Bought me a road bike...

[Gustav O]

Out of the blue I decided to buy my friends Aprilia RS250 road bike. Why? I don´t know and I don´t care.



Frame number 001 so it is the first of the 98 line, pretty cool. Will pick it up on Wednesday. More pics and report later in the week.

[Kropotkin]

That's my first "I've won the lottery and I'm spending like there's no tomorrow" bike. Just wonderful. You're a very lucky man, and I hate you!

[Gustav O]

That's my first "I've won the lottery and I'm spending like there's no tomorrow" bike. Just wonderful. You're a very lucky man, and I hate you!

If you get to Sweden I´ll let you try it.
I also felt that way when it came - I want one! And now I have one.
Suddenly felt an urge to have a road bike again and when the opportunity came to buy my friends bike I had to do it. Should be fun to ride, even though it ain´t a road racer for th estreet if you have TZ in the garage. I

[Kropotkin]

If you get to Sweden I´ll let you try it.

Hmmm. 1540km from Leiden to Uppsala. Better go pack!

[Gustav O]

Hmmm. 1540km from Leiden to Uppsala. Better go pack!

I´ll get the TZ warmed up as well then.

[RatsMC]

You said "road bike" then I see the picture and say to myself 'roadbike? You can't ride that on the road.' Then I remembered you are in Sweden and that I hate you.

[motomania]

Damn, very sweet. Congrats!

[Gustav O]

Hey guys. Two out of three hate me. Give me some love you jealous pricks.

[ales17]

I'll give you some love!

That great that you just decided and bought a bike! Hope I'll follow soon!
I'm glad that someone has a new toy to play with!

[Richo]

That looks sweet. I am very jealous, considering I am without a bike at the moment having sold it recently. Hopefully I will be able to brag as well soon with a new bike.

[Gustav O]

That looks sweet. I am very jealous, considering I am without a bike at the moment having sold it recently. Hopefully I will be able to brag as well soon with a new bike.

Thanks. Really looking forward to getting it on Wednesday.

[Pantah]

Jeez,Gustav.....and Im trying to convince myself not to buy a 250 2 stroke for the road..........You are making it hard.........
By the way Gustav,I just found out that my cousin lives in Sweden.....Maybe I will get there some day sooner than later!

[MarvoGing]

That will be fun.

[Gustav O]

Jeez,Gustav.....and Im trying to convince myself not to buy a 250 2 stroke for the road..........You are making it hard.........
By the way Gustav,I just found out that my cousin lives in Sweden.....Maybe I will get there some day sooner than later!

There are no reasons not to buy a 250 two stroke - just do it.
Let me know and I´ll warm ´em up!

[Gustav O]

That will be fun.

I hope so.

[Pantah]

Jeez,Gustav.....and Im trying to convince myself not to buy a 250 2 stroke for the road..........You are making it hard.........
By the way Gustav,I just found out that my cousin lives in Sweden.....Maybe I will get there some day sooner than later!

There are no reasons not to buy a 250 two stroke - just do it.
Let me know and I´ll warm ´em up!

Well ,its constantly on my mind....the fact that my wife is due to have our second baby today has been keeping me otherwise preoccupied........ Still she will be away for a while,so I may have a chance to go shopping.....

[Kropotkin]

Jeez,Gustav.....and Im trying to convince myself not to buy a 250 2 stroke for the road..........You are making it hard.........
By the way Gustav,I just found out that my cousin lives in Sweden.....Maybe I will get there some day sooner than later!

There are no reasons not to buy a 250 two stroke - just do it.
Let me know and I´ll warm ´em up!

Well ,its constantly on my mind....the fact that my wife is due to have our second baby today has been keeping me otherwise preoccupied........ Still she will be away for a while,so I may have a chance to go shopping.....

What better way to welcome your wife and your newborn baby back home than one of these:

[Pantah]

Well a 4 cylinder stroker would be grouse,too.................Usually we use having another child as a excuse to go out a buy another classic car...this time it could be a bike.....

[Gustav O]

Well a 4 cylinder stroker would be grouse,too.................Usually we use having another child as a excuse to go out a buy another classic car...this time it could be a bike.....

Sounds like a plan.

[Gustav O]

Picked my bike up yesterday, went to Karlskoga and did some practise on the TZ.


Bike in the garage


Twin souls?


Serial number.

[TwoStroke Institute]

A 2T 250 roadie is a wise choice. The TZ will gather dust unfortunately
Shopping list.
TYGA/Cougar Red Heads and power valves(10cc or get blank ones and I'll show you the profile to machine to)
TYGA pipes.
Zeeltronic Ignition, flatshift and map switch.
Bolt on and this will happen


Then you can save for your TSS 500 kit 100HP 60 ftlbs torque.

[Gustav O]

A 2T 250 roadie is a wise choice. The TZ will gather dust unfortunately
Shopping list.
TYGA/Cougar Red Heads and power valves(10cc or get blank ones and I'll show you the profile to machine to)
TYGA pipes.
Zeeltronic Ignition, flatshift and map switch.
Bolt on and this will happen.

Then you can save for your TSS 500 kit 100HP 60 ftlbs torque.

Seems like fun stuf but I don´t have the money to buy all that. I have thought about the TSS engine already.
The TZ is still my main bike and I have two race weekends planned so it will see some more action.

[Gustav O]

Some first riding impressions after being out for about an hour.
Good points.
Impossible not to trash around, all the time
Nice steering and handling
Good brakes
Sweet gear box
Comfy seat
Looks great

Bad points
Impossible not to trash around, all the time
A tendancy to weave in longer corners, maybe due to the road surface though
Does not like red lights as the engine temp rises quite fast.
Very quiet, hard to hear the engine while riding - I am used to a TZ though so this might change....

Over all I am very happy with the bike and my main concerns are with me and the traffic.
I have to get the track riding mentality out sooner rather than later. As it is now I pin the throttle asap and want to go through all the gears whit the throttle pinned, all the time. Trailbraking in to round abouts while swiftly changing gears and negotiating traffic is not a good idea. It was much harder than I thought not to ride like on the track. I also have to remember that roads are not tracks as there can be diesel, gravel och pot holes almost everywhere. Remembering the turn signals is also a problem, not to mention the cars, lorries, trailers and on coming traffic...six years since I rode in the streets though....

[Kropotkin]

Over all I am very happy with the bike and my main concerns are with me and the traffic.
I have to get the track riding mentality out sooner rather than later. As it is now I pin the throttle asap and want to go through all the gears whit the throttle pinned, all the time. Trailbraking in to round abouts while swiftly changing gears and negotiating traffic is not a good idea. It was much harder than I thought not to ride like on the track. I also have to remember that roads are not tracks as there can be diesel, gravel och pot holes almost everywhere. Remembering the turn signals is also a problem, not to mention the cars, lorries, trailers and on coming traffic...six years since I rode in the streets though....

First of all, please don't take this the wrong way, it's meant as observation and advice, not criticism in any way.

However, part of the problem is that you bought a race replica bike to ride on the street. For the past 6 years, you've been focusing your mind to adopt a particular attitude when you take on that physical crouch over the bars. Now, that becomes a liability, you need to ride the bike completely differently if you're not to be wiped out by a truck / go down on a roundabout where an idiot van driver has dumped diesel all over the fast line. Muscle memory is very strong, and so you are behaving automatically once you adopt the racing crouch on the bike.

It would have been a lot easier to return to road riding if you had bought a bike with a completely different physical position. Something much more upright, a naked bike or a supermoto machine, would have made the transition easier. Even something as mental as CR500 supermoto bike would have forced you to ride differently, as the controls and body position is suddenly completely different. Well, for half an hour or so until the two-stroke bloodlust takes over...

Your choice of road bike is impeccable, and the only thing stopping me from selling my children into slavery to purchase an RS250 for myself is the fact that I don't have any children, and the price the slave traders are offering for my mother wouldn't cover the downpayment. But it does bypass your rational thought processes and automatically puts you into race mode, just by the simple act of sitting on it.

Anyway, take care, remember, all car drivers are trying to kill you - it's not that they haven't seen you, they have, but they just don't particularly care whether they hit you or not - roundabouts near petrol stations are lethal, and "the throttle got stuck" will only work once with the police.

[Gustav O]

Thanks for a nice post Krop and you are absolutely correct. I need to change my focus when riding on the road - I just realised it much stronger today than I thought.
My "problem" concerning bikes is that everything I do with them tends to be beyond reason, logic and sense and just fueled by passion. I guess my choice of bikes proves it as well.
Are the Aprilias that expensive in Europe? I bought my bike for 1750 €.