Gilera DNA.org

Spent fifty quid on this alarmed disc lock for the bike because I like the idea of it having some sort of alarm which doesn’t run off the bike’s battery and can even be used on maybe a future bike. It’s a good fit and seems secure. The alarm is irritating rather than loud; the key is tiny and fiddly and it’s a pain to try and unlock it in the dark but I always use it because it seems silly not to. there is a non alarmed setting.

Is it worth the money? Jurys still out but as someone who has already had their DNA nicked I want the maximum security possible.

Technorati tags: Gilera, Disc Lock, Motorcycle Security

Took the bike to my usual (proper Gilera) dealer to sort the stalling problem and generally look over the bike and bring it up to scratch as much as possible. Moral to everyone here – there was nothing wrong except the drive belt had not been changed probably ever. I’m not even that surprised about this, it seems to be de rigueur that DNA’s are ‘maintained’ like this.

Bike’s still spluttering but I think that’s just the inevitable result of it’s previous lack of care. Otherwise sound and smooth and remains a solid fun bike. It’s been out on the M25 and M1 today in the bright sunshine, me in my leathers, lots of glances from bemused old men (I remember when a Gilera was a 500cc motorcycle blah, blah…) yeah it felt good!

I travel about 40 miles a day commuting to work so it is a good opportunity to test out the bike and see what’s wrong with it. Bikes like this tend to have been abused and this one whilst in extremely good condition, has probably been crashed, not run in properly and not serviced properly and I expect it to require some work. Fortunately I have a good relationship with a local Gilera dealer who maintained my old bike and who I know will sort this one out to a proper standard.

Well the bike’s cutting out at low revs as if it’s cold except it’s worse after a long distance. There’s also a clicking around the fuel pump I’m not going to guess what it is as I’m usually wrong but this is the problem to be sorted out first. there is also some delay on acceleration which I would hazard suggests that the drivebelt needs replacing. this is fine as I used to have that changed pretty regularly on the old bike.

Good news is that the engine seems sound and smooth, there’s plenty of power. I’m confident it can be sorted out without too much pain.

My story starts three and a half years ago when I decided to buy a new motorcycle. I wanted something to show for my full driving licence but I didn’t want some huge expensive overpowered bike. I was really looking for a 400 or 250cc which was funky but this being England “there’s no market for them.”

I plumped for a curious looking scooter called a ‘DNA’ made by the sporty arm of Piaggio, Gilera. It was a 180cc and made 20bhp, as much as a 250cc, made 80mph from time to time. It was matt gray nagual – gray and red. It deliberately aped the motorcycle appearance and the riding dynamics but most of all it was funky.

I rode this bike to about 14,000 miles from new until it was stolen from outside work. Two months later I replaced it with and new blue DNA 180 and it is the progress of this bike I want to blog.

The theft of the bike had changed me – I had gone from being a rider to being an enthusiast. There was nothing else to compare to this bike and I had to have one again.