I have lusted after one of these for years, finally got one and I'm afraid it ain't for me, had lots of twins and lots of shaft drives but thought this would be special. It's more an Italian Harley than a thoroughbred. It's not that relatively quick, it's handling is an acquired taste, trying to use it down my local B roads nearly ends in a change of underwear. In short it handles like a pig on a roller skate. Yes I know it's great on A roads and I know I should slow down to appreciate it but I can't .
Bought a nearly new 93 blade in 93 & loved it, so I pre-ordered the 96 blade before it was in the dealers. It was OK but just missing something, so it got swapped in for an R1 when they first came out & all was well again
I had a Honda CBX550 in the early nineties - the one with the engine that ran backwards and had inside-out brakes - in may ways it was the predecessor of the CBR600 and it was pretty good : handled pretty well, went pretty well too. I always thought that the CBX750 would be "the same but more". A mate owned one, and when he went to sea he left it with me to look after for a couple of months. I absolutely hated it... It was like riding a very long, very hard plank ! Awful, awful bike... "never meet your heroes"...
I think the Kwak 1000RX disappointed everyone. I haven't owned a bike that has disappointed me but I remember test-riding a YZF750R when it was new. I was underwhelmed as I had been told to expect a rocket-ship on rails that was light-years ahead of anything I'd ever ridden before then. It was meh, lacking all mid-range (I was and still am a mid-range junkie).
Vespa PX200E. I had a mind fuck and bought one when I sold one of my GP200's. (Circa 1985/6ish?) Fucking boring. Reliable but I sold it after 2 months and bought another GP200. Which promptly surged and seized 2 up and fully laden down Riegate Hill. We fishtailed for a while till my best mate fell off the back and saved us. Well at least saved me. It stabilised when he bailed. I reckon the wanker made a run for it to save himself. Haha, he was all bruised and gravel rashed and had to jump on back of my other Lammy for the IoW rally. I pissed em.
A Laverda Jota, which I didn't buy... I'd always seen it as a pinnacle and with cash in hand after selling a Suzuki I went to see one privately. The owner kindly let me try it out (we were all more trusting in those days) and I rode it for just a few miles which were sufficient to persuafe me that it was an ungainly beast of a thing to use, with very heavy clutch and clunky gearbox (possibly gearchange on the wrong side...). Apart from the sound of the engine, which was impressive, even the "open road" experience did not strike me as special enough, and I ended up buying a Suzuki GS1000 instead. Getting a 900SS many years later reminds me of the Jota whilst probably being better in most respects - it certainly weighs less and was nowhere near as expensive in real terms as the Jota was then.
Ducati 999. I was at a track day at Brands and had the use of a 749 and 999 to use for a session each. I do not know why but I could not get on with the 999 and came in early. Perhaps I did not give it enough time but the 749 on the other hand was fine. To this day that session has put me off that specific bike. My bike at the time was, I believe, a Gixer 750 although I did move to a 1000 around that time. My first two bikes were Ducati Monsters (800sie and S4) so I did have some experience of twins.
My first big bike was a VFR750F-S. Years before I'd read how it was the best all rounder ever, and I'd always wanted one, so I bought it without even having ridden it. It was good, but the Fazer 1000 I replaced it with was better in almost every conceivable way.
I sold the Griso cos it handled too well! Riding a Guzzi is an event, something to master, and the Griso was too much like any other fine-handling bike. The older Guzzis do handle well, but there's an art to it, you can't just hop on and hope for the best. My old Le Mans will fire you into the shrubbery if you so much as think of backing off - so you don't, and it repays your faith in spades. Unlike my old Katana 1100, which tried to kill me at least twice
I have no probs with my Duke, but the Guzzi tries to have you off at every bend, when I try and keep up with my 67 yr old neighbour on his 675 street triple, my duke no probs, the guzzi is a combination of the weight the shaft and the ham fisted wanker riding it
