Hi I am after a Cagiva Elefant. Preferably a 750 but a 900 otherwise. Was one on TMe recently but it has dropped off the radar and the seller is not answering his phone.
Edit: Got one now, see page 2
Hi I am after a Cagiva Elefant. Preferably a 750 but a 900 otherwise. Was one on TMe recently but it has dropped off the radar and the seller is not answering his phone.
Edit: Got one now, see page 2
Good luck with that one!
Yea both in finding one and owning one I suspect!
Mates in the UK have owned (and still do) both the 750 and 900 and speak highly of them. That is nothing more than a bit of greenlining and the rest on road. Not too many horrors. We will see, I will probably do my usual and buy a complete Friday afternoon special if I ever find one!
Why the 750 over the 900? besides the 150cc what other differences are there?
Well the main thing is the weight. I am hoping to use it certainly on gravel and also some more adventurous offroad stuff, nothing too mad mind. Just usual Adventure ride territory. Google tells me that they get heavier as time goes on. Elefant 750 188kg, 900 204kg, Grand Canyon 216kg. You could probably shed a lot of weight off a GC by ditching all that bodywork etc but then it becomes yet another project rather than a daily rider.
750 supposed to be smoother and also more economic.
750 has carbs whereas 900 has injection. Carbs just one less thing to go wrong on an Italian bike of that era!
Of course with the added cc and weight you do get more power.
Quite like the idea of a completely Ducati shed, well apart from the latest arrival a Green KDX200. Went out to Woodhill yesterday what fun but I have never been so knackered in my life and stiff this morning or what. Need to get in training for the thing.
Anyway got to find an Elefant for sale first.
Found one yet? did you sell the R80?
Yes R80 Sold to a chap in Auckland who already had an older road going BM. He seemed happy.
No sign of an ELefant yet. The possible Grand Canyon mentioned on Kiwi Biker turned out to be a Suzuki engine Cagiva so not what I was after. Left another message on Tme seller’s phone but no response and bike has not been relisted.
‘@Team Buffoon
http://www.advancemotorcycles.co.nz/bikeinfo.php?bikeID=893
and just cause they’re cool
Oh Eddie! I had just about convinced myself that I didn’t want one and that a DR650 was the way to go again.
Yeah I thought that might upset things a little.
Sent them an email but never heard back from them…phew!
They are cool. If I ever win lotto I think one of those would have to be in the collection.
So look what you have started Eddie! I flicked them another email and they say they have sold it. That made me dig around in my old notebook and I found a couple of numbers.
A 900 with carbs I have looked at before and was on TMe MIGHT be for sale, I am waiting for a call back.
The other one I think was a 750, the owner has three! A 750 for his missus, a 900 for road and a 900 for offroad – verging on greedy! He had moved to Napier area from Auckland and had gone sailing up the islands, now his phone is disconnected so unless I get lucky with finding him again that is gone unless he relists it somewhere.
Updates to follow!
Shame you don’t have pics
Ah well I do, let’s see if I can work out how to post them.
First one is the 750, owned by the sailor moved to Napier area and the second is the 900 that I am waiting for a call back on.
And if this doesn’t get your juices flowing in Adventure bike world then you must look at things way differently than I do, sex on wheels!
Link here to Bike Exif where there are more pics and a write up.
http://www.bikeexif.com/cagiva
Just rode home from Pukekoe on a 1994 750, looks good in the shed. Rides very nicely, very stable at slow speeds, hardly any vibration, enough power (not excessive but enough I think). Had a false start as I had only 20 mins of riding done when it intermittently turned into a 375 single. Limped back to Puke and the previous owner swapped out the plugs and then he saw that he had forgotten to hook up three pipes from the fuel pump to the inlet manifold and the two carbs. Pump runs off the induction. With a full tank perhaps it was siphoning to start with?? Anyway went the long way home and 150km of smooth riding followed. Nice. Looking forward to trying some gravel soon. Photos to follow.
That’s long enough, where are the pics?
Old pics from the vendor been too wet to get out and take some of my own so far.
Nice, I expect new pics every time you take a bit off and get underneath it.
Oh come on you could at least wait for it to break down before you start extracting the Michael!
I wasn’t taking the piss, I meant if you are doing any maintenance, changing air filter, oil etc.
Sorry Eddie, guess I was just bracing for all the non-believers to chip in!
Friend of mine picked up a 900 Elefant in California, pristine, for $1500. He was bored of it within a month, but then he wasn’t really riding much. But that price! I’d fully ride a 750 instead of an expensive old Africa Twin that everyone else would throw their 1st born at…I think they are very similar bikes to ride, though I’ve only been on the AT and not a 750. Looks like an interesting option for more comfortable gravel touring. How much did you pay, if you don’t mind me asking and with how many kms? Hopefully he didn’t know you were pining for one for so long! Keep us informed and enjoy.
$4k with 35k kms. It needs a good service and the clutch is slipping a bit when you give it a leading elbow but otherwise good and I am happy with it. feels comfortable on the gravel even though it has road biassed tyres on at the moment.
Clutch plates should be easy to get shouldn’t they, same as 900ss?
P.S. Now that you have one I’ve moved this thread to the Ducati section.
OKEDOKEY. The 750 Elefants have a 5 speed box with wet clutch and the 900 have six speed box with dry plates. But no should not be a drama I just need to find the time to pull it apart and see what’s what and I guess the plates are the same as a 750SS but need to research that as well. Have been advised it could be a notchy clutch basket caused by too many wheelies as I call them or wheelstands as they are known in NZ. It’s a cover off and a poke around and see what I find.
‘@Team Buffoon, hows the elefant going?
Hi Guys, not much riding at all been happening this summer as been sailing most weekends. Elefant has been getting grumpy and getting harder to start and then running on 1.75 cylinders banging and popping. Spoke to my Ducati Guru and he pointed the finger at my use of 98 fuel, he reckons that older engines just don’t like the toluene in it. So compression check showed both pots almost the same. Drained out the fuel topped up with some fresh 91 and a new set of plugs and she’s like a goodun. Just need some dry weather and preferably no gales to check things out. At the same time I changed the engine oil hoping that it might help the slipping clutch as I still have not investigated that. Only slips at full leading elbow power right at the top of the rev range so generally is not an issue.
Was wondering how much of a drama it was going to be to get the tank off but surprisingly easy. 10 allen bolts to undo and one bolt at rear of tank and it came off AND went back on simply. Couldn’t believe it!
Was hoping to go on Phil’s tunnel ride today but was double booked.