Your favorite motorcycles

[the Ferret]

Many of us have had multiple if not many motorcycles. It's only natural that some of those bikes would be your favorites.

As far as street bikes go, I have had 6 Harleys, 9 Hondas, 3 Suzukis, 1 Kawasaki, 7 Yamahas, 1 Triumph and 1 BSA ( plus a bunch of dirt bikes...mostly Yamahas)

There are several that stand out in my mind:

77 KZ 1000 B Kawasaki (probably my all time favorite, big, powerful, smooth, beautifully proportioned, ...and much like the CB 1100)
04 and 01 FZ-1 Yamahas (like the bike so much I bought 2 of them..awesome power, brakes and handling, big tank, 6 speed, great solo sport tourer with soft luggage and a tank bag)
81 GS 850 G Suzuki (nice mid size shafty, very comfortable and large fuel capacity)
83 GS 1100 E Suzuki ( brute of a motorcycle for its time)
76 GT 750 Suzuki ( really nice tourer with a Windjammer 3 Fairing, Bates trunk and Eclipse tank bag...and I loved that 2 stroke 3 cylinder burble at idle and wail while accelerating.)

These have been my all time favs. One thing that stands out to me, is they all my favs have inline motors and are mostly liter bikes. I've had singles, twins..both v's and parallel, triples, and fours both inlines and V's.... 2 strokes and 4 strokes, air cooled, and liquid cooled, automatics, 3 speeds 4 speeds,5 speeds, and 6 speeds, electric start and kick start, chain drive, belt drive and shaft drives, carbureted and fuel injected, and I just keep coming back to those big 4 stroke inline 4 liter bikes.

Honorable mentions:

06 Honda ST 1300 ( Simply awesome for long distance travel, but a pia around town where its weight and bulk become a liability)

2000 Honda 750 Nighthawk ( great very low maintenance all arounder with hydraulic valves. Easy to work on when you had to, no epa crap. On the downside it was small, and lacked power and brakes ... Things the CB 11 address)

Havent had the CB 11 long enough to see if it will make the list of all time favs but it certainly has the credentials to do so. Wish it held more gas, but thats a small matter, at 63, I can only ride so far these days anyway before I need to get off and straighten achy parts.

So, of all the bikes you've owned, which have been your favs? And why?

 

[thumper_imp]

'84 Kawasaki GPz 750 (big, sporty looking, comfortable for long rides, a dashboard full of idiot lights. Long enough that I could put my feet on the rear pegs, lay on the gas tank, and have my helmet under the windshield, totally out of the wind blast--when I was a 150 lb high school kid.)

'86 Honda Elite 150 scooter (not a motorcycle, but a great way for a high school kid to blast around the city. I rode that thing everywhere! Pop-up headlight, digital dash, candy red.)

'00 Honda CBR929RR (beautiful pearl white/red. The bike was much more capable than the scared guy sitting atop it, who had no formal training at the time. I'd buy one today if I could find one in mint condition.)

 

[HikerToo_imp]

17 lbs even

 

[the Ferret]

Neat..but that's not a motorcycle lol

 

[DAC]

Wow, Ferret. I'm in awe. As for me, I've ridden several bikes but only "owned" one - an '03 VFR. How I ended up in my late 40's on this particular bike is a long story. I love it and I'll keep it, but now that I'm 50, something with more upright ergos (like say, oh maybe a CB1100) might be added to the stable.

 

[the Ferret]

Cant believe out of the couple hundred members here there were only 2 that wanted to talk about favorite past bikes, and one of those has only had one.

 

[Guth_imp]

Well ferret, in the interest of keeping the thread going, I'll chip in. However, since most of my riding was done on dirt bikes in my youth, I don't have a lot to contribute. (I do have a soft spot for old HondaXR75's and wouldn't mind restoring one some day just for fun.) So, while I am 51 years of age, I've only been riding on the street for the past six years. By default, my favorite street bike would have to be my only street bike, up until three months ago that is: my 1988 Honda Hawk GT. The Hawk is a fantastic little bike that was way abead of its time. Obviously, like most here I'm loving the CB1100, but I'm really looking forward to spending more time with the bike as it crosses the threshold from "new bike" to "old friend". Just like my Hawk GT.

 

[the Ferret]

The Hawk GT was a neat little bike Guth. I've got a friend who had one who let me ride it. Boogers will hang.

 

[ChipBeck_imp]

Gentlemen,

When I was 11 years old I bought a brand new Briggs & Stratten 3hp mini bike. Rode the wheels off of it on the street and on the trails. At that age I was the king of the world on that little bike and it was unbelievably fun. At age 13 I bought a Honda Trail 70 4-speed with a manual clutch. Top speed was 46 mph. My dad got license plates for it and I rode it all over central Arizona and never got caught (I obviously had no drivers license). That little bike was bullet proof and I wish I still had it. My first real motorcycle was a Honda SL100. On my 16th birthday I took my riders test on it and was finally legal to ride on the roads. I raced both Enduro's and Desert Races on that bike and it will always be a favorite. My first brand new Harley Davidson Sportster (1978) took me on my first long multi state road trips with good friends. It was a chick magnet and I had a blast on it. Every motorcycle I've owned since then, and it's been a bunch of them, have been attempts to recapture the magic of those first bikes. Some came closer than others.

So I guess for me my favorite bikes are special because of the experiences I had on them and memories associated with them. It wasn't because of their beauty or technical brilliance. Though I've owned many finer machines, those early bikes will always be my favorites. Cheers.

Chip

 

[the Ferret]

Neat way of looking at it Chip. I cant believe you races enduros and desert rces on an SL 100 although I should cause I raced enduros and motocross on a Yamaha LT 100 lol

My first street bike was a new 1965 50 cc Aermacchi badged Harley Davidson 2 stroke single with the 3 speed shifter in the left grip. It would run 55 mph flat out which is how I ran it most of the time lol. Today Im riding an 1140 cc inline 4 and most of the time I'm still riding around at 55 mph. Go figure. The little bike was a milestone bike for me and holds sentimental value but it certainly wasn't one of my favorites. Italians make quirky motorcycles. I found one at a dealer a couple years ago. They wanted $3400 for it. I think I paid $ 318 brand new for mine.

 

[wildezt_imp]

The Yamaha RD350 is one bike which i can never forget... the sound of that Two stroke Twin engine revving was like rock music..had a lot of fun with it in my early biking days..

 

[OldF7Guy_imp]

My first real motorcycle was a 1975 Kawasaki 175 F7 Enduro. I bought it from my neighbor in 1978 for 500 bucks and that was a lot of money back in the day. It only had 600 miles on it. Sold new for 850 I think in 1975. I took my motorcycle test on it. I rode it all over hells half acre including lots of off road stuff. It was dead reliable in over 15K miles. I was so skinny back then that it felt like this thing would just fly. Ran an indicated 80 mph wide open on flat ground. It will always hold a special place in my heart. Boy, I sure miss those older 2 strokes.

 

[The Spaceman_imp]

My favorite was my 77 Low Rider. I bought it in 92 for $7k, and sold it in 08 to a collector from Japan for enough to cover the down payment on my house and buy a new DL1000 outright.

In between I had a LOT of fun on that bike. And a LOT of frustration...

 

[mrhonda1987_imp]

Probably my 919, my CB750K5 and my C70 Passport. I loves me a Super Cub.

 

[TooManyToys_imp]

I have had about 15 motorcycles in the last 12 years. By far my favorite was my 05 Kawasaki ZRX1200R, which I bought with zero miles from a collector in 08.

Still kicking myself for selling it.......

Had a Triumph Street Triple after that, still kicking myself for selling that one too!

I plan to pick up a CB1100 in the next week or two!

 

[the Ferret]

Welcome TMT..the ZRX's seem to draw a lot of compliments from " previous owners" lol.

Like my first Yamaha FZ-1, sold it, regretted it, and went out and found another just like it. Sold it to buy the CB 11 lol

 

[Guth_imp]

TMT, maybe you should have considered "SoldTooManyToys" for a user name.

All in good fun of course, it's nice to have you here!

 

[Jim21680_imp]

Favorite bikes? I had to think about this one for a bit, and I've come up with some solid results.

The SV650 and CB1100 are certainly on top of the list, and they're the only two that I've actually owned. Others I would have to include would be:

BMW R1200GS. (Let's face it, the bike is a freaking legend).
Honda RC-51
Aprilia SL1000 Falco
Ducati 916/996

And heck, I'll even throw in the HD Night Train, and the Gold Wing. (I would never buy either of these though).
I certainly have a thing for the V-twins

 

[The Spaceman_imp]

The Yamaha RD350 is one bike which i can never forget... the sound of that Two stroke Twin engine revving was like rock music..had a lot of fun with it in my early biking days..

My first bike was the R5 350, which was the predecessor to the RD. My Dad figured "its just a 350, how dangerous can it be?". Neither of us knew the damn thing would leave a CB 750 in the weeds. Unfortunately there was no MSF etc in those days, do I leared to ride by pushing it till I crashed!

Fun times those were.

 

[the Ferret]

My dad had a 72 R5. he was in his 60s at the time ( about my age now lol ) and the bike was too high strung for him so be bought a 73 CB350 F, a nice docile 4 stroke. Anyhow my brother and I were out on our own by then and dad rolled the R5 out in the front yard and put a 4 sale sign on it. A guy came " walking" down the street and stopped and looked at the bike. He asked my dad if he could take it for a test ride. My dad agreed but siad he would have to follow along (on the CB). When they took off the guy on the R5 took off like a bat out of hell and quickly lost my dad. Dad went home and waited but the guy never came back. He called us brothers and told us what happened. We figured the bike was gone. A couple days later the police from Gatlinberg Tenn called my dad to see if he was the owner of an orqnge and black Yamaha (we live in Ohio). They found it lying in a ditch out of gas. We took a car and trailer down there and picked it up. Dad was more cautious after that and we always made sure one of us was there when dad was selling something.