OK, so its about time we had a motorcycle thread to go with all the other motorised vehicle threads. I know a bunch of you are into motorbikes as well, so here is an opportunity to talk about motorbikes.

My street bike is a Triumph Scrambler. Upgraded with a few tasty bits, I have had sportsbikes in the past, but I now totally over going fast on the road... to many po po, too expensive, and it is utterly unsporting that you can get pinged 40 over, and your prize is you get to walk home. I didnt want to buy a cruiser, so ended up with a retro standard. Ive had motorbikes in my life whenever I could afford them, and had my motorcycle licence for two years before I had a car licence.

There arent many motorbikes I would never consider owning.

I also have a track bike, (VFR400R, NC30) which is where I get my "go faster, knee down" jollies now. Trackdays rule.

Oh and I have a bunch of stuff which can be loosely labelled "project" one day it should be a Honda CB750 cafe racer.

and you?

KTM 250 here. Must confess I love the smell of a 2 stroke. Dont compete just the occassional charity ride or club event.

Agree with the sports bike comment. Popo took all the fun out of that. Recently had a day in town wandering round the bike shops. I think if I had the money I would get an Aprillia RSV or an MV Agusta V4.
Suprisingly while wandering round everyone wanted to sell me a cruiser. I must have started to look old.
A couple of years ago I completed a restoration of a BSA B31. Once I got it running I realised that putting around on a vintage just wasnt me so sold it.

Wish I had one again... My ultimate bike on a budget would be the SV1000S. With decent cans.......... Mmmmm...

Too bad I spend waaay too much money on bike bikes these days.

Sold my last road bike many years ago after I lost a couple friends. Thinking about buying something like a KTM 640 Adventure to have something I can cruise the Coromandel and places like that when I take a hankering.

Started on a TS185 when I was 14 around the farm in preparation for when I turned 15 and could get a licence. Started racing motocross a short while later on a TM125 and made it to the pro ranks stateside. Was the first Kiwi (well, I am mostly Kiwi) to race a SX when I rode High School support at the 1975 Superbowl of MX at the LA Colesium. Test rode for several parts companies and retired after a work accident back here in NZ. Started racing again at 35 and rode my last national series at 40. Big brother was a top road racer for many years with a few titles to his name and for a while was some good competition for Cros. Used to run in all Petes new production bikes as they arrived in the country so got to ride all sorts of fun stuff. Did a bit of road racing, but not really my thing.


Whats that scrambler like HDC?

in my garage i have 3 neglected Moto Guzzis...

a stuffed v35, gudgeon pin broke, scoring the barrel, munting the bottom end.

an 850T which is mine, and sweet, but hasnt been ridden for over 2 years. mainly due to the presence of children. budgets, prefering to spend my time pedalling than throbbing about. all it needs to run is a battery, and some air in the tires, and some fresh petrol. i'd give it an oil change too. there's bound to be a bunch of leaks on it now, meaning i'll probably have to strip down the entire motor and put lots of new rubber inside.

and an 850 Lemans II. dressed like a mark 1, little bikini fairing, round headlight. its my grrrl's. with a tickle of a tune up, its pretty much for sale...



oh. and my history.
firstly, at 16, a 1964 Vespa 150 Sportique (fuuark i wish i still had that...)
sold that for a '74 RD250
out of bikes for a bit but rode around on a CG110 and an A100 now and then.
at 25 got a 78 honda ex cop CB550/Four
then went back to that A100 for a bit,
then the CG110 again,
then got the 850T and have owned it since...

Sweet. I was thinking about making this thread yesterday. needs moar pics.
I think i had my motorbike license for about a year before my car license. so much better.

price of a boring decent condition car=price of awesome late 80's/early 90's sports bike that will turn the heads of people that don't even have an interest for bikes.

my first was an '89 ruki GSX-R250 which was also my best friend for a while. while it had a crazy 17,000rpm redline. i never pushed it that far and it wasn't that fast. currently got an '88 Yamaha FZR750 Genesis which can go more than fast enough to scare the shit out of me. needs its valve clearence done since its getting a wee bit iffy on start up, but goes fantastic once off choke. about to tick over 71,000 kms
cant find my usb plug so heres a pic of the gixxa for now.


edit. USB located. FZR pics imminent

also, group photo is of fzr, mates FJ1200 and my partly nekkid gixxa the day before it was sold.

Mmmm...motorbikes.

I've had a few - mainly large roadbikes.
I was a member and the secretary for a motorbike club up here for years.

All I have at present is a Yamaha SR500 single roadie that I've had for 12 or 13 years that I'm slowly turning into a Brit cafe racer replica.

Its my bike to keep forever....although if I had the loot I'd buy a metallic green Motor Guzzi V11 Sport with a Magna Guzzi 3/4 fairing.

Mint looking FZR.
I like those late 80s early 90s sports bikes. Its the time when the makers started to take handling, braking, aerodynamics and ergonomics seriously.
LJK Setright said that the makers started to think more about the "bicycle" than just the engine.
Motorcycle design took great leaps.

dicks-naughty-account wrote:Sweet. I was thinking about making this thread yesterday. needs moar pics.

my first was an '89 ruki GSX-R250 which was also my best friend for a while. while it had a crazy 17,000rpm redline i never pushed it that far and it wasn't that fast. currently got an '88 Yamaha FZR750 Genesis which can go more than fast enough to scare the shit out of me. cant find my usb plug so heres a pic of the gixxa for now.


edit. USB located. FZR pics imminent

also, group photo is of fzr, mates FJ and my partly nekkid gixxa the day before it was sold.

Nice bikes Here's a pic of my previous bike, my beloved bandit.

16,500rpm redline, and at 10,000rpm the cams would drop and the valve timing changed to create moar power. Sounded cool too.

yup, although the fzr was heaviest in class, i hear it had the best chassis. the thing about the gsxr750s is that their 8kg (half the weight of competitors) frames often bent at even the most innocent of falls. and flexed like hell under stress (so i've heard/read) I like the sportiness of the ride, a wee bit hunkered over, but my wrists and back don't suffer over long distance like more modern sporty bikes (I guess the YZF-R6 would be a close modern equivalent)

Here are my bikes - still just a stock pic of the cagiva hopefully I'll get some real ones this weekend

Took the cagiva for a spin in the weekend (carpark only as I'm not legally allowed to ride it on the road yet) and it

Nice goose collection.
I just sold my sport 1100i.
I've had two 1100 sports(started with the carb model), a V50 Monza and a Lario over the last 18 years.
All great machines. Especially miss the monza, have retained visiting right with the new owner.

Now I just have a Vespa lx150, will probably pick up an older small frame 50 over winter (for the Missus, good enough excuse?)

Yeah farty those little Magni fairings are sweet. I'm digging the new V7 too.

swtchbckr wrote:in my garage i have 3 neglected Moto Guzzis...

oh. and my history.
firstly, at 16, a 1964 Vespa 150 Sportique (fuuark i wish i still had that...)

Here is my SR500 pre dismantling.
It now has wire wheels(alloy rims) and a host of smaller changes.
The plan is to get it back on the road, research engine upgrades (a German firm has a big bore kit to take them to 700cc and get 70hp too - which is amazing considering they start with half that hp!). I won't be going that far with it though.

This is a previous bike;
Suzuki RF900 that I did up from a write off(favourite colour orange).
http://www.bikepics.com/pictures/482588/

Chickie wrote:Here are my bikes - still just a stock pic of the cagiva hopefully I'll get some real ones this weekend

Took the cagiva for a spin in the weekend (carpark only as I'm not legally allowed to ride it on the road yet) and it

those Cagivas are SO MUCH SEXIER than the SV650s, aint they?

Henry Dorset Case wrote:

Chickie wrote:Here are my bikes - still just a stock pic of the cagiva hopefully I'll get some real ones this weekend

Took the cagiva for a spin in the weekend (carpark only as I'm not legally allowed to ride it on the road yet) and it

those Cagivas are SO MUCH SEXIER than the SV650s, aint they?

yes! with the bf breaking it in for me he was impressed with the handling and the fact the front wheel lifted off the ground so easily