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While browsing through all the threads, i have noticed that there is quite a high number of us who own, and ride motorbikes, i was just wondering what sort of percentage of us own them. For me, i would not consider myself to be a biker, although i have owned and ridden bikes in the past, and even own two at the moment, but i would consider myself to be a car enthusiast, who also likes bikes, actually, if it's got wheels, and engine, or is anyway even mildly mechanical i can usually get interested in it. I don't even know a lot about bikes, or bike people. My biking heroes are Barry Sheene, Evel Knievel, and the Fonz! I Don't follow the motorcycle racing, and have no idea who Francis Rossi is, or if he's any good, I do however know who Guy Martin is. I don't wear the clothes, because i don't want to pretend i'm a hardcore biker, because i'm not, and in my experience people who do wear the clothes, are often more likely to be the pretenders. For example the other week i went to the Bike Shed bike show at Tobacco Docks in London and came across a couple of late-twenties, early-thirties lads swaggering around wearing leather (probably vinyl) jackets emblazonned with a huge 'Sons Of Anarchy' logo on their backs. To me, this looked kinda wierd, and i figured that they didn't own bikes, but liked TV, each to their own i guess. I, like 98% of the other people who attended was wearing my regular everyday clothes, and a hat, because my bald head gets cold! I do however watch some of the motorbike shows on TV, although not Sons Of Anarchy, in my opinion it's too ficticious. My motorbike TV is the likes of American Chopper, Cafe Racer, and, umm, CHiPs! Likewise. i quite like some motorbike films, i like On Any Sunday, and Road Hogs, but i don't like Easy Rider, i just don't get it. Similarly, when it comes to bikes my choices are not what most people who consider themselves bikers would have, as a rule i like to stick to the smaller end of the engine size range, I like Yamaha TW's (i've had three so far) Yamaha DT's, Honda CB250 SuperDreams, Harley Davidson Sportsters, Suzuki RV125 Van Vans, Monkey Bikes, Triumph Thunderbirds, Honda C50s, Royal Enfields, so on, and so fourth. I was also wondering, and this would probably be next to impossible to do, and i have no clue about web design, and the problems that arise from changing anything. But would it be worth having a Motorbike section? I realise that most stuff thats even remotely connected to two wheels always gets shoved in the Readers Other Modifications section, but anyone who was interested in looking for motorbike stuff probably wouldn't look in this section for it would they? I think it would be handy if on the Community Boards there was a section called, oh i dunno, Motorbikes. I'm not trying to cause trouble either, i know that there are lots of people on this great forum who are not into bikes, thats cool, if thats your opinion air it here on my poll, say a few words, tell me why i'm wrong to suggest such a thing, tell me why bikes are not cool in your opinion. Simlarly of course if you are into bikes, write your piece, have your say, show me a photo of your bike and tell me about it! So anyway, here's Mine. A 1999 (i think) Yamaha TW125. It's not perfect by any strech of the imagination, It doesn't even have a seat, and it's not even road legal as i have no documents for it. I bought it as a field bike, and have used it as such to just blat about in fields, tracks, and even on the beach. It's not fast, but it will lug you along all day if you want. For me, the best thing about it is how it looks. When they came out originally i thought they looked fantastic, and i still do. It's just a nice little fun bike which puts a smile on my face whenever i'm blatting about on it. So c'mon then, i've shown you mine, show me yours!
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mylittletony
Posted a lot
Posts: 2,326
Club RR Member Number: 84
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here's my collection linkThere could be a section for bikes, or it works mostly as it is, I spend a lot of time in this section reading people's wacky builds. At the end of the day, this is a car forum. There are bike forums, lots of them.
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jonw
Part of things
Can open a Mouse with a File
Posts: 768
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I have 4, plus am in charge of keeping my better half's scooter on the road... 1961 Matchless G12CSR - Under restoration Hopefully on the road this summer. 1962 Triumph T20 Tiger Cub - Running and in use. 2002 Suzuki SV650s - With custom Movistar livery and tuned up. Used occasionally 2005 Suzuki GS500 - Daily Hack 2001 Italjet Millennium 125 - Her Scooter. The rarest of the lot and it has a habit of being very Italian! I've also owned a 3 Honda CB250N Superdreams at various times. Loved 'em. The last Superdream...
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Suzuki SV650R The good Triumph T20 The Bad BMW G650GS The Ugly Matchless G12CSR The Smokey Toyota Hybrid One pint or Two?
Ingredients of this post Spam Drunken Rambling of author Bad spelling Drunken ramblings of inner voices Occasional pointless comments Vile beef trimming they won't even use in stock cubes
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lewis
Part of things
Posts: 82
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I would rather be car-less than bike-less and consider myself a bit of a bike obsessive. I've had quite few now and currently have a Ducati monster: I don't really understand what you mean about not wearing the clothes? I always wear all my bike gear when riding the bike mainly because I know what it's like to come off at speed. I don't wear a sons of anarchy vest though ha, or wear the stuff if I've not been riding.
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MK2VR6
Posted a lot
Mk2 Golf GTi 90 Spec
Posts: 3,327
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My '67 Lambretta SX186 (the blue one!)
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Ive only ever had one bike and that was nothing but trouble!
It was an 85 CB125 Superdream.
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96 E320 W210 Wafter - on 18" split Mono's - Sold :-( 10 Kia Ceed Sportwagon - Our new daily 03 Import Forester STi - Sold 98 W140 CL500 AMG - Brutal weekend bruiser! Sold :-( 99 E240 S210 Barge - Now sold 02 Accord 2.0SE - wife's old daily - gone in PX 88 P100 2.9efi Custom - Sold
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At the end of the day, this is a car forum. There are bike forums, lots of them. Exactly. We tolerate/hide motorbikes in the Reader's Other Mods section, but (personally) I'd rather people just got their bike fix elsewhere. I'm sure there are lots of us with similar interests but RR wouldn't be a better place if we tried to cater to them all.
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Kieran
Posted a lot
Posts: 1,092
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Between me and Jenn. We have
ZZR1100 1990 ZX9R 1999 FZ600 1987
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Last Edit: Jun 2, 2015 23:24:32 GMT by Kieran
The Ashby Jackson fleet:-
1979 Mini Clubman 1.8 K series 1978 Skoda 110r Project 130RS K-oupe 1978 Austin Allegro 1500 SDL Estate 1984 BMW K100 Sidecar outfit 1999 Yamaha FZS 1000 Fazer 1991 Kawasaki ZXR400 race bike 2002 Kawasaki ZX9r race bike
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ElWoody, i'm not a scooter fan myself, but i've got to tell ya i'm loving that 97 Aprilia Leonardo in nato flat green, thats pretty spot on! I've also owned a 3 Honda CB250N Superdreams at various times. Loved 'em. The last Superdream... I do like those old SuperDreams, i quite fancy building a sort of cafe racer version, like this... I love the fact that the builder kept the ComStar wheels, epic! I don't really understand what you mean about not wearing the clothes? I always wear all my bike gear when riding the bike mainly because I know what it's like to come off at speed. I don't wear a sons of anarchy vest though ha, or wear the stuff if I've not been riding. I'm not talking about guys who dress up like Power Rangers then hit the road on the Sportsbikes, thats sensible, and when i ride mine i do wear appropriate clothing (although i don't dress like a power ranger, that would look ridiculous on an off road styled 125cc bike!), i'm talking about this kind of thing... I always feel that guys who dress like this, often don't have a bike, or even ride one, they just like to look like they do. I used to work on my car in a garage block where i was the only car builder there, everyone else there built bikes. Not one of them dressed like the above specimen. We all seemed to wear the same kind of attire work jeans, work boots, and a heavy coat. However i'm not saying that theres anything wrong with dressing like this, it's just not for me. Incidentally, i feel the same way about dressing like your cars thrown up on you, you know the look, jacket etc emblazonned with Porsche, or Mustang, or whatever, i just think it's looks a bit odd, and for me, it's not my thing. Although i have been known to wear the odd T-shirt with like a car or bike pic on it form time to time, but nothing like this... Unless you're Burt... don't do it lol! There could be a section for bikes, or it works mostly as it is, I spend a lot of time in this section reading people's wacky builds. At the end of the day, this is a car forum. There are bike forums, lots of them. Exactly. We tolerate/hide motorbikes in the Reader's Other Mods section, but (personally) I'd rather people just got their bike fix elsewhere. I'm sure there are lots of us with similar interests but RR wouldn't be a better place if we tried to cater to them all. mylittletony, i agree with what you're saying, there could be a section for bikes, and to me it would make sense as it would save time trawling through all the other posts on the Readers Other Modifications section, i always end up reading loads of other posts while i'm there, so if there was a bike section, it would save me time lol! Of course rmad this would work for you too, you would be able to completely by pass all the bike stuff if it was in it's own section, and head straight for the stuff you want to read. I do completely understand that there are bike forums, and i can see what your saying about it being a car forum which tolerates motorcycles, and you're right, RR wouldn't be a better place if you tried to cater for all interests, which is why you have the Readers Other Modifications section, to cover other things like, well bicycles, guitars, caravans, boats, toy cars, even cooking, and that's great. But I do believe that more of us car enthusiasts are into bikes as well, so it just makes sense to have a section for bikes to me. I think it would be great, i like many of us on here are members of various different forums, all over the world, and for me, this is the best one, this is the one i check into most often, this is the one with the biggest, and best variety of projects, and adventures going on. I think that adding a motorcycle section, would enhance this, rather than be of detrimemnt to it don't you? This is why i started this thread, to be fair i had hoped that a few more people had voted either way as the more people vote, the better an idea of if it would work would be, and it's just an idea, an opinion, something that i think would be cool! To be honest rmad, i am glad you have said something, and i am presuming that you probably voted too? I am hoping that the other moderators, HoTWire, HARDCORE, DarrenW will also voice their opinon on the subject, infact the more people voice their opinion the more interesting the thread will be, especially if we get a few photos as well lol. Plus, unlike a lot of the other projects in the Readers Other Modifications section, Cars and Bikes sort of go hand in hand, especially here in the UK where a great many of us first got a taste of freedome and adventure of the open road at just 16 years old on some funky moped, a full year before we were old enough to get a driving licence and hit the road in a car. It's where a lot of us cut our mechanical teeth so to speak. Anyway, thats enough of my twittering one for now, here's another photo of one of my bikes... Yep, it's another Yamaha TW125, this is a 2001 model, and is road legal
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Between me and Jenn. We have ZZR1100 1999 ZX9R 1999 FZ600 1987 I used to have a fairly original FZ600, one of the few road bikes that I've sold and then though damn why did I do that? Once (briefly) saw an indicated 140 on the speedo before I bottled out no idea how accurate it was though.
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PHUQ
Part of things
Posts: 859
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What a strange thread. I like bikes, there's some cool retro bike builds on here & I'm glad there are, but if you want lots of bikey stuff a proper bike forum would make more sense and there's plenty of them already so I don't see why we need a section for it on here. Especially- and not trying to be rude here, just reflecting on what RR is supposed to be about- if it's going to end up full of bog standard modern 125s. Mind you I'm probably wrong, because I used to wear a battered old leather jacket and kevlar jeans on mine most the time?
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I'm all in favour of a retro and custom motorcycle section, possibly to include pedal powered custom cycles as well. Just don't let it be filled up with boring new stuff. I don't believe that lumping bikes in with everything else in the Other Modifications section is the right thing to do as it takes too long to find bike stuff in there if that is one's thing. As far as owning a motorcycle goes I've had one in the past (Honda CG125) and every summer I think about getting another one in the interests of reducing my expenditure on petrol and then when the weather turns to curse word I decide to stick with the car. Also the licencing regulations for motorcycles here in NZ are ridiculous making it very expensive to ride legally.
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I like bikes just as much as cars. this is my Only retro bike though. 78 dt125 project.
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taurus
Posted a lot
Posts: 1,084
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Suzuki Van Van I've had a CG125, Honda Cub, GS500, CB500 Had 10 years without a bike because I had to sell it to buy a car for our daughters to learn to drive in. I looked at all sorts and eventually decided the bike that put the biggest smile on my face was the Van Van.
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I can see both sides of the argument, but here's my take.
I'm not, never have been and at my age, unlikely I ever will be, a biker. I'll watch MotoGP if it happens to be on where I am, but only 'cos it's racing and anything with an engine that races get's watched, right?
Anyway, as I trawl through this diverse section, I'll open a bike thread and have a look, along with all the other fascinating stuff that goes on here. However, if there was a specific bike section, it is unlikely that I'd be interested enough to look.
So, I kinda enjoy the bike bits as part of the whole, but wouldn't really bother if they were separate.
My 2pee.
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I'd love to see a motorcycle section, I think retrorides as a site does it completely different to other car sites out there. I think it would do better that the American section of this forum.
I have alsorts of motorbikes, from a 70's Honda CF70 right through to my selft build 7/11 (750 with big bored 1100 engine!)
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gavs1
Part of things
Posts: 571
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Trike baby, but not through choice
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I've had a few bikes, from a '76 CG 125 that evolvedinto a kind of cafe racer thing (back in '98, before hipsters latched onto mini cafe racers) but ended up buried in the side of a securicor van that turned across me. That was followed by a few years off bikes before doing my DAS and getting a mk1 Bandit 600 that I added a JMC swingarm and did some suspension work on with the aim of adding a GSXR 750 motor to but sold before getting that far It ended up with the headlights stacked one above the other and a single seat unit before I got rid though. My current rise is this, an '01 aprilia falco, 1000cc v twin with some tuning work, added carbon fibre parts, Ohlins suspension front and rear added and a few other bits and pieces done. It goes well and sounds awesome with an air box kit and open pipes. Not retro but not too modern either. I also have an '84 BMW K100T that is in dire need of some love, they seem popular for the cafe racer look so I may go that way rather than full on tourer.
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I'd love to see a motorcycle section, I think retrorides as a site does it completely different to other car sites out there. I guess folk *have* seen the sticky in this "other modifications" section retrorides.proboards.com/thread/97759/retro-motorbike-peopleI like bikes mod'd in the way most cars on here are (think "built not bought") but it would be a shame to swamp RR with standard or modern bikes. As this thread is here and pics are always a good idea, have some of mine over the years... SV650 Italijet 50cc kids (this and a couple like it are still around as "spare time" projects...) Honda VT500 , very low, ideal for commuting - all year round Yam TT600 ( genuine competition bike - road registered. total hooligan!) Guzzi V50 (g/friends - stolen just to be burn out a mile away ) Kwak Gpz500 twin commuter. Less said the better Kwak Gpz1100 D1. Dinosuar, "pure hell on the straightways" (also some impressive sparks when gounding it at Croft ) VFR750, V4 on carbs VFR400 ("baby VFR") - great practive for welding up a custom V4 exhaust And as it's a car forum, out Retro bike transporter (the bike/box trailer just fits in the boot of the Sierra estate ) I like bikes.
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