Most influential bikes?

[Taipan]

Scooters! Very rare to see them about, a decade or so ago, but now every bike bay in London is full of them! Most of the people at work that have them know nothing about, or have any interest in, motorbikes, they just see scooters as cheap transport! So I'd say scooters are influencing a lot of people!

[KungFooBob]

How about the 650 Enfield twins?

Nothing ground braking technology wise, but they looked good and cost buttons to buy and run. They made the base model Triumph retros look crazy expensive and sold by the bucket load. IIRC they were the best selling bike in the UK at one point.

Back to basics, cheap motorcycles when even shopping bikes from the big boys were over £7k.

[Horse]

Probably, every time I think of an influential bike I think "that's just a refinement of a previous bike or idea"

Tesi, Nessie, Quasar...

Ner-a-Car, sir? 1918 ...

[Newey]

Kawasaki H2 750
Honda CB750
Kawasaki Z900
Suzuki X7
Yamaha LC350
Kawasaki GPZ900
Honda CBR600
Ducati 916
Honda Fireblade
Yamaha R1
Honorable mention to the Fizzy, C50/70/90, Goldwing, RD500 ( probably one of most anticipated bikes but falling short of what should have been).

[slowsider]

Scooters! Very rare to see them about, a decade or so ago, but now every bike bay in London is full of them! Most of the people at work that have them know nothing about, or have any interest in, motorbikes, they just see scooters as cheap transport! So I'd say scooters are influencing a lot of people!

Yebbut my parents had a scooter before I was born. They fit your description regarding motorbike interest.

[Le_Fromage_Grande]

The LC gets a lot of mentions, I don't think the engine influenced much, but the styling did and also it was the first bike I had that had good quality wiring, something it took Suzuki and Kawasaki at least 5 years to catch up with (I don't know about Hondas because I've had so few of them)

[The Spin Doctor]

I'll start with one that should have been, but probably wasn't or was before it's time. Japanese, shaft drive, water-cooled V-twin with the first production fitted tubeless tyres.

Ladeeez an Gemmun, I give you the Honda CX500.

*muted applause*

Agreed. It delivered a lot of new technology we take for granted. I still remember a letter in one of the bike magazines from someone who'd never buy one because he couldn't "stuff a flat tubeless tyre full of grass to get home"... I kid you not.

[mangocrazy]

Kawasaki H2 750
Honda CB750
Kawasaki Z900
Suzuki X7
Yamaha LC350
Kawasaki GPZ900
Honda CBR600
Ducati 916
Honda Fireblade
Yamaha R1
Honorable mention to the Fizzy, C50/70/90, Goldwing, RD500 ( probably one of most anticipated bikes but falling short of what should have been).

Kawasaki H2 750 => I'd argue the H1 500cc triple that preceded it was the real innovation
Honda CB750 => Fair 'nuff
Kawasaki Z900 => yeah, give you that, even though it was a CB750 on steroids
Suzuki X7 => I guess you're not old enough to remember the Suzuki Super 6 250cc? That was the game changer.
Yamaha LC350 => Can't argue with that
Kawasaki GPZ900 => What exactly was groundbreaking? It was just an evolution (a very good one, mind).
Honda CBR600 => Beaten to the punch by Kawasaki
Ducati 916 => See my earlier comment. Nothing essentially new, but exquisitely packaged and styled.
Honda Fireblade => immensely popular, but just following the GSXR750 recipe of reduced weight & increased power
Yamaha R1 => The GSXR750 recipe taken to its logical conclusion

Ironic that the one truly groundbreaking model of the last 60 years (the Honda C50/C70/C90) was relegated to an honourable mention.

[Newey]

Some bikes perhaps weren't technologically ground breaking but they seemed to capture an era or helped turn a corner, like the GPZ900R, it was a progression but it was still a bike people lusted after in the early 90's before the new 600s came along and stole the show. Back then the 600s were as exciting as the 2T 250s that came out a few years before, I remember popping into the newsagents every morning on the way to work waiting for the latest copy of PB so I could read about the new CBR600F.

Then I suppose the first blade was a new milestone because it was marketed as a very powerful 600, rather than a 1000cc goliath, which then spurred on a new lighter and more powerful superbike era. Before that if you wanted light and good handling you got a 600, if you wanted power you got an Exup or a GSXR1100, but you couldn't have light, good handling and power - the blade changed that - at least in my perception anyway.

Potter, Good use of words.
My list was probably a list that put bikes to the front of the biking public in popularity, no bike is truly ground breaking, possibly something like the Suzuki RE5 but then only the engine and even that was old technology.

[Taipan]

I think I hate these type threads as they always leave me yearning for the crackle of a 2 stroke spitting through its spannies...

[Yorick]

I think I hate these type threads as they always leave me yearning for the crackle of a 2 stroke spitting through its spannies...

I'll go fire up the Husky if you want?

[Taipan]

Want!

[Yorick]

I think I hate these type threads as they always leave me yearning for the crackle of a 2 stroke spitting through its spannies...

Have the Beta

[Asian Boss]

Them Frazers.

[GuzziPaul]

Surley it should be an RD250LC rather than the 350 as the 250 came out a few months before and the technology was the same. What about a FS1E or Suziki GT750 first of the modern watercooled two two strokes/modern watercooled bikes?

[Yorick]

Surley it should be an RD250LC rather than the 350 as the 250 came out a few months before and the technology was the same. What about a FS1E or Suziki GT750 first of the modern watercooled two two strokes/modern watercooled bikes?

I had 3 of the above. Couldn't afford FS1E.

[Dodgy69]

I was too young for a 250 at 17, so the GP 100 was my first fast bike. It later influenced me to get my first car, a VW fastback 1600 in blue, like this.

[Le_Fromage_Grande]

There was always a massive difference between the two stroke lads and the four stroke lads.

When I did my Part 1 test the instructor asked us all afterwards what bike we were going to get after passing our test, most people said some sort of big four stroke, but I said a 350LC. The instructor said he wasn't surprised, I'd turned up riding like a dickhead and I was leaving riding like a dickhead and a 350LC was a dickheads bike, he predicted that I'd be dead in six months

I still ride like a dickhead

[Yorick]

There was always a massive difference between the two stroke lads and the four stroke lads.

When I did my Part 1 test the instructor asked us all afterwards what bike we were going to get after passing our test, most people said some sort of big four stroke, but I said a 350LC. The instructor said he wasn't surprised, I'd turned up riding like a dickhead and I was leaving riding like a dickhead and a 350LC was a dickheads bike, he predicted that I'd be dead in six months

I still ride like a dickhead

I am a dickhead

[Le_Fromage_Grande]

I still ride like a dickhead

Me too, but now I'm a very slow dickhead

I'm a dickhead who's aware that loosing his license would have a serious effect on doing my job and that accidents hurt