Past Loves....any Bikes You've Loved And Lost And Wish You Still Had..

For me it’s my 2nd bike a 1985 rz500 and my 4th bike a 2001 cbr929.
The rz had such a fun powerband and the cbr was such an easy, confidence inspiring bike to ride

 

I know. It make TOTAL sense, MrB! It's very important to have the correct motorcycle to go with ones jacket style. Or is it the other way around? If only I had a bigger garage...along with a larger bank account. Then I'd most definitely have a Thruxton in the stable.

 

Get that Lewis Leathers jacket out and resurrected, @Pegscraper! And let's see some photos of it, too.

 

I’ve been fortunate to own some terrific, charismatic motorcycles—I’d consider a 2002 R1, an R1100S, and a 2007 Tuono among them. But they have come and gone and the only bike that I’m disappointed that I sold is this one.

Aprilia 2001 Mille R.

it wasn’t as fast as some, wasn’t perfect. It may sound silly, but there was just something about it. It struck a romantic, emotional chord with me and I miss it.

 

That’s because Mille’s have character & soul, the early R models were beautifully made.
They are not to everyone’s liking, people seem to love them or hate them, I love them, I have had 3 including my current race bike, & also owned a Tuono.

 

The 450 had more than its fair share of limitations but was incredibly well made and well if there's a chance Joanna Lumley sat on it before me.....

 

Wow this is, at least for me, a very philosophical thread. Thinking of which bike I miss, I realize I do not, and makes me go back and think... why ? I am now a completely different person from what I used to be, before a big thing happened in my life , where I lost everything material to the last penny and way into negative numbers, and lost the ability to literaly see, and help my sons as wanted and needed. I recovered from that fully, although there are scars, ugly scars, like te ability to thrust anyone, and the love for material things, for which I find no attachments anymore. I could loose everything again, and feel no pain and maybe even enjoy the challenges that come with that. I met the most living angels when I had nothing and have met none having everything, you guess / do know why. But to be fair, I had a bike I loved a lot, a 1989 Ninja 250 that I owned when I was in the Navy, that bike saved my sanity then, she was my friend during bad times. That bike was almost given to me by a super rich guy who almost gave it to me, he would have taken one dollar for it if thats what I had offer, I guess he felt my pain and my need then, and I got that little jewel with 300 miles on the odometer for a few hundred bucks, and I rode it like forever and the little thing never ever even showed the slightest fault. So cheers to a bike, a piece of metal and rubber and plastic that can be a friend and I guarantee, better than any pill or Dr. therapy...

 

I had one of my sons dirtbike stolen while in my care, and man I got pissed off !!! It was a KX100, and I got so mad tears of fire were coming out of my eyes. I looked for that bike for months, and I knew it well, I custom made the rear brake pedal and the shift lever myself for my son as a gift, they were like the original, but hand made, I could have recognized them from a mile away since I made them by hand in my shop. I am lucky I never found the thieve, I would be in jail and he, in hell...

 

Everyone will have trauma in their life, of one sort or another and to different degrees and will react to it in their own way. I'm no exception and agree 100% on the "bike therapy" you mention. It's certainly not the complete answer but I've often found the option of jumping on the bike and disappearing for a few hours a great help. JMO

 

This is exactly how I felt when the XR was nicked from the drive, made worse by the fact that I missed them by minutes but that's all it takes of course. When it turned up at a local bike shop they recognised it instantly, as I was often in there for parts etc, and phoned me. It turned out that a guy had bought it from another guy in a Pub " in all innocence", with no No. plate, no VIN plate and a broken steering lock. Yeah right. He'd come of it riding offroad, twisted the forks and took it in for repair. The upshot was he lost the bike, the £750 he paid for it and I was paid out after it was written off.

 

I did the same with tape on the rear end. Here's my '95 at the TT that year. Who says you can't carry luggage on a sports bike.

 

I guess that's basically an RD500? A biking mate and myself went on a Suzuki open day at a local dealer in '86, I rode the a GRXR1100 (the first, slab sided model) and he rode an RG500. Back at the dealer he both moaned and raved about the power band. I followed him on the route and nearly p****d myself when he almost flipped it at a hump back bridge! The 1100 I rode had a horrible gearbox (turned out it had a damaged selector fork) which was a shame because it was a missile.

 

My appologies for my ignorance, but what is that “bucket” looking device on top of the CBR luggage ? Pls pls don’t tell me is a porta potty !!!!!

 

I have possibly posted this on here before, but in a moment of madness I swapped this and have regretted it since.

 

And I never learned, I recently sold probably the most complete bike I have owned (kicks himself again)

 

No, you can rest easy. I bought it over there to give the bikes a midweek wash. We did a bit of exploring on the Island's back roads and got them covered in cow shite. I was fully expecting to leave it over there but when packing to leave I just thought, "to hell with it, it's cost me £1.50, it's going home!".

 

This little beauty wasn't sold, it was written off just 3 weeks after I bought it , hit some spilled diesel on the exit of a roundabout in Basingstoke & went flying down the road on my arse!
I was just getting acquainted with the RC8 which was a stunning Motorcycle & drew a crowd when you stopped.

On the plus side, the accident convinced me to stop riding like a tw@t on the road & start clubman racing, this was in part funded by the money from the insurance payoff, so every cloud eh!

 

Good on Ya Bad Billy. It took 3 accidents and numerous near misses to convince me.

 

I think it is what we call in the trade....

A Bucket.