classic motorcycle forum
Motorcycle Discussions => Japanese Bikes => Topic started by: slyvestor2 on February 20, 2013, 11:19:25 AM
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The subject banner above says it all really,my best bike as a kid was an RD250E however it did have limited ground clearance,my' Doc Martens' would wear out pretty quickly on the outer edges,the vfr750 and later 800 could be thrown around without much in the way of protest but i did find they too would bottom out quite early but they were pretty stable bikes even two up,over to you.
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Mine was the 72 Kawasaki 500 H2. Of all the bikes I owned it seemed to out handle the others. Yes, some were more nimble, but did not have the nads to get out of their own way like this bike did.
The best handling bike I think I ever remember riding....now this is for vintage only... was the Kawasaki 350 1972 vintage. That bike was really nimble and very quick.
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moto guzzi G5 @ 1979 on rails
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Probably a Norton 99 Dominator... one of the worst was a Kawasaki H2 lol
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i was surprised to see a Kawasaki 500 H2 in there , is this a joke or is the only other bike hes rode a 1959 bonnie
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Someone has their kwakas mixed up, the H2 was a 750cc.
Guzzi Lemon Mk1 - arrived at a tight corner doing a lotta knots, very tight corner and big brick wall.
Used all the brakes could find, threw it in, and we came out the other side - thank you Pirellis too.
Wouldn't like to try that on too many older bikes you could name...
Modern sports bikes could do it every day and not even turn a hair ?
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Yes that's true H1 = 500 H2 =750, I've owned both too :-[
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Sorry I caused such a ruckus about the H1 or H2 thing. It has been about 38 years since I have had it.
It may not have been as good handling as a Norton, but I thought we had to have owned the bike.
I never owned a Norton. Beat one in a race though.
British bikes in the 60s and early 70s were very unreliable and parts almost impossible to get within 6 months.
When you live in the north you usually only have about 6 good months to ride in, and the rest is pretty hard core, so who wants to wait on parts on a slow boat from England?
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I never found them any more unreliable just much more maintenance hungry - Yorkshire lad here
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I never worried how it handled, I only worried if it would start to get me home!
You canīt steer a K2 until the front wheel is on the floor.
I never pulled a wheelie on a British bike.
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Should any of us have ever "pulled a wheelie" anytime? Unless of course we have lots of room to play about off-road.
Jim.
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A K2... Honda 750 sohc?... they never pulled a power wheelie either
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need at 30 stone pillion (at least) to pull a power wheelie on a G5 , only wheelies pulled now on a beta zero . nice and light
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1973 Puch MS50D - Dreadfully brilliant first bike/moped between 1976 and 1980.
1979 Ducati 900SS - Brilliant second bike from 1980 to 85. None of the other bikes I have owned since are as good as these two.
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from a 50cc puch to a 900ss , i bet that was a shock , i found from c11g to 3ta a leap
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Yep, 49cc of awsomeness in the morning and 862cc in the afternoon. The first opportunity I got to open it up from a standstill (Cemetery Junction, Reading) I started to fall off the back with the acceleration which rolled the throttle on even more until my hand came off the grip. The return springs on the carbs were very good and my nuts then hit the back of the tank. Lesson one learnt. Lesson two was about five minutes later on the motorway where I opened it up to an indicated 130 mph in the outside lane of three. All was good even though it was really quite foggy until a bid white coach moved out into the outside lane. It had no lights on in what was now thick fog and chose to pull into my lane when I was doing nearly twice its speed. I slowed myself down then and decided that I was trying to run before I could walk. Lesson three was five years later when my soon to be (first) wife thought we ought to sell the bike to realise some money. I should have known better than to listen to her.
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what did you pass your test on ?
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Think it must have been my Kawa Z650 great bike until I put the K&N filters on with the Harris pipe, it sounded and went great but it was a pig to start. It also was or seamed a lot lighter than my GS1000 which was a big beast of a thing, well it was to a little lad like me.
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Stitch.. you should have stuck to the fanny Barnett!
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i also find oil in frame bonnie tigers good handling machines , most of the big jap 70/80s machines I have rode could not handle the power they had . fork braces metemex swing arms etc did very little to help , had a harris gs 1000 and looks to die for , but was not as good a handling bike as a rob north t150 I had , and the noise was pure music
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what did you pass your test on ?
My mother's Honda CD175 with Bes Decibel megaphone exhausts. Really quite loud and the examiner knew exactly which part of the test circuit I was on. I used to borrow it from time to time and ended up in a bit of a coma for a week after T-boning a Ford Anglia with my mate on pillion. We were going to see the Zal Cleminson Band at the local college. I have no memory of that day from about 20 minutes before the accident or anything for a week and a half after. The Honda was cheap to fix and I wasn't convicted as the Anglia shouldn't have been on the road, apparently. I was a really nice bloke before that accident , by all accounts, but I've turned into a right **** now. It's funny what a head injury and 35 years can do!
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I passed my test on a Tandon, 50 years ago.
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Yep.. clip board and drive round the block... bin there done that
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Mine would have to be my Ducati 500 Pantah. Had a few suspension mods and of course the 'Conti' pipes. Think that my Honda ST1100 would be a VERY close second, so easy to throw around for a big bike. :D
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st1100 nice bike if its not rotten , if it starts to handle poor take a good look at the swing arm , ive had two here both with the same problem , the k100 is also a easy bike to live with and performs better than expected , i see they are now doing well in the bears race series , and laverda , ducati, moto guzzi racers watch out , they are cheap can be made to handle (better) and can be tunned and still be relyable
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The rusty swingarms are not a problem here in Aus. Some of them wear out because of the big miles we do, (one Aussie owners club member has over 500,000km on his 1100) but are such a reliable bike and easy to maintain. Most problems in 1100's now are age related, eg split rubbers etc, but have not heard of anything major going wrong with them. Now Honda have stopped making the ST1300 and are trying to sell us the VFR1200 as a replacement. Not half the bike of the ST's. :D
;)
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sounds great , mats just gone to Addalaid ? took his bikes with him (B50s triumph harleys ) and after 7 months there has rode 7000 miles ( over here he did 4000 in 3 years ) says its the place for space ,weather , doubt he will come back . over here uk if its pressed steel it rots bad , cars and bikes , may be down to the amount of salt we throw on the roads when its winter
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Only salt over here is on the dining table in little pots, or in dried up lakes in South Australia where once a year you can take your car/bikes and go REAL FAST. The one they use (Lake Gaidner) is 150Km long x 90Km wide, so we have a bit of room to open them up.
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Best bike and biggest surprise was a Yamaha Fazer 600, bought it cheap when I had to cash in an R1 as we were extending our house at the time. Absolutely fantastic value for money and a big grin factor.
Worst bike, 1979 Kawasaki KH400. Had it when I was 19, mental fast in a straight line but frightening in corners. A KH trait I believe. Still, wish I still had it now. Still love two stroke triples.
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Suzuki GS 750 with a set of clip-on's Bullet Faring some good Dunlop tires and a set of setbacks! That thing was an awesome handler!
Worst Handler I owned was a 78 Kaw Z1, Like throwing your leg over a 2x4 and handled about as well I suspect!
But was it awesome in a straight line! Seen the other side of 150 many times! (yes it had work done!)
Looking back it's a wonder I'm still here!
Ah to be 20 something again! You know we were Invincible back then Right!
Road rash was a badge of honor! If you never had it you really didn't play hard!
Dang I must have played really hard!
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Never been brave enough to ride a 'bike hard enough to find out! :-[
Jim.
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Not even accidentally ?
Most of my 'moments' have been when i arrived in the middle of something faster than prudent - as judged in hindsight.
Like the road repair crew that had gravel (marbles !!) all over a corner, and hadn't put out the slow signs yet !!
Wonder how this bike handles if I put my foot down, and try and get around speedway style. ?
Yep, it worked.
Wonder if the designers tested for that......
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Yep, been there too R. :o
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Not even accidentally ?
Most of my 'moments' have been when i arrived in the middle of something faster than prudent - as judged in hindsight.
Like the road repair crew that had gravel (marbles !!) all over a corner, and hadn't put out the slow signs yet !!
Wonder how this bike handles if I put my foot down, and try and get around speedway style. ?
Yep, it worked.
Wonder if the designers tested for that......
Well......Yeah!
But never in the same situation twice with different bikes for a comparison! I do try to learn from my mistakes ;)
Jim.
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Best handling bike by far and iv rode and sold a lot of bikes got to be the rgv250 first model or later model with banana arm not much can out run it on the twisties guy came into my shop saw my rgv and commented that he had bought one he was a ducati rider at the time said he was doing a ton on a sweeping bend when an rgv passed his duke on the outside of him he said it must of been doing at least 110mph said from that day he had to have one.
they our cramped to ride and the first one i bought when i came to take it out for a run i sat on it and thought i can't possibly ride this its far two much of a racing position guess like any bike id say it take at least 4 days to adjust to the riding position i was doing 30,000 miles a year on all manner of machines id say 4 days is the figure to adjust to most if not all bikes don't write the bike off give your body time to adjust. ;)
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ill take an oz of what your smoking thanks
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Funny thing, how a bike handles is probably very subjective. Two people can take the same bike for a ride and have two different opinions on it that are quite different. We are talking about pavement here and not dirt roads right?
One thing that surprised me was that in a very short period of time I had a chance to ride both a 1961 Norton Dominator 650 and a 1988 Honda cbr600 sport bike. I thought they behaved almost identically at over 100mph as far as the chassis geometry went. Both bikes were dead stable hands-off at any speed, you could not upset them.
I am sure with it's more modern and wider tires the cbr would ultimately find a great advantage on a racetrack, not to mention it has much more power than the Norton. If I had the money and storage space I would probably have a japanese sport bike sitting around to play with, but I don't so I will keep the old British sport bike that is easy to find parts for, easy to work on, and appreciates in value better than a bar of gold.
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I prepped a cbr600 for the manx , I was a well balanced machine unlike the 1000 , the following year I prepped a zxr750 it was rubbish and far slower round the man , its about power, weight ,and suspention the latter is often poor on production machines
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I have been lucky enough to have a couple of dozen bikes over the years and probably the best one as been my last purchase which is a very low mileage Triumph Daytona 955i with the 180 section rear tyre and double sided swing arm, hardly anything upsets it and the power out of corners is brilliant by any standards, very much a overlooked machine .
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I think mine was a Yamaha SRX400. I rode mainly in London and it was perfect for threading through traffic and chucking into roundabouts.
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I have got to say the triumph Tiger 1050 I own now can be thrown around like a supermoto, I did'nt expect it at all ! I was just after a good riding position the handling is a surprise bonus , I have been riding since 1977 and this is a cracking bike.
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I had a test ride on the triumph Thruxton R just a few days ago what a bike that is the handling is unbelievable with its Ohlins suspension and 160 section rear tire you can throw it around with total confidence I only had it out for about an hour and a half but believe you me as soon as I've got the pennies I will be buying one .