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Hercules Supra 4 Enduro, 1986-1988
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This was my first bike,
with which I drove more then 20,000 km in 2 years. The 49
cc with 3 hp and a official maximum speed of 40 km/h
(25 miles/h) weren't really much (most of my friends drove
80 cc), but it was the first feeling of "freedom".
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Driving
school, 1988
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I always wanted to own a
motorcycle and to do trips with it. So I made my drivers
license, together with my car license, at age 17, and the
waited impatiently for my 18th birthday, to pick up my
license. But I had to realize, that I couldn't
afford a motorcycle yet. My parents helped me to
realize that ;-)
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Yamaha
XT350, 1998 (on weekends)
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I had the motorcycle
license (already for 10 years!), but still no bike, and my
buddy Guido had a motorcycle and no time to ride it. So I
sometimes got to borrow his XT350 for a weekend. Therefore
it is clearly Guido's fault that I became infected with
the motorcycle-virus. But still, thank you Guido!
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Honda
NX650 Dominator RD02, 1999 until 2006
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I bought my Honda NX650
Dominator in April 1999, and the speedometer then showed
only 2,500 km (1,560 miles), even
though the bike was already 6 years old.
In June 2006, after my Adriatic
Sea Trip, the speedometer then showed more than 109,000
km (68,125 miles)!
I did the following changes to the
bike:
- center stand (Five-Stars)
- crash bars (?, bought used)
- highway foot rests (self made); I fixed extra foot
rests to the crash bars. They allow to drive relaxed on
long distances.
- hazard lights (self made); I simply connected a
wire between the right and the left indicator and put a
switch between -- simple, and it worked just fine!
Repairs:
After the South
Norway Trip the piston
was worn out, and I had to replace it.
Then on my USA
Trip the engine overheated while
I was stuck in a Las Vegas traffic jam. The cylinder
head cracked and I had to get a new one; an additional
oil cooler might have helped
to avoid this problem.
But until then I had only to replace
some normal expendable parts, even though I didn't
replace the engine oil as often as Honda directs!
Honda wants me to replace the oil every
3,000 km (1,875 miles) -- shall I replace the oil twice
on a vacation trip??? Sometimes, like in Iceland,
one is even glad to get just gas in the middle of
nowhere!
In June 2006 I finally made the hard
decision to sell the Domi, since I want to do more trips
together with my wife Jayne.
The good old Dominator is just a little too small for
two people and luggage for two people. Part of me wanted
to keep the bike, even though I was going to buy a new
one, but I don't have space for a second motorcycle, and
I believe a motorcycle should be ridden, not stored
away. Also, I can't ride two at the same time.
Even though there where lots of Domis
on Ebay and Mobile that had way less kilometers and
weren't much more expensive than mine, I sold mine
within 12 hours!!!
Obviously depreciation is not a problem at all!
I bought the motorcycle for DM 6,250 with 2,481 km, and
sold it seven years later for Euro 950 with 109,338 km.
That is only Euro 0,02 per km or Euro
320,- per year!
Here some photos of my beloved Honda
NX650 Dominator:
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Honda
XRV750 Africa Twin RD07 A, 2006 until ?
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In January 2006 I decided
to buy a new (used) motorcycle. Since I want to do more
often long trips together with Jayne,
it was immediately clear that it had to be a Africa Twin.
It was designed for long distance trips and gets best
grades in every test. I didn't need to look for long until
I found the right bike: first licensed in 2000
and only 5,600 km (3,500 miles).
Because of high risk of getting the motorcycle stolen, I
decided to do my Adriatic
Sea Trip with the good old Dominator. It turned out
to be the right decision, because the original tires of
the Africa Twin are more street tires, and the roads in
Albania are often extremely bad. The handling between the
two bikes is quite different too, and I first need to get
used to the Africa Twin before I go on a long trip.
Now (March 2023) I have ridden more than 160,000 km
(100,000 miles), and am absolutely pleased. What a great
and reliable bike!
The previous owner did the
following changes:
- center stand (Honda)
- different seat (KaHeDo)
I did the following changes:
- crash bars (SW-Motech)
- pannier rack (Touratech) with panniers "Zega-Cases"
and containers for spare gas
- adjustable windscreen (MRA)
- hazard lights (Polo)
- 12V-plug 2x (Polo)
- cockpit plate/dashboard (self
made)
- changed to TKC80-tires from Continental
- additional H4 fog head lights, later replaced with LED
auxiliary lights
- bottle holders (self
made)
- improving the fuel pump (Norbert Weidinger)
- Garmin GPSmap 60CS with lockable holder by Touratech
(GPS-Depot.de)
- Aluminum top case with 'quick release' adapter plate (self
made)
- bar risers, 30mm (Voigt)
planed changes:
- no further changes planned -- for the moment
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My
self designed parts
The top
case and the dashboard are available in my
online shop.
More
Info HERE!
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