Hacking

My Beta trials bike had been sitting in the shed pretty much unused for a while. It's a decent wee bike so I decided to sell it. It's a waste for it to be sitting there unused, and I was missing having a second bike. George and Ann bought the trials bike and I had some money in my pocket. Time to find a bike!
I was looking for something cheap, preferably something I could also fix up after using it as a bit of a winter hack. I don't commute on my bikes as I work close to my house, so it didn't have to be super practical. I didn't want anything too big or heavy and I wasn't looking for anything with loads of power. An old Transalp or something would be ideal.
Looking through ebay and gumtree revealed zero Transalps. There were a couple of XT600s, but they were just out of my budget. There were plenty Bandit 600s, which could be promising and a few bikes I thought could be "interesting" which may have also translated to "shite".
Narrowly avoiding an old Jawa 350 and a 600 Diversion, a bike I had previously described as "the erectile dysfunction of motorcycling", I opened up Gumtree and seen a Hornet 600 for sale locally. It was a 1998 model which meant it had the 16 inch front wheel and weaker brakes. Still, it looked not bad in the photos.

I met the seller, Doug, who showed me round the bike. It looked a bit rough, but definitely something I could work with. Doug was pretty honest about the bike. We haggled a price and I was the proud new owner of a slightly scabby Honda Hornet 600 complete with a years MOT and decent tyres.
I'm quite tall and the Hornet is a wee bike. I was initially concerned that it would be a bit too wee. Despite my 6'4 bulk dwarfing the bike I didn't find it too uncomfortable. I'm definitely going to fit wider bars to free up some space.

The ride home threw up some interesting characteristics. The handling was, well, shit. The bike was all over the fucking place. Is this down to the 16 inch front wheel? Is the twenty year old suspension completely gubbed?  As the bike tramlined once more over some minor flaw in the road I remembered Doug saying he's hardly been using the bike.

Tyre pressure. It has to be.

My assumptions were correct. They were way out. 15 extra PSI in both ends sorted everything out. Doug had also given me a wee screen which, once fitted, helped keep some of the cold air off my chest. Another bonus was the heated grips to keep my paws toasty. A quick wash and I was ready to get out.

I needed cat food. Nae bother! I'll take the Hornet. As I battered down to Tesco, appreciating the decent headlight, I was trying to think up a bodge to fix the blow that had developed on the link pipe section of the exhaust. Cat food collected, I'm back out at the bike when I discovered an interesting point. There's absolutely nowhere to bungee anything on to the bike. Fuck sake. Maybe theres those daft hook things under the seat? Shit, the lock that holds the seat on is a bit tight. Fuck sake, I've bent the key. I rode home with the cat food balanced on the tank, hammered the key flat and gave the lock and catch a spray with WD40. Another quick browse on Ebay got me a ridiculous solution to the blowing exhaust and some crash bungs, but the issue of not being able to carry anything still needed solved.  Luckily my mate Lynchie came to the rescue by giving me a huge tank bag on loan long term. It really is huge, I can fit my camera and tripod in it and still have room for other stuff.

New tank bag attached, I set off on the Hornet into the hills. I've recently taken to making pizza at home in a big way. I wanted to try sourdough and the friendly folk up at the Riverside Bakehouse at Abby St Bathans had offered to give me some sourdough starter. It's also a really nice run up there. Worth choosing as a food stop on any spin through south east Scotland. The wee Hornet performed well. It couldn't pull your foreskin back, but rev it up and it's a quick wee bike! Keep the revs a bit lower and you'll have no concerns about greasy autumn roads as the engine doesn't produce much torque.

My exhaust solution arrived. Since fitting it much less wildlife jumps out at the last minute to admire the Hornet as I'm riding by. It wasn't the most secure fitting modification, but hopefully that's been remedied with the help of my uncle Greaser. The crash bungs are fitted too, which should save the vital organs if I drop it.

Now all I need to find some better bars. Anyone got any renthals kicking around that you don't want anymore?

Mike