View Full Version : Your best motorcycle
Haselsh1
01-12-2009, 13:58
For me, the best motorcycle I ever owned was a Kawasaki H2C 750cc triple cylinder two stroke. Every time I think of that bike it reminds me of classic days gone by.
The bike I had the most fun on was a Honda XL250S. This was a trail bike and was completely mad. That would have been around 1980.
My worst motorcycle memories... wasting thousands of pounds buying one Ducati after another.
Haselsh1
01-12-2009, 14:01
OK so maybe my worst motorcycle memory would be 1977 and spending six months in hospital and a total of one and a half years off work after smashing myself to pieces.
Rare Bird
01-12-2009, 14:15
Odd that Shaun cos my last bike was 1961 BSA 'A10' fully restored at the cost of nearly 3K, took me 4 years to complete , i wrapped it around a lamp post outside a fish & chip shop within 20 mins, ended up in hospital for a while, nearly killed myself so i was informed, never touched a bike since.Totally wrote that bike off.
steveinspain
01-12-2009, 14:18
Ha - we have much in common..
My first bike I saved for from the age of 4 - pocket money, birthday and christmas presents were all sixpence here, a penny there, and for my 6th birthday I got a book that showed me how to sit, what controls did what, and I would stay up late under the covers pretending to ride. Got my first BSA Bantem 125 aged 8, paid £12 10shillings, and my first ride saw me go along a dry stone wall, shredding all the skin on my side..
Anyway, best bike had to be the day I passed my test - test at 11.15, at the dealers by 12.45 to pick up my Honda CB750. Within 2 hundred yards I had come to a roundabout, no idea how easy it was to go fast, and ground a hole in one of the pipes !
It was the first one in Oxford, and mates had things like Tridents, or various BSA 650's. My bike purred, shone, and didn't leak..!
I have got through 41 bikes to date, currently only got a little Suzuki DR400, which is road legal (ish) but fun off road - just as well, as there are loads of tracks here ! Sadly, I can no longer ride it properly, but the kids love a ride to school at times !
Worst moment - getting knocked off by a drunk off-duty copper - I lost a load of my lower leg bones, spent 2 years on crutches, have had 12 or 13 ops since, and more to come it seems. However, every cloud and all that - I met Kate, who nursed me from the start and is now my wife ! In reality, the worst part of it was the effect it had on others - I lost my business, so my team of guys lost their jobs, my family watched me suffer for 2 years, unsure if I was going to keep my leg, my kids have never seen me run and I have been hard to live with when in serious pain ( I spent much of the last 18 months unable to walk much, though my last op has sorted that thankfully !) All the result of one brief moment in my life..
Lost my best mate in 1986, my favourite uncle in 1990, had another mate break his neck in around 1992, saw my brother-in-law cartwheel through a hedge and was a very lucky chap in 2000 and then another mate fought for his life for 4 weeks around 2002 - so would I even think of getting on a bike? Well, yes, actually - my favourite being my current Kawasaki ZX6-R Ninja in Silver - frightens the crap out of me and demands respect every time I give it the beans - which is probably why I'm still alive. Must admit I don't ride hardly at all any more - mainly 'cos of having the little 'un I guess.
I keep being indecisive about my best bike - it varies between the BMW GS series and the Honda VFR, and I've had three of each (not all at once though). Mind you though, my SO had a Honda Bros 400 that she couldn't get on with, so I rode it a lot - it was a hoot! Cheap as chips to run and at (just above) legal speeds it felt like you were Barry Sheene. In other words you could have serious fun without endangering your license...
I've now got a (slightly lardy) BMWK1100LT which is an ace mile muncher for next to nowt. I'm not convinced there is one 'ideal' bike though, ideally I'd have a multi-bike garage. Bit like having a deck with 3 tonearms on...
Jason
Haselsh1
01-12-2009, 15:44
Hmmm... some really good stories. I lost eight mates to motorcycles in the year 1984. I guess it had something to do with the roads in Lincolnshire and how bloody straight and long they are.
Dave Cawley
01-12-2009, 16:00
http://www.dartmouth.tv/CBX/leftfront.jpg
Here is my last bike http://www.dartmouth.tv/CBX/CBX.htm
Sold on eBay for over £5K
Regards
Dave
anthonyTD
01-12-2009, 16:27
http://www.dartmouth.tv/CBX/leftfront.jpg
Here is my last bike http://www.dartmouth.tv/CBX/CBX.htm
Sold on eBay for over £5K
Regards
Dave
ahhh,,, CBX 1000:smoking:
lovely looking bike,
i think dick emery owned one at some point too!
a...
anthonyTD
01-12-2009, 16:44
the best bike i ever owned for the fun factor was an RD 350 [pre power valve model] white with blue decals, its engine had been race tuned by one of the main specialists at the time, [cant remember for the life of me who that was now] it had allspeeds fitted and all the toys re, braded brake hoses fork brace etc, the only thing it didnt have was the upgraded swing arm! i had ridden ones that had supposedly been tuned before but they never went like this one! when i used to go out with my mates my little RD was sometimes the smallest bike there, amongst fireblades, GSX 1100, CBR6, GSX750's etc, and usualy i would be the second one home, just staying behind the leader so i wouldnt get lost!
mind you riding it hard i used to get about 18 to the gallon :doh:but it was a great little bike and never missed a beat all the time i had it.
worth a small fortune now if only i still had it:(
A...
steveinspain
01-12-2009, 17:23
I keep being indecisive about my best bike - it varies between the BMW GS series and the Honda VFR, and I've had three of each (not all at once though). Mind you though, my SO had a Honda Bros 400 that she couldn't get on with, so I rode it a lot - it was a hoot! Cheap as chips to run and at (just above) legal speeds it felt like you were Barry Sheene. In other words you could have serious fun without endangering your license...
I've now got a (slightly lardy) BMWK1100LT which is an ace mile muncher for next to nowt. I'm not convinced there is one 'ideal' bike though, ideally I'd have a multi-bike garage. Bit like having a deck with 3 tonearms on...
Jason
Jason - my best bike for proper riding was a BMW GS1100 - I had it alongside a bandit 1200 and the first CCM supermoto (got them to make it for me - it was a total disaster, but thats another story !)
Tyre wear on the bandit was bad - 1500 miles if lucky, but the GS made them last 8,000 plus. It was the first bike to reach any red lights in London, comfy for hundreds of miles a day, and big enough to be seen, and the most fun to wheelie, not that I was any good at it. best non-loony fun bike ever, and the one I would replace if I had the money. One thing that really impressed me was the demo - not your usual 2 mile crawl behind the salesman, but they guy handed me a £20 note, told me to fill it up and come back by closing time - and I got to keep the change !
john blackburn
01-12-2009, 18:11
Not my bike, it was built by a mate and ran like a dream. Used some fuel mindst!
http://i703.photobucket.com/albums/ww35/Jblackburn_photos/piecehall2.jpg
John
Not my bike, it was built by a mate and ran like a dream. Used some fuel mindst!
http://i703.photobucket.com/albums/ww35/Jblackburn_photos/piecehall2.jpg
John
Not even going to try and guess what that is (was?!) - looks fun, though!
Jason - my best bike for proper riding was a BMW GS1100 - I had it alongside a bandit 1200 and the first CCM supermoto (got them to make it for me - it was a total disaster, but thats another story !)
Tyre wear on the bandit was bad - 1500 miles if lucky, but the GS made them last 8,000 plus. It was the first bike to reach any red lights in London, comfy for hundreds of miles a day, and big enough to be seen, and the most fun to wheelie, not that I was any good at it. best non-loony fun bike ever, and the one I would replace if I had the money. One thing that really impressed me was the demo - not your usual 2 mile crawl behind the salesman, but they guy handed me a £20 note, told me to fill it up and come back by closing time - and I got to keep the change !
Ha! I got rid of my GS1100 for a Bandit 12, and though the Bandit was a fun bike it wasn't in the same league as the 1100. Can't think of the number of race-rep bikes I surprised on that GS... I foolishly got rid of that for another VFR then sold that for a GS1150 - newest bike I'd ever had and a bit better (though not as characterful) than the 1100. Then - stupidly - I had a pang of guilt about having 7 grands worth of bike and sold it in a fit of idiocy. Regretted it ever since. One day I'll be a tosser (thats the affectionate name for GS riders) again, they're simply bonkers bikes that shouldn't work half as well as they do....
Jason
john blackburn
02-12-2009, 00:51
Its a Honda CBX, 6 cylinders of joy. Only the early twin shock model mindst. One of the widest looking bike engines known to man.
The same bloke built a pre unit Triumph with a big old Shorrock supercharger and a single 40DCOE. It starts on one kick and idles from cold. It also beat a turbocharged CBX at the Ramsey Sprint so it's no slouch either.
At one stage there were 7 CBXs amongst the local crowd. All were using far less silencer than the law approves of and all had slightly different gearing owing to various modern wheels, suspension and brakes being fitted.
It made my head hurt following them with all the weird harmonics from the slightly differing engine speeds and open pipes.
John
Dave Cawley
02-12-2009, 08:29
http://www.dartmouth.tv/CBX/left-pipes.jpg
And two CBX's on this thread!!
Dave
As we've got a motorcycle thread, here's a couple of pics I took at Santa Pod earlier in the year, at a run what ya brung day:
A pretty standard Fireblade -
http://i653.photobucket.com/albums/uu259/Alex_Steel1969/Santa%20Pod%20300C%20Meet/Santa%20Pod%2004072009/IMG_1348a.jpg
A Suzuki GSXR adapted for strip use
http://i653.photobucket.com/albums/uu259/Alex_Steel1969/Santa%20Pod%20300C%20Meet/Santa%20Pod%2004072009/IMG_1404a.jpg
Mick Parry
03-12-2009, 20:59
Chaps
I think I have owned 36 Bikes since 1965, all of them British. I like changing gear with the right foot, it just seems natural somehow.
The biggest bike I ever owned was a 195something 1000cc Ariel Square Four.
It was slow for its size, a realistic top speed was just over 80mph.
The fastest speed I ever done was 131mph on the Kenilworth bypass in the early hours of a sunday morning on a 650cc Ariel Huntmaster with an over size cog fitted on the rear wheel. It had no acceleration but a high top speed. The bloody thing vibrated so much it would have given the most ardent nymphomaniac a multi orgasm and done her to death.
My current bike is a 1959 BSA 350cc single and it is my favourite ever and I shall keep it until the day I day. It cruises at around 50 mph which is perfect for B roads in the summer and it just is a joy to ride.
Regards
Mick
Haselsh1
03-12-2009, 21:30
Chaps
The bloody thing vibrated so much it would have given the most ardent nymphomaniac a multi orgasm and done her to death.
A bit like me then but without the bike...!!!:stalks:
*the mystery of why some women like bikes seems to become clearer.... but the mystery of why men do, becomes more obscure ....*
The fastest speed I ever done was 131mph on the Kenilworth bypass in the early hours of a sunday morning on a 650cc Ariel Huntmaster with an over size cog fitted on the rear wheel. It had no acceleration but a high top speed.
That would lower the gearing Mr Parry! :lol: :doh:
Here's one of my favorites... Still got it actually, too. :)
http://img180.imageshack.us/img180/5020/img03551dx4.jpg
By shian7 (http://profile.imageshack.us/user/shian7), shot with Canon EOS 20D (http://profile.imageshack.us/camerabuy.php?model=Canon+EOS+20D&make=Canon) at 2008-02-08
Haselsh1
03-12-2009, 22:02
*the mystery of why some women like bikes seems to become clearer.... but the mystery of why men do, becomes more obscure ....*
Hmmm... deep. Pass the wacky baccy.
Here's another shot... can ya tell what it is yet? :eyebrows:
http://img249.imageshack.us/img249/5426/jpegimage4927528.jpg
By shian7 (http://profile.imageshack.us/user/shian7), shot with Canon EOS 20D (http://profile.imageshack.us/camerabuy.php?model=Canon+EOS+20D&make=Canon) at 2009-12-03
i restored quite a few bikes.. the last british one was an ariel huntmaster
but it was nothing like modern bikes..
the most exciting bike was a little kawasaki kr1, it was truely amazing in lots of ways..
i have a couple of bikes still.
a 77 laverda 1200s triple.. it has most of the original jota parts on it, its a nice bike
the bike i ride.. is a yellow buell firesomething and to be fair is my best bike so far.. well, for what i want from a bike..
i suppose looking back i should have kept the yam trx850 i sold many years ago.. with a better gear box it would have been quite something.. i was looking for more speed when i sold it.. i rarely go over 75 nowadays
hifinutt
08-12-2009, 19:59
some fab bikes, used to ride a very modest honda c90 round brixton and london before graduating to a cg125 ! happy days and low petrol bills
some fab bikes, used to ride a very modest honda c90 round brixton and london before graduating to a cg125 ! happy days and low petrol bills
If we're mentioning those type of bikes, started off at 16 with a Vespa 50 Special (with a 100cc engine, ahem...) - much "customised" (ok, bastardised!) before moving to a real bike(!) - my dad's Yamaha RXS 100 - in metallic maroon - I was always jealous of my mate Ian who had the same bike in the much rarer metallic turquoise - with dropped bars and Micron exhaust (of course!) .... Happy days!
The fastest speed I ever done was 131mph on the Kenilworth bypass in the early hours of a sunday morning on a 650cc Ariel Huntmaster with an over size cog fitted on the rear wheel. It had no acceleration but a high top speed.
That would lower the gearing Mr Parry!:lol::doh:
It's a typo. He meant "cock" ;)
Bikes? A rather naughty race-tuned Yamaha LC-350 brings back an assortment of giggles (not to mention soiled pants)... 2-strokes rule!!
Marco.
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