DDK - Die Deutschen Klassiker

Picked up my new commuter vehicle yesterday

Ducati Scrambler

Lots of fun!

Dan, please wear boots.

Sorry, but my best friend from school lost his foot less than half a mile from his workplace when he tried his colleague's bike one lunchtime wearing only his work shoes.

Be safe.

Cool bike, btw.

trainers on a bike, big no no!

we all need risk in our lives. otherwise might as well be dead

obviously sensible advice re the boots and to be honest most of the time I do

nothing sensible about driving round in 40 year old cars with no airbags and minimal structural integrity though, is there?

None of it makes sense - bikes are potentially dangerous, old Porsches are potentially dangerous, both are tonic for the soul.

But to me riding in boots just feels decent. Riding in shoes feels like driving in flip flops and looks a bit village.

Anyway, here are my three:

1961 IWL Berlin. I bought this off eBay as a bunch of parts in three plastic boxes, and rebuilt it in my office. This is the one I'll never sell.



Trumpet Tiger 800XC. A bit too tall and heavy for me - I've fallen off this more times than I can count, mostly whilst trying to park it, and once at speed, whilst failing to negotiate an Austrian motorway off-ramp. It's looking a bit battered now, but I love it. Big screen, comfy seat, boggy suspension and heated grips. And that engine.



1978 Honda C90. Brown, rusty, oily rag thing. I love these bikes, but I never ride this one. Sort of like a shite jacket that you never wear but can't muster the energy to throw away.

Never mind all that. I'm mostly intrigued by your two wheeled Karcher pressure washer.

Motocompos are very cool

Sorry - forgot to mention that one. I bought it last year, then realised I was never going to use it, so I sold it to Jonny Smith (Fifth Gear guy), who then sold it to another guy I work with called Paul Lang (ex-art ed of Evo, currently art ed of Bike magazine), who then rode it around the Isle of Man TT circuit for a feature for the magazine. I think it was the only scooter that made it the whole way.

The bike has an interesting past - was one of a couple of Motocompos bought by the famously-spendy Prince Jefri (of Brunei) for his kids to play on. When they got bored with them, he gave them to his chauffeurs. The guy I bought it off was Prince Jefri's UK chauffeur's son. His kids had ridden it around his garden, but now they were adults and it had been sat in the garage for years. It had never been road registered. Being a Honda, it started and rode fine. Honda make mega stuff.

squirdan wrote:Picked up my new commuter vehicle yesterday

Ducati Scrambler

Lots of fun!

Nice bike Dan. I reckon those Scramblers are going to really do well, and could be a great introduction into biking for a lot of urban types of both genders.

Funnily enough last week I decided I needed to get some boots for short commutes/fair weather trips into town when I couldn't be bothered to put my touring boots on.

I went down to see my mates at Motolegends and bought some TCX X-Blends. http://www.motolegends.com/boots/tcx-xb ... brown.html They have a reasonable level of protection but are light enough to wear at work and at a glance just look like casual boots.

This sort of thing is apparently big in Italy where style matters: http://www.motolegends.com/boots/stylma ... boots.html They're CE approved, but obviously don't offer the protection of a (say) Daytona boot.

But there again, most m/cycle gear is a trade off between comfort/style and safety.

>C

Thanks Charles

Exactly what I was looking at , at Urban Rider. Just couldn't fit my trainers in my bag if I had bought and ridden home in the new boots

They looked just the job so thanks for that thumbs up

Ps. Only done 100 miles so far but loving it for mainly urban use... Light nimble good steering lock, torquey, great noise with the termi, just so easy to ride

I bought this rather than a 13 reg Hypermotard which is a far faster better bike but just felt much more "hard work"

And the scrambler is definitely a cooler looking bike

Agreed - it looks fantastic. Light, clean, and I bet it sounds good too.

Currently fixing broken kick-start mechanism. Rode it 50 yards – too many levers, not enough hands. Left hand operates either rear brake or clutch levers, right hand operates front brake lever, thumb-lever throttle, decompressor (to stop it) and hand gear change... Hmmm.

Some nice bikes out there! I have had a lot of stuff over the years, mainly superbikes, but have been running one of the last air-cooled GS Adventures recently as i have been doing more long distance stuff. I also ride all year, so like the weather protection and road presence in and around town.
Not a fabulous picture - but i used it as the Col d'Agnello has to be one of the prettiest in the Alps i have ever seen. Go there whether on 2 wheels or four!

Very nearly finished this Honda restoration.

Facing the decision to ride it or sell it.