Motorbikes - what do you ride?

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Hi all. I absolutely love motorbikes. For me, riding is therapy. It's the only time I ever switch off or quieten my brain. In a car or any other time you'll be thinking about a million things, the last conversation, the next conversation, the social event your partner has agreed you'll go to, your partner having dared to put one of your CDs back in the wrong order etc etc etc but on a bike you have to focus and concentrate on exactly what you are doing - reading the roads and traffic to stay alive. I love it

I have a husqvarna FE350 which is far too powerful an enduro bike for me but I love it
I have a BMW R1250 GS - very comfy for clocking up miles
I have a Triumph Sprint ST 1050. Been all over Europe on it now still in my garage but retired and there for my adult son to use as his.

What do you ride?

1993 BMW K75. I've put 6-7k kms on it over the last couple Summers; would have been more but it was in a shop for 9 months. I really should do the paperwork and fill out the forms for collector plates to save $ on insurance.. also, I should schedule a road test and see about getting my full licence so I can legally ride at night and have a passenger if I want. (I don't want, but riding home after Sunset = risking a ticket.)

Several others in the fam have bikes/recently bought them in the last couple years as my father who's slowly dying of cancer has always wanted to ride, so, now we are. Older bro for ~25 years, dad, twin bro and his wife, brother's ex-wife's bf, and soon brother's fiance, step son, friend and maybe one or more of our cousins. etc.

There are other bike's I'd LIKE to own, but chances are if I buy anymore they will Also be old enough for collector plates = way cheaper insurance! Twin bro has 750 Ducati scrambler full throttle, buuut, depending on how much their 1 bedroom place sells for as they've just bought a 2 bedroom, if there's enough "fun money," leftover, he may buy a brand new Yamaha MT09 SP. (which is Also approx the same geometry as his Ducati and my BMW = fits our frames.)

Definitely been enjoying it and getting WAY more comfortable and competent with each ride out. I fully admit I still have things to learn and skills/abilities to gain & hone. Bit by bit I'm getting ever more comfortable with leaning more into my counter steers vs. being so rigidly upright. Then there's my older bro that had his stepdaughter on the back of his Harley Dynaglide UltraClassic (full size highway bike) & scraped the paint on the left fairing on a turn when they rubbed the road.

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No for supporting trump. Because doing so is deplorable.

Hi Goldfish. Great to hear.People who don't ride will never understand the pleasure that comes from it, the joy of banking through a perfectly executed bend.

I've done quite a few miles over the years now but I wouldn't class myself as a skilled rider. I don't like speed on the road, too many things trying to kill you:- gravel, diesel spills, cars, potholes....
Every ride is a learning one for me and I love it.
There's not a bike you mention that I wouldn't love to own.

Keep riding, keep smiling

100%!

You don't know what you don't know until you know it by experiencing it yourself.

The thrill, the comradery, the skill/improvement.. sounds & vibrations of the road, wind feel & noise, even the views are different than from in a car since there are no pillars/roof to block them and you're always hyper aware of your surroundings. Plus it's a really neat feeling knowing that motorcycles are rated as the second most difficult machine for a human to operate, second only to a helicopter. Makes you have instant respect for other two wheelers even if we don't agree with their lifestyle/other behaviour - they're still riders; human beings doing rather incredible human being things.. operating mechanical animals with both feet and hands all coordinated simultaneously. Respect to all riders for sure!

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No for supporting trump. Because doing so is deplorable.

I don't currently have one, but I wish I did.
Have had a 1967 Royal Enfield Bullet 500 and a 1978 (I think) Yamaha XT 500. Rode the Bullet from Goa to Manali in India. Was a blast. Rode the XT around Humboldt county. Was an entirely different beast than the Bullet. A lot of fun to ride, but not really as well suited for touring.

Hi Elbow grease. I love those bikes and that must have been an amazing trip. Lots of great memories I'll bet.
My dad never had bikes after I was born but I have an old black and white photo of him in the 60s with a bike he had that he loved - that was an Enfield Bullet I think so I've always fancied getting one......it's on the list

I saw a Royal Enfield parked at the beach a couple evenings ago. Extremely rare here - no idea if it was new or old, looked all new and shiny, could be new-ish, or could be restored. Not sure if they're even sold here.. maybe ? Definitely not a common bike around here at all!

I've been having ever more fun on my BMW with each ride out and leaning more into turns - and I Know that I am because the dusty contact patch on my new tires is getting wider and wider, still around an inch from each edge, but more than twice as wide as it was when I first got back on my bike months ago. Maaaybe I'll get right over to the edge this Summer - so long as the road is clear and safe and it Feels right, and definitely at lower speeds tighter corners vs. trying to get right over ripping mountain curves or something.. recently saw a local video of a sport bike making passes on a local mountain road and it slid right out from under him - whoops! Bike scrape-age, maybe some minor injuries, but overall the rider seemed perfectly fine - and was posting response comments about it the next day. Nonetheless, the idea of putting a cold edge of a tire down on a twisty road with a bit of debris and wiping out doesn't really appeal to me lol but my older brother basically says I should be scraping pegs since there's nothing low on my bike to get in the way. Maaaaaybe someday, and maybe by accident.. but it's most certainly not my goal! It is interesting to see vids of bikes touching pegs down and just skipping a bit like a pebble on a pond, and then straightening out and carrying on just fine over and over again.. doesn't seem that it's a guaranteed wipe out or death wobble - and I know my older brother has scraped pegs on his Goldwing, and the fairing on his equally large highway bike of a Harley that he has now - soooo, the physics check out.. it can be safely done on highway exits and turns etc, just a little scrape/rub/spark, lift up a hair and complete the turn, straighten up & accelerate out of it. Sounds pretty simple on paper! (but maybe crap your pants scary af in the real world..)

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No for supporting trump. Because doing so is deplorable.

Actually found out recently that they've stopped making the Bullet now. Which makes me even more glad that I got to take that trip.

Hi Elbow. Don't know if there's any race circuits by you but you should try doing a track day (on one of their school bikes) sometime. I bought a track/race school day for my son for his birthday a couple of years ago and it looked great fun watching him getting down through the bends not worrying about oncoming cars or dropping his own bike!
Something funny was that he and the other 'students' were trying their hardest, pushing harder and leaning further round bends on CBR650RR race bikes than they had ever previously done whilst the instructor (a genuine professional racer) was leading, twisting around looking backwards at them with one hand on the bars on a 650F 'shopping' motorbike. Unbelievable skill levels from the pros.

Oh hell yeah pros are S U P E R skilled! The better I get at the basics, the more I appreciate how incredible truly talented riders are. It takes a hell of a lot more skill to master super high powered motorcycles than say.. drag racing cars. There's just no comparison. (Except for maybe helicopter racing ? if that's a thing.)

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No for supporting trump. Because doing so is deplorable.

Yamaha V Star 1300 - Nice ride for going around town.

This is my friend, and the bike I used to ride around California on.

I know it's a Harley but I don't know any other details.

{{{ miss you }}}

last one while i was able to ride [physically infirm now], was a lovely honda helix. rode like a cadillac over the bumps. cruised at 75 all day. 60 miles per gallon. smooth and quiet.

60mpg is really good.

I just did the math on mine and I get 40mpg (US gallon) on my BMW K75. And that’s just regular mixed riding; not trying to save fuel etc - I could probably squeeze a little better fuel economy out of it if it were my goal. That’s just typically what I get though, approximately. Maybe a hair better.

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No for supporting trump. Because doing so is deplorable.

the helix had a one-lunger 15 cubic inch engine, it was light-weight and very streamlined, hence the mileage. plus i rode it like a little ol' lady, just as though i was driving an old cadillac.

This is my other friend's bike.

I'm curious if anyone knows what kind it is. I haven't talked to him in years.