Why do you have your current bike?

[Drew]

Gotta be honest I suppose. Reason is, I've never been able to afford what I want, so I make do with what I can get. The fizzer is the closest thing to a real sports bike I've ever had. I love it, and am usually right there with the new bikes at the top of the Sunday race track, but come August, I'll be perched on something much newer, and I cant friggin wait!
As for the FJ1200, oppertunaty arose, and I snatched it up for me and my lady to do the long haul.

[Swoop]

After playing around on Yammys during the very early 80's, a workmate had a new Honda VFR - all white with the red/blue trim. Talk about the shizz......
Ooooh!
He made the bike go splat, and I took a break from the bikes.
Fast forward to today. Traffic = shit because of cheap jap imports with either a baked-bean can welded to the ehaust, a golden-pagoda-hanging-from-the-rear-view-mirror driver, or fuckwit who has to drive in the "fast lane" and cause a tail-back. Solution???
Tardme has a wide selection of bargains...
Also, those bastards who produced the bikers programme on Triangle TV immediately before the fishing programme - you have a LOT to answer for...

[Hitcher]

I don't have my "current bike". It's still not fixed.

But why do I own an ST1300? It's a mile-eating beast. Over 530km to a tank (cruises at about 19-20km/litre) and will cruise all day and all night (fantastic headlight set) and all day again. Yet great fun for those short 250km trips for brunch and coffee. Agile enough to eat twisties, strong enough to carry a pillion and all your stuff without even knowing its there. A great Honda gearbox. Loads of stopping power from those wondeful linked brakes. "No surprises" from the computerised trip management display (for those who want to know the overnight temperature in Belize and the next high tide in Windhoek).

And the minuses? The screen (mine's the 2002 model with the manual screen). The pannier locking system. It looks ugly with the panniers off. An 18" front wheel (limits your choice of tyres considerably). It's too quiet -- those Toblerone mufflers are way too efficient. No span-adjustable clutch lever. It's a pig to ride in a big crosswind (any crosswind over 90kmh makes it a real handful).

One day it shall be returned to me...

[sels1]

Had Jap trailbikes thru the teenage years, and a Kwaka 350 triple for a short while....then had the 20+ year break and got back into bikes by going back to what I was familiar with - a street legal XT Yam trailie. Then met more road riders (thru KB) so moved to an BMW F650 for more road comfort while retaining a bit of off road ability. Then family/friends started coming out on the back so started looking for something for a bigger back seat and capable of longer miles. Was considering a bigger beamer when I was saw the Triumph range....and that was it. My Tiger is a roomy 2 up bike with comfortable enduro style sit up riding position. Its fun to ride, and altho not really an off roader it sails easily thru roadworks/gravel/rough roads etc. It will cruise round town at low revs or tour the long roads and backroads.
Now I just need a little trailbike to go with it.......

[Dave1_0]

I had a bunch of bikes back in the 70s & 80s my first being a 71 CZ175 trail of all things (bought off my mate as a motor in bits in a suitcase) and my fav from that era being an XR500 that had a K&N, Supertrap, Wiseco and cut balancer chain (wheelie heaven). I once took it on an extended road trip with a CB360 rear wheel & sprocket and got 80MPG best at cruise. Kids coming saw an interlude until commuting in 03 saw me return with an R80RT Beemer ex police (slow thirsty and no handling). Lost it in favour of an 84 FJ1100 which was light years ahead despite being older. Loved the torque and better economy, but scraped everything including lower chinscoop fairing & bevelled off the gearshift. Sold it and now a 94 ZZR1100 takes pride of place. Best economy yet (62mpg when restrained), 6 gears, lighter, heaps of clearance, handles great, and oh, did I mention speed? Low down the FJ would edge it out, but 5000+ it's a revelation! Suspect the speedo is optimistic, though it could be faster than I am giving credit for.. Only niggle is sore wrists at times. I nurse it till warm as they say cold thrashing (& long monos) kills the oil feed to 2nd Rod brg. Checked out by mechanic who converted rattly auto cam tensioner to manual, gave her a clean bill of health telling me to use the Black GTX oil - NEVER synthetic it pits the cams - and always keep the sight glass full to top. Fitted a Scottoiler I got off Trademe & hadn't gotten round to putting on the FJ, and it works like a dream. I'm one very happy camper - best bike yet. Even wifey concedes its fun on the back and I'm staggered at accelleration. Two up starting at 90km/h passing a milk tanker & car in 4th and you pull in @180 having used hardly any road and with about 3500 rpm still up your sleeve. Sure it would have been quicker in 2nd/3rd, but no need. My darling knows she's got a better chance of success with "Let's go on the bike" than if she wants me to take her somewhere in the car...

[aiki]

I got my first bike when i hit 15 in 75 never ridden a geared bike before and went down to the bike shop and bought a Kwaka 90cc trail bike for $400 {worked all summer hols for the money}, wheeled it out of the shop, got on took off and picked up a friend to ride on the back. Bit different now i guess. Back then we all got bikes as cars just weren't avavilable for us.
Now i have a big cruiser {see Bike Thieves thread} and i love to get on and take off and ride and ride. I use it to commute no matter what the weather, hate driving and buses. Love my bike.

[msm]

I only have a dinky little scooter so I don't count. The grand plan was to ride the scooter around until I felt confident being in traffic (I didn't really drive until I got the scoot) and then upgrade to a proper bike. But now I'm not sure I want a proper bike at all, at least not for a few more years. And I don't really want to drive the car anymore either. What the hell happened to me?

[pritch]

I'm not wealthy, but money wasn't the major consideration.

Having owned a BMW K100RS previously and routinely found myself inadvertently travelling at velocities considerably in excess of what I had intended when I started that particular journey. It seemed a good idea to get a bike where I would be rather more exposed to the elements so as to get a better idea of my speed.

About 750cc, a reasonable tank range, half faired at most, a comfy seat, and no vices with handling, cornering or braking. Pretty much anything like this would be considered. Late 2004 though, nobody seemed to be making a bike to my simple specification.

Then they dropped $2000 off the Hornet. At that time it was on BIKE magazines 10 Best of the Best list, for the money it was (and is) a bargain.
While it wasn't a 750 I decided to live with the burden of the extra CCs.
For what I want it's pretty near perfect.

Other bikes appeal and are nice to think about eg Moto Morini Corsaro, Aprilia Tuono, but they aren't as practical and if I was to buy another bike tomorrow, after all the dreaming was done, it would probably be another Hornet.

[avgas]

Cos i cant stop smilling (EnG!)

[BeakerRAT]

Been riding for four years. A good mate was looking at getting back into riding and I went with him to have a look at some Ducati, no intention of riding myself. Saw my first bike – Honda Hornet 250 and purchased it. Took two months to get into the basic handling course, so it sat in the garage waiting. It was a great bike for starting out on, simple, not too quick and easy to maintain. Went into AMPS and saw the Aprilia RS250-GP1, had to have it so a deal was done. Want a difference; it was like learning all the basics again. A year later I stuffed up on a Sunday ride, lost the front (combination of a bad line & crappy road surface). The van it hit coming the other was fine, as was everyone involved but the bike was a write off. Got a replacement (thanks Mr. Insurance). Had pre-ordered a Triumph Thruxton, when that came in I still hadn’t got the full licence, so it sat on display for a month! Loved the style of the Thruxton, nice to cruise on, good two-up and sporty enough to get that ‘BUZZ’. I’d been reading reviews of the GSXR thou and thought – awesome bike, but every review stated it was a real handful with the power so I was a bit wary. I took one out of a test ride and was pleased to discover that it’s more of a Jeckel and Hyde personality (depending on application of the right hand). Once again a deal done, only I had to say good-bye to the RS. In a moment of weakness I sold the Thruxton and now regret it. Looking for another one. The Vespa is for around town and is just no fuss riding, being an Aucklander it's perfect to jump on and head to the café. Bonus is it keeps the ‘better half’ off the GSXR!

[Clivoris]

The Tuono is a bit of wish fulfilment. The jury is still out on whether it's lived up to expectations. Can't wait for dry roads and fresh tyres. Before this had an SV1000s and that was a fabulous bike for the money spent. Not so great resale tho.

[terbang]

Bin riding for 30 odd years and it just keeps on getting better..!

[Dooly]

I brought my 02 VTR1000 a few months ago.
Dunno why, just happened.
Saw it on TM and just did it, impulse.
Weird as I medically are'nt allowed to ride on the road for at least 3 months, as a result of a few injuries non bike related.
Been riding since I got my licence 27 yrs ago at age 15. Mainly dirt bikes, but did have quite a few road bikes in the 90s, mainly as recreational riders, and sports type, having cars etc.

I have'nt ridden a bike on the road for over 6 years, and have contented myself mucking about on dirt.

I decided to get another bike and have been looking for a while but in all honestly, not having any idea what I wanted, except not a cruiser.
As the bike could sometimes not get used much due to me having a company vehicle, so riding to work is out, and having some land to take care of, I was'nt keen to spend big bucks to have a bike sitting for a while unused.

The VTR is the first 'modern' Honda I've had, disregarding an old CB900.
I test rode one when they first came out in '97, but ended up buying the then new TL1000S Suzuki.
I've always liked the sound of a Vtwin, and when this one came up at a wicked price I just acted without really thinking, and to be honest, its great.
I've tootled around the paddocks here a few times, and last weekend took it for a blast down the road. My road is 6km long and being rural not many were around.
I may not be able to hit the road yet, but I've had the thing torn down, mucking around with it, adding bits, customising things, and I can honestly say I love it.

I sold all my riding gear and accessorries years ago except for a decent helmet I had, and now are in the process of buying gear and stuff, and loving looking at all the options around now.

Man, I'm counting down the days to when I can go for it!

[DougB]

I am an old fart, my last big bike was a Moto guzzi which is up for sale again on trade me right now.
http://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/List...px?id=60149388

I developed a weak heart and could not deal with heavy stuff so I sold the above machine and my son found me a Aermacchi 350 which is light and easy to manage. I see he is talking about me on the Guzzi trade sale me site.

I started off in the 1950's with an AJS 500 single and have had ten different bikes since then.

[Vagabond]

25 years of riding and still alive! Now thats an achievement a lot of people have said would not come about. (reaches up and touches his head)

I started off on a Suzuki TS 50 ER which was basically an on/off roader and was used to commute to school and eventually two frames later to work as well.

Next having started work and having the coin roll in I bought a Yamaha IT 200 (1984 model) first of it's kind after the 175 man I loved that bike huge power and huge wheelies (oops yes I did flip it)

Then I got sent to a technical colledge some 100 km's away and the 200 just wasn't cutting it any more, so I traded her for a 1981 Kawasaki Z750 love love love! until she threw me off at 160kmh due to a really serious tank slapper (clubmans I had on punched holes into my tank)

So you fall off what do you do? Go out and buy a a bigger bastard thats what! Along comes my second Zed a 1981 Kawasaki Z1000,Now she was real grunty wheelied easily too (oops yes i did flip her as well)
Anyways I eventually rode her into the ground after fitting an 1105 Wiseco kit.
Along came Mr Eddie Lawson yes another Zed ,see the pattern Zed Zed Zed

From there it went Gsxr 750r, Dr500, Xr600, 900Hornet, S83, and back to my beloved Zed's

Well that's my story and I'm sticking to it!