What's your list?

[Madbuffalo]

What’s your list? Everybody remembers their first bike but what did you have next? How about after that? Sit back, take a couple brain boosters, and try to remember every bike you’ve ever owned. Motorcycles, dirt bikes, mopeds, anything with two wheels and an engine counts. After seeing a few board members' current lists this might be harder for some than others but just do your best. After all, it’s just for fun.


Here’s mine:

1980 Kawasaki KE100
1995 Yamaha RT100 (new)
1984 Honda XR200
1986 Kawasaki KDX200
1985 Yamaha YZ250 (my first restoration)
1983 Yamaha RX50 Special (my first road bike)
1975 Yamaha RD200
1975 Suzuki GT750
2000 Honda CR250

[jabcb]

Bikes I no longer have in order of ownership:
1972 Suzuki T250
1976 Suzuki GT380
1983 Honda CB650SC Nighthawk

Bikes I now have are listed below:

[Madbuffalo]

Nice! Looks like you're a bit smarter than me since you actually kept most of yours.

[Digger]

50cc Mobymatic – bought as field bike in 1967 for 30bob (£1.50 equivalent) – registration 50 EAT – the plate alone would be worth a fortune today ….

1963 Triumph Tiger Cub 200 – field bike. – Paid £3 for it in 1968.

1961 Triumph Tigress 250 Twin Scooter bought as project for £4 in 1969 – sold as roadworthy runner for £20 later that year, and after a lot of off-road fun.

1964 Bitsa – BSA C15 engine in B40 frame, extended Norton forks, apehangers, my first road bike, in readiness for my 16th birthday in 1971. Man, I was cool

1973 650cc Ural – loved that bike, never, ever let me down.

1975 Suzuki T500M – my first ever new bike, the reason I’m here!

Long, barren patch of life involving a thankless job and a bitch of a first wife – which I prefer to forget – apart from the joy of producing two wonderful kids.

1999 – New Buell M2 – utter hooligan machine, back to 2 wheels with attitude.

Ordered the Firebolt when it was announced, but 18 months of delays in launching took me instead to my ultimate luxury purchase …

2001 - New Ducati 748R – simply gorgeous – racebike for the road - lots of trackdays, lots of 165 mph road use, it had to go before I lost licence, limb or life.

2003 – new Kawasaki Z1000 in snot green with Blue Flame cans. Lovely bike, the best handler I’ve ever had, and Mrs Digger’s favourite as pillion, too. Trackdays, hooligan days, toured UK, Europe & Ireland on it, unburstable hooligan bike with a great soundtrack

New 2008 Buell XB12XT Ulysses – still with me, great all-rounder – use it for touring & scratching now.

My pride & joy – 1975 T500M bought as a running restoration last year, coming along very nicely and ridden often. Same model & colour as my first ever new ride. A keeper, for sure.

[johnakay]

my 1st was a 3 wheeler push bike does that count?

yes I was a little snotty mod(well no so quite snotty but a mod any way.)
Lambretta ..
Li150,LD125 beach fun bike,TV175,SX200,SX150.
BSA Bantam 175.
Suzuki T350 Rebel(early model)
T500J,
Norton dominator 500
GT250(never ridden it sold quickly and made a good profit)
GSX250
GT500,
MZ300 bored out 250 and it went like stink!
cb350s what a slug of a bike
Honda vt500
yamaha thundercat.
yamaha fazer 600
GT500 sold on and bought the ol 'T'500(green one in my avatar)
piagio 500 maxi scooter
Kawasaki ER6F(650 Ninja to you USA guys)current
GSX250
Suzuki burgman 400 soon to be sold off due to lack of use.

[Buffalo-guy]

Hmmmmmm.......let me think.
1968 T20 250 Hustler, bought new in sept. 67
1969 H1 500 Kawasaki. Fast bike, was riding it the night I met Uncle Rick in 1970
1972 GT750 Suzi. Written off at 9 days old by a drunk driver. Still have whats left of it.
1972 GT750 Suzi. Replacement for said victim.
Dirt bikes for 6 years. TS 250, TM250, PE250, another PE250, CanAm 400 Qualifier (too much work to manhandle that monster)
1973 GT750. Got me back to street bikes. Ian has successfully restored it beyond its former glory.
1981 Honda CBX bagger.
1986 GS1150 EF. Not at all suitable for two up!
1979 GS 850. Nice bike.
Numerous GT750s started arriving, in various states of disrepair. Ended up with 20, or so. Still have a whack of parts.
1976 RE5, from the original owner, and only 10 thou on the clock. About 14 thou now, and Lesters improve its look.
1972 Duc 750GT. Known history from the day it came out of the crate. Two wheeled art!!
1999 Suzuki 1200 Bandit. First new bike since '77 PE
2002 V Strom 1000 My distance rider of choice.(badly damaged at present)
1973 Duc 750 GT. Found hiding in a garage in Edmonton, for 30 odd years. Great rider!! Converted from disc to 4LS, awesome.
A few others that I haven't ridden much, incl. 85 Cagiva Alazzurra, 76 Buffalo Hot Rod, three other RE5s, 68 T500 Cobra, two 79 CBXs, 76 GT250 (1600 mi), 76 GT750A.
There have been others over the years, but didn't get involved with them enough to leave a lasting impression.
That's the brunt of it. It has been an interesting adventure so far. Cheers.
Fred

[tz375]

Not sure how far back I can remember, but it looks something like this:

Triumph T20 cub barely remember that far back

BSA C15 - hot cam and a pipe etc

Frances Barnett with Villiers IH motor tuned with expansion chamber when I was in high school

57 Triumph T100 cafe racer, my first real love affair with a bike - every possible modification available at the time (circa 1970).

64 Triumph T100 cafe racer - glass tank and seat, clip-ons, swept backs etc my daily driver at college

64 Honda CB72 "restored" in 72

56 BSA GoldStar in full on race trim on the street

72 BSA Rocket 3 - that thing was fast.

? Yamaha CS5 Electric - gear change on the wrong side put it in a hedge - not my fault

62 T120 Classic racer - I built it and raced it for a friend.

CB77 Race bike - alky burner, 350cc

TD3 - had it for years, just finished it - for sale.

TZ250A

TZ350E with 750 top end ("TZ375")

TZ250E with TZ700 top end

Yamaha RD400 (C, D, E and F models)

CB92 * 2 swapped them for a pair of TZs. Our garden looked like a chop shop. The ex was not well pleased.

TR500 Mk3 - not mine but looked good in the "shop" ( grandiose term for the garden shed)

CB900F - rebuilt customized and sold almost immediately

RZ350 - fun bike.

87? VFR750 - 1500 miles on it when I bought it, stored in the guy's basement since new. Perfect

TZ350G in light chassis

FZR400 cheap ex race bike What an oxymoron.

CB160/175/200 several. One road, three race and piles of junk. Mine is still a pile of parts.

More CB77s, restored, sold, modified etc.

GT750L (99% ended up as scrap) - Free and it is still costing me money!

Aprilia RS250 Cup bike - I wrenched on them and raced from time to time.

Honda RS125 track day bike. The most fun but way too small for me.

GT750A rebuilt and sold. Nice enough but boring.

GT750L with reed motor and GSXR suspension - in stasis

GT750 A Phat Trakka - struggling along

Most were sold soon (or immediately) after I finished them. I get bored easily and its easy to see whay I'm not wild about polishing any more.

I think that's all apart from another couple of CB77 racers built for sale and a whole slew of seventies Yamaha race bikes I used to wrench on for racers here.

[wvc]

Man, some of you guys are really showing your age. Buying your first bikes, 10 years before i was even born.

My list:
old mini bike (first motorized 2 wheeler)
early 80's Suzuki DS80 (first "real" bike)
84 Kawasaki KX80
86 Yamaha YZ80

10 year hiatus til' the first street bike came along

82 Suzuki GS850L (still my everyday bike, never let me down yet....knock on wood)
80 Yamaha SR250
(then the bug bit hard, started small side bike shop, eventually became full time job...hundreds of bikes come & gone since then, but only a few personal bikes including:)
76 Yamaha XS650 (gone)
76 Harley XLCH
89 Harley XLH (officially the wife's bike)
77 Suzuki GS400
76 Suzuki GT550
74 Suzuki GT380
76 Suzuki GT500 (restoration in progress)
72 Suzuki T500 (future project)
82 Yamaha QT50 (my around town ride)

Out of all the bikes, Suzuki's are my favorite, especially the 2 strokers.

[Madbuffalo]

A huge thanks to everyone who's participated so far. It's really interesting to see everybody's history of bikes and how your style of bikes have changed over the years (and sometimes cycled back). Based on a few responses (20 or so buffalos?!!!) it looks like I have some serious catching up to do.

Digger,
Great history of bikes there. My first road bike was a Yamaha RX50 so definately NOT cool but it got me to my next bike and eventually my GT750 so I guess it's all been worth it.

TZ375,
I have to admit I just stared speechlessly at your post for a couple minutes, how could one person aquire all those bikes?!!!

wvc,
"Man, some of you guys are really showing your age." I'm an '84 model myself so I'm not even sure I'm allowed to be on this board.

Thanks again for all the participation!

[tz375]

It's really easy:

Start young
Keep doing it for 4 1/2 decades
Keep selling them as soon as they are done - don't get attached to them. They are just bikes.
Always have 3 or 4 projects on the go at any time
Be prepared for being broke and spending way too many hours in the shop

I hate to sell a bike and agonize over every one that goes, and once they are gone, I just move on to the next one. "Love the one you're with"

[GreenMachine]

I'm such an amateur...

Yamaha AG200 (Bet they didn't sell those anywhere but rural Australia!),
Honda CT110 (125cc overbore, bigger carb, total hot rod),
Honda Nighthawk (ex motorcycle courier, been to the moon and back, RIP),
some time on a borrowed DR650 (wheelie, fall over, wheelie, fall over, wheelie, fall over, pass out from exhaustion),
GSX1100 project I had for 5 minutes (rode this around the block twice. Went very nicely),
T500 project I have now.

[H2RICK]

Hmmmm.....Once upon a time, in a place far away, I owned 2 cruisers.....or at least what passed for cruisers back in the day.....

1965 Honda Benly 150 in black with w/w tires. I paid $395.00 new. I loved this bike. It was a rocket (compared to all the S65's and S90's my buddies owned) and it took all I could dish out and never missed a beat.

1967 Honda Dream 305 in black with w/w tires. How could a scaled up Benly be sooooo bad ??!!?? This thing had the performance of Jabba the Hut on Quaaludes. I moved to Calgary in the fall of 1968 and took this toad with me. I rode it for another year and a half and then bought a brand new...

1970 Honda CB750K0. This was THE bike. A modern comparison would be like when the first GSXR was introduced in 1985. I paid $1795 out the door for it. I still have the bill of sale and the bike now resides in a dealer's "museum". This was the bike I was riding when I met Fred on his H1 at the outlaw drag strip. He waxed my butt on the strip......however in defense of myself and my Honda, I'd never even SEEN a Kawasaki stroker before....of ANY capacity. I was caught off guard. I was so traumatized I've never bought another new Honda since.
I sold the Honda because street bike riding was getting to me to the point I rode around on auto-pilot a lot of the time. Very dangerous. I decided to go dirt biking and was working at a Suzi dealer at the time, so.....

1974 Suzuki TS185L. A tough little dual purpose bike that I rode EVERYWHERE for almost 4 seasons. I even entered it in a cross country race of two loops over about 40 miles. The Suzi and I came in dead last (#39, IIRC) but there were ~15 other bikes that were DNF, so I felt pretty good about the whole thing. My brother-in-law ended up with this bike and he still has it.....and it's on the original piston and rings, although it is getting somewhat rattly.

1977 Suzuki PE250B. I bought this one as a natural step up from the TS185 and also due to a recommendation from Fred. Replacement shocks and an Al Baker fork kit and she served me well until my back gave out. I sold her in 1991. This was a great bike and it broke my heart to sell her....but it broke my heart to watch her sit in the shed and deteriorate.

1976 Honda CB750K6. When I had to quit dirt biking in ~1987 or so, I decided to look for a street bike. I found this Honda at a dealer in 1988 with lowish mileage and restored it to its original glory. I rode this one on and off until a guy came by with waaaayyyy too much money.....and the suspension on the bike was NOT kind to my back either.....so away it went ~1996. Meanwhile, I had been on the lookout for an H2, probably seduced by Fred's H1 performances. What I found instead was....

1976 Suzuki GT550A. This was in the spring of 1990. The purchase story of Indy has been described by me ad nauseum (some might say) in a three page writeup that's available in a pdf to any interested parties. I still have this bike and it'll be buried with me. I was riding this bike as my "performance stroker" when Fred phoned and said that he'd seen an H2 for sale in the Buy & Sell, soooo....

1973 Kawasaki H2A. This was in the fall of 1992 and was bought as a basket case. It took me TEN years to get it on the road. Yes, I know, that's a ridiculously long time for ANY project....but H2 bits were not exactly thick on the ground. I still have this bike but it doesn't see very much use any more. I think it needs some exercise.

Various H2's. These have drifted into my possession like Buffalos drift into Fred's yard. I have enough H2 projects so that if I ever fully retire I could work until at least my 100th birthday before I was done.

1982 Suzuki GS750E. I bought this bike in 1998 from Fred who had bought it to flip it....so it worked out for both of us. This was a fabulous low mileage bike and it was the first bike I really toured and camped on. All bikes should work this well in all facets... performance, mileage, handling, carrying ability (with a rack), seating position, etc etc and good looks. I shed a tear when I sold it. I still miss this bike. Unfortunately I had to sell it because I was out of room when I bought the replacement for the GS.....

2006 Suzuki Bandit GSF1200S. This is the modern version of the old GS. I bought this new in the spring of 2006 and assembled it myself in the dealer's yard. This was my first new street bike since 1970.
I've toured and camped extensively on this bike and it's perfect for that purpose.....and even more perfect, now that I've got a Ventura rack on the back. It's the last of the SACS-engined Suzis so it's also a piece of history. I'm pretty sure she'll outlive me.

1978 Kawasaki KZ650C2. I bought this on a whim in the spring of 2007 because it was such a low mileage bike (~2500 km/1550 miles) and so clean. It has turned out to be a laff-riot to ride and it's my daily rider in the summer. This bike is an absolute rocket for a mid-capacity bike AND it actually handles properly. If I'd known how good these bikes were I'd have bought one a LOT sooner. I also tour on this one when the boys haul out their pre-1980's bikes. I'm looking for a not-so-nice one of these to make into a cafe bike.

As other posters have mentioned, I've owned other bikes that I sold
before I actually rode but I've already gone on waaaayyyy to long
about this.

[Wingspan]

In order of purchase:

'93 Suzuki Katana 600
'70 Moto Guzzi Ambassador 750
'98 Suzuki TL1000R
'01 Aprilia RSVMilleR
'94 Honda VFR750
'08 Suzuki DL1000 V-Strom
'75 Suzuki T500 Titan

Currently own the last two only.

[Digger]

They are just bikes.

[oldjapanesebikes]

Man, some of you guys are really showing your age. Buying your first bikes, 10 years before i was even born.

Well - it has been said if you really were there in the late '60's early '70's, the memory may be suspect , but if I can recall correctly ....

First bike was a '66 Yamaha YA6 bought used from a friend of mine in 1968 - it was memorable as a) I'd never driven a manual tranny before and there was no shift lever on it, so I drove it for a month using a pair of molegrips on the shifter shaft which was an experience as occasionally I'd trip the release lever and they'd come off, and b) I had to store it at a friends house as I was still living at home and had been told explicitly not to buy it

1968 CB350 - nicknamed by my "friends" as the 'External Combustion Machine' as it caught fire on me twice - once while I was on it and traveling far too fast to easily get off the thing

CB450 K0 Black Bomber - great bike so I replaced it with a ...

CB450 K2, which was OK but wasn't great for two-up riding over any distance so after a bit less than 1 year of marriage I bought a ...

1974 GT750 L - first new vehicle we'd ever owned, but it was stolen after a few months so I picked up a ...

BMW 75/5 and at the time I hated it as due to the exchange rates in effect then, whenever I needed a part for it I very nearly had to get a loan So I got rid of it before leaving Ontario for Alberta and kept riding my CB450 while SWMBO'd rode another CB350 I found and then....

Picked up a locked up red 1976 GT750 in the early '80's which I liked enough that I bought a spare '76 in the other colour offered that year . While the Honda's are long gone (including some CB160's I didn't mention) , I still have both of those Buffaloes plus a few other odds and ends I've picked up along the way. Like many folks, what I find myself doing now is just re-acquiring models that I either had a personal attachment to (like the 1966 YA6 I bought a couple of years ago and the CL77 still on my list) or that I wanted but couldn't afford at the time. I'm more a 'buy and hold' owner than a serial owner - I've been looking after the red 1976 Buff since before our eldest son arrived, and I plan to keep it a while yet !