Of cameras & bikes...M9 reliability issues.

[Vince Lupo]

I toyed with the idea of getting a vintage bike about 7 years ago, and considered an R-E Bullet. The first thing that many people would tell me about it was 'Well it's not like owning a Honda'. After hearing that about 6 times (literally), I made my decision....

I also have an M9, and it has roughly the same level of reliability.

 

[Keith]

That's pure class Vince. I've seen you post pics of this bike previously and I love it. The Hagon shocks, Amal carbs and those gorgeous pipes make it a visual feast.

 

[aad]

Nice Hawk!

Roger, did you ever read the book "The Complete Motorcycle Nomad"? I used that as an inspiration way back.

Guzzi rider here since '73, never have cottoned to BMWs yet-though I enjoyed a recent ride on an R1200s.

I would love a pre-WW2 Harley, and most real Indians. Still shooting a IIIf, and an LX5

 

[E.M]

before : 1975 bMW R90/6 , 1974 Ducati 750 S , 1986 BMW R80/7
now : 1993 Ducati Monster 900
sooner or later : 2006 Triumph Bonneville T 100

 

[CorreCaminos]

Buy a Harley Davidson, if you think in "classic" HD is a MUST, here in Europe we buy HD much more expensive that in EEUU, but is THE bike men...
Royal E. is cute, but no more than 500cc, made in India, you live in the right place for a right bike.

I just cross EEUU last June with 6 friends on a HD and I can tell you is a RELIGIUS EXPERIENCE....

I have a M9, is a great camera, but a HD will be a great bike for many more years, I shure, and then you have time to save for a better M camera 🙂

Best

The EEUU bikes are OK. Not really, I have ridden a lot of HDs in the US and they're great, but, if you want THE bike, then get an air-cooled Ducati ;->

 

[John Robertson]

Sad thing is I remember these when they were new, I had a 125 Honda Benly Sports at the time, fast smooth,but handling a bit dodgy and a seat like a plank of wood. Unique styling though!!
My last two sold in 1998 🙁 were a 1992 Black and Yellow BMW R100GS, smooth comfortable but heavy on petrol drove it from Dundee Scotland to Innsbruck and back in 1993, and an 1988 MZ ETS250 with a similar paint job in Black and Yellow, smooth, reliable and great around the town. Although I toured Ireland and North of Scotland on it! Both bikes are still on the road, chokes me when I see them, but arthritis in back and knees put paid to motor cycling😡

 

[Roger Hicks]

Nice Hawk!

Roger, did you ever read the book "The Complete Motorcycle Nomad"? I used that as an inspiration way back.

Guzzi rider here since '73, never have cottoned to BMWs yet-though I enjoyed a recent ride on an R1200s.

I would love a pre-WW2 Harley, and most real Indians. Still shooting a IIIf, and an LX5

No, never read it. I'll try and find a copy.

Frances had a Goose, a V50III (she's only a bit over 5 feet tall) and her brother (over 6 feet) still has the original S700 which he bought new. The electrics on Frances's Goose were a bar steward to work on: nine out of ten wires were yellow...

Harleys look and sound gorgeous, and I've never had to work on one (riding Harley loaners) but at 70 mph on the Evo Tour Glide I couldn't read the road signs because my eyeballs were vibrating too violently in my skull, and Frances got off the back of the Sportster after a few hundred yards because it was so damnably uncomfortable.

I see there's another MZ fan here. Once you'd replaced the chain and (usually) the bearings, the 250s were superb bikes.

I'm hoping that my web-master/brother in law will shortly post an account of our trip to Paarnu in Estonia (3850 miles round trip), and the account of the trip to Arles a week after we got back (1120 miles round trip). Frances was able to swim in both the Baltic and the Mediterranean, less than a month apart. I'll notify people when they're up.

Cheers,

R.

 

[theno23]

I carry my m9 all the time, in pretty much all weathers (though in a bag if it's raining properly) and it's never missed a beat. It's a low volume item, so some with have build problems, but I'm pretty sure it's the exception rather than the rule.

 

[jsrockit]

For those with an M9, is it a spontaneous "out the door and shooting" camera

Yes... ...

 

[dave lackey]

No, never read it. I'll try and find a copy.

Frances had a Goose, a V50III (she's only a bit over 5 feet tall) and her brother (over 6 feet) still has the original S700 which he bought new. The electrics on Frances's Goose were a bar steward to work on: nine out of ten wires were yellow...

Harleys look and sound gorgeous, and I've never had to work on one (riding Harley loaners) but at 70 mph on the Evo Tour Glide I couldn't read the road signs because my eyeballs were vibrating too violently in my skull, and Frances got off the back of the Sportster after a few hundred yards because it was so damnably uncomfortable.

I see there's another MZ fan here. Once you'd replaced the chain and (usually) the bearings, the 250s were superb bikes.

I'm hoping that my web-master/brother in law will shortly post an account of our trip to Paarnu in Estonia (3850 miles round trip), and the account of the trip to Arles a week after we got back (1120 miles round trip). Frances was able to swim in both the Baltic and the Mediterranean, less than a month apart. I'll notify people when they're up.

Cheers,

R.

Now, you know why every female that ever sat on my HD mentioned the Big O, if you know what I mean....they were definitely best used as a cruiser and eye candy.😉

Crap, now you guys have me dreaming of a Bonneville, or an airhead, or....😱

 

[John Robertson]

Yes Roger an MZ fan, we were lucky in Dundee we had a factory trained one man dealer who knew the bikes inside out. Mine was very well built and a pleasure to own, and only cost £950 new in 1988. I was a member of the UK MZ club, and went to some fun rallys!!! I miss Mitzy very much, I must scan some pictures of her, she won a couple of Concours prizes at the rallies.!!😀

 

[Keith]

I had an MZ 250 back in the nineties that I used to commute on ... what a great bike!

It had a tendency to load up a little in traffic until I modified the oil injection system by relocating the feed to the inlet manifold. That bike for what it cost me was remarkable ... it had really nice supension, great brakes, and it handled very well. The electrics were a bit of a pain in the arse at times though!

 

[John Robertson]

I had an MZ 250 back in the nineties that I used to commute on ... what a great bike!

It had a tendency to load up a little in traffic until I modified the oil injection system by relocating the feed to the inlet manifold. That bike for what it cost me was remarkable ... it had really nice supension, great brakes, and it handled very well. The electrics were a bit of a pain in the arse at times though!

The guy in Dundee replaced some of the electrics with BMW stuff, and put better tyres on it, the Pneumant ones lasted forever but had no grip!!
they looked like hard black plastic. I had the genuine MZ fitted luggage very like BMW stuff, they could swallow a huge amount of luggage!!😎
Once it was warmed up it would cruise at 65-70 all day. The harder you drove it the better it went, did 45,000+ miles before I sold it for only £50 less than I paid for it all these years before. Its still running around lookin great.:angel:

 

[sepiareverb]

Can't talk about the bikes, (after going over the front end in '89 I swore off 'em) but as to the M9 neither of mine has had an issue in over a year and a half. I do have a very small RF alignment problem at the moment on one of them, but not enough to send it in to anyone. I have had both M7 and MP cameras with more problems than either of these M9 bodies. One M7 was back to Germany three times and still was not right- an MP came back from Germany with more problems than when it left. M cameras are individuals, some wonderful and some a pain in the a$$. Just like the lot of us here.

 

[Paul Luscher]

I keep hearing about all these problems with the M9, but mine's never had any problems--the user of same is sometimes a problem..🙂

Think the reason the M9 seems problem-loaded is that "no news is good news," so that on sites like this , you hear from the folks who are having issues, but not from the large number of people who aren't.

It's like airplane crashes-people are afraid of flying because a plane crash is big news. Why? Because they're actually so rare. But people get the idea flight is problem-filled and dangerous--even though flying is actually safer than driving on the highway--which most of us do without a second thought.

 

[Roger Hicks]

I keep hearing about all these problems with the M9, but mine's never had any problems--the user of same is sometimes a problem..🙂

Think the reason the M9 seems problem-loaded is that "no news is good news," so that on sites like this , you hear from the folks who are having issues, but not from the large number of people who aren't.

It's like airplane crashes-people are afraid of flying because a plane crash is big news. Why? Because they're actually so rare. But people get the idea flight is problem-filled and dangerous--even though flying is actually safer than driving on the highway--which most of us do without a second thought.

Dear Paul,

Much like terrorism. The risk of being struck by lightning is greater than the risk of being murdered by terrorists.

Cheers,

R.

 

[Todd.Hanz]

I can't comment on the M9 reliability issue but Harleys are sweet ride that have never left me on the side of the road (so far 😉 )

Me and my Road King...

Todd

 

[seakayaker1]

. . . . . no hesitation with the purchase of the M9.

I have never hesitated purchasing a Honda Motorcycle either . . . . .

 

[collum]

ok.. spent the week at Burning Man (can't get much harsher than that as climate goes). shot the entire time with the M9.. swapped lenses (12, 21, 35, 50 & 90). had to clean the sensor once... and i am *not* gentle with my cameras. had (have) the M8 before that...been working wonderfully since 2007. I did have a shutter problem early on with the M8.. Warranty dealt with it and it was there and back in 3 weeks.

(working pages for the Burning Man portfolio is at http://www.jcollum.com/burn1 .... these are not the final images... just a place to 'live' with them as I sort thru them. images may come and go from those pages)

thousands that use the M9 in extreme climate conditions? wars and riots? Why does that have the ring of BS? I don't doubt that thousands may use the M9 and never report problems on an internet forum.

QUOTE=250swb;1701880]In an internet savvy age I still wonder why questions like this are asked? If you had thousands of bitching posts about the unreliablity of the Leica M9 you may rightly think there is a problem, given anybody with a problem vents on the internet. But listen........I can hear silence...... from thousands of people who are using the camera in extreme climate conditions, or day in day out, while out running, cycling, photojournalism, in wars and riots, and they don't need to report its working OK,....... so they don't.

Steve

[/quote]

 

[Jeff S]

Cameras are tools for me; bikes are for fun. Apples and oranges.

I make no apologies for my love of HDs when I owned them, and when I could break from my day job to get out and ride...in some wonderful places. Only had one minor breakdown, which got quickly resolved. (My 2 M8.2s have been problem-free.)

When I lived in Santa Fe, NM, I would often go into southern Colorado and would spend the day going from Durango to Silverton, Ouray, up Engineer Mtn at 13,000 feet to Telluride, and back down through Mesa Verde. Cruising? Perhaps, but starting out on a 70 degree day in Durango, heading up to 13k feet with 50 mph icy winds and packed snow and ice, leaning with full force to keep the bike up, and then back down winding passes through the desert heat was a great way to unwind from the hectic work world.

Similarly, when I lived in the Bay Area of California, I kept a bike in Carson City, Nevada for when I could get away. From there I would zip up through the mountain roads around Tahoe, Yosemite and lots of surrounding small towns. Quite a nice rush, and I was able to meet a lot of really good folks along the way.

Doesn't make me a bad person, Roger.🙂

Jeff