The best bike you ever owned

[maccecht]

So truth what is it. I have owned many bikes in life. I started with a Honda SS50 canary yellow of course the best colour in 1977. I was lucky enough to pass my test on a 250 but due to a DVLA screw up had to redo it in 1991. I have owned many bike of all genres
Sports singles 2 strokes Il4's boxers blah blah blah. (Not as many as couchie and weeksy though) forgive the spelling. Anyway I have gelled with many bikes and stick with them for years others I have owned got bored with them and shrugged them off.
My favourites which have stayed in the stable for a long term are a BMW R80 Mono 10 years 149k miles and my current go to suzuki AN 650 Burgman it ticks all the boxes comfortable fast storage heated everything 60 mpg. However the chick's dont dig it, like I care. Owned 5 years 71k miles it does the job. So what do you go to when you want to ride and smile

[KungFooBob]

FZR400RR, just like this...



Was an official UK 4DX one.

First trackday
First Wheelie
First knee down
First Stoppie

N880 DWF.

I'd buy it back, but I think it's dead now.

[Rockburner]

They were all the "best" at the time.

I'll always have a soft spot for the ZXR400. I did about 50k on it and learnt a lot about riding.

But I must like the Rockster a lot...... Given I'm holding onto my 4th one.

[Asian Boss]

Good question....

I have fondest memories of my Aprilia AF1 125 but that might be because I was 17. And the GSX-R1100L I had when I was about 19.

I really liked my Honda XL185 too. And that said I'm pretty chuffed with my current XL200.

I enjoyed riding the TDR250 in terms of dicking around, it was good up on the back wheel and on the front. The build quality was terrible though. And I had to keep taking the front exhaust sections off and cleaning the spark plugs, I suspect it wasn't set up right.

[Cousin Jack]

Fond memories of my first 'born again' bike, a Triumph 795cc T100.
And of my Honda 800VFR.

Come to think of it, those are 1/2 the bikes I have ever owned. The first was a BSA PoS, the other is my current bike.

[formula400]

Probably my K6 GSXR 750. Traveled a lot on it, tracked it, crashed, commuted on it, went the fastest I’ve ever been on a bike on it.

[weeksy]

They were all the "best" at the time.

That really.

I'd argue many of them actually were not... but i could sit and list 10 that were, from the GSXR 750 K1 race bike to the Ducati 916, the 929 Fireblade and the KTM Superduke.

I could easily find many arguments in favour of the current XSR900 as well.

The Ducati 916 will always have a special place though, it was my first 'posh' bike, my first Ducati, first Twin, first racing trophy, the bike i customised a dozen times, it was my road bike, my race bike. I spent countless thousands on the thing, changed just about everything i could on it... it was an absolutely awesome thing.

[Le_Fromage_Grande]

FZR400RR, just like this...



Was an official UK 4DX one.

First trackday
First Wheelie
First knee down
First Stoppie

N880 DWF.

I'd buy it back, but I think it's dead now.

Offer me enough money and I'll sell you my one.

[Le_Fromage_Grande]

Best bike I've ever owned is tricky to define, most fun is easy, that's 1998 R1, most useful is easy, DRZ400, the only bike I've owned that could do everything (albeit a bit slowly), bike I lusted after most is probably RD350 YPVS, the most modern bike I've owned was a 2002 GSXR750 which was very, very good, but I don't want another one.

So we're down to bikes I've owned more than one of, that gives me RD250LC, RD350 YPVS and FZ750, the FZ is the best out of those, and I still enjoy riding it, but an R1 is a lot more fun, so I'm going 98 R1.

Best bike I've ever owned 1998 R1 (R998RRT) but I wouldn't have another one because now I'm old my reactions are too slow to cope with 150bhp.

[The Spin Doctor]

Oh boy... the 'best'...

Many of my bikes were bought for different tasks at different times...

The Honda CB125S was the bike I learned to (mostly) stay upright on, took me through my test, passengered my first girlfriend around, went on my first camping holiday, got me meeting people at the uni bike club.

There's the 400-F as my first 'big' bike post-uni, that I crashed, bounced back on, toured Europe, started couriering on, blew up, rebuilt on the kitchen table and eventually put 80,000 miles on before I loaned it to my brother who crashed it on day one and had it nicked on day two.

There were the succession of CB250RSAs that kept me going for around 300,000 miles worth of courier work. They were essentially disposable, usually reaching 85k before the top end went, but they were quick (for a 250), handled well enough for them to be the first bike I got my knee down on, frugal and if you kept them full of fresh oil and understood how to deal with the odd electrical glitch (the copper wire in the main power feed used to rot inside the solder cutting off all electrics and the HT lead used to track to the tank in the rain) they were incredibly reliable.

The CX500B was kept for 'best' and never used for despatching, but was a fantastic tourer. I could ride it from London to my parents in Kent at the end of a day's despatching, let it cool down whilst having a cuppa and snack, do a full service in 40 minutes, load it with camping gear then catch a midnight ferry and next day be at Spa in Belgium or the Bol d'Or for the 24 hour race. It's the only bike I've ridden that handled better two-up.

The AR80. 65 mph, wheelies, stoppies. What more do you need in London?

The XBR500 was a slightly weird bigger brother to the RS with odd steering but good handling once you got the hang of it, and a punchy motor that embarrassed much bigger bikes on the track

The FZ750. Best engine on anything I've ridden. Loved it. Probably the bike I'd most like to own again.

My first GS500E was a corker. Despite the derision heaped on it later as a 'learner bike' - it was a favourite DAS bike for training schools) I remember comparing notes with Jon Doran of Superbike with him saying it handled like an RGV250. The suspension was cheap and sagged very quickly - which probably accounts for the 'bad handling' reports - but the frame was solid and with an upgrade at either end, it could run rings round bigger bikes on a twisty road. The early motors were much more powerful - it would hit a genuine 118 on the GPS - but the later ones were emission- and noise-stifled and struggle to top 90. I still remember taking the 'quick group' from Compuserve the twisty way up Mt Ventoux, which included another pair of bike journos, one on a ZX7-R and the other on a Blackbird. I got to the top on my lightly-tweaked GS and had already queued and bought a coffee by the time they appeared. After giving the bike a good look-over, they came over and asked what I'd done to the motor. They wouldn't believe it wasn't modded.

Then the Hornet 600. Not the fastest, not the best handling. But loads of fun. And reliable. 90k and still going.

And frankly, I've grown to appreciate the XJ6. The engine is almost as good as the FZ. Based on the R6 of course, retuned normally means detuned, but in this case it has an almost totally flat torque curve from 3k up to about 11. That means it pulls hard at low revs, but revs too. You can just stick the bike in one gear and ride it like an automatic, ideal for long cross-country rides (like from the Pyrenees cross-country to Normandy in one day), riding two-up or following trainees. The Hornet by comparison is frenetic.

I'll even give honourable mentions to the MZ250ETZ I borrowed for a few months and the Jawa 350 that I tuned - the brakes(!) made that a bit iffy

Probably easier to remember the worst... the CB250K4 that I adorned with a full race fairing, stuck a fibreglass tank-seat unit on, and did a Honda Great Britain colour scheme on. The XJ600 that ran out of acceleration mid-overtake - every single time. The CB350S I borrowed from my brother - heavy, slow and not desperately reliable. And probably the one with ZERO redeeming features - the loaner CD175 that I had when my 400-F was being rebuilt after my first big crash. I was truly glad to see the back of that piece of sh!t.

[Mr Moofo]

The were all “best” at one stage or another, TBH ...
The one I liked riding least was the 998s ...

[Hairybiker84]

The first Hayabusa, pulled like a train, excellent handling once I'd had the forks sorted, comfortable for 500 mile days. First trip to the Alps, first trip to Ireland for the road racing, first trip to the Isle of Man, first knee down.
When they first came out I saw it in 'granny's tights' and thought what an ugly motorcycle, why did they choose that horrible colour scheme to take to the NEC? Then probably 8 months later I saw a blue and silver one in the window of Greens of Longton and thought 'I'm having that'!
Bought new and run in by me, fastest I've ever been on a bike (indicated 180 and still accelerating), even managed indicated 165 with the missus on the back going up the 'mountain'! Only sold it because I was emigrating 2 years later we were back here

[weeksy]

I could easily find many arguments in favour of the current XSR900 as well.

The more i ride this thing the higher up the list it moves...

[Ditchfinder]

Not owned or ridden that many different bikes but most have been turkeys. I really like my Griso though despite the fact it's long, slow, heavy, vibrates a lot and gives me cramp after 2 hours. The Duke 390 was probably a better bike in a practical sense and would own it on a track but just didn't do it for me

[Taipan]

I could answer this differently each time I thought about it, but, off the top of my head, my rotax engined CCM R30! I actually sold it before I KSI'd myself as I was getting more and more lairy on it! I put a mid range cam in it and it'd wheelie easily, but i can't wheelie anything, yet out of near every corner I was lofting the front wheel. Nearly flipped it so many times! I also fitted race wets to it and was getting my pegs down in the pissing rain on occasions. I'm a wimpy wet rider and never do things like that. The bike just encouraged lunacy, but by fook did I get off of it with a banana sized grin on me mooey!

[Yorick]

My best was the 2013 GSX1000 (L3). I had 6 previously and they all improved over the previous one.
But the L3 just got everything right. Not quite boring, just so bloody capable. Almost perfect.

This one is too track focused. I'll keep it for this summer, but then it may go. The missus said no as she loves it

I'd get another L3 tmrw if I could buy a new one.

[Skub]

Every bike I've ever owned was the best thing ever for me,but each was of it's own era and not really comparable.

Bikes just keep getting better and better,it's a shame the future is likely to be electric because something fundamental in biking will be lost forever. However that's a different story.

[MrLongbeard]

Every bike I've ever owned was the best thing ever for me

+1

[Yorick]

My best was the 2013 GSX1000 (L3). I had 6 previously and they all improved over the previous one.
But the L3 just got everything right. Not quite boring, just so bloody capable. Almost perfect.

This one is too track focused. I'll keep it for this summer, but then it may go. The missus said no as she loves it

I'd get another L3 tmrw if I could buy a new one.

I only paid £8,500 new for mine..

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/194049271984 ... SwypJgfWhU


Think I'll buy summat else

[weeksy]

My best was the 2013 GSX1000 (L3). I had 6 previously and they all improved over the previous one.
But the L3 just got everything right. Not quite boring, just so bloody capable. Almost perfect.

This one is too track focused. I'll keep it for this summer, but then it may go. The missus said no as she loves it

I'd get another L3 tmrw if I could buy a new one.

I only paid £8,500 new for mine..

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/194049271984 ... SwypJgfWhU


Think I'll buy summat else

The world is a very different place to when you bought it.