Anyone out there still riding motorbikes.

How many of us on here still have or ride a motorbike? Mines a Harley Roadking made in 1996. This is the embarrassing bit, I purchased it from an american friend who had it from new ,he never used it. It came to me with under 600 miles on it and after owning it for 3 years I managed to put about 150 miles on the clock. So since 1996 its still got less than a thousand miles on the clock. That tells you a bit about the british weather. :thumbsdown:
I will post up some pics of it.

Bob
 

Pat

Supporter
BMW G650X Challenge on the street and in the dirt, my fully restored 1991 KTM 300EXC. The latter was my last race bike before the old age took the self destructive tendencies out of me.
 
72´Moto Guzzi 850 GT California and Ducati 996.
 

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Fran Hall RCR

GT40s Sponsor
Will be back racing a BSA this year in vintage...cant bring myself to race my Manx incase I drop the damn thing.
Also some three wheelers in F2...busy finishing the design of a new F2 chassis at the moment too....
Ride a BMWR1150GS on the street most of the time but have a little hotrod triple with four curved open megaphones that I want to have done for spring...fingers crossed.

Some weekend trail riding with my son is always one of the highlights of my year
 

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Larry L.

Lifetime Supporter
So since 1996 its still got less than a thousand miles on the clock. That tells you a bit about the british weather. :thumbsdown:

'Bought a 6-cyl Honda CBX new in '79 ('replaced my Harley)...'sold it 25 years later almost to the day. It had 3,400 total miles on it...or about 136 miles a year. Washington State weather obviously pretty much mirrors the U.K.'s.

But, no. 'Don't ride anymore. 'Don't dare risk it. If I bust myself up at all again I'll likely be 'toast'.
 
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'Don't ride anymore. 'Don't dare risk it. If I bust myself up at all again I'll likely be 'toast'.

Me too!
Interesting story though. In the mid 1980's in Syracuse, NY I had a Honda F2. My neighbor bought a used bike from a private party and rode it home (Florida). It was my old F2. Confirmed by the VIN and my unique paint job.
 

Glenn M

Supporter
Love that Norton Fran - gorgeous!

BTW Hope you've got blue shreddies on too when you go out in the woods, It would be criminal if they didn't match too! :laugh:

Glenn
 
I used to ride all the time, and only used a car if I needed to haul something. Day, night, rain, whatever--I rode.

Life got in the way and I got out of the habit for about ten years. Just getting back into it now. My '86 Kawasaki 600 Ninja that I bought new, was sidelined for ten years due to an ignition problem I was always going to fix next weekend. Finally got smart and gave it to the pro motorcycle mechanic who lives down the street from me. It's been back on the road for a year or so now.

My '82 Kawasaki GPz1100 came to me in '87 with 3400 miles on the clock. I put about 85,000 more miles on it in ten years, literally wore it out. A good friend, who built Rob Mesa's race motors (RCR SLC elsewhere on this forum) said he'd rebuild my motor in a month, so I gave it to him.

Seven years later (!) I finally got it back. A year after that I slid it into the chassis. Then it sat for another few years. Finally discovered a great outfit in Auburn, CA a few weeks ago called Matt's Vintage Motorcycles, that specializes in restoring 1960s-1980s Japanese bikes. It's up there now, it's running, and it should be restored (to 20-foot standards) in a few more weeks.

Then I have an '83 KZ1000R Eddie Lawson Replica waiting in the wings. I bought it while at USAF pilot training in 1990 from a guy who had no idea what it was. It was just a green motorcycle to him (it had been repainted a non-original green). It ran but the engine burned oil.

I decided to do a full restoration, and was able to buy all new bodywork (tank/sidecovers/fairing etc.) from Kawasaki. I took it all apart, to have all the black bits powdercoated, and then got orders transferring me to Korea.

I managed to get the stuff back from the powdercoaters and assembled the whole bike in a day, with just about every fastener finger-tight. The plan was to take it all apart when I got back from Korea and assemble it properly.

The coming back home part happened in 1996, but I haven't had time to touch it. It will likely go to Matt's Vintage Motorcycles later on this year.

Oh, and I've got a 2001 Honda XR250R dirt bike that I have made nominally street legal. Haven't had time to ride that in a couple of years either. My riding buddy is also an airline pilot, and negative changes in the industry mean that we can never get our schedules to line up....:veryangry:
 
It us really hard not to buy my favourite bike of all time, the GPZ900R, circa 1984. Always wanted one. But like the dream of the Harley. No!
 
the only i realy have much and ride it all,...bikes
 

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100th anniv Harley Superglide and 1973, 1st year original, Z-1 Kawasaki. Haven't ridden lately as a result of a head-on (car) accident last year but would like to resume if operation on the shoulder is successful.
 
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