Featured Your Motorbike History?

Wow, @Iceman! I suspect that is the forum "record" for sheer numbers!

 

We'll look forward to photos of that new Thruxton RS, @Jage!

 

Love the photos, @Wfc-james!

 

The 500 RD was a beast, when I had my RD 350 YPVS my mate skipped the 350 and went for the 500 RD, my god that thing was on another level what a machine

 

My bike's in order , started in 1981.
Honda CB 500 4
Suzuki GSX 750 ~79/80 model square tank
Laverda RGS 1000 1983
Gap of 6 yrs
Triumph Trident (t300) 1984
Triumph Sprint 955 1999
Triumph Sprint 955 2000 in 2003
Then had the Trident and 2000Sprint + a non running 1984 Laverda RGS 1000 + a 1942 BSA M20 (500cc) running , a found on tip '70's era Yamaha 750 cc triple (seized motor) got the motor un-seized , took 18 months ! Got it running !!
Sold Laverda to a mate (running ! Just) gave the Yamaha to a fellow vintage vehicle enthusiast !
Swapped sprint .
Triumph America 865 (2008) still own it.
Have just last year bought Honda Hornet 916cc ? 06/08 model
That's me all done and dusted, 42 yrs and 12 bike's , average length of ownership 8~ yrs .

cheers capt

 

I started my "career" as a biker in 1990 with a license training bike, a Suzuki GN 250.



After this short time I rented a Suzuki Bandit 600 for a weekend. It was interesting to ride, because I was to tall for it and after a two hundred kilometers ride I felt like coming down from a time machine with the age of a very old man.



Then I got the opportunity to lean the second bike of my mother's friend for some trips, a Suzuki Intruder 1500. After a while I was able to buy it from him.



This bike was really a great bike. Only the fuel tank was to small to ride more then 200 km with it.

Due to family business I stopped biking from 1992 to 2011.

In 2011 I started a masters degree and used a Piaggio Fly 125 to reach the campus until 2013.



After this Piaggio-interval a had a second biking break until 2018.

In autumn 2018 I started my actual biker career with a Yamaha SCR 950. A really cool bike with interesting sound. Only negative point. The small fuel tank.



After 13 months and 26.000 km I switched to a Honda CB 1100 EX. This was a "rebuild" of the former Honda 750. It was very smooth to ride and I really enjoyed it for 15.000 km.



To reach our destinations in a more comfortable way I switched to a Triumph Tiger 1200. I loved the bike for 35.000 km in about 2 years of riding. Only issue with it was the weight.





Therefore I switched end of July 2022 to my actual Honda NT-1100. I love it. Smooth to ride, comfortable and about 50 kg less weight in comparison to my former Tiger.



As an additional 2nd bike I am riding a Triumph T120 Black Edition since April 2022 too. This is my short trip and weekend bike. I love it!



Since autumn 2018 I rode more then 103.000 km on my bikes through Europe.

 

If I'm to avoid making this into a long, rambling and very boring story about my past, my present, my adventures and my bikes, I will present my history of ownership as a simple list. I must also state upfront that the bikes I've listed below are those I can recall - I have a VERY poor memory and have revisited my list several times over the last few days to add the "oh, yes, I forgot I had one of those" entries.

It's also worth me clarifying that part of the reason that the list is so long - and rambling - is that I'm within days of (I hope!) hitting my 73rd birthday and have ridden one or other motorcycle - usually, but not necessarily, one of mine - at least once in every year since I first took two wheels to the road (legally ) in April 1966 - that's a 57 year unbroken history of an undying and unalloyed obsession with owning and riding motorcycles!

I did start to try to list the bikes in some form of chronology but, quite apart from a sadly deficient memory, there were various overlaps where I owned and rode motorcycles in the US as well as in the UK and it became way too complicated for my tiny brain to manage. So, a straightforward, boring list would be best to 'keep it simple' with the additional point of note being that my current stable consists of at least 14 (I'm not sure of the exact number for reasons I won't go into here) machines in a widely varying state of dilapidation. At least 9 of my current 'fleet' are Hinckley Triumphs - I'm counting the 2010 Street Triple 675 as Hinckley.

So, for ease of my memory and to save you all from some tediously long back stories, I'll just list them by manufacturer, German; Italian; Japanese - then the rest are the best!


BMW R65LS
K75S

Benelli 504

Moto Guzzi V1000 I-Convert

CB500/4
CX650 Eurosport
GL1200 LE (X3)
GL650 Silver WIng
XL250 K2 Motorsport

GPz600R
STR1000 CONCOURS

GS850G

RD350LC
DT125E
XS750

AJS250

ARIEL ARROW 250

BSA A75R Rocket 3

750 COMMANDO Roadster
750 COMMANDO Interstate (X2)

T110 (pre-unit w/slickshift)
3TA
T120 (X2)
T160
TR6R (X2)
TRIDENT 900 (X4)
TIGER 900
DAYTONA 750
DAYTONA 900
SPEED TRIPLE (X2)
SPRINT EXEC
STREET TRIPLE 675
THUNDERBIRD SPORT
TIGER 800

TRITON P/U 650 (x1.5!)

 

Oh the CX650 Eurosport was going to be the next bike after the 400 Superdream for me. It had the look of the CX turbo without the engineering lunacy, the run all day / all year development that had made the CX 500 the courier weapon of choice back in the day and no chain to maintain.

I'd still love to own one.

 

Here are a couple of photos of my bikes in the past 3 years. One I bought new in 2007 and only used it for touring Scotland, I had a number of machines at the same time, the Triumph Sprint RS 955I, I bought as a new old stock in 07, it was the last of that model (2004) and was under a sheet at the rear of the showroom at the Motorcycle Centre Orrell Wigan, I paid £5000, part ex a first generation TT600 with 3,000 miles on it, I then exchanged my Speed Triple 955i with ultra low mileage for an equally low mileage Street Triple 675R in white, it had all the extras you could want (£2500) worth, I then gave my youngest son my RS as he always liked it, he gave me his CBR 600f, although I wanted him to keep it as well, this had 6,000 miles on and was all 100% standard, I then passed it to my brother in law. My youngest son then fancied a change so I took it back and gave him a Speed Triple 1050, I sold the 675R to Philip Youles at Blackburn for £4200 (I did offer it to forum members but no takers), although one nice forum chap bought my Honda Transalp, I let that go for £1000. I then swapped my 1955 T100 that I restored, for a new Street Triple 765rs in matt black from Youles in September 2019, they had the machine in their showroom before selling it to a young enthusiast. I got fed up cleaning the matt black and traded it back in for another new Street Triple 765rs from Youles in September 2020. I am currently debating buying a Ducati Streetfighter V2, however I am at the KickBack show in Manchester next weekend so my love of custom choppers may be rekindled. I intend keeping the Silver Ice Street Triple 765rs, I have put a lot of time and money into this and it is completely transformed, although it was a fantastic machine to start with. I will upload more photos as I come across them, I think I have some from my DBD34 from the sixties, although sadly none of my first bike, a WW2 ex dispatch riders machine. Ride safe all from an ageing Rocker.

 

Great pictures, just got me thinking looking at your Striple’s, my only issue as it stands with my 23 plate R the exhaust is one piece from headers to end can, so can’t simply wack on an end-can. Not sure if any exhaust manufacturers have or will be doing something for my model?

 

Yes a number of manufacturers are doing them, not as a one piece but headers and rear can. The new single cat exhaust for 2023 is designed to boost power and increase thrust, the previous models had 2 cats, header and tail pipe.

 

I thought it could/will be done, left with standard pipe on is a little quite so will look into replacing when warranty has expired hopefully

 

2019 and 300 miles on the clock - can’t wait for it to get here.

 

Amazing and awesome, @Adie P! What an amazing motorcycle history you have had. And I wish you a very, very happy 73rd birthday!

 

How in the world and somebody only ride that beautiful bike 300 miles?! That will forever be one of God’s own mysteries.

 

Hey Sandi! Thank you SO much for the birthday wishes - most kind and thoughtful of you! Much appreciated.

I don't, in all honesty, think that my motorcycle history is "amazing" as such, but there are back stories behind much of that history that do (or might) make for an interesting read - from a black bear in Tennessee to a tornado in North Dakota; from crossing the (unpaved) Haast Pass in New Zealand's Southern Alps on an overladen Suzuki VX in a tropical rainstorm, to crossing Death Valley in August on an air cooled Commando; from the rawness and rowdiness of a fairly delapidated, 8 year old Triumph 650 twin on a daily 25 mile commute to work; to the plush, 600 miles a day comfort of a GL1200LE sat on I-10 with cruise on at 75 per!

I haven't (by any means!) seen it all, though I HAVE seen a lot - and I haven't finished yet - but the very best of everything I've seen and done has involved, in one way or another, motorcycles! I know that it can't last forever and that there'll come a time when I can no longer ride anything, let alone the machines that are my pride, my passion - my person, but I will, without a doubt, own a Triumph until my very last breath and I'll enjoy just looking at it and remembering what little I can with the very deepest of pride and joy.

Here endeth today's sermon ..........................................

 

Thank you so much, Dawsy, for your kind words and, of course, for the birhday wishes - it's a week or so away but I'll (try to!) remember your well-wishes.

I think most of us only ever 'scratch the surface' of the wider world and endless opportunities opened up by motorcycling - especially when you compare our adventures to the likes of Nick SANDERS et al. - but whatever we do on a motorcycle almost invariably brings its own joys, rewards, pleasures - and pain! I hope you continue to safely scratch away at that surface for many miles and many years to come!

 

A belated happy birthday, @Adie P - without a doubt you embody what this wonderful way of life is all about. We're lucky to have you with us on here.

 

Slightly off topic but couldn’t figure a way to send this directly
@Wfc-james - here you go
@Adie P Belated Happy Birthday wishes to you!

 

What a great thread.

I started pottering about on a scooter that was gifted to me as a non runner in 1987, I can’t even remember what it was?
Since then I have had several breaks in my riding journey but am now well and truly back on the saddle and loving my T120 black.

Honda XL125
Suzuki GS500
Yamaha XV 1000 Virago
Kawasaki ZZR 600
Triumph ST 1050
Victory Vegas 1700
BMW R1200 GS
Honda CB750
BMW 9RT
Triumph Bonneville T120 Black