1979 1200 T Laverda 180 crank...Smiles Per Mile's you cant beat it, and when you open her up full chat, your know your riding a real bike ... and she flows thro fast corners...those that have know what i mean owned her 8 years .. been round Spa-Francorchamps on her with 100+ other laverda's including the awesome V6, and rode though holland with 300 laverda's ...Piero Laverda leading us out on public road's on the full blown race V6. :smile: Brian91cfr youve got good taste my friend :wink:
Gorgeous Laverda, some of the nutters here used to race bike's like that in production class. My best bike ever? good question .. in late 70's/ 80's all my life was about Motorcycles and I owned lots. Easy though and why I choose my user name, it was a rare GSX1000S Katana, they had big bore Mikuni smooth bore carbs as stock compared to the 1100cc ver domesticated CV carbs, this was needed to homogenate (or something) so many for the then F1 Motorcycle rules. it had to be under 1000cc and it hit the spot at 998cc or something. As I recall it was a Suzuki Katana 1000 (not an 1100 ver) that first broke the lap record on Silverstone on street bikes for an average lap of 100MPH +, bear in mind this was the old fast flowing corner Silverstone, not the tight twisty one we know today. I raced it at Knockhill in Fife Scotland and my best lap was about on par with a GSXr 750 in 1986 I did later in my life, but my disability was getting a grip then, great fun though I had lots of big cc Jap bikes, 2 x GS1000's, GSX1100, Yam FJ1100, 750's, and the big Kat ... retired with two years of a new Bandit 1200s as a treat to myself before I expired But looking back on things, it was the Suzuki Katana 1000S (not 1100) that made my summers in mid 80's, it was the perfect Bike for me. Old pic of me on the Bike .... I had a nice numberplate too ...
Gotta be my 250 and 350LC's I still have the red black 350 in bits in the loft. One day I'll get round to putting together again My first real bike a Stan stevens stage 3 250lc that was px'd for a new TZR250 the red 350LC in the middle I repainted in red n black LC's the only thing I'd swap my Ducati's for :biggrin:
I've been looking for a decent 954 for a while (to compliment, not replace the Duc, of course) - just somehow a better riders bike than the later heavier things that emerged .... Tadao Baba got into deep trouble with the Honda board for saying he thought the 'blade ethos finished with the 954 and that the later bikes were never as good to ride, being too 'power focused' rather than a blend of power, looks, and handling ...... a view us Duc owners can empathise with.
I'd have to agree with the 954 Blade. Just wheeling one around, you can feel the weight difference between it and a new one. The best all round bike I've owned (as much as I love Ducati's). Every time I look at mine I don't want to sell it, but it's going soon
Mine was my 03 black z1000. I loved that bike and it was the bike that led me to meet my lovely girlfriend. Nice riding position, nice engine and mad looks. Sadly I folded it on the side of a mini cab driven by a blind man in London in March of 2011. If I had the money, I'd have another one in a shot
No rose tinted specs here My Sprint ST 1050 which I still have and will keep till the day I have to stop biking. Its got a superb motor full of torque and a utterly linear power band, just whack it open in any gear at any speed and away you go.Great comfort and looks nice. It wont handle ,brake or attract comments like a Duke ,but I think its a superb real world bike. I have 30,000 miles done oin it and hope to get to 100k. Pic taken three weeks ago in Scotland.
Howdo! Love me modded Superlight very much! However got myself a GSXR1000K5 to get to work on :wink: and what a piece of kit that is!! Nimble, good brakes, comfortable, plenty of torque, good handling & most of all makes ya smile! Excellent Jap bike
Good to see the Yamaha RD350's remembered fondly! My fav bike so far has to be the RZ350RR that was race-tuned for its previous owner and was my first bike at 18 and my daily ride until it was stolen years later. It was easy to ride and embarrassed many larger machines on the race home from Uni / work. Good memories.
I feel left out now.. my LC never seized once.......:frown: best bike is tricky. if you held a gun to my head it would be 'minty' my CBR600 - did about 25,000 trouble free miles, had a big off in Devon, cobbled back together using second hand parts and rode for another year trouble free. I was in the heart of the recession having lost all overtime as a turner so money was tighter than tight (a 10k pay cut makes itself felt) it shrugged everything off as if it was nothing, and really could do anything - tour, thrash commute, you name it. After that its got to be a tie between the 900ss (the most capable bike i've ever owned by a notable margin, but probably the least practical) and my old GPz550 (much missed after a pillock in a rental car forgot to brake for the line of traffic I was in...) The GPz may not look that badly damaged in the photo, but you can just see the tank laying a few feet away from the bike, the frame was bent in three places, as was the swing arm, and every single body panel was destroyed, leaving it a cat B write off - the front end and engine was about all that was usable. It used to belong to my father - he gave it to me when he retired, and I restored it to pretty much showroom condition. I actually got a fair price from the insurance company, as well as a prompt settlement. four weeks after the accident (and still quite sore) I was on a plane flying to Scotland to pick up the SS
Fantic GT 350LC stupidly tuned GS1000 in a hardtail frame Ducati 888 these are the ones that stand out amongst many Steve B
Probably my GSXR1100H from about 20 years ago. Not sure how much it was the bike and how much it was the invincability of youth..... Obviously now it has to be my 999.
Sorry Figaro - this one dropped off my radar (think I hit the unsubscribe button by mistake). Well yes, it almost certainly was me. Date fits and I used to go to the Bol religiously every year while it was at Paul Ricard. The luggage was especially ordered from the States, at a time when this was not common, so the chances of your having seen a different 851 at Le Castellet that year with the same luggage is slight. God - I'm almost memorable! :wink:
my mk1 superlight loved the thing 96-99 should never have sold it . (bad pics sorry) all the red put away spent 3 years like this back to red when sold not a mark on it, px`d it guy in the shop had to push me out the door i would not let go of it.
it was a year old t595 in black nice bike. but had a good 4 year run on the mk1 with some good mates its not just the bike i think its the rides you have on it . now very happy got a mk3 sl - 748sp- and a t595 i do like my mid 90`s bikes jc
I have one!!!!! Ya know, I'd be lying if I said it wasn't a factor in me buying mine!!! as a commuter it does its job well, unbelievably economical, and reliable in a Chinese communist sort of way (i.e. provided you keep everything lubed, change the critical bolts for western quality ones, and spanner check it from time to time.) for the money you cant complain.
I guess my best bike was either the Guzzi LeMans or the de-restricted ZZR1100...both very forgiving when I did something wrong. The Guzzi was amazingly economic if on long runs and the throttle was kept in the same position at say 80mph, whereas the ZZR was easier to fling around the tracks than a ZXR50......like driving an armchair at very high speed. AL.
Simple for me : The bike i have now 916 i have always wanted one it sounds great looks great and go's great . If petrol runs out tomorrow ( please not ) i would still be happy just having it in the house.
