90's bikes are the best!

[Mr. Dazzle]

No such thing as an old Brit bike which ain't oily. Not one that runs at least

[Le_Fromage_Grande]

Classic bike ownership is a weird thing, and also something I never thought I'd do, I think you have to want the classic bikes you've bought (once you've bought one, you'll buy more)
My collection consist of two bikes I wanted to revisit (FZ750 and RD350YPVS), one bike I've always wanted to own (Kawasaki J series twin shock 1100) and my FZR400RR I bought because I wanted a bike for trackdays, it had to be eligible for Classic Bike Trackdays, I wanted a 400 because I enjoy riding them on track and a Yamaha because I like Yamahas.
The FZ and FZR never really need any work apart from basic maintenance, both look used, but I'm happy with that
The Kawasaki is a work in progress trying to turn a big touring bike into a track bike, it's also a constant battle against 38 year old metal that's been apart many times.
The YPVS is an ex proddie race bike that had sat in a garage for 25 years and was bought cheap and is in the process of being turned into a useable bike by undoing previous owners butchery, but it will never be a showroom bike, that would cost more than it would be worth.

So classic ownership can be as easy as owning a modern bike - or it can be a project, the choice is yours and largely depends on how much money you want to spend, both my FZ and FZR are as much fun as the modern bikes I've owned, but much cheaper to buy, the FZ was £721 and the FZR was £1100, but these were cheap because they weren't popular classics at the time I bought them, showroom condition Power Valves are going for between £6K and £9K, my skanky one cost £2.3K and will cost me another £1K minimum to get it how I want it. The Kawasaki is a money pit.

And I keep thinking about a bike that looks like the CB750F that Freddie Spencer raced in the early 80s - but we're now onto the whole world of owning Specials - which is worse than Classics

[dayglo jim]

VFR 750 and Fireblade definitely changed the game. It looks lardy now but comparing the CBR900RR with (its predecessor) the CBR1000F was like chalk and cheese.

[Rockburner]

There are definitely two types of classic owners, some of the people I ride with keep their bikes super shiny and clean, even taking a rag out with them to wipe it down.

The kind who trailer/van their bike to shows to give them the best chance of winning the (tinpot) trophy despite the fact that the thing is a shell with no engine internals and hasn't been run since he bought it.

Then there are people who leave them nice and oily and like to use them.

[Taipan]

Eye of the beholder and all that, but i thought 90s superbikes were hideous. Putting lights on, or cobbling lights on, to race look bikes just spoilt the whole look of the bike for me. At least with todays bike the lights blend in with the panel lines.

[Nidge]

Eye of the beholder and all that, but i thought 90s superbikes were hideous. Putting lights on, or cobbling lights on, to race look bikes just spoilt the whole look of the bike for me. At least with todays bike the lights blend in with the panel lines.

Yeah I’ve got three words for you:
Vi Ra and Go

[Mr. Dazzle]

Eye of the beholder and all that, but i thought 90s superbikes were hideous. Putting lights on, or cobbling lights on, to race look bikes just spoilt the whole look of the bike for me. At least with todays bike the lights blend in with the panel lines.

IMO the 916 shape looks better with lights than without. Ditto the R1.

[KungFooBob]

I'd add ZX7R to that list.

[Yorick]

Eye of the beholder and all that, but i thought 90s superbikes were hideous. Putting lights on, or cobbling lights on, to race look bikes just spoilt the whole look of the bike for me. At least with todays bike the lights blend in with the panel lines.

Yeah I’ve got three words for you:
Vi Ra and Go

I bet the Essex tart would love a Virago

[Nidge]

Old pie tin had one, thus invalidating any comments he makes about any bike. Ever

[Skub]

I'd add ZX7R to that list.

I was watching the road races at Oliver's Mount this morning,good racing with the ZXR750 and OWO1 etc. The sound of the 2 stroke race was marvellous.

[Mr. Dazzle]

OW01....that reminds me. How could I have forgotten the most absurdly exotic and unobtainable bike of my youth? Way more special than even a Foggy Rep 916. The holy grail of motorcycles to the 15 year old me.

[Mr. Dazzle]

Well yeah an R1 is loads faster innit. Its just an absurd bike resulting from WSB rules.

[Yorick]

OW01....that reminds me. How could I have forgotten the most absurdly exotic and unobtainable bike of my youth? Way more special than even a Foggy Rep 916. The holy grail of motorcycles to the 15 year old me.

And I think most had the engines ripped out and an Exup grafted in.

Some did for open races. BSB and WSB were both 750.

[Le_Fromage_Grande]

VFR 750 and Fireblade definitely changed the game. It looks lardy now but comparing the CBR900RR with (its predecessor) the CBR1000F was like chalk and cheese.

Viffer was nothing special for 1986, it's just that the VF750 turned out to be such a bag of shite Honda had to make a decent 750, the 1985 FZ750 is a better bike than the 1986 VFR

[Le_Fromage_Grande]

OW01....that reminds me. How could I have forgotten the most absurdly exotic and unobtainable bike of my youth? Way more special than even a Foggy Rep 916. The holy grail of motorcycles to the 15 year old me.

I seriously considered buying one that had done under 1000 miles a couple of years ago - £28K
There's a bloke comes to Classic Bike Trackdays who has two of them, one standard, one with track day bodywork.
Pete Beale has offered me a go on an ex BSB one he's got - but only for parade laps, I'm not allowed to thrash the tits out of it, but I'm not sure how serious he was, and we haven't organised anything.

I don't think many had R1 engines put into them, it's not a straight bolt in job, there were quite a few R1s with R7 looky likey bodywork though.

[Yorick]

I don't think many had R1 engines put into them, it's not a straight bolt in job, there were quite a few R1s with R7 looky likey bodywork though.

I saw Too Tall Tel on one at Mallory

[Mr. Dazzle]

OW01....that reminds me. How could I have forgotten the most absurdly exotic and unobtainable bike of my youth? Way more special than even a Foggy Rep 916. The holy grail of motorcycles to the 15 year old me.

I seriously considered buying one that had done under 1000 miles a couple of years ago - £28K
.

The only reasons I can see to buy one are as an investment, or if you're mega rich.

For anyone even vaguely mortal a standard R1 would be faster wouldn't it? So unless you're a pro racing in a restricted 750cc class it's kinda pointless.

[Le_Fromage_Grande]

If you're a riding god, then an R7 might be quicker, stock they're 100bhp, same age R1 is 140bhp
I wanted to buy one just because I wanted one, I would have used it, but after a lot of thinking about it I decided that spending £28,000 on a motorcycle really wasn't sensible, I continue to have the same arguments with myself about OW01s - I can afford one, I want one, but I can't use my FZR400 to the limit of it's abilities, or my FZ750 for that matter, and an OW won't be any more fun to ride.

[KungFooBob]

IIRC the R7's used to twist the crank if you tuned them up a bit... and they were only 100bhp without the 'race kit fitted'.

I think the RC45 was similar power unless you paid the same again for the HRC race kit.