Rekindling the greatest ever bike debate

[Motu]

But the Cub had marketing,that's what did it.''You meet the nicest people on a Honda''.The BSA Bantam had no media hype....everyone rode one,but no add agency said they were better than they was....so they aren't remembered.

[Skyryder]

Douglas Dragonfly...............for the name alone.

[toycollector10]

The old CB750/Z1 argument again..

The CB750 was the worlds first mass produced superbike. First mass produced in-line 4. First with a whole lot of stuff I won't go into for the sake of brevity.

Please don't counter with the Vincent or the Douglas, they could only build three or four a day and they were pre-war technology basically. At their peak in the 1970's honda were pulling 3,000 bikes a day off their assembly lines.

The Z1 came along then the Shagmaster MKII, or whatever...right up to the Hyabusa of today. And it will be something else next year but the CB and the Zed were ground breaking bikes and there's no denying that!

[Motu]

I always thought it was the Trident/Commando/CB750 debate.The Commando came out in 1967,the Trident/Rocket III in 1968.....the Superbike race was on! Then in 1969 honda released to CB750.The Commando and Trident were the first 750cc performance bikes - Dunlop had to produce the TT100 to cope with the performance of the triples.

Having owned all three (well,my wife had a Trident,the Commando was ''borrowed'',um,long term) - The Commando was the most fun and easiest to ride,with ''no thought'' handling.The Trident had a harder hitting engine and needed some thought with the throttle,and handled great.The CB750 certainly had more power and was faster in top speed,but was a pig to ride,and the handling was shit.

My pick is the Trident.

[Edbear]

I always thought it was the Trident/Commando/CB750 debate.The Commando came out in 1967,the Trident/Rocket III in 1968.....the Superbike race was on! Then in 1969 honda released to CB750.The Commando and Trident were the first 750cc performance bikes - Dunlop had to produce the TT100 to cope with the performance of the triples.

Having owned all three (well,my wife had a Trident,the Commando was ''borrowed'',um,long term) - The Commando was the most fun and easiest to ride,with ''no thought'' handling.The Trident had a harder hitting engine and needed some thought with the throttle,and handled great.The CB750 certainly had more power and was faster in top speed,but was a pig to ride,and the handling was shit.

My pick is the Trident.

Personally I lusted after the Rocket 3... the '72 model was my fav. Never got the pleasure of owning one though. And the Commando was said to be the best handling bike on the planet at the time.

[toycollector10]

I'm really getting sick of this BS about Japanese bikes handling like pigs. Some knob on this forum stated that they were "spaghetti framed pieces of shit". I will go one on one at Ruapuna any day of the week on my CB750 and Z1 with you Norton guys.......Bring it on!

[Motu]

Twiiter,twitter.....Guffaw!!!!!

[xwhatsit]

But the Cub had marketing,that's what did it.''You meet the nicest people on a Honda''.The BSA Bantam had no media hype....everyone rode one,but no add agency said they were better than they was....so they aren't remembered.

They also aren't remembered because they only made about 250,000 of them (sure that was just the Bantam though... there was the original DKW RT125, the Yamaha YA1, Harley Hummer etc.), whereas there are 60 million Super Cubs made to date.

[MSTRS:Me]

where's the GN?!

This does deserve an answer...
Consigned to page 43, lower left side. The editor was over-ruled and had to include it.

[colsan1]

Theres not a single bike in that list that i agree with.

I wouldnt pretend to no enough aboout the brough to give an opinion.

The Britten is in there for sentimental value, nice bike but in reality it did nothing.

The Vespa is a scooter NOT a bike.

Lists like this are pointless as everyone has their own personal opinion.

If i were to draw up a top 10 i doubt it look anything like anyone else's
Mine would be littered with two strokes for a start. I've nothing against
4 strokes but IMO two strokes are more fun to ride which in my mind is
what riding is all about, having fun.

[Big Dave]

Theres not a single bike in that list that i agree with.

Several I agree with - not necessarily the placement/ranking.

[Indiana_Jones]

Love watching that pommy git riding his Brough Superior at 90mph, I wanna hear what he says, was a lot of beeping lol

Edit: Acording to Wikipedia, The Brough Superior was the first motorcycle to use a side stand.

Where would we be today without that!

-Indy

[xwhatsit]

Where would we be today without that!

-Indy

Happily lubing our chains on the centre stand? Lifting our bikes onto said item with very-slightly enlarged biceps?

Sidestands (like electric starters) were invented so women and pussies (like our man BD ) can ride

[Big Dave]

You do realise that one of my legs weighs as much as you and your bike combined? (and is roughly as powerful)

Centre stands are weight best left on the jack stored in the shed.

[vgcspares]

I'm really getting sick of this BS about Japanese bikes handling like pigs. Some knob on this forum stated that they were "spaghetti framed pieces of shit". I will go one on one at Ruapuna any day of the week on my CB750 and Z1 with you Norton guys.......Bring it on!

if you read any contemporary magazine review (of the early Jappers you're on about) written often by aging editors who wrote the original hype-articles back when they were still wet behind the ears ... you will find they admit now that they handled like pigs, and that was when they were new