Buying a Super Four - yes/no?

[PB1]

Hi DaisyGrubber - was that "ratty" yellow - blue - yellow NC31 in Croydon by any chance? The bike I've just got hold of was yellow, then blue, and now yellow again, with an iffy paintjob - all cracked and paint-shrink marks over the tank. The previous, previous owner was in Croydon around about that time. Be interesting to know if it was the same one?

The post is from July 2010...

Point taken.... But you never know?

[DaisyGrubber]

Oh - just seen this another year later. Yes it was, it was Addiscombe ish which is basically Croydon. I'd be willing to bet it was the same bike as you describe the condition of the tank pretty well. Looked pretty in the picture but was a thing of horror close up. I had no hesitation in walking away from that bike, hope you've got on ok with it, it was definitely a fixer upper!

PS I bought a Kawasaki GT550 in the end - great bike, love it.

[PB1]

Ah, I thought it might be, there's not that many of these around, and to have 2 yellow/blue/yellow ones with crappy paintwork would be too much of a coincidence. It took a lot of work to get the tank, side panels and seat unit painted. God knows what it was painted with; it was still soft in places, so much so you could leave a dent in it with your fingernail. I stripped it all off; fixed one hell of a dent in the tank, and resprayed in 4 stage Candy Red. The wrong front mudguard was replaced with an even more wrong chrome Kawasaki KH250 one, which I like even if nobody else does. The running gear and engine are very good and I've been using it most sunny weekends since.

Having said that there's not that many around, I saw a pale metalic orange coloured one pull in to the Great Bentley biker's meet last Wednesday night (Essex), but it had gone when I went to look for it. Or maybe I missed it, there must have been getting on for six or seven hundred bikes there.

[RICKNC31]

I was at the great bently bike meet about 4 weeks ago with my yellow CB400 NC31 just came back from walton with a mate and called in on the way home rick

[DaisyGrubber]

Ah, I thought it might be, there's not that many of these around, and to have 2 yellow/blue/yellow ones with crappy paintwork would be too much of a coincidence. It took a lot of work to get the tank, side panels and seat unit painted. God knows what it was painted with; it was still soft in places, so much so you could leave a dent in it with your fingernail. I stripped it all off; fixed one hell of a dent in the tank, and resprayed in 4 stage Candy Red. The wrong front mudguard was replaced with an even more wrong chrome Kawasaki KH250 one, which I like even if nobody else does. The running gear and engine are very good and I've been using it most sunny weekends since.

It was probably enamel out of a tin or something. Glad the engine etc are doing you well. I remember now that my mechanic had warned me that they can have starting trouble, and to watch that the engine wasn't warm when I went to look at it (ie they'd warmed it up just in case). It was, and the guy STILL had to jumpstart it. The tyres were not in a legal state and I just though well if THAT's how he's looked after it...

The GT550 on the other hand is in lovely nick.

[PB1]

RickNC31 - well there are more about in this area than I thought then. Wednesday nights at Gt Bentley in the summer are great - up to 1000 bikes on the green and you can see anything from a 1950's BSA Dandy up to the latest superbikes, and everything in between. I'll look out for you in the future.

DG - The seller told me the paint was 2-pack.... if it was it was the crappiest 2-pack I've ever seen. You are right about the tyres; the front rubber was almost non-existent and with a bloody great crosswise tear in it. It had apparently passed it's MOT like that because the seller told me it "must be okay 'cos the MOT man didn't fail it"! He also did a 100 mile trip to the south coast with girlfriend on the back the weekend before he sold it to me. Lucky to be alive really. The bike's got 2 new BT45's on it and these are excellent.

I'm jealous of your GT550 - they're lovely bikes. I've also got a Yamaha RS200 and had lot's of '70s 2 strokes years ago, but never any of the Kawasaki triples. ***Edit*** I've just realised I'm getting muddled up - yours is a 4 stroke twin - still a nice bike though.

[RICKNC31]

Hi the kawasaki GT550 is a four cylinder air cooled shaft drive not a gpz liquid cooled 500 twin hope this helps rick

[PB1]

Hi the kawasaki GT550 is a four cylinder air cooled shaft drive not a gpz liquid cooled 500 twin hope this helps rick

I was close then.....

[RICKNC31]

Hi perhaps you were thinking of the air cooled SUZUKI GT550 which was a two stroke triple and went with the air cooled GT380 & liquid cooled GT750 two stroke triples of the SUZUKI range of the time all the best rick

[DaisyGrubber]

Don't worry, it's over my head too.