Lots of debate over good cars and I was wondering how many of you like to ride and what your choices are?

Bikes are fun. Actually prefer a bike over a car if the weather is good. Current rides are in 2012 Kawasaki Concours 1400 and just picked up a 2013 Triumph Tiger 800 XC. In many ways the Triumph is more fun than the Concours.
Visit the local BMW dealership once a month and drool over the 1600 GTL and some day one of these will follow me home.

I tired cruisers but lost interest due to their lack of handling and slow speeds. Have owned a couple of Goldwings and did one solo ride from Kentucky to Alaska in 7 days which stays in my memory as the best ride ever.

About the only style of bike I never owned was a crotch rocket and I have no plans to try one now as these old back and shoulder muscles don't like to bend like a pretzel.

Harley, of course. It has a 120 inch R motor. Back tire horsepower was 130.7 this spring, and 130.06ft/lbs of torque. Canyon cruiser it ain't, but it ain't slow either. At 64 I'm more interested in the cruise, and club runs.

However, my last bike was a 2007 ZX-12R, so I understand the need for speed...

Got my first bike aged 12 (Royal Enfield 700 Constellation) & sold what I thought was my last one (1980 Honda CB900F) aged 54 & thought that was it.

Earlier this year, I decided I needed a little bike that would fit in the back of the car & bought THIS. As small as it is, it's more fun than a barrel full of drunken monkeys!

It has however also made me decide to start looking foranother classic for me to restore...... Ideally, I'd like another Constellation so my last bike will be the same as my first.

Whether or not I'll be able to find one is a different matter though.

I used to ride an 03 Honda GL1800 gold wing until June 25 of 2011. Put my bike down after a run in with 2 bears on the highway. First accident in about 300,000 miles that I am still recovering from. That was enough for me!

had a Honda ST1100 for a few years. Sold it for a Mazda Miata! Now I have a hankering for a Kawasaki Concours or perhaps a Honda VTX. Not sure whether I want to die or not!
Peter.

97 Harley Road King -- warmed up evo motor .

1998 Harley FatBoy. The EVO 80 CI engine is factory (and reliable), however it has loads of "Harley" chrome on it along with the factory custom colors Burnt Orange & Birch White. Quite striking, actually. 14,000 miles on it...barely broken in! I am thinking of purchasing a new UltraGlide within the next year or two for some longer touring rides I want to do.

WoodrowS,

give the twin cooled models a year to sort any gremlins that might arise.

I had to negotiate the motor first. Then the Led head and tail light. Now, in the spring, comes the bling...

Homemade Harley with 120hp 113cui v twin.

Parts from over 20different bikes incuding my 1976 Montesa MX bike;

Used the brake support arm!

Took me 5 years to built. finished in 2005. Did everything but the paint myself.

Got off of Harleys after fifty years of ridin' them. Bought a BMW R1200RT. I've put 5000 miles on it since August. Yeah, I live in Las Vegas. Clear and sunny today, plus I wear Gerbing electric clothes.

I've been all over the board with bikes...BMW, Harley, Ducati, you name it. Right now I have an 06 Honda CBR 1000RR, an 08 Yamaha Royal Star Tour Deluxe, and a restored 1971 Moto Guzzi Eldorado LAPD Police Bike Dresser. Go figure :-)

quote:

Originally posted by poprivit:
Got off of Harleys after fifty years of ridin' them. Bought a BMW R1200RT. I've put 5000 miles on it since August. Yeah, I live in Las Vegas. Clear and sunny today, plus I wear Gerbing electric clothes.

I've had several BMs over the years with the last being a R1100RT...... loved it to bits but it did develop a fair number of irritating minor corrosion problems.... However, they didn't quibble & changed everything as soon as the issues were raised.

Never been able to get my head around what people see in Harleys so never owned one but the odd thing is I really like the Indians.... Quite how that can be, I have no idea!LOL

HD just has the mystique. Most of the time when I'd stop for gas, somebody would walk over and tell me a family HD story. Many times it would be a WWII or Korean War Vet who rode one during their war. This summer I had one elderly gentleman walk over and pull his wallet out. He showed me a picture of him in uniform on his HD with a Thompson in a fork scabbard. His wife walked over to get him, and then I heard stories about how he couldn't buy a car and do GI Bill so they dated, and even honeymooned on his bike.

They both had that faraway look in their eyes, and a tear.

Harley is one of the last American Icons, six generations worth...

One of their virtues is you do not have to break the speed limit to enjoy a couple hours ride. Just ride somewhere, get a pop, refuel and ride back home. And my HD dealership sponsors a ride every Saturday somewhere. Generally, a ride for some charity. Meet there, admire others tricked out rides, admire the scantily clad young ladies (of all ages) and then a ride somewhere.

I ride a 1974 CB200, inexpensive to run although marginal on freeways. The carpool lane is verboten, must be able to do 80 mph on demand.

There is one thing you can count on with a Harley that you don't get with any other make bike. If you are broke down along the highway, you won't even have time to dig your cell out of your pocket before someone (many times a non-biker) pulls over to provide whatever assistance they can. With the Jap and Euro bikes, plan on pushing it to the nearest service station before anyone offers to help. I have seen and heard this enough times to state this as fact...there is a certain and definite mystique about the Harley Davidson bike AND rider that people just want to associate with. I can't stop anywhere without someone commenting on my H-D...you just don't get that with the others. I do however, think the new Triump's are cool and sound fantastic. Indian's.....only the newer version with their OWN motor...but they always seem to be on the "rock's" business-wise and may not present a wise investment as far as parts availability and service. I'm not sure if they are even in business right now even..but I do see a newer one around here and there. Too costly and risky for that price tag...last I seen them marketed was about 6-7 years ago and they started at $22,000 bare.

Indian may have a shot, despite the general market and economy. A long shot, iirc, but Polaris bought them last year.

Their marketing is barking up the wrong tree, with the BS about being the oldest American Motorcycles. They might be, if you discount the time from the liquidation bankruptcy in 1953 until the Taiwanese 2-stroke dirt bikes in the late seventies, then the gap to about 6-7 years ago with S&S HD clone motors and trannys.

Rich

I've just got an old (1981) Honda CB900C. It's a "10 speed," with 5 speed transmission and a 2 speed subtranny. It might sound like a gimmick but the 2 speed subtransmission is actually a useful feature that's unique to the 900.

As for Harleys, I've been thinking about a 2004 or newer Sportster with the rubber mounted Evo engine. I like the looks, size and, for lack of a better term, purpose of the Sporty. The belt drive seems to be a great comprimise betweeen the weight of a shaft drive and maintenance of a chain. There are a lot of clean, low mileage Sportsters available at reasonable prices. (New is beyond my budget. Most of my discretionary income goes to hunting.)

I can't understand the hatred for Sportsters, especially among so-called Harley enthuasists. Any time I talk or ask about a Sportster I hear the same things:

"It's just a starter bike that you'll want to trade in after a few months." (I keep my stuff until it doesn't work anymore. I've owned my 900 for 7 years.)

"Sportsters are chick/bitch bikes." (Don't chicks ride Big Twins, too?)

"You'll look like a monkey riding a tricycle." (I don't care what I look like riding it. It's a motorcycle, not a fashion accessory.)

ETC, ETC.

NEVER ONCE have I heard anything like "Go for it, a Sportster is still a Harley and welcome to the family."

I'm not into the whole "Harley lifestyle" thing. I just want to ride. My shoulder is ruined so I don't relish the thought of muscling a 900 lb. big twin around in slow traffic.

Can somebody please explain the Sportster hatred?

99 HD Wide glide I did a ton of work on only to become garage art with the invention of texting and then driving and texting. No more scooter time where I live and the idiots driving and texting. Maybe one day.. I have converted to roadsters for entertainment and fun ( BMW Z4M, BMW Z8 and Austin Healy 3000). Not quite the same, but.....
I miss riding my bike

I just never felt an attachment to Harleys. IMO they are to slow and expensive.
At one point in my life I tried to force myself to like them but that failed miserably after test riding two different models, one being a Sportster. The lack of braking power scared the shit out of me.
As much as I love a fast bike also like comfort and bought my first Gold Wing when I was only 31. After my last one (2005 model) even the Wings were to slow and sold it.
Buy what you like and ride it, the point is to enjoy what you are doing. Some of the Harleys on the market are real eye candy but without performance and handling they simply are not my style.

As far as being stranded and needing help. Never broke down once in 40 years of riding jap bikes. But I have stopped and helped any biker who needed it.

Sportys are cool.

The only times (twice) I have been stranded were:

1. KZ-900 back in 1997. Flat front tire.

2. GL-1200 Interstate in 1985. Coil shorted out.

I seldom run twice the speed limit anymore. I gave that up seven years ago when I sold my Muzzy kitted ZX-12R. 90% of the fatalities I read about here are squids on crotch rockets.