I had a bit of trouble getting onto this site - 23 days apparently.It wouldn't accept my passwaord...and when I requested forgotten password it said email successfully sent,but I never received any emails.After a large campaign of many many request I finally got a response from this site.Still another day before a password would work.I thought NZ was the only place that totally shut down for Xmas.
So,yes...I am from New Zealand - a country with a population of 4 million....and 70 million corners.Motorcycling paradise.
The 1987 R65 was originally my wife's - but we had to reassess our motorcycles...too many bikes to register and insure,and not enough use to warrant that expenditure.So I sold my road bikes (1992 XT600E,1997 DT230) and took over the R65 (she has never liked me meddling with her bikes,so I'm a bit worried about what I have done with it).I still have a shed full of dirt bikes and projects,but they are not an on going cost.
My riding is mostly back roads and gravel,hence the adventure bikes,and I wanted to get back to a ''do all'' bike like we used to ride in the '70's and early '80's....and I have been wanting to make a streettracker for some time.Dirt bikes are not that good in gravel - the centre of gravity is too high,and the weight bias too much on the rear wheel....I was wanting to use a bike with a more ''classic'' set up,low CoG and more balanced weight dist.Hard to find a bike less than 20 years old like that - the W650 is a classic in it's own lifetime and over priced,the Sporty is also overpriced and there would be a queue of low life's lining up outside my shed to steal it.Then I cast my eye over the R65 in the corner - 650cc 2 valve pushrod twin....and ''classic to boot!
After my first few rides on my favorite roads I was less than impressed with the R65,my adventure bikes would run rings around it...with low narrow bars the thing was just a lumbering barge.So I got some Slideways flattrack bars from Omar's - this gave me a more upright dirtbike riding position,I could move around more,and the wide bars gave me more leverage to make the bike go where
I wanted it to go.Next was the tyres - I wanted to use K180 dirttrack tyres,but they were out of stock....so I took a gamble on Dunlop K70's,the flattrack tyre of the '60's and '70's.
I've been riding gravel roads and nasty poor condition coarse chip sealed roads for several decades - and the streettracker R65 is the best bike I've ever used on these roads (apart from my Rickman Metisse) I run 20/25psi in the K70's,they are soft compound and flex and grip better than any dirt or adventure tyre.I have since fitted a small fly screen and crash bars,and really want a streettracker seat - but the massive drop in exchange rate rules out any US purchase....there are a couple of guys in NZ who make an XR750 seat,but they are a bit hard to get motivated.I have a spare set of wheels with street tyres,and when I fit a streettracker seat will just swap subframes to go back to a touring bike.
Anyway,something different from another place....but still an R65....
