Some interesting m/c history

[rocketnorton]

I like classics, here is my 1974 Moto Guzzi:

View attachment 484589

73 eldo I had, and first bike, 63 Honda monkey

 

[Macman125]

I would love to get my hands on a yamaha rz350! I have seen plenty of vids where guys have put the 535 cheetah kits on them and they keep up with modern 600s all day.

 

[Marshy]

Weren't Allstate/Sears 175's made by Puch in Austria?

Personally I like classics... but built with modern quality control, materials etc:

Here's my Honda CB1300 Super Four. 2009 model, completely stock apart from MUPO shock absorbers and fork internals, R&G Racing exhaust protector and K-Factory engine case protectors.
Long story about this bike. My brother had a 2003 which I rode a few times and really liked, except for temperamental fueling and a saddle even more uncomfortable than a OE BMW one (I also have a BMW, so I speak from experience). He later sold it because he had grown tired with Honda being unable to fix fueling.
At about the same time I was dating a girl and made the terrible mistake of involving her in the new bike choice. I put under her nose a CB1300 and a VFR (Interceptor) brochure and she picked the VFR.
I ended up falling out with the girl and with a bike I genuinely hated and which I ended up destroying in a crash. No big deal as it was obviously a Friday afternoon special.
Fast forward to 2006. I recovered from the crash (I lost a good chunk of skin on a leg and lost mobility in my left thumb for a few months: that's why I won't buy anything from Dainese and Held ever again) and was ready to get back into bikes again. I bought a track bike, reasoning tracks are safer than roads.
They may be safer, but they are also more boring and pretty damn expensive.
So in 2009 I bought a Kawasaki road bike which lasted a massive four months. I didn't crash it, but grew so frustrated with poor quality and continuous problems I could not take it anymore. So I PX'd it for my present BMW which is... in another plane of existence, really. It quickly replaced the car as my mean of transport.
In 2012, after realizing the track bug had run its course, I sold the track bike and started looking again into the big CB. Much to my mirth, I found Honda had fixed the fueling issues and the saddle. Much to my chagrin I found the bike wasn't imported in Europe anymore, so I started looking for a used one. Easier said than done as Honda imported only small numbers of them, reserving most of the production for the Japanese market.
After a few months of searching, I found a dealer about 80 miles away had just got one as a PX. I went seeing it and it was an absolute gem. I pretty much bought it on the spot.
And the rest is history, as they say.

You guys over the pond seem to get the better bike selections... Thats a nice looking bike but I like the looks of the Yamaha XJR just a little more.

 

[Conquistador3]

I would love to get my hands on a yamaha rz350! I have seen plenty of vids where guys have put the 535 cheetah kits on them and they keep up with modern 600s all day.

Either the 600 riders were going slow on purpose or they could not ride to save their lives...

You guys over the pond seem to get the better bike selections... Thats a nice looking bike but I like the looks of the Yamaha XJR just a little more.

The Yamaha is a dinosaur. In many ways it's a 80's bike adapted to modern times. It doesn't handle particularly well, has a bad tank range (small tank + high fuel consumption), it chews tyres, cannot keep up with a Honda CB or a Kawasaki ZRX... but it's very well made, possibly better than my Honda (paint is chipping from the back of the cylinder block... ) and those buying it demand just such a bike.

All these bikes (Honda CB1300, Kawasaki ZRX1200, Suzuki GSX1400, Yamaha XJR1300 etc) are meant for the Japanese market and usually only small quantities arrive here, with minimal alterations, usually meaning a different ECU and silencer to meet Euro emission and noise standards. Both Honda and Kawasaki chose not to import the latest incarnations of the CB and ZRX in Europe to avoid chewing into sales of more profitable models. This is not a very smart business decision as these bikes have always sold exceedingly well (with people politely turned away because allocation had ended) and those after them won't buy a modern eyesore such as a CB1000R or a Z1000. It makes even less sense considering Ducati Scrambler's and BMW RNineT are selling like hot bread.

 

[Marshy]

The Yamaha is a dinosaur. In many ways it's a 80's bike adapted to modern times. It doesn't handle particularly well, has a bad tank range (small tank + high fuel consumption), it chews tyres, cannot keep up with a Honda CB or a Kawasaki ZRX... but it's very well made, possibly better than my Honda (paint is chipping from the back of the cylinder block... ) and those buying it demand just such a bike.

All these bikes (Honda CB1300, Kawasaki ZRX1200, Suzuki GSX1400, Yamaha XJR1300 etc) are meant for the Japanese market and usually only small quantities arrive here, with minimal alterations, usually meaning a different ECU and silencer to meet Euro emission and noise standards. Both Honda and Kawasaki chose not to import the latest incarnations of the CB and ZRX in Europe to avoid chewing into sales of more profitable models. This is not a very smart business decision as these bikes have always sold exceedingly well (with people politely turned away because allocation had ended) and those after them won't buy a modern eyesore such as a CB1000R or a Z1000. It makes even less sense considering Ducati Scrambler's and BMW RNineT are selling like hot bread.

I believe you are correct about the Yamaha based on the reviews I've read comparing it to the big CB and Kawi. I think at that point buying one of those giants is for nostalgia and not really for handling or to claim you have the biggest and baddest. I believe in the late 70's when the top 4 were battling it out for HP and 1/4 mile times it would of mattered but not anymore. I feel like anyone buying one of these just wants the modern version of the former glory bike from the 70's and early 80's. I happen to love the looks of the Yami and I'm sure it handles great compared to my '79 XS1100!

I've considered buying a ZRX many times because they are the only retro themed bikes left in the US at a reasonable price.

 

[Macman125]

Either the 600 riders were going slow on purpose or they could not ride to save their lives.

Let me rephrase, the rz350 with a 535 cheetah kit will spank a 600 on a road course. The 350 is a lighter, more nimble bike. Two strokes have always had better power to weight ratios.

 

[Conquistador3]

Let me rephrase, the rz350 with a 535 cheetah kit will spank a 600 on a road course. The 350 is a lighter, more nimble bike. Two strokes have always had better power to weight ratios.

Yes, but the RD/RZ frame is Bronze Age. Japanese frames made the Great Leap Forward in the early 90's and have been consistently getting better every year.
A good compromise would be a Honda NSR250, especially an MC21. The MC28 was better frame-wise, but it was also impossibly expensive to derestrict and JHA (the company which had bought the remaining stock of MC28's from Honda in 2000 and developed many tuning parts for it) has now gone out of business.

 

[Macman125]

The nsr is a pretty sweet bike. Aprilia is still doing some pretty cool things with two strokes.

 

[Conquistador3]

The nsr is a pretty sweet bike. Aprilia is still doing some pretty cool things with two strokes.

I am sorry to inform you both versions of the RS250 (the Rotax-engined racer and the Suzuki-engined road bike; no relationship apart from name and being two stroke) have been out of production for quite a few years. There are still two stroke racers being manufactured for the PreGP class, but the only ones an adult could conceivably ride are 125's. The best are made by RMU of Italy using TM Racing engines.

 

[Macman125]

there is a company, I can't remember the name but they are converting them to 500s. I always loved me a bike puffing blue clouds.

 

[Macman125]

http://www.asphaltandrubber.com/bikes/ronax-500-launch/ I always though it would be cool to stuff a rotax mxz670 rotory valve engine in a modern buell frame.

 

[bigbadbob]

I have a 79 XL250 with collectors status.
Also a yamaha DT200
Both road ready.
Have had many bikes in my day,
Rode half the Great divide a few years ago on my Vstom DL1000.
BBB