Is it a "cause I'm getting old" thing or what?

[Max Headroom]

I think some of the best stuff came out of the 1970's.

The manufacturing standards were high, yet the bikes were designed to be stripped down and repaired.

The performance and handling of the '70s bikes are still more than adequate for current traffic conditions, and reliability is good.

Better than any retro!

[Ixion]

Y'all too old. Y' need some herbal products.

Yeah, the old ones are nice and nostalgic. "Oh gee, how I lusted after that when it was new"

Reality is , they were a load of crap

Unreliable, slow, vicious handling, non existent brakes.

Nice to have one to take out a few weekends a year. But for practical day to day riding, they're crap.

[98tls]

I think some of the best stuff came out of the 1970's.

The manufacturing standards were high, yet the bikes were designed to be stripped down and repaired.

The performance and handling of the '70s bikes are still more than adequate for current traffic conditions, and reliability is good.

Better than any retro!

I recall the old man saying of old Brit bikes that 1/2 the problem was when buying them second hand was that they were so easy to work on that even people with the mechanical ability of "your grandmother" tried and those owners down the line had to fix up the mess.

[98tls]

Y'all too old. Y' need some herbal products.

Yeah, the old ones are nice and nostalgic. "Oh gee, how I lusted after that when it was new"

Reality is , they were a load of crap

Unreliable, slow, vicious handling, non existent brakes.

Nice to have one to take out a few weekends a year. But for practical day to day riding, they're crap.

Practical for day to day riding is a GN250 but no thanks.I long ago lost any urge to ride a bike to work along roads filled with cars etc.As i said earlier i am well aware of the latest and greatests good points the point of this thread was they excite me as much as a slap in the face with a wet flannel.Non existant brakes and vicious handling sounds bloody good to me at this stage.I still like to go to the odd bike rally and generally dont notice the sea of plastic and head off to look at what it seems everyone else is standing round,some gorgeous old slow vicious handling, non existent braked thing.

[martybabe]

Y'all too old. Y' need some herbal products.

Yeah, the old ones are nice and nostalgic. "Oh gee, how I lusted after that when it was new"

Reality is , they were a load of crap

Unreliable, slow, vicious handling, non existent brakes.

Nice to have one to take out a few weekends a year. But for practical day to day riding, they're crap.

Can't argue with that, the older I get the better the 70s and 80s were and the bikes I lusted after back then are the best bikes ever made.

Sadly, the reallity is as Ixion says, they wern't that good but a couple in the garage alongside some modern stuff would be nice.

Heres a few I woulda killed for as a yoof.

[Big Dave]

I did a series of comparisons a few years ago. Old V New.
Short conclusion:
Taking money out of the equation, underbraked, lead clutched, skinny tyred, old ferckin' dungers that you spend all week getting ready for a few hours on Sunday are not worth the effort.
Nice things as your 'third' bike.

Edit - I hadn't read Ixions post either.

[Big Dave]

And the Buell is not too bad looking in the flesh. But it's a track bike mainly too.

[vifferman]

Yea nice mate,This SS i would have to say is the love of my motorcycling life,actually read as my life.

I thought about buying one of those back in 1994 (identical paintjob to the one in your pic), but thought about it too long and someone else bought it instead. Beautiful looking machine, but high-maintenance by most accounts.

You're not alone in how you feel about bikes - that's why the manufacturers can keep selling 'retro' bikes.

[buellbabe]

...is it a "cause I'm gettin too old" thing or what?

hahahahaha well... there are definately some things that you are getting too old for but we won't get into that... LOL

I reckon its just a case of knowing yourself and knowing what ya like and being happy with your choices...

I am surprised how many people still ask me when I am gonna trade the old girl in on the latest model...

WHY? I love what I've got and I'm sticking with it.

I reckon old bikes with lots of mileage on them have waaaaaay more character.

[xwhatsit]

I did a series of comparisons a few years ago. Old V New.
Short conclusion:
Taking money out of the equation, underbraked, lead clutched, skinny tyred, old ferckin' dungers that you spend all week getting ready for a few hours on Sunday are not worth the effort.
Nice things as your 'third' bike.

Edit - I hadn't read Ixions post either.

Nah -- I'm here in Aus, riding a modern, vibration-free, massively-braked, electric-start, faired, powerful TRX850. It goes, it stops, it does it all without a whisper of complaint. Carburettion is impeccable and no matter how hard I push it through the (rather sparse) twisties here -- pegs scraping or not -- neither end gives any sort of shake or flex or gives any sign of being under strain.

Still, except for the odd Gold Coast motorway run (tens of kilometres of 5-lane wide 110kph carriageway), I'd far rather be on my shaking, rattling, flexing CB250RS -- or GiJoe1313's RD250LC, or an old CB750 or even that Matchless G80.

It's just too easy on these big modern bikes. It'll be different on a track, of course, but going along at the speed limit, even on a relatively low power bike like the TRX, is just tedious. Even if you do miserably in the twisties, all you need to do is crack the throttle and they're far, far behind before you hook next gear.

There's no challenge, you don't feel like you're actually riding. You get off the bike after a 600km day and you feel relaxed and untaxed in the slightest. It's all numb, isolated, insulated, like being in a car. I'll have an old piece of shit any day

[Big Dave]

Nah -- I'm here in Aus, riding a modern, vibration-free, massively-braked, electric-start, faired, powerful TRX850.

Yada yada yada. Compared to what you were on it's a hyabusa.

Don that conspiracy theorist hat for a minute and ponder 'Planned obsolescence'.

[Big Dave]

I reckon old bikes with lots of mileage on them have waaaaaay more character.

I reckon old bikes with lots of mileage on them have waaaaaay more character building.

[tri boy]

A Rickman framed Z900, Round case 750, or even a Laverda Jota would find a home at my place.
Old, troublesome, n cantankerous. Bit like the riders that remember them.

[forkoil]

Freezing cold here downunder this afternoon so spent some time browsing some pics,As ive got older new bikes have lost there appeal in many ways ie give me a 78 SS Duc over the latest and greatest anyday etc,came across these 2 pics and yea the red one appeals far more than the other,cant compare them i know and by all accounts the new ones an amazing bike i know.Any other getting crusty buggers out there that just cant get excited about the late model offerings?As good as they may be.Was all heated up about a KTM awhile back and wasnt that far off buying one but then it faded,might just accept my fate and go buy an old 850 Commando and be done with it.

Nah, never liked the 850, preferred my 750 any day, 850 was detuned and slow...;-)

[martybabe]

Coming back to reality for a mo, if ever there was a cure for motorcycle nostalgia, for me, it would be the brand new XS500 I owned.

If I lived five lifetimes and became as senile as an old senile thing, I could never, lust for, or forget, how crap that bike was.

30 something years ago and I still wanna take a shotgun to the bastard.

I do think we've lost the beautiful sounds of the old days though.