Friday, July 31, 2009

Last Tuesday . . .

I went to bike night down in Richmond, part of Greater Vancouver and is about half an hour south.

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I have mentioned this before on prev posts. It is hosted by 5th Gear and they supply the food for the BBQ. Tonight I was told about 120 bikes were in attendance.

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There were bikes parked in every direction. While there were mostly sportbikes, some like to ride their classics

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I noticed this "better than new" Vincent

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I spoke to the owner for a bit

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and he explained to me the purpose of this rear sprocket, which appears to be on the wrong side.

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It is a stunningly beautiful bike and has 4 mechanical drum brakes (2 on each wheel).

One of the organizers (Chia: Darren) takes hundreds of photos at each bike night, which is held every 2 weeks and posts them on his hosted site. Recently I had a look at some of the photos and noticed a couple of myself

bob & mark (scooby)

and he caught me in action as I was leaving

bobskoot & SV650n

Like my buddy Jack "r" I was riding slowly through the crowd and was concentrating more on not dumping the bike with all these people looking, so I did not notice that my photo was being taken

Tonight my riding partner was Mark (Scooby) on his Yamaha Majesty

mark with his Majesty 400cc

We ended up doing a loop on River Road

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We made a quick pit stop for Mark to change out his smoked visor as the sun was setting. I recently purchased a new helmet with an inside sliding visor which can be activated with your riding gloves on.

It was a great summers evening, although much warmer than usual, and it's always nice to meet up with other riders

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4 comments:

  1. Hey Bob...great post as ever...love that betterthan new Vincent...so what is the purpose of that extra sprocket in the rear...it reminds me of the sort of sprocket you put on a bicycle when you want to fit it with a gas engine to convert to a moped but here on the Vincent, I am not sure what the purpose of the extra sprocket on the left hand side is.

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  2. Hi Bob,

    Everytime I see that SV650, I think of my beloved bike. Last week I went on a short ride with it to the shop for a new battery. I've got to ride my SV more. I love that bike! You're looking good on it.

    BTW, which helmet did you end up buying?

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  3. Berge:

    I was going to make a question out of it, but you are the only one who asked. I asked the owner too why there was a sprocket on the wrong side. The Vincent is a simple machine, when you want to change our gear ratios you put the bike on the rear stand, remove the wheel and turn it around. Sort of like having Low range and High range.

    Sharon:

    The SV is a great bike and has enough power for the highway, and is easily flickable in the twisties. Today I traded it in, so someone else will be able to enjoy it

    Charlie6:

    Today, I was at the Suzuki dealer and I saw a model of that Vincent. I think that the real one looks better. I also saw a picture of it on the wall. I will have to ask more questions on my next visit. If I was more mechanically oriented, I would love to have a vintage bike

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