: West Sussex
Contact:

Re: Hi folks

Post by Capitano » Tue Aug 14, 2018 9:36 pm

Great first post. Welcome! :)

Cymro50
Posts: 23
Joined: Tue Aug 14, 2018 7:17 am
Rides:: Spitfire Mk II, R75/5, Pegaso 650
Location: North Wales

Re: Hi folks

Post by Cymro50 » Wed Aug 15, 2018 12:04 pm

Thanks for the welcome, Capitano. Wightegi - I was a member of a motorcycle *club* - gang - back in the 1960s. Called ourselves the Silver Knights . . . :roll: We were based in a little building belonging to Shotton Steel in Queensferry and met every Friday - the weekend of the Dragon Rally we placed an ad in MCN inviting anyone passing en route to the rally to drop in for hot dogs and coffee.

We had quite a few takers - as a spotty 17-year-old I was impressed by all those grizzled bikers on what appeared to be a mountain of luggage on two wheels - I think that was what sparked my interest in rallies. Loved the long distance ones - the 1976 FIM in Romania took us 3 days to cover 2100 miles. We came back the pretty way through Lichtenstein and Monte Carlo and clocked up 5000 miles in a fortnight. Doing well until my Commando ate its mains in Rouen on the way back so my mate towed me to Calais behind his BMW R75/5 for the RAC to recover the bike to North Wales. I fixed the Commando and PX-ed it against a 75/5 when I got it back . . .

Those were the good days ;)

User avatar
knapdog
Posts: 5336
Joined: Mon Oct 22, 2012 12:51 pm
Rides:: '96 C90, '83 C90C, '98 Honda Valkyrie
Location: Barry, Vale of Glamorgan, Wales

Re: Hi folks

Post by knapdog » Wed Aug 15, 2018 12:31 pm

Welcome/Croeso.
This is the friendliest and most knowledgeable motorcycle forum on the internet.
We have 16000 members and the forum is very well administered.
Anything you need to know about this iconic, street cred machine you will find on this forum. All you need to do is ask but don't forget the Search button (via Google is actually better but always include the word c90club in your search to find club related answers)
If you're a bit of a nutter then all the better. A sense of humour is essential. I get the p*ss taken all the time, usually sheep related .
If your bike is blue, keep it. If it's another colour other than red, keep it. If it's red you can keep it but it will be very slow.

Cymro50
Posts: 23
Joined: Tue Aug 14, 2018 7:17 am
Rides:: Spitfire Mk II, R75/5, Pegaso 650
Location: North Wales

Re: Hi folks

Post by Cymro50 » Wed Aug 15, 2018 1:39 pm

Diolch i chi, knapdog!

Feeling welcome already - guess with a knowledge base of 16000 there can't be much you don't collectively know about these machines. I'm used to getting the wee-wee ripped out of me, but the ripper must be aware that ripping exposes them to getting it ripped out of them too . . . ;)

I'd never actually considered getting one of these bikes before, but I'm not one to look a gift horse in the mouth. I bought what I considered a lightweight in the Pegaso 650 - thought it would be cool around towns, pootling around country lanes etc. But when it comes down to it, it's not that happy around town, not that light and not that convenient. I was used to BMW boxers and thought the Peg would be slimmer and more filterable but no, not really. Don't get me wrong, it goes round corners like a rat up a spout and when you get the revs up a bit it's a bit of a hooligan but I wouldn't call it an all-rounder.

I'm into metal detecting so want to amble along country lanes, visiting farms to ask for permission. Car's no good cos if you meet a tractor you can reverse a long way before you come to somewhere to let the tractor pass - with the bike you can just squeeze past (usually . . . ) When you get to a farm you have to find somewhere to park a car where it won't be in the way of machinery. I'm sure you get the picture . . . ? Only thing is it's going to be difficult carrying an expensive metal detector and a spade on a C90 - or any bike, come to that.

As it happens, the bike is one of the slower red ones . . . Are the candy red ones slower than solid red . . . ? Lack of experience, you see - you would know; I don't. Yet.

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