My Z1

[the_undecider_imp]

Wow what a fantastic job!
We all have mostly positive, fond memories of our older rides, and when we get the chance to revisit them nowadays, it brings us back to the new reality that the modern rides are better.

Redbirds, When I had the CB360 and 550Four in the 70s, I remember that if a new rider came into a Honda dealer asking about the CB750s, the dealer would actually talk a newbie out of considering one, and steer them to something smaller. "Too large and powerful" and " You need some experience first to ride something like that." they would say.
Business ethics are a thing of the past. I bet not one word of caution would be said if a skinny 17 yr old walked into a dealer today and said " I want that Goldwing."

I would rather see this 17 year old ride off on a Goldwing before a 600 super sport. When I sold motorcycles a few years back, I had a lot of late teens/early 20s kids come in trying to buy motorcycles. Most couldn't get financing an walked out with nothing. A lot thought that buying a 600 super sport was sensible since they thought the 1000 was probably more bike than they needed to learn with. I tried to steer them to the Ninja 250 or at most a Suzuki SV650. I had an 18 year old come in, applied for financing on a new CBR1000, and actually had enough credit to take home the bike. When his insurance quote came back at $12000 per year, he decided not to buy.