KB - The greatest-ever motorcycles

[Bartman10]

Gixxer 7 fiddy of course

[k14]

Honda CX500.....yeah baby

Oh no, not another one

Do you keep miscellaneous old parts in your drawer next to your bed too?

[Sniper]

Honda CX500.....yeah baby

Oh god, encourage dangerous... bad idea.

[Pixie]

The Britten.

Not a refinement of a previous design, it was designed from the ground up as a purpose built race bike, the way John Britten thought it should be done.

Things that turned out to be revolutionary in the eyes of the motorcycling world were simply "the best way" according to John - a good enough reason to do it that way.

The fact I think it's dead sexy and the guy who built it is an understated engineer with native cunning, and an absolute legend possibly bias my views - but I'm sticking to them.

Front suspension-copy of Norman Hossack's and a french designer's designs
chassis- copy of the alumininium and "plastic" fantastics created for Robert Holden by a craftsman panel beater in Wanganui.
Engine-another v-twin
"Built by a guy in his garage"-Sorry, built by a millionaire and his mates.

[James Deuce]

mattyc - I was complimenting you, not reprimanding. You done good mate!

[heavenly.talker]

Best bike ever is my Honda Magna :-)

I was betting hubby that it was going to be a GN250 though...right idea...wrong brand.

[DEATH_INC.]

cb750 first jappa good enough
Z1 first big sucka to work
Gixxer 750 first to bring racebike technology to the street
FZR thou First production bike with radials and ally beam frame (I think it was first)
I tend to agree with Pixie about the Britten,but it was a great bike that took it to the big boys none the less
That guzzi V8 was the shit too,imagine a bike back then that was as fast as a Busa...
Prolly the busafor being the first to really treaten the 200mph mark

[Macktheknife]

My vote goes to the Britten, brilliant mind, brilliant design and it beat everything else on the planet! (and a kiwi did it)
Besides that, I was hoping that the GSXR would be in there somewhere, and it would have been nice if the jet bike had been given a longer runway to see what it would really do!

[SPORK]

The correct answer is the Yamaha AG200. Now stop ye winja-ing.

[HenryDorsetCase]

Norton's RCW588 - Rotary TT racer

A phenomenal machine that blitzed all comers which forced rule changes to stop it from competing and almost single-handedly resurrected the marque.

no waaaay.

Yes Rotor Nortons are cool as, but Suzuki had a Wankel engined bike in the 70's and DKW had one in the 60's, so the technology wasnt new.

by the time the norton boys got to making the thing go, the factory was fucked, they couldnt afford to develop it, When it went well it, it went well, but the only reason it won any races was because of the way capacity limits were measured.

And the marque died soon after.

It was born again a few times but it died. Its latest incarnation (after a bunch of legal crap and ripoffs, not so many as Indian, or so much money as Excelsior-Henderson, but still) is under Kenny Dreer.

He seems to have gotten it right, and I really really like the new 961 Commando. So cool.....

Heres a couple of links:

NOrton Rotors: theres a great history section written by the insiders (and world Rotor experts...)

http://www.jpsnorton.com/

BTW there is an F1 Rotor for sale on tardme at present, and has been for some time:

http://www.trademe.co.nz/Trade-Me-Mo...n-41428292.htm

link to Kenny Dreers effort (he has been a stalwart of Norton repair and modification for years....)

http://www.nortonmotorcycles.com/default.asp

that new Commando is utterly gorgeous.


enough ranting. I dont agree with you. If Norton is to be resurrected, Dreer will do it.

[ducatilover]

Front suspension-copy of Norman Hossack's and a french designer's designs
chassis- copy of the alumininium and "plastic" fantastics created for Robert Holden by a craftsman panel beater in Wanganui.
Engine-another v-twin
"Built by a guy in his garage"-Sorry, built by a millionaire and his mates.

lol, can you do better mate?

[Ivan]

that bike was so so soooo cool- i just read the articl in an old two wheels mag this morning it sucks that it is no londer racing,

they recon that it made over 135bhp but norton couldnt tell cause their dyno only went up to 100bhp lol

bring back the norton rota

AHHHHH FUCK another rotary freak I cant seem to get away with them H0nda RS125 mate why they fucken fast and i race one

[HenryDorsetCase]

My top 10 and why:

1. Honda CB750: it invented the superbike category. In fact still useable today (though I have sold mine, and have the 400).

2. Honda RC166: all conquering 60's GP racer. 6cylinder 250cc... that sound is amazing. Hailwood rode one. Need I say more?

3. Evo Harleys: the most successful management buy out in history? HD is a billion dollar company now, and their branding and cynical trading on an image they didnt want (but is now cool) is second to none. Have to admire that somewhere under the layers of harleyness there might be an actual usable motorcycle... say an XL1200R ?

4. ManX Norton: One of the most successful racing motorbikes ever, and soooo pretty.

5. Yamaha Midnight Special XS650: invented the metric cruiser. Not a bad actual motorbike. too bad it spawned a generation of luxo barge HD wannabes.

6. Honda CBX: Iramajiri-san's RC166 magnified, and put on the street. One of my earliest motorcycling memories is hearing one being wound up and it was amazing... one of the first things to ever make me notice motorcycles.

7. Hank Youngs "Flying Pan" bobber: its my list, and I think this is one of the best looking bikes I have ever ever seen. www.youngschoppers.com

8. Norton Commando 750: the other of the best looking bikes ever built. One day I will own one. (hopefully I won't be like James May when he drove the Lambo Countach which had been his dream car....)

9. Honda VF750F: before the GSXR and built because Superbike rules changed: they had to have stock frames, swingarms forks (I think) and engines. All of a sudden, if your street bike was shit, no way would your race bike go. One of the first "modern" (CAD) motorbikes. I have one for sale presently.

10. BMW R90G/S: f*n cool (white and blue with a red seat...yeah baby!) also it went OK, and invented a whole category. I want one.



so that is my totally subjective list.

flame away.

[marty]

in no particular order...

Britten - just because.
the RG250/350/500 range - in my limited experience the first of the outrageous 2 stroke race reps.
Honda C50 stepthru (esp the ones with wooden pistons that run on avgas...) everyone has had one of these.
Hayabusa - as someone said - because Suzuki said 'fuck it', and built a monster.

[nsrpaul]

nsr250 , nothing else compares really