1985 XT600, loads of low down grunt so I dont have to think about gear changing if I need to up tempo a bit. A recce of my escalators has revealed camaras everywhere! rubbish! Off to dip me wheels in the Sahara in Sept tho, so that should keep the excitement fix at bay for a while!

Nice bike.... i,m beating myself up here trying to decide what to get next. The aprilia is 100% reliable but I want something that could handle serious abuse and still go quite well on the road.

Get rid of your Pegaso. I had one and it gave me nothing but trouble. First the shock went, then the frame, then the starter clutch, etc etc ad nauseum.

I reckon any XT or XR (big ones 600+) would do perfectly for this sort of antics. I know the XR/R and XR/L can both be tuned like you wouldn't believe, to create a great urban hooligan bike...

NO NO NO!!!! TO THE PEGASO! i had one from new, but after 2 months took it back with full refund. So many hassles and they took the engine apart twice to try and get rid of a really annoying backfire when shutting down the throttle. Get an older XT or XR and spend the money on getting it done to your spec ( Dave Lambeth or Overland Solutions are good) loads of grunt, easy engine and will go anywhere. Hope i've helped.

You know, I,ve not heard anyone to say a good word about the aprilia. I must have been quite lucky cos its not caused me any aggro !
Your all making me paranoid now.... i was hoping to replace it this year but am gonna squeeze a trip to russia out of it first.

sorry, I thought you were GOING to buy one, if yours is good i am sure it will stay that way. They just seem to come off the line with faults from new. Have fun in Russia.

you guys are all mad!
but you've got me wondering if i can get my
96 YZF600 up the stairs near my local beach
might want to up my life insurance first!

great stuff keep it up!
cheers Slugnugget

Hi Guys, Keep practicing on riding both up and down stairs. It comes in handy when you have to park your bike in hotel lobbys or in plain view of a restaurant window. Our friend American Bob used to hit the five marble steps up into the Laos Paris Hotel lobby in Vientiene way to fast and finally cracked one with his yamaha TDM, but the hard part was getting through the glass doors at the top after quite a few BeerLao...

This stair climbing technique worked really well for us in Ecuador:

1 Start out by drinking some snake liquor (big jar of rotgut with real snakes in the bottom)

2 have dinner and a few beers

3 go to kareoke bar, have more beers, sing all the songs they have in english

4 share bottle of rum with locals at kareoke bar

5 repeat steps 3 and 4 until the proper mood is accomplished

6 get bikes from hotel and do wheelies around the plaza. This gained the approval of the locals and many thumbs-up.

7 find a good flight of stairs. you will be surprised what you can go up on an XR

8 approach in 1st gear, just into the "meat" of the powerband, blip the throttle to help the front wheel onto the 1st step

9 stand up, lean forward, and gently roll on more throttle. As with any hill climb, keep the clutch slipping a bit for max control. Continue to the top. A little extra speed will let you launch into the air for bonus points from the judges.

10 laugh till it hurts

This is not looked down upon in many countries. As I said, the few locals who saw us thought it was great and congratulated us the next day. In the USA, we would have been hanged. Relaxed attitudes are possibly the best part of travel.