If you were buying an equivalent motor bike

[M80]

I've ridden bikes since I was old enough to, and passed my test in 1977, pretty much as early as I could.
In 1980 I took an advanced m'cycle course and passed that test. By then I was riding a Honda CX500, bought new with the proceeds of a settlement when a driver brought me off my CB125T.
Got married and sold the CX and later took a Kawasaki 750 as the only settlement available for a debt. Hit a Merc with that a week later and made a mess of self and the bike, wearing trainers, jeans and T shirt didn't help. The driver said I was going too fast, probalby true I don't have any memory aside from coming round as they were sewing my face up. The helmet chin piece made a mess of it.

Swapped the Kawasaki scrap bits + a few quid for a grey import Honda Goldwing, a 1977 1,000cc, really just a big clumsy moped by todays standards. It got used a fair bit.
In 2006 I bought a BMW 1200RS, and gave the Goldwing to a pal.

The Beemer was an eye opener, power I had never experienced, it's thanks to the superior, electric servo, proportioned, ABS brakes I'm still here.
Moving nicely and enjoying the ride, as a bend was coming up I looked down and saw I was doing 110, and there was loads in reserve. W/o ABS I wouldn't have got round the bend and I just made it anyway.
The Beemer is still in the garage and hasn't been out for 3 years as I've always to take kit with me. I realised I had to set aside time to ride it.

I found dinghy sailing and could get thrills from that. When I fell off the boat I just got wet.

Anyway I advise to work your way up bike size. Too powerful can v easily catch you out.
Looking out for the other road users that can bring you grief is a skill to develop, other m'cyclists can get you with their aggressive riding or lack of ability. Too heavy can easily leave you lay there with a bike on top of you on an incline.

Oh and research any bike. For example the brakes on my Beemer are fantastic, until you have to work on them. They need new fluid each 12 months and there are 9 bleed points. The servo unit can block easily, by contamination within the fluid presumably?? The first you know is when you go for the brakes, feasably at 110 coming onto a bend, the dash lights start to flash to warn you that brake efficiency has been dropped to 10%, splat.
Other Beemers had the same or similar servo.

From the auto Merc I took the bike for a spin. I stopped at traffic lights and then realised I was still in fifth gear, "oh yeh, it's got gears". I was close to dropping it as I danced on the gear pedal, "oh yeh I've got to put a foot down".

 

[LostKiwi]

I found dinghy sailing and could get thrills from that. When I fell off the boat I just got wet.

High powered dinghies are a lot of fun....

 

[John Laidlaw]

High powered dinghies are a lot of fun....

Yup, had spells in various from Enterprises to 505’s - favourites were the 470 (Olympic failed campaign) and Scorpions- those were hilarious

 

[John Laidlaw]

My motorcycling career was quite short, a CB200 when I was 16 which i dropped under a tractor (luckily I was remote from it at the crucial time), haven’t ridden since....

 

[LostKiwi]

Yup, had spells in various from Enterprises to 505’s - favourites were the 470 (Olympic failed campaign) and Scorpions- those were hilarious

I think the most fun I had was in Cherubs - probably the most inappropriate name for a class of boats ever. Evil they were....

 

[M80]

A few weeks back I sold a 4000 (formerley Laser). A wild ride but it needs alarger lake than ours, and young Ben is now off sailing Fireballs and RS600, so there is noone that is likely to use it with me.
Larisa willonly go near our Stratos, fantastic boat we've sailed off Anglesey and out of Plocton for a week.
She won't go near my 3000 (also Laser). Great fun solo, although I sail 3 sails solo, and managed 2 sails and trapeze I haven't managed all 3 sails and trapeze on my own yet.
More than a good breeze I need more weight in it though so I don't tire myself with constant capsize.

Nowadays we spend, prhaps, too much time sailing out of Beaumaris on our 27 bilge keeler. I miss the dinghy sailing and I'm not as fit.

 

[NBurns]

It looks like a newish small Honda might be the best way forward to start with leading up to the newest equivalent of the CBR600.
Especially as there is no equivalent if either Mercedes-Benz, Audi, or VW in motorbikes world. Although i do believe there are BMW bikes, correct?


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[M80]

It looks like a newish small Honda might be the best way forward to start with leading up to the newest equivalent of the CBR600.
Especially as there is no equivalent if either Mercedes-Benz, Audi, or VW in motorbikes world. Although i do believe there are BMW bikes, correct?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

So I've heard.

 

[Rappey69]

And once you have a full motorbike licence?

Haha.. that's the million dollar question.
Do you want to go like bat out of hell , cruise sedately, spends lots of money and ride a bus, sry I meant Harley or just commute around town ?
Would you like a sports bike where you lay down on the thing and end up with aching arms trying to support your weight, or go fast enough that the wind lifts you , or the sit up and beg position?
The cbr600 is a great bike, but I didn't like the riding position as I prefer to be sat upright, that's easily remedied by the hornet.
Im not into distance riding therefore love supermoto/endure bikes. Very light so extremely agile, crazy fast acceleration up to speed limits, high up so easier to see ahead and narrow so great for filtering and they make a sports bike feel like riding a barge .

 

[Wighty]

I had motorbikes for 20 years commuting into London , used to love them , but after losing a couple of friends and doing a Fire Brigade course concentrating on motorcyclists injuries I packed the bike in that week .
It's not you that's the problem (maybe it is if you are a new biker ?) , it's the in car tech , now , no one is looking everyone is texting . Motorcycles now unfortunately are a death trap .
My opinion of course , but anyone I know who is young I try and talk out of getting on a bike .

 

[RhodieBill]

For many years all I had was a bike!

The list is long and varied..... My first was an old Yamaha 180 Twin. 2-stroke.
Then I bought a 1981 Honda CB750FB new out of the box! Got a photo of that...

I had just riden from Welkom in South Africa to Harare, Zimbabwe, (about a 1000 miles) - was a bit tired!

The day I bought it home...

Oh, I forgot I had a Honda CB350 before the 180.... That was way back in the late 70's!

Then I had and old Yamaha Scrambler 175 I think it was - a stroker.

Also had a CX500 Custom - this was great around town! Not so great over 60! Had to really hold on... And yes, my wife used to ride pillion right up until the day before our son was born!

Also a Kawa 550/4. (Yes the 1275 was mine aswell....).

I did buy a Honda QR50 that I used to lets the kids in the neighbourhood ride around for fun...

The most deadly blooming bike I had was a Kawasaki KH750 H2 triple 2-stroke! It was ported to hell and back, 3 into 3 non-silenced expansion chambers with such a vicious power band that it would wheelie in 3rd without even trying - not to mention bugga all brakes and I think cost me more in spark plugs that petrol...!!! Sadly no photo that I can find.

My last bike was a Suzuki Katana 750. Sold it in 1991. Never had a bike after that.

Did ride a few others though - GL1100; GL1000; CX500 Turbo; CBX1000; CB1100RC; CBX550; XR500R to name but a few.

I was lucky though, I only came off once - and that was when I got hit from the rear by a cement mixer truck with brakes not as good as the CBX550 I was riding! Walked away with a few scratches and a bit sore!

Good day and fond memories!

 

[Rappey69]

Half of those old relics in the pics are probably still running though
But boy how bikes have moved on .. A maiko 490 2 stroke was a feared machine when we were teens, but a modern 450 4 stroke just totally blows it away in all aspects.
People keep on saying about the two stroke power band, but compared to a modern 4 stroke with so much more horse power ,once they hit around 8k rpm omg, now that's a power band !

 

[RhodieBill]

A quick edit - just in case you're wondering how come I ended up with so many Hondas and riding others was because I used to work for Welkom Honda as a Salesman and a lot of those were Demo Bikes I got to use as company transport.... Happy days!!

Here is a shot of yours truly, (far right) standing next to my boss Karl and Colin another Salesman at the Welkom Honda Braai Christmas Party in 1982. We used to have some good times....