Has your bike tastes/wants changed over the years ?

[weeksy]

Back when i first got into bikes it was ZXR400, GSXR600, Fireblade, R1, etc etc... I think my first 14 or 15 bikes were Sportsbikes, before eventually going onto a Superduke and i've had 95% naked bikes since then. Only changing for an R1 at one stage.

I can see my next bike one day being an 1190/1290 KTM Adventure to suit some touring stuff when retirement happens.

You ?

[Potter]

Same really.

I first got into bikes 35yrs ago and it was all about the latest 50cc/125cc bikes, I had them on my wall as a kid.
Back then it was two stroke race reps, there wasn't much else around unless you wanted evil handling big bikes that weighed a ton - ridden by unwashed blokes with tattooed hands.

Then the 600's changed everything at the end of the 80's and early 90's - for the first time you could get something over 500cc that actually handled and went like we wanted them to, and two strokes were dead from that point on.

For the next 20yrs it was a succession of faster and faster four stroke bikes, chasing bhp and big cc's as weight went down and handling got better.

But since I got all that out of my system I just like most things on two wheels - the main restrictions are an aching back and wrists, and getting more sensible, so blokes of my age and older tend to stay away from the more extreme bikes for the same reasons.

My next bike will be a tourer or something light.

[bob_summers]

My bikes were usually highly strung strokers, even the roadbikes. I'm seemingly attracted to bikes that go great, but not for long. A Stan Stephens tuned 500 (well, 570) Gamma. A VOR503 - bits dropped off it every time I rode it. I grew up and had a couple of 'proper' commuters, an RF900 and a Fazer. Bought a track-day SRAD. Then emigrated and sold the lot for pennies.

I was never going to get back into bikes, but they've always been on my radar. I'd pass the BMW showroom and like the look of their retro stuff. Daydreamed about buying a classic stroker. An old mate told me my old 250 race bike turned up in a barn recently, I found myself trying to track down the owner....

So fast forward to 2020 (see other thread) I appear to own a 60 plate ZZR14, far cry from the daydreams but looking forward to scratching the itch again.

[G.P]

I don't think my taste has really changed. As a teenager I preferred Ducatis, Guzzis, Triumphs and Laverdas to most of the Jap stuff. Today I still love the Bevel 900SS, Jota, Guzzi Le Mans, Triumph Trident etc.

Needs plus finances meant I soon migrated from a BSA and a Norton to Jap bikes. I was over 50 when I got my first Ducati.

I've never disliked any type of bike and having gone through periods when I've commuted biggish miles, function wins over form when the bike is a tool rather than a toy. My Triumph Tiger is an ugly looking thing but very, very effective when you commute 160 miles per day.
I don't think the contents of my fantasy garage have really changed much over the years.

[Le_Fromage_Grande]

I like a few different types of bike, always have, probably always will, when I was younger I couldn't afford or didn't have the space for multiple bikes, now I do so I've got a mixture, all old, as I prefer the styling of 80s and 90s bikes, but that's because of how old I am, 53.
Never thought I'd start liking cruisers, but I'm beginning to see the point of them, but I'm more likely to buy something like a Mash 400 because I think it's a better tool for going slow and exploring.

[Taipan]

As a youngster I only wanted "trial bikes" or the latest nakeds which were sort of sports bikes as faired sports bikes hadn't really taken off, with the exception of a few race reps. My mates were fast and i wasn't, so I stuck with the same type of bike when they all shifted to the new wave of sports bikes Z750Rs, Urban Tigers blades etc. Took me a while to realise that I just liked riding bikes and going fast was only a small part of that for me.

So I guess that has broadened my biking horizons in as much as there isn't any bike I wouldn't have, but it has also allowed me to separate the different types. I can ride a Harley or a Scooter and not criticise them for not being a R1M or suchlike.

[Dodgy69]

The only change is I like to sit up a bit more. If I did buy a 2nd bike it would probably be sporty. Short weekend foolery.

[Skub]

I dunno really,I think I may have done it all arse about face!

Performance and cubes were always a thing with me. When I started riding 49 years ago small cc bikes were considered learner bikes and once you passed your test you bought the biggest and fastest thing available. The mindset of the day was,'anything under 500cc is a toy'.

So all that 'philosophy' coloured my way of thinking for many years,I only rode little bikes in the Winter. I rode all the so called superbikes of the day Z1 GS thou,etc.

This gave way to the GPZ900R and ZZR1100 era,I loved making a big ZZR do things it wasn't meant to do,just because!

Then in my later years I moved on up to sportbikes,so now at the age of 64,I'm lucky enough and flexible enough to find them reasonably comfortable.

I realise one of these days I'm gonna have to get something a little more comfy,but it's hard to find something that sets my balls alight and anyway I don't need one yet!

[demographic]

Not only do I lust after the same type of bikes as I did in 89 or so I still want the same actual bikes.

Very few new bikes get my interest, no real reason I'm just not that fussed.

And Hardly Movingsons are still off the list so no change there either.

[bazzer]

Yep I was all leather and sports bikes back in the day. Now I have a flip front, textiles and a topbox

The S1000XR I have is probably the best balance of practical and performance of any bike I have owned. Its easy to nip somewhere without worrying about where you are going to put the shopping etc.

I still get my leather/sportbike fetish fix on the track though and I do a bit of Mud plugging on the Husky FE350 too.

[Oomidamon]

My previous bike was a Triumph Speed Triple, which is a great bike. I was looking to change it last summer just because I felt like it and I took a few different bikes out for a test ride. The one that impressed me most was a Kawasaki Z1000SX, so now I ride a sports tourer with panniers and I wear a flip front lid. Next stop will be a buss pass I guess!

I'd like a 90's sports bike for a bit of nostalgic fun, but the Kawasaki does everything I need a bike to do very well.

[v8-powered]

Yep - went through the multi-bike years. A superbike of some description, a track bike plus a shitter/commutable bike for every day use. Stopped commuting by bike and stuck with superbikes/track bikes for many years.
Now all I'm interested in is an easy ride - current steed is a 2008 NT700 Dullville and get drawn to boring touring bikes however some of Triumph's offerings get me hankering for something a little more fancy - a Speed Twin or a Bobber would do me....

[Gimlet]

I can see my next bike one day being an 1190/1290 KTM Adventure to suit some touring stuff when retirement happens.

You'll grow horns and find yourself lying in wait for sports bikes to hustle with your panniers on. Happy retirement.