how many of you .....

[footprintsinconc]

ww was my first hobby that kept me busy, but since i have bought my bike, i have been preoccupied with bike related stuff now. i spend the xtra time reading, looking at mods, searching for things that i want to equip the bike with .... and hence ww has been temporarily put aside.

so i thought i would set up a poll to see how many of either used to have a motorcycle/trike/scooter or still do currently own a bike and ride it. so far, i am loving it!

[LinuxRandal]

I've worked on one recently, and discussed with some machinist/fabricator friends about buiding one, as I would like the hands on experience, not the cost of ownership.

I would just prefer to know all the ins and outs of one mechanically before I got on one. I don't really have a fear of scooters/mopeds, but I do motorcycles after being allowed to take one for a test drive, from a friends friend who was rebuilding it. (dirt bike)
I got out a ways before he starting hollering (I couldn't hear what) so I turned around and almost lost it. When I came back and stopped, the bike flipped on top of me and he said "I was trying to tell you it had no brakes yet" as it was burning a hole in my leg.

Been afraid to drive one ever since.

[cabinetman]

I had one or more bikes continuously up to about 10 years ago. I would ride it to the shop at least one day a week, and on weekends. Every Saturday night there would be a local banzai ride that 50 - 75 bikes would attend. I joined a riding club that arranged trips and weekend outings fairly regularly.

LOML said, she's all for another bike as long as it has a sissy bar. Haven't decided on a dresser or a rice burner.
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[dkerfoot]

I rode to work more often than not for a couple years while I was an instructor in the Navy in Charleston, SC. I had a really nice 10 mile ride through some swampland that had very little side-traffic.

Then, when I got divorced and had full-time custody of my three kids, I just couldn't justify the risk anymore - especially since my own Dad was killed on a motorcycle when I was 8.

I'd like to get one again one of these days but it isn't a super-high priority.

[RodKirby]

Vespa (Italian for "Wasp")

(Been 6 months now - not a lot of WW since I got it )

[Ed62]

Never owned one. I had a hard enough time with a bicycle.

Ed

[BobSch]

Used to have a Honda CX 500, nice for commuting and running around town but not a road bike by any stretch.

[BerniePA]

Let's see if I can remember them in order:

1. 1980 Kawasaki LTD 550
2. 1981 Yamaha Venture 1100 I think
3. Yamaha Virago 750 used for comuter at this time I forget the year, might have been '78
4. 1985 Harley FLTC with a whole lot of extra chrome that never ran right and got totaled from a woman who ran a red light and got me broadside when it was six months old.
5. 1986 Harley FLTC equipped like the above as a replacement.
6. 1985 Suzuki Madura 1200 (Went from PA to AZ with me)
7. 1994 Harley FLHTC

The best balanced bike of the lot, was the 1985 Suzuki Madura 1200. I think they only made them for two years, 85 and 86, I don't know why, probably were too good. That thing was a cruiser that was fast as a rocket and had excellent balance. I was living in Chandler AZ and was test driving for GM in East Mesa at the time and used that to comute. There were 10 stop signs between home and the parking lot at work, and I could leave home and do FULL, I said FULL 3-4 second stops at all stop signs and never have to put a foot on the ground until I got to the parking lot. Excellent bike.

But of course -- nuttin' sounds like a big ol' Harley V-twin!!!

[crokett]

Never owned one. I always planned to one day, but that day didn't come before I got married and had kids. Now I've decided they aren't worth the risk.

[dbhost]

Owned 2, both Hondas. 1980 Honda CB750F Super Sport, sort of a predecessor of the current batch of Japanese Rice Rockets out there. Hated the way it rode.

Also had a 1987 Honda Shadow VT1100C with a custom purple pearl paint with lime green ghost fog flames... I miss that bike still... If LOML wasn't so skittish about them, I would grab another 1100cc Shadow in a hot second...

I like the road manners of cruisers a lot more than sport bikes... Guess it's just me though...

[ironhat]

I had a Yamaha, SR-500 which was ther street version of their TT, single lung off-road bikes. It was a dry sump and carried the oil resevoir in the frame - the top tube and down tube. Torquey as all get out and was nearly stall proof. If you forgot to downshift and cranked on the throttle it would thump hard, slow enough to count the piston strokes and rattle your brains a good thump until it came up to speed. Simple, narrow and light. I kept if for 12 years and traded it to a neighbor for a swimming pool. The same fellow still has the bike and I get right of first refusal if he decides to get rid of it.

[Greg in Maryland]

I still miss my bike ....

[billwmeyer]

Bridgestone

I had a Bridgestone bike. Most of you probably never heard of one, so I have attached a pic from their sales brochure. I think it was a 69 model, and unfortunately didn't come with the girl. It was a 200cc, and was identical even in color to the blue one in back. It ate Hondas for lunch. I still miss it, I sold it when I got married for the cash.

Bridgestone was supposedly forced out of the Bike business, because other manufacturers threatened to stop buying their tires for their bikes.

Bill

[Pappy]

I probably staddled my first bike before most of you dirtied your first diaper. I learned to ride on my cousins 250 Harley dirt tracker.

Through the years the stable has included:

'55 BSA Gold Star 500
'73 Honda CB350
'?? Honda 90 (When I was in Japan.)
'74 Honda 175 Elsinore (Bad-ass little dirt bike!)
'81 Yamaha 650 Special
'86 Suzuki 1400 Cavalcade with trailer
'79 Kawasaki 1000 in a modified KZ900 chassis built for the drag strip.
'85 Honda 500 Interceptor motor/custom frame project bike. Got the frame set up for the strip and the molds made for the bodywork but the bike was never finished. Along the way I picked up a complete Interceptor for a parts donor that ultimately was sold with the one running motor.
'06 Suzuki C50C Boulevard (800cc bought with the excuse of cheap transportation to work!)

I had to voted in three categories; past for recreation, past for daily commute, and current for daily commute. That said, with the possible exception of new riders that bought during the spiking gas prices, anyone who has ever owned a motorcycle can say that recreation didn't play a large part in the reason for buying one.

My closet also holds 4 leather jackets, a small/large pair in both brown and black, and a black vest. SWMBO commented recently that the day we met I was riding and was wearing a black leather jacket, and she still likes seeing me in one!

[cabinetman]

I gathered a few pics of some of my former "loves".

This bike started life as a Honda 750, and got bumped to 836 with other mods, and a fiberglass body. It only had a 2 gallon fuel tank. It wouldn't go far but got you there pretty quick.
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This bike was the find of a lifetime. It was a '78 Kawasaki KZ1000. I bought it in 1980 from a guy selling it in a panic sale for $700. I rode that bike until 1999.
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I bought this Goldwing new, and added the dresser stuff. It is the ultimate cruiser. Was I hooked on bikes...maybe a little bit.
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