Small hack?

[gibbo]

A perfect bike for you Brian in a hacking kind of way would be a Van Van. Plenty about for less than 2 grand. I'm starting to look at a few myself although the stable at present is full. I luv em! 

[drumwrecker]

Ditto.
Always liked the look of them.
I thought Brian's main need was a bike he could leave outside the gym that wouldn't get nicked or vandalised.
So it would mean something that wasn't wanted by thieves and as Brian likes a nice looking clean bike I can't see that happening.

[gibbo]

Ditto.
Always liked the look of them.
I thought Brian's main need was a bike he could leave outside the gym that wouldn't get nicked or vandalised.
So it would mean something that wasn't wanted by thieves and as Brian likes a nice looking clean bike I can't see that happening.

 

Perhaps a Van Van covered in shite would be the perfect solution. 

[richtea]

Honda CBR250 R 250cc
http://www4.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201612120538078?make=honda%26model=cbr250%26

Looks fast, goes slow, costs bugger all to insure. Perfect.

Or go under the radar in grey/silver. Like my hair:
Honda CBF250 250cc
http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201605254297467?make=honda%26model=cbf250%26

[Phmode]

Thanks guys!

I'm not sure how the Honda CBR would fit the green lane bit of my fantasy, nor the Van Van come to that, most of the latter are mainly 125's and the former would be too much of a comparison with my ex-CBR1000F-H 

There are loads of WR250F's floating around t'internet but very few R's and I really don't need a bike that needs an oil change every 2 hours of use!!

The hack getting nicked outside the gym isn't the real problem as there are poles and railings and stuff to nail it to and it's off-road in a school playground sort of way.

At the moment I am leaning toward a predictable Honda XR250L; air-cooled, bomb-proof, capable, old-school, shade-tree maintenance with a 'split-ratio' gearbox giving reasonabe on-road performance in the higher gears so I don't get marmalised on the 20 mile a week commute to, and more importantly from, the gym and reasonable chugging power in the lower ratios so I don't kill myself up some uncharted green lane like wot I would with a 2-Stroke screamer or a bigger 650. Even a 450 is probably too big for what I want.

As far as the shite is concerned, I have found a US supplier that makes a rack with an adaptor to carry a spare gallon of fuel (cos with my reputation on the K12S, it is only a matter of time) and a gallon of water so I can stop and clean and polish it every time it puts it's semi-knobblies anywhere near the verge.

Parts are everywhere and cheap as chips and even I can fix one and hopefully the insurers are going to pay me to ride it. Hell, I still have a pair of sort-of off-road boots and the old BMW Savanna/Sahara suit from my GS days!

All I need is a decent off-road helmet and a huge injection of skill to counter my ill-placed over-confidence and I'll be ready for the darkest reaches of Tesco's car park in no time.

Don't forget guys, three main reasons for getting a hack is to save wear and tear on the K and the quattro getting to the 3 mile distant gym, not paying to park the car at the gym as bikes go free and lastly to get me into some soft-roading up the odd green lane with a cafe and a girl's college at the mid-point 

So, anyone out there with an XR250L want to throw their two-penn'orth in?

[gibbo]

That's really old gear that Brian and most of them will be shagged by now unless there's some 60+ year old bloke that's been cossetting one in the back of his garage under an old carpet for a decade or two. I envisage  a large project on the horizon changing seized and worn parts. A magnet for young thieves I'll bet looking the way it does. And, even your 33" long limbs might be a struggle with that seat height. I wish you luck in finding one.  Not trying to put you off though 

[JackSnipe]

Gibbo's sentiments are mine, that was why I asked Brian for a ball park figure of the  amount he had in mind, without a few hundred pounds north of £1000 you are in real "Nail" territory and the nightmare will begin. Some folks on here may like a challenge but decent bikes do not come cheap anymore, nails do.

[Phmode]

Don't forget the title guys.

The words are 'small hack', not 'cheap hack' or worse still, 'expensive nail' and there are one or two old guys with treasures under dustsheets 

When I sold my 25 year old Honda with 9,000 miles on the clock it was in showroom condition and the eejit who bought it didn't want it in that condition, he was looking for a project. His wife told me she had spent ages pouring over the piccies I sent, including one with that Sunday's paper on the tank to show when they were taken, and had told him it was mint but he wouldn't have it. 'Nothing is mint at that age' was his gleeful response. Wrong! You just can't please some folks 

Brian (who is getting back to nature in a funny sort of way  )

[gibbo]

Brian. I've just had a mooch around to see how many of these XR250L bikes are still about. A rarity I think you'll find. There's only one solitary example still on the road legally in the UK with a further four examples on SORN. Still not wishing to put you off though. 

[Dusty]

Indeed, Gibbo. I assumed that Brian had accidentally typed XL instead of CRF!

[Phmode]

It's what you would expect if they have all been (ab)used on and off road.

They were simple and reliable and that appeals to me. I'm 'playing' here, not doing the Dakar or taking up off-roading as a competition thing.

I don't see why you think something being a rarity would put me off Jon; it might stop me finding one in showroom condition though 

And I do have a problem with the Logitech keyboard I use with my iPad Dusty, but I really did mean to type XR L. Of course, I could go for an XR R but they really were all thrashed to within an inch of their lives, and more!

It's an interesting conundrum!

[richtea]

Small hack, if you stuck knobblies on it?
http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201609087568002

[raesewell]

Not sure that falls into the category of small Rich.

[Phmode]

It does for one as huge as Richard 

[JackSnipe]

This missive has gone a bit quiet, for the passed few weeks or so I have scanned around for first a Trial Bike then rejected that and went down the Trail route, to find goods ones like all types of bikes you need a fair old bit of wedge even for one with more than a few years on. My eye was caught by a Suzuki DRZ 400 (mentioned earlier-on as a good choice) but even bikes from cira 2000 are going for nearly that or more in £'s. OK it is a useable bike both on road and trail but the price is salty. I guess this is the case as its service schedules are more road bike than performance off road bike. I then went down the route of the Kawasaki KLX 250 for a short time but the fact it has a carb and a bit of a slug put me off so now I have my eye on _ _ _ _ _  _ _ _ 250 _

A modern bike with scope to be pepped up, great on road and trail but way more than a hack ( reliable safe, cheap  hacks are a dream IMHO) OK Brian's interpretation of "Hack" could be entirely different to mine.