Every rider needs 5 bikes.

A touring bike. A crusier. A crotch rocket. A dirt bike. And something vintage that always needs work.

What does the heat tape do? I've always wanted to get it done, but it was strictly based on looks. Does it make a big difference?

Reminds me of Zed's bike from Pulp Fiction for some reason.

Because its a chopper baby.

My first bike (which I still have):



My Second Bike (my true love):

I got the 1st generation version of those pipes, so they came without any heat shields. Fine as long as you're moving, but at a stoplight it'll damn near set your pants on fire.

The tape was an attempt to keep the upper parts a little cooler, and I got a nick in the ceramic coating that was bugging me. Covered up the nick (obviously), and reduced the heat a little, but still warm.

I'm just too cheap to plunk down another $800 on a new set of pipes that look identical, but include shields.

Some cool bikes in this thread!

Thanks. Yea, my one friend who has a rice rocket told me I'd be havin probs finding one that is comfortable. I've asked him to let me take his for a ride and he laughed at me lol. Other friend as well with a rocket said "no******way". Don't have a very good track record with all things adrenaline based.

This is our licencing system here. http://www.mto.gov.on.ca/english/dan.../classes.shtml Our insurance rates for new drivers is very high and may be a big stumbling block for 2 vehicles unless I can alternate somehow.

Still got till after winter to sort it out, so.

I like this bike:

Wonder how much diff. there is in size for driving between the 650 and 1100. I think the 650 would be more sensible for a first bike.

A 650 is definitely fine for a first bike especially on a heavy ass cruiser. It'll still out accelerate 90% of cars on the road and will save you a lot on insurance as a new rider.


I'm also from ON and I definitely recommend you sign up for one of the 3 day motorcycle courses. You will learn a lot and the road test at the end has a much higher pass rate than if you just go directly through the ministry. State Farm usually has some of the best bike rates for insurance.

Agree with this. State Farm is great.

Also, for a cruiser, 650 vs 1100 isn't going to be too much different. the thing that you will notice is the weight. Most new riders mess up their bikes when stopped, not while going. A cruiser can't lean to much into turns so you will most likely be taking them slow anyway...so you have less risk of laying it down, and the power won't make too much of a difference.

Now if you were getting a standard/sport, I would say go for a 500, even 600 GSXR's are insanely fast.

Thanks for input guys. Sorry for hijack OP, just thread got me pretty excited seeing all the bikes!

More pics of sweet rides plz.

I ride 2008 gsxr1000 will post pics later

I have a 2008 Triumph Bonneville and I love it. Pics are on my old computer though. I'll post one later.

Here's a vintage entry. It's my '77 Honda CB750 Super Sport. These '70s CB750s were a little special. As the first modern four cylinder machine from a mainstream manufacturer the term Superbike was coined to describe the CB750 [Wikipedia]. The Discovery Channel ranked the Honda CB750 among the top ten greatest motorbikes of all time, giving the CB750 third place. It ran a 12.7 1/4 mile stock which was pretty much the fastest production street bike in the world in 1977.

I restored it about 10 years ago, and freshened it up a lot this year. I ride it every day. It's as fast and as fun to ride as it was when it was new.

Bob

That is a beautiful 750-4. So jealous. Pods are a nice touch too! I learned to ride on '72 CB350

This is a sweet looking bike. I could consider getting one of these.

Bob

Very nice Bob.

I love our 73 CB500 and it is not nearly that nice. All stock but it has shorty pipes which a couple owner's ago did. I am not a big fan of them tbh but have been too lazy to swap them out. Only has 13,500 miles which is great for a 36 year old bike.

Do you like the pods? When I bought by 1981 Seca 500 it had pods and I ended up getting the airbox put back on. I thought the performance got much better. But that could be down to the guy who put the pods on not doing the carbs right.

KJS

theoretically you should get more power with the pods, but it may be significantly tougher to get the jetting and carbeuration right. My brothers old KZ1000 used to run like **** in the rain after he put pods on too.

The Pods were actually put on about 25 years ago. The jets were replaced and configured at that time. I honestly have no recollection of the specs of the jets that were used, but it idles and runs great. I know a lot of people have had some difficulty with the pods and there is a lot of debate at SOHC4.NET (a great site with LOTS of people with these bikes) about using pods, but I have always been happy with them.

Thanks for the compliments. She's an old gal and definitely appreciates it :-)

Bob

For anyone looking for <200cc. This is the only way to go...

http://www.oldschoolhardknock.com/

some really sweet motorcycles itt

i grew up racing motocross, started out with my kx60 at 8 years old all the way up to kx250

love to ride, will get me a ride for the road one of these days

2008 Aprilia SL 750 Shiver. It's fast enough for me, and yeah it'll beat most cars. I think they claim 3.9 for the 0-60 time (0-100 KM I guess), but I never measured its acceleration. I actually never even had it at 9k RPM (where the HP peaks). That said, it's definitely not a liter bike as far as acceleration goes. You'd have to work a little to do a wheelie, as the nose isn't coming that far up by accident. Maybe a couple inches - that's it. It's comfortable enough to go 500 miles in a day, and is a lot of fun when it gets a little twisty out there.

I don't have any pics, but I'm not really one who cares that much about looks. You can find it on the web if you care what it looks like. I seriously just went around trying out bikes until some felt right and then picked from that set. They all happened to be nakeds, though. My legs are pretty long so it was either cruisers (which for some reason made me feel like I was sitting down to take a crap) or something like this.

If I replace this one I'll probably go for a Ducati Streetfighter. It's similar enough that I'd feel the same on it and has more power than I'd ever need. The only modification I might make to the Ape is to get a little windscreen on it to make longer rides a little easier on my body (lot of wind in the southwestern US). I thought about screwing with the gearing a little to try to get better mileage at higher cruising speeds, but I'd probably just mess it up and burn even more gas.

I'd like to hear some "dropped bike" stories so that I could avoid whatever it was that caused the drops! I only have 2k miles on my first bike, and I guess luck has shined on me thus far.

Yeah, how about some common 'things to avoid for newbies' type list? Also some basic riding dos / don'ts would be much appreciated!

I think I have decided I want a sportbike myself. A 250r Kawasaki Ninja looks like an ideal first sportbike, but they seem hard as hell to find in the UK...

Only one for me, but it could of been bad.

Pretty much the last nice day of riding weather in early Oct 2006. Rode a couple of hours from home to watch a disc golf tournament a couple of friends were playing in. Hung out with them, lingered longer at dinner than I would have liked. So I headed for home at dusk. Putting along some back country road about 40 when a deer pops out of a corn field.

Skid mark analysis later said I braked for about 20 feet (about 1/4 second at that speed), hit the deer, then the bike and I slid about 150 feet. Deer ran off. Bike totaled. I broke my wrist, cracked both elbows, burnt through my leather jacket, and flat spotted my helmet.



Take a riding class. Never be in a hurry to get anywhere. Never drink and ride. Avoid deer.

I like motorcycles..But if i ever got one I would be dead in a week