You can't beat a square headlight though ! How is your Darmah doing? Was following your project some months ago, you did a fantastic job with this bike!!
Ah! The Darmah has been put on the back burner this winter, due to other bikes taking priority. Firstly, at nearly 80.000km, my wife’s Monster 796 was due for it’s Desmo service, which took me up until new year. I love this bike, it’s immaculate in spite of it’s mileage, but by God, everything seems more complicated and tricky on this one. Even the heads, simple D2 heads, you’d think adjusting the valves would be simple but everything is tiny in there and just moving rockers around to access the shims is a pain… Then I chased a coolant leak on my 851 and some gremlins/rear sprocket bolt failure on the 900ss. Now that these 3 are sorted, the Darmah becomes #1 again. Last time I was working on it, I was struggling with setting the carbs. So there are a few things I need to check again.
@Chris : thanks for this, £10.5k is a steep price for the current market but even he got £9.5k that wouldn't be bad for standard, clean bike. Mine is similar in condition and mileage, with an upgraded suspension front and back by Maxton which makes the ride really nice (over £1k rear shock plus front cartridges). @Guillaume69 : great to hear the Darmah is running, some fine tuning still do. Very impressive the work you did last year, you clearly know your stuff. I almost bought a Darmah in 2012 but they were already £10k plus at the time so settled for nice, clean Pantha 500 which I enjoyed for 10 years and traded it in for the 851. The 851 is special but it needs open roads and speed to really enjoy it.
@VanVan Lighter wheels (Marvic streamline mags, for example), considerably « lightens » the 851. A rather costly option, but a real game changer, for those who enjoy twisties.
IM surprised that the 8 series is viewed a little as the poor option. For me its easily the first option !! But i guess its my ag. 57 means the 8 series was when i was at my prime (something the wife says is long passed )
@Guillaume69 : Interesting to hear about the unsprung weight reduction with Marvic wheels for the 851. I always found the 851 a bit top heavy, certainly when wheeling the bike around on the drive or garage and also when cornering. Despite the top heaviness the handling of an 851 is superb and so stable and confident.
