There's a bike I`ve hankered after for years and I think I'm going to pull the trigger tomorrow so thought I'd add it to the thread. Maybe not great to all but it's certainly has me drawn to it. Last time I went to buy one I poofed out and bought a Hornet. I'll be the first to admit my riding skills are pretty average and I ride defensively and safe so I`ll never push to it anywhere near it's limits. I know there's faster and better out there but they don't interest me. The bike in question , and there's a few good ones to choose from is the XJR1300. If I buy it I`ll whack up a picture.
Yep, they buy crap bikes in job lots. The Torny was cutting out on the test ride but the cranks on both throttle cables were broken and they said theyd replace them. Got 12 miles and the engine went. You want to sell a bike, they give you a price and when you turn up with it, they offer you 20% or so less and tell you thats the best you'll get. And they sneer if you want to pay in full. They want people desperate enough to buy or sell that they can rip off. Pure scum and villainy.
The XJR1300 is a very nice bike indeed. I helped a mate buy one recently. Comfortable, good handler, docile when you want it that way and pulls like the proverbial steam train when asked - really good machine. Just a bit heavy on the go-go juice.
Aren't all bikes brilliant ???? I have loved and cherished all of mine, Honda VT125, SV650 k9, GSXR 750 k7, Triumph America and KTM250 EXC-racing. All for different reasons, Honda was my first, so you gotta love it and the build quality was fantastic, SV my first big bike and everyone knows they are an excellent bike with one of the best engines going, Gixxer was just mental and handled unreal, Triumph is gorgeous to look at, tours two up great and the KTM is a bloody riot on and off road and the engineering is fantastic. I think title should be BIKES are GREAT!
The bike that made the biggest impression on me was my GPZ900R in 1984. A real game changer. My favourite all time bike is my FJR1300. My other half and me have been as far as Istanbul and have seen much of Europe on it. It's fast, reliable and 500 miles in a day isn't always enough. Apart from regular servicing and a horrendous appetite for tyres the only thing that's failed was a headlight bulb.
Well, I finally got there. I have a white 13k miles 2009 XJR1300 coming in a week or so. Nearly faltered again and bought a TDM900 for my commute but at the last moment I thought `fuck it` and grew some nuts.
Ha, that's brill I have a similar pic somewhere of me on my AP50 with equally long stemmed mirrors. Back end of the 70's eh? Fabulous. Most of us had AP50's and FS1E's except two mates, one had a Malaguti and the other a Fantic Cabalerro. They were a bit fragile and hard to get spares for but were damn quick between seizures.
I know you old guys are going to hate me for this, but I have to say it Great bikes ???? Or crappy little two-strokes that were slow as hell, didn't handle and broke down lots ???? I know you old bikers reminisce about these crappy wee bikes, but they are not great ! A new rieju or Aprilia 50, would kick it's arse. If you were to go and ride one now, you would hate it. You probably had Great Times on them, but honestly - were they great bikes ????? Two experiences of these wee bikes:- -Had a friend of a friend bought a FS1E, spent a bloody fortune on it, rode it once, hated it for being so slow and gutless with crap brakes and crap handling, sold it within a month and lost half his money !!!! -Charity run- some bloke on AP50 couldn't get it to start, when it did it smoked like a chimney and stunk to high hell, was so slow , back marker passed him and left to make his own way in. Friend of mine, had one as a lad and commented - "yeah, mine was as crap, but I still loved it, back in the day". Let the abuse commence !!!
Let the hater's hate, I wasn't even into bikes back in the day, so I just look at them as crappy old bikes !!!! Sorry if that offends you
For me the single best thing about this forum is that peeps treat each other with respect. All of us may have different opinions about a given subject, but accept that we all have our own view based on our own life experience.
I never had a moped in the seventies but I had an S1 Kawasaki 250 triple which was quick at times but more often than not wasn't running on all cylinders. It was my first road bike as a 17 year old and by modern standards would be considered fairly crap but fond memories. I bought a Suzuki GT500 a couple of years ago and that wasn't a performance bike back in the day, but when I ride it I've got a massive smile on my face. Got the wife out on the back of it recently and she loves it too. Agree that KTM smokers are great. I raced 250exc's (badly) on Scottish enduros for 10 years and broke a few bones but loved every minute of it.
My first bike was a BSA C15 when stationed at Kinloss in 1971, chugged around Moray on it very happily, it leaked, was underpowered and needed constant fettling, is the BSA C15 a "great" bike, probably not, do I think it was a great bike, yes, I loved it and it led to another twelve bikes over the next 45 years, so from that point of view it was a great bike. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, both of these are great bikes.
My 50cc FS1E Was certainly a great bike to the 16 year old me. Got me to work reliability for a year (5000 miles) which gave me enough cash to buy my RD 250LC another great two stroke. The FS1E, AP 50, SS50' S were also special to us older guys as they were the last unrestricted power 50cc machines. After these bikes 16 year olds had to put up with 30mph. Personally I love all things with two wheels and an engine, I know a group of guys who bought Honda c50 C70 and c90's to ride to Scotland and back on... a great time was had. Its very easy to go through this thread and say well this or that machine could not be described as 'Great' but honestly why would you?
Wow, listening to you guy's going on about 50cc moped's, makes me realise how lucky I was to emigrate to Australia with my family in 1975, my first bike at 18yrs old in 1980 was a Honda CB500 4, had four into four exhaust's, top speed about 160kph. It was about six or so years old when I bought it ! Had it about 6 weeks before a 4 into 1 went on it lost about 30kgs in weight and probably gained 10kph !!! It took me all up and down the Qld/NSW coast, did about 30,000klms on it as a single soldier chasing my mates on bigger faster machines. I don't think I have even seen any of the moped's and scooters you guy's are lament over in your misspent youths !!
Starting work at 15 years old and having to catch 2 buses to be there for 7.30am, I couldn't wait to get my moped at 16. I got a yellow Fantic 6 speed, my mates had 'Fizzies' and Garellis. Great days! Fantic used to melt pistons and spark plugs, flat out everywhere you went. I haven't got a clue what it did to the gallon and you didn't care, probably 50p per gallon back then.
