Simon Hargreaves
@sihbikes.bsky.social
Ride motorbikes, write about them & stand in front of a camera and talk about them for RiDE, MCN, Bike & Bennetts BikeSocial. Talk into a microphone for frontendchatter.com, a podcast about motorbikes. Slappa da bass for High Rollers function band too.
Totally agree, fair comment & thank you. There aren't enough rambling readers these days to pay for rambling writers. We're lucky it's not reduced to a star rating, produced by AI 🤖 ⭐⭐⭐
July 25, 2025 at 12:08 PM
Totally agree, fair comment & thank you. There aren't enough rambling readers these days to pay for rambling writers. We're lucky it's not reduced to a star rating, produced by AI 🤖 ⭐⭐⭐
I don't know what to say, other than it's technically great, very flattering 😜 and thank you very much Jake! You've made an old man very happy (and look a lot younger!).
June 27, 2025 at 8:38 PM
I don't know what to say, other than it's technically great, very flattering 😜 and thank you very much Jake! You've made an old man very happy (and look a lot younger!).
Unless he's referring to the capital of Sri Lanka and not the TV detective, he can't spell his own username either.
May 25, 2025 at 12:17 PM
Unless he's referring to the capital of Sri Lanka and not the TV detective, he can't spell his own username either.
Nope, innocent m'lud. Never touched the B817.
Pretty sure we passed the Porsche drivers on the West Coast going the other way... tbh the A890 past Strathcarron is an easy road to, ahem, let the motor run out a bit. But they're cars, so 🤷♂️
Pretty sure we passed the Porsche drivers on the West Coast going the other way... tbh the A890 past Strathcarron is an easy road to, ahem, let the motor run out a bit. But they're cars, so 🤷♂️
May 13, 2025 at 10:51 PM
Nope, innocent m'lud. Never touched the B817.
Pretty sure we passed the Porsche drivers on the West Coast going the other way... tbh the A890 past Strathcarron is an easy road to, ahem, let the motor run out a bit. But they're cars, so 🤷♂️
Pretty sure we passed the Porsche drivers on the West Coast going the other way... tbh the A890 past Strathcarron is an easy road to, ahem, let the motor run out a bit. But they're cars, so 🤷♂️
Cheeky sods. I'd like to point out there's a 500w PA speaker in there, 2 mic stands, 3 mics, 3 10m xlrs, a podcast mixer/recorder, various other psus & cables etc etc. Basically nearly half that lot!
April 30, 2025 at 9:21 PM
Cheeky sods. I'd like to point out there's a 500w PA speaker in there, 2 mic stands, 3 mics, 3 10m xlrs, a podcast mixer/recorder, various other psus & cables etc etc. Basically nearly half that lot!
Nah, hasn't got speed blur 😆
April 30, 2025 at 12:22 AM
Nah, hasn't got speed blur 😆
Law of averages says it's David :-)
April 30, 2025 at 12:17 AM
Law of averages says it's David :-)
Yes, it's great. Unattributable, sadly. Unless anyone knows?
April 30, 2025 at 12:14 AM
Yes, it's great. Unattributable, sadly. Unless anyone knows?
Running repairs. This is the P&M Kawasaki Z1000 ridden by 1980s endurance stalwarts Jim Wells, Mark Salle and Asa Moyce, who finished 9th.
The 82 Bol was the year before, I think, @matoxley.bsky.social started racing – and he'll know a lot more about all this than I can find out!
The 82 Bol was the year before, I think, @matoxley.bsky.social started racing – and he'll know a lot more about all this than I can find out!
April 28, 2025 at 3:21 PM
Running repairs. This is the P&M Kawasaki Z1000 ridden by 1980s endurance stalwarts Jim Wells, Mark Salle and Asa Moyce, who finished 9th.
The 82 Bol was the year before, I think, @matoxley.bsky.social started racing – and he'll know a lot more about all this than I can find out!
The 82 Bol was the year before, I think, @matoxley.bsky.social started racing – and he'll know a lot more about all this than I can find out!
SERT Suzuki has a 130bhp GS1000 motor with a factory frame, endurance forks, Dymag wheels, Full Floater, weighing 175kg. The man behind the bike is Dominique Méliand, team boss and who’d carry on running the team until 2019 (I *think*). Rider is Herve Moineau, world champ in 80, 83, 87 and 88.
April 28, 2025 at 3:21 PM
SERT Suzuki has a 130bhp GS1000 motor with a factory frame, endurance forks, Dymag wheels, Full Floater, weighing 175kg. The man behind the bike is Dominique Méliand, team boss and who’d carry on running the team until 2019 (I *think*). Rider is Herve Moineau, world champ in 80, 83, 87 and 88.
AMA star and dirt track legend American Dave Aldana (who’d won Suzuka 8hrs the year before), out of his usual skeleton leathers, wrestles the hub-centre steered Honda France Elf, with a 125bhp RSC kitted CB900 motor, weighing 185kg with carbon brakes. Threw a rod after 4 laps.
April 28, 2025 at 3:21 PM
AMA star and dirt track legend American Dave Aldana (who’d won Suzuka 8hrs the year before), out of his usual skeleton leathers, wrestles the hub-centre steered Honda France Elf, with a 125bhp RSC kitted CB900 motor, weighing 185kg with carbon brakes. Threw a rod after 4 laps.
This is A Etienne on a Team Guignabodet Honda CB900 – another RSC kit motor, chassis parts are CB1100R. They finished 7th. The yellow Honda is Nationale Moto’s CB900 Bol d'Or, making 120bhp, weighing 192kg (including q/r tail unit battery!). Finished 6th, no dramas.
April 28, 2025 at 3:21 PM
This is A Etienne on a Team Guignabodet Honda CB900 – another RSC kit motor, chassis parts are CB1100R. They finished 7th. The yellow Honda is Nationale Moto’s CB900 Bol d'Or, making 120bhp, weighing 192kg (including q/r tail unit battery!). Finished 6th, no dramas.
This is a Segale-framed Honda Italia CB900 Bol d'Or, making 125bhp with an RSC motor (Racing Service Centre; what HRC was called before it was HRC), with Fox shocks and weighing 188kg. It lasted less than an hour.
April 28, 2025 at 3:21 PM
This is a Segale-framed Honda Italia CB900 Bol d'Or, making 125bhp with an RSC motor (Racing Service Centre; what HRC was called before it was HRC), with Fox shocks and weighing 188kg. It lasted less than an hour.
The bikes are stunning. Here’s second place, a 135bhp KOOL Kawasaki France race-kitted Z1000J ridden by Jean Claude Chemarin, Jacques Cornu & Sergio Pellandini – and in action, ridden by Chemarin (champion with Cornu in 1982). KOOL are menthol cigarettes, which you smoked when you had a cold.
April 28, 2025 at 3:21 PM
The bikes are stunning. Here’s second place, a 135bhp KOOL Kawasaki France race-kitted Z1000J ridden by Jean Claude Chemarin, Jacques Cornu & Sergio Pellandini – and in action, ridden by Chemarin (champion with Cornu in 1982). KOOL are menthol cigarettes, which you smoked when you had a cold.
Here’s the start. Feel a bit sorry for Dutchman Van de Endt, caught napping (his Yoshimura Kawasaki Z1 with a Nico-Bakker frame retired in the early hours of the morning, so take yer time etc). MotoGP should start like this.
April 28, 2025 at 3:21 PM
Here’s the start. Feel a bit sorry for Dutchman Van de Endt, caught napping (his Yoshimura Kawasaki Z1 with a Nico-Bakker frame retired in the early hours of the morning, so take yer time etc). MotoGP should start like this.
VBH is a legend. Remember her from Max Power days - absolute liability in the best possible way. Briefly bumped into her 12 years ago on a Rolls Royce launch. Still nuts. And *the* nuts.
April 23, 2025 at 10:26 PM
VBH is a legend. Remember her from Max Power days - absolute liability in the best possible way. Briefly bumped into her 12 years ago on a Rolls Royce launch. Still nuts. And *the* nuts.
From Practical Sportsbikes (RIP): “When the tacho hits 6000rpm there’s an uptick in urgency – the CX sits up, its snub nose goes light, gold Showas extend and off it waddles like a turbocharged gruntlepig snuffling for truffles.”
Pics from Robbo's archive; last one is Jason Critchell.
Pics from Robbo's archive; last one is Jason Critchell.
April 22, 2025 at 11:00 PM
From Practical Sportsbikes (RIP): “When the tacho hits 6000rpm there’s an uptick in urgency – the CX sits up, its snub nose goes light, gold Showas extend and off it waddles like a turbocharged gruntlepig snuffling for truffles.”
Pics from Robbo's archive; last one is Jason Critchell.
Pics from Robbo's archive; last one is Jason Critchell.
...nothing compared to the 1982 Turbo, which added Honda’s first fuel injection & forged pistons (plus an alleged 230 patents), and a 51mm blower at the front of the V and a contra-rotating transmission to counter the motor’s torque reaction (took BMW & Guzzi a few more decades to figure that out).
April 22, 2025 at 11:00 PM
...nothing compared to the 1982 Turbo, which added Honda’s first fuel injection & forged pistons (plus an alleged 230 patents), and a 51mm blower at the front of the V and a contra-rotating transmission to counter the motor’s torque reaction (took BMW & Guzzi a few more decades to figure that out).
The 80° V CX500 was Honda’s first V-twin and had loads of innovative engine design such as cylinders twisted by 22° to make room for the riders’ knees, a central chain-driven cam punching stubby pushrods to four valves per cylinder...
April 22, 2025 at 11:00 PM
The 80° V CX500 was Honda’s first V-twin and had loads of innovative engine design such as cylinders twisted by 22° to make room for the riders’ knees, a central chain-driven cam punching stubby pushrods to four valves per cylinder...
You can see the physical controls in the dyno pic.
Think the next pic is Honda’s speed bowl at Osaka, & pretty sure that’s John Robinson (then of Motorcycle Mechanics, Performance Bikes’ predecessor) flat out on the std CX, while the Turbo rider is taking it easy. Which he would, with twice the bhp.
Think the next pic is Honda’s speed bowl at Osaka, & pretty sure that’s John Robinson (then of Motorcycle Mechanics, Performance Bikes’ predecessor) flat out on the std CX, while the Turbo rider is taking it easy. Which he would, with twice the bhp.
April 22, 2025 at 11:00 PM
You can see the physical controls in the dyno pic.
Think the next pic is Honda’s speed bowl at Osaka, & pretty sure that’s John Robinson (then of Motorcycle Mechanics, Performance Bikes’ predecessor) flat out on the std CX, while the Turbo rider is taking it easy. Which he would, with twice the bhp.
Think the next pic is Honda’s speed bowl at Osaka, & pretty sure that’s John Robinson (then of Motorcycle Mechanics, Performance Bikes’ predecessor) flat out on the std CX, while the Turbo rider is taking it easy. Which he would, with twice the bhp.