Saxophones Carrying a tenor on a (motor)bike?

richardr · Jul 4, 2015

According to jonf's criterion those bars are wide enough for Jay to carry a bass!

Colin the Bear · Jul 4, 2015

A twist and go scooter might be more practical like the Honda Dylan.

richardr · Jul 4, 2015

Colin the Bear said:
A twist and go scooter might be more practical like the Honda Dylan.

Scooter? Trust you to lower the tone of the thread!

Jay · Jul 4, 2015

I am not riding a scooter :rolleyes:

Alc. · Jul 5, 2015

In younger days I had dirt bikes, 250-350cc. What the hell is a van-van?

gladsaxisme · Jul 5, 2015

Please do yourself a favour and avoid bikes at all costs people don't drive cars like they used too and most have very little consideration for other road users these days and the smaller the the bike you ride the less they seem to consider you a worthy road user, you can't even rely on buses to give you some room, I would stick to a car and stay safe, at least you will have some metal round you to protect you a bit, a bit negative I know but better to be safe than sorry

Jay · Jul 5, 2015

Alc. said:
In younger days I had dirt bikes, 250-350cc. What the hell is a van-van?

Suzuki Van Van. Don't ask me why, it's just what they're called.

richardr · Jul 5, 2015

Jay said:
Suzuki Van Van. Don't ask me why, it's just what they're called.

Apologies, it looks like a 4-stroke so it should be economical. Indeed it looks very similar to the CG125 that I recommended. It's certainly not a scooter. I still wouldn't like to carry my tenor on it.

aldevis · Jul 5, 2015

I carried my tenor on my back in a trekking case for a few years.
But...

Only when gigging in town, and I had a big enduro bike (Yamaha XTZ660 pruple logo). It also worked with the smaller Guzzi v35
Being a tall bike, balance was a bit wobbly. I fell a couple of times while parking, slipping on wet leaves.
I would never have taken my tenor on a motorway.

When I had a Vespa, that counts as a much hated "scooter", I never went bigger than alto. I was young and cool, at the time.

kevgermany · Jul 5, 2015

richardr said:
Apologies, it looks like a 4-stroke so it should be economical. Indeed it looks very similar to the CG125 that I recommended. It's certainly not a scooter. I still wouldn't like to carry my tenor on it.

Yes, 4 stroke, I checked.

Jay · Jul 5, 2015

aldevis said:
I carried my tenor on my back in a trekking case for a few years.
But...

Only when gigging in town, and I had a big enduro bike (Yamaha XTZ660 pruple logo). It also worked with the smaller Guzzi v35
Being a tall bike, balance was a bit wobbly. I fell a couple of times while parking, slipping on wet leaves.
I would never have taken my tenor on a motorway.

When I had a Vespa, that counts as a much hated "scooter", I never went bigger than alto. I was young and cool, at the time.

You have to be young and Italian to look cool on a scooter 🙂

richardr · Jul 5, 2015

Having mulled this over, and having had similar thoughts for myself every summer for the past few years, I'd advise very strongly against carrying a tenor on the back of a bike. All of us who've relied on motorcycles as our only transport can tell tales of carrying large and ungainly objects (I once did a full house move over many journeys on my bike) but those are one-offs, tellable tales. Carry your tenor on the back of your bike frequently and you're sure to come to grief.

Jay · Jul 5, 2015

richardr said:
Apologies, it looks like a 4-stroke so it should be economical. Indeed it looks very similar to the CG125 that I recommended. It's certainly not a scooter. I still wouldn't like to carry my tenor on it.

I think they're all quite similar. This is the other one I was considering, the Yamaha YBR:

Thing is, it's not much use if I can't carry my tenor, it'll cut out at least half the journeys I'd use it for.
I remember carrying ridiculous loads on my pedally-bikes and how unstable that could make them, so I am conscious. But is one tenor really such a big deal?

richardr · Jul 5, 2015

Jay said:
But is one tenor really such a big deal?

Once or twice, maybe, but frequently? Perhaps I exaggerated when I said you're sure to come to grief but I think it is very likely. Apart from things like the house move I also have tales to tell about things that fell off my bike. Before you started this thread I'd considered whether I'd strap my tenor to the back of a bike if I bought one and concluded that I wouldn't, and the bike I was/am thinking of was/is rather bigger than a Van Van!

If you're going to buy a bike do take a look at the Honda CG 125 and its many Chinese copies. Back in 1977/78 I had one that served me extremely well - I did about 17,000 miles on it over a period of just over 12 months. The big advantage of the CG 125 over the others is that it has pushrod-operated valves instead of an overhead camshaft. This may mean nothing to you now but it will if you have to fix the bike. Pushrods bring cylinder-head removal within the ability of any biker and, as the lady who fixes her own AGA, I'm sure you'd want that.

kevgermany · Jul 5, 2015

Jay said:
But is one tenor really such a big deal?

No.

Do you have tarred/good gravel access to the house/garage? If it's mud, think very carefully. And if it'gravel/sand be really careful with the brakes.

Those of us who've stopped riding start thinking of the risks. How will you get on with a broken limb or worse?

nickh · Jul 5, 2015

Colin has it.... Get a Honda gold wing with a trailer!

I used to ride all sorts of bikes.. From 50cc's to Harley Davidsons. I would have thought carrying a tenor on a bike could be tricky. Especially for a beginner. my general rule was always if it won't fit in a top box don't carry it.

It's hard to ignore an itch to get a bike. There's nothing quite like that thrilling feeling of riding bikes. I finally packed it in after having 3 accidents. Thankfully none of them serious It's not so much 'if' you have an accident but when. I do still hanker after one now and then though they're so much fun!

Jay · Jul 5, 2015

kevgermany said:
No.

Do you have tarred/good gravel access to the house/garage? If it's mud, think very carefully. And if it'gravel/sand be really careful with the brakes.

Those of us who've stopped riding start thinking of the risks. How will you get on with a broken limb or worse?

Gravel, with concrete immediately in front of the house/garage.

Yeh, a broken limb would cause me 'feeding my animals/getting to work' problems.