Your Top Five Favourite Non-Kawasaki bike

Mine are only Japanese as that's all I care about, although those new triumphs look pretty neat. These may not be in order but some of mine are:
1, 1983 Honda CB1100F
2, 1978 Honda CBX
3, 1983 Suzuki GS1100ES
4, 1980 or whatever year Suzuki GS1000 with the little fairing in white/blue colors, whatever it was called. Losing my mind I guess.
5, 1975 Yamaha DT400 enduro. OK, strange here, but my dad bought me one new for $900 in late 1976 and I absolutely loved that bike covering close to 14,000 in one year with zero problems. It doesn't compare to a big street bike, but I have very great memories of it and cried to see it go.

Patton wrote:

ThousandKaw wrote:

1. 1991 Yamaha FJ1200 Rode the snot out of that thing, sorry I sold it, it did everything well....

Must have been a vast improvement over RonKZ650's 1990 model. :lol:<br><br>Post edited by: Patton, at: 2007/08/10 23:02

Ha,ha. I'd have to see that! anyone have a charity event with a sledgehammer and a Yamaha FJ1200 at $100 a bat? I'll take 10, or better yet just use my bare fists until they are bloody with all broken bones. It WOULD be worth it.

Hmmm.....tough one, but here goes....
RG500 Walter Wolf Rep....love that gaudy paint...and it's a stroker....what's not to like??
1982 GS750E (or 1100E)....should never have sold my 750:(
2006 Bandit 1200S....modern-day replacement for the GS
Duke 900SS early model...ride one if you get a chance....your life will be changed forever
Any early 90's RMX250 cross country racer....the ultimate combination of power and comfort in off-road iron, IMO.
Gee, 4 out of 5 are Suzis. I guess that says something about my tastes, although I'm not sure exactly what.:whistle:

1. 79 Honda CBX , 6 into 6 yowwww
2. 89 GSXR 1100
3. GS1000 Wes Cooley edition don't remember the year
4. 1989 Honda GB500, just love the look, cool little bike
5. One of the old Norton Commandos

In no particular order

Cheers

Post edited by: austin3119, at: 2007/08/11 00:32

OK ya'll asked for it.

1976 Yamaha YZ 125
1983 Honda CR 125
1985(?) Honda XR 250
1990 Honda XR 250
Any modern 450 4 stroke dirt bike with electric start.
Guess I'm starting to show my age with the mellower easier riding,electric starting,bikes. I guess that would also explain my dabbling in streetbikes now too.

My selection:

1964 Honda CL72
1966 Honda CL77
1966 Honda CB450K0 (AKA Black Bomber)
1977 HD XLCR (flhwesty, we think alike)
1982 Suzuki GS1000SZ (Katana)

I have owned two of these and the excesses of youth forced the sales. I'll get atleast one more of those before I'm too decrepit to ride or the Alzheimer's kicks in.

Honda FT500 Ascot ,, The Single .. Honda VT500FT ,,, The Twin ... Honda St90 ... Honda 97 Magna ,,, Honda CBX

Bikes I have ridden that I truly liked are as follows
1. 2005 Suzuki GSXR 750: awesome power and handling, and LIGHT

2. 1997 Suzuki TL1000S: First v-twin that I have ever owned, and I am addicted. Loads of low to mid range torque, easy maintenance..damned thing is evil too.

3. 1974 Husqvarna 400CR: This thing must have been the devil's dirtbike. Kick it wrong and it would almost launch you over the bars, but once running, it was awesome. Slapping on a 40mm Mikuni flatslide was the best thing I did to it.

4. 1976 Honda CR125 Elsinore: My first dirt bike. Lots of fond memories of that one.

5. 1989 Suzuki GS500E: Pod filters, rejetted, clipon bars, aftermarket rearsets, supertrapp exhaust. This was my first streetbike. I loved this bike. If I still had it, it would be my commuting weapon of choice.

If KZ550 or KZ650 didn't exist, I'd probably look into :
(Not in any order)

1. Yamaha Radian. Did everything well, very smooth, decent to work on, the only goofiness is the plastic styling, but that can be removed.
2. Yamaha RZ350. Very fast, and decent to work on. Needs some extra routine maintenance being a 2-stroke, but worth it.
3. Suz GS550 four or GS500 twin. Probably nearly as reliable as KZ's and pretty simple to work on. (Not as fast though, because they seem heavy to me.)
4. Yamaha FZ600 ... only becasue it's not water cooled.
5. Hmmm, Non-Kawasaki? Can't really come up with any more that I would consider for real (based on my budget.)

I haven't owned any of these, just spent some time working on them for friends and they impressed me enough to take notice.

Just have to say... I consider myself very lucky that I get to own several of what I considered my "dream-bike" from when I was kid, and was never dissapointed by the Gpz550, except the one time I was stranded from two failed coils after a heavy rain storm while doing 70 on an interstate. Replace those old coils or don't let them get wet!

Post edited by: loudhvx, at: 2007/08/11 13:37

I'm basing my answer strictly on looks or pure "I want that" factor. Other than my current ride ('04 Volusia) I've only ridden my old 78 KZ200 and my old modified KZ400. (I've got a stock 78 KZ400 (non-running) on the way) and one ride (2-up) on an old YZ80.

The XLCR is pretty cool but I like the looks of the XR1000 better (Street version of their 750 flat-tracker)

I'd kill for a Buell Ulysses right now.

The GB500 is definitely a drooler.

For some odd reason, I'm dying for a CT70 (kind of like the 70's version of a pocket bike in that I bet I could fit this one in the trunk, too).

77 Fantic chopper- striclty because who can resist a 125cc 2-stroke one-cylinder pseudo-replica of the Captain America bike?

I'll admit that, as a relatively new rider (@3-4 years), some of these came from things I've read and not things I've seen (and definitely not ridden) but I like the looks of each one. Performance/quality? Well, that may be another story.

JHT

Honda CB900F
Suzuki GS1100ES
Yamaha VMAX- in the event that your wrists have kinks in them & need to be straightened out!
Yamaha IT490
last but not least! 79 Honda CR 250 - had a blast on one of these in my younger days...maybe that why I hurt so much nowdays!

No particular year or order but...

1.Suzuki Bandit 1200
2.Honda CB1100F
3.Yamaha V-Max
4.Yamaha Warrior
5.Honda CB350