World's 10 most iconic and significant bikes

[shrub]

Thinking about beautiful bikes, and it got me thinking to the road bikes that changed the world and inspired passion in generations of bikers. In no particular order;

1959 Triumph Bonneville - the first modern sportsbike. Good handling, plenty of power, great brakes and good looks (for 1959).

1969 Honda CB750. The first superbike - I considered the Z900 as an alternative, but the CB pretty well started it all.

Vincent Black Shadow - 200 kmh in the 1940s!
Ducati 916 - the first serious high performance Ducati and the bike that invented V twin superbikes

Harley Davidson Panhead - the bike that created the whole chopper thing by giving returning soldiers a powerful, reliable bike that they could chop back and make their own. Every cruiser on the road is ultimately inspired by the Pan, or more accurately what owners did to them.

1974 Honda Goldwing - the bike that invented big, luxury touring

1973 Honda XL 250 Motorsport - a bike you could ride to work on Monday and rip up the paddocks on Sunday.

1973 Yamaha RD350 - fast as fuck with great handling and brakes, this bike annihilated everything and was the beginning of fast lightweight bikes

1985 Suzuki GZXR750/1000. A race bike you could ride on the road.

1991 Hinckley Triumphs (all of them). Triumph was dead and buried, yet one man managed to bring the brand back, and they were all good bikes. Dead brands have risen again all the time - Norton, Indian, Benelli etc, but none of them have gone on to become significant players in the market.

1990 Kawasaki ZZR1100. The first of the mind numbingly fast sports tourers and the inspiration behind the Busa (which was an alternative).

Honourable mention:

CBX1000
Busa
Z900
Gixxer1000
Moto Guzzi Le Mans Mk 1
Suzuki GN250
BMW R80GS

I have excluded scooters, off road only and race bikes

God I need a life!

[avgas]

Other Honorable mention:

Lavera Jota - fastest motorcycle in 1976, and one of the first "1L superbikes" (alternative Ducati Dharma)

Aprilla RS250 - did to motorcycling what Lotus did to the car market. Make small capacity superbikes doable.

Norton Rotary - Made Ducati owners feel as if their bike was a rare a sheep in NZ

Britten - Dead artists have the best paintings. John's color scheme was horrible, but what a work of art.

Indian Scout - Inspiration that even the crappiest motorbikes could be rebuilt to giants.

Harris frames - delta-what? Trellis is for gardens....

[EJK]

[ellipsis]

....1966 Suzuki T20...the Super Six....

[Paul in NZ]

World's 10 most iconic and significant bikes
Thinking about beautiful bikes, and it got me thinking to the road bikes that changed the world and inspired passion in generations of bikers. In no particular order;

1959 Triumph Bonneville - the first modern sportsbike. Good handling, plenty of power, great brakes and good looks (for 1959). – I disagree. The T120 was really just a not very wise development of a good idea – the original pre war speedtwin really was the great leap forward.

1969 Honda CB750. The first superbike - I considered the Z900 as an alternative, but the CB pretty well started it all. Agree – Triumph had a shot with the trident but stuffed up the styling. I still remember watching the Honda 4 owners club turning up some place and wondering if these guys had just beamed in from mars. Regardless of specs – this was what people wanted.

Vincent Black Shadow - 200 kmh in the 1940s! Icon yes – significant – no. It didn’t lead anywhere and was a bit of a dead end street technically. If they had got over themselves and produced a bike with teles and a lower price tag them might still be in business.

Ducati 916 - the first serious high performance Ducati and the bike that invented V twin superbikes. Iconic – yes, possibly one of the landmark designs

Harley Davidson Panhead - the bike that created the whole chopper thing by giving returning soldiers a powerful, reliable bike that they could chop back and make their own. Every cruiser on the road is ultimately inspired by the Pan, or more accurately what owners did to them. Disagree / agree. The pan arrived in 1948 meaning there were lots of unwanted knuckles sold in police auctions.

1974 Honda Goldwing - the bike that invented big, luxury touring – icon yes – but it hardly invented it. It was initially a sport tourer and it was the owners that added all the munt from guys like craig vetter. Honda thought – hmmm… theres a dollar to be made here and upsized.

1973 Honda XL 250 Motorsport - a bike you could ride to work on Monday and rip up the paddocks on Sunday. Disagree – the DT1 was the turning point. The XL250 worked better than Hondas street scramblers but the DT and TS suzukis had already worn the trail..

1973 Yamaha RD350 - fast as fuck with great handling and brakes, this bike annihilated everything and was the beginning of fast lightweight bikes. It was really a derivative of earlier bikes such as the R5 but yes – the RD’s were the one that worked best.

1985 Suzuki GZXR750/1000. A race bike you could ride on the road. – Yes and no – I think the FZR was the final piece of the puzzle and is the real turning point.

1991 Hinckley Triumphs (all of them). Triumph was dead and buried, yet one man managed to bring the brand back, and they were all good bikes. Dead brands have risen again all the time - Norton, Indian, Benelli etc, but none of them have gone on to become significant players in the market. Disagree – oh please. Hes a clever guy and done a good job but its wrong to compare him with Norton or Indian. He had a clear title to the name.

1990 Kawasaki ZZR1100. The first of the mind numbingly fast sports tourers and the inspiration behind the Busa (which was an alternative). Agree.

[Crasherfromwayback]

The mighty Z1RTC.

[Banditbandit]

1949 Triumph 6T Thunderbird ... possibly a bigger impact than the Bonneville.

The first Triumph 650 was a scaled up Speed Twin largely for the American market which wanted more cc. The Thunderbird was launched publicly at Montlhéry near Paris where three standard production bikes were ridden around a circuit by a team of riders who between them averaged a speed of 92 mph (148 km/h) over a distance of 500 miles (800 km). All three machines were ridden to the circuit and back to the Meriden factory .. etc etc .. ridden by Brando in The Wild One

BSA Gold Star (any year) - first real race/road bike.

Originally released with dyno information on each Individual bike (not per model) and with heaps of factory extras so they could be a race bike or a very fast road bike.

Moto Guzzi Otto Cilindri (V8) mid 1950s.. Innovative and fast ... but fucken dangerous as brakes and handling did not match the power.

[slofox]

When the Cb750 was first released, a guy I knew bought one. We took it to Ruapuna so he could sort it out.

The first time I heard it, I decided that one day I would have an IL4. Took 40 years to get round to it though...

[cheshirecat]

Would have to try and squeeze the VFR in somehow - plus the Kawa H2 The beastie really impressed for it's ease of riding in the wet. I watched one poor owner trying to persuade it round a damp roundabout once. - And a 1970 circa MV 750.

The early CB 750 will always remain though.
Had a K2 with those big green instruments right up in your face and the bark from those pipes blowing bits of rust out.

[shrub]

Would have to try and squeeze the VFR in somehow - plus the Kawa H2 The beastie really impressed for it's ease of riding in the wet. I watched one poor owner trying to persuade it round a damp roundabout once. - And a 1970 circa MV 750.

The early CB 750 will always remain though.
Had a K2 with those big green instruments right up in your face and the bark from those pipes blowing bits of rust out.

The VFR is a bit of a dead end - excellent bikes, but the V4 engine config has never taken off whereas the IL4 has. The H2 was an incredibly cool bike, but again it didn't influence or change motorcycling in any way - except maybe hurry up the development of rigid frames and decent brakes.

[bogan]

The VFR is a bit of a dead end - excellent bikes, but the V4 engine config has never taken off whereas the IL4 has. The H2 was an incredibly cool bike, but again it didn't influence or change motorcycling in any way - except maybe hurry up the development of rigid frames and decent brakes.

ahh, but the VFRs and their smaller cousins (NSRs and bros's) were the first big road production (iirc) that brought in the SSSA, and the VFR definetly fits the Iconic category as well.

[Crasherfromwayback]

Ducati 916 - the first serious high performance Ducati and the bike that invented V twin superbikes

Great post, and it's always fun to read others opinion on bikes that mean something to them!

As far as the 916 goes though...whilst styling wise it really hit the nail on the head, it was actually the 851 that mechanically started it all.

[shrub]

Great post, and it's always fun to read others opinion on bikes that mean something to them!

As far as the 916 goes though...whilst styling wise it really hit the nail on the head, it was actually the 851 that mechanically started it all.

Yeah, that's true.

I can still remember the first 916 I saw - I was walking up Manchester St and the buildings started shaking (happens a lot these days), and there was this deep rumble. A red bike pulled up at the lights and it just blew me away. I'd read about them, but to see that single sided swingarm, high exhaust pipes and styling that made an F16 look slow....

He took off from the lights, popped a quick wheely and was gone.

[Crasherfromwayback]

Yeah, that's true.

I can still remember the first 916 I saw - I was walking up Manchester St and the buildings started shaking (happens a lot these days), and there was this deep rumble. A red bike pulled up at the lights and it just blew me away. I'd read about them, but to see that single sided swingarm, high exhaust pipes and styling that made an F16 look slow....

He took off from the lights, popped a quick wheely and was gone.

916's are still fuckin sexy today I reckon. I worked in a Ducati dealership when the 851/888 was released. Nearly wet my pants.

[gammaguy]