Motorcycle Investor mag
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Titans,
Windjammers and dirt bikes
Sunday shed wrap
July 20, 2025, by Guy 'Guido' Allen
On old-school tourers and cheap trails
When was the last time
you saw a pukka late 1960s to 1970s-style tourer,
complete with Vetter Windjammer fairing and big
fibreglass boxes on board?
For us, it's been a
while and it feels like decades since we scoped
something on the scale of the gem shown here. We
tripped over it on Faceplant, and it got our attention
for a host of reasons. First, it's a 1969 motorcycle
being offered for sale by the original owner. Yup,
that's a 56-year relationship being broken up.
Secondly, it has all the
glory aftermarket touring gear that was being offered
back in the day. You'd more usually see this stuff
loaded on to a bigger machine. Whatever, it's
astonishing to see it survive all this time. Most
people by now would have doubled the bike's value by
stripping off all that gear and doing up the
cosmetics.
Vetter's various designs were hugely popular and found favour with quite a few police forces around the world. Believe it or not there's a Vetter history website out there, offering some remarkable resources – see it here.
See our brief Suzuki Titan profile
Meanwhile we've just
picked up the second of our pair of lightweight dirt
bikes – a 2000 Honda SL230 (above) out of Sydney. The
plot is that we've sold our Suzuki DR650, instead
purchasing the Honda and a 1999 Yamaha XT225 (below)
from Mansfield in Vic.
Together they so far owe
us a grand total of Au$5500 (US$3600, GB£2700), which
seems like cheap trail-riding. They both sound good
mechanically and are generally in decent shape. One
needs a bent front brake lever replaced, while both
could do with a minor service and fresh tyres.
They're going on club
plates, which means around $80 a year each for
registration, and we'll have to wait a few months for
the Honda to qualify.
We'll bring you more as
we get them sorted out.
Honda SL230 data at Motorcycle Specs
Yamaha XT225 data
at Motorcycle Specs
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