A mate's XT500 when I jumped on it from my 28 mph X1 moped at a village hall disco after a gallon of beer when I was 16. Like you do..
That reminds me... CG125, Otley Road Leeds...my mate was at the helm, he had had 12 pints, me on the back having had "only" 10....oh how silly we were when young! Scary!
That reminds me, after a few beers - I went on the back of a mate who was a nutter on his 350LC - I was sat backwards, went a mile from one pub to another through some twisties with him grinding pipes and pegs - probably the scariest moment for me
I went pub-crawling once on the back of a mate's GT380 and we fell off before we even got to the pub. I've hated riding pillion ever since.
A proper mad Yamaha drag bike powered by two TZ750 Yam engines engineered side on side to produce a 1500cc plus screamer! Believe me once was enough for anyone
My foggy rep, used to scare the sh1t out of me, just putting my helmet on the heart rate would rise. The biggest bike i'd had prior to it though was a vfr 400r about 25 years earlier, so jumping onto a 1000cc after 25years of not being on a bike was scary as F@@k...
Another couple of bikes which also scared the crap out of me were both Katanas. A 650 which refused to tip into corners and ended me up in the gutter on the wrong side of the road, and a 1000 Kat which didn't stop shaking its head for half a mile after hitting a bump cranked over on a dual carriageway. How guys used to race those things I will never know
I learnt to ride on a Maico 500 twinshock. Didn't matter what gear I pulled away in, bloody thing would wheelie all the way across the fields. 12 years old and one of the smallest in my year at school didn't help. Must admit I never crashed it but was embarrassing when I high sided a Honda mb5 after showboating on the Maico to my mates.
Probably my first taste of an RD250LC when I had just turned 17yrs old. NOT a good combination. Felt FAF at the time! Probably what sticks in my mind most was a go on a GSXR1400 about 15 years ago. Big, heavy, cumbersome, awful handling BUT insanely fast in a straight line, if you had the bottle to wring it's neck, which I didn't as I valued mine more. Happiest memory was my 748SPS, just sublime.
I bought a new Kawasaki ZIR in 1980, the Japanese Dunlops [read sensitol lubricated] tyres that were fitted as standard,and in the wet combined with a lack of frame bracing caused some sphincter clinching moments.I soon found the money to fix it! Good engine though.
My old Rocket 3 wasn't the fastest bike i've ever been on but bloody hell it had some torque and weighed about as much as the QE2. Taking that thing by the scruff of the neck and throwing into a roundabout was an exercise in faith I can tell you. I actually really miss it!
Best thread for ages, having a good old chuckle Was that the "boxy" silvery blue thing ? brings back memories of a guy we knew called "Super" (f'ck knows why he was a big fat lazy get) but there were about ten of us all going camping to Silverstone and met at the RV motorway roundabout, Super turns up on his brand new Z :Smug: all his gear was stacked up and strapped to the back of the bike like a tower We set off down the sliproad (longest in UK I believe) and Super was definitely out to impress with his new rocketship, f'ck it was fast however with the ridiculous tower of stuff on the back it was weaving around like mad :Wideyed: he made it about 200 yards down the Mway when he veered off at a serious rate of knots straight up the grass banking :Hilarious: not so super now bike ploughed a good old furrow but was largely undamaged and Super just seemed to bounce & roll on the grass similarly undamaged mainly down to his bulk I think He never made it to Silverstone. In the late 70s I bought an ex proddy racers "tuned" 350 Yammy YDS? and decided to make a Kenny Roberts replica, I bought all the proper fibreglass race fairing & seat from Padgetts & painted it all up (including my lid) in my girlfriends mothers garage, it looked ace :Smug: had some black peashooter spannies on it :Headphone:, I had no idea about suspension so that was all stock as was the pitiful drum brakes :Nailbiting: I must have looked a right cock but in my mind I was King Kenny with my skin tight black race leathers (except for the big baggy arse) with a KR replica T Shirt (remember those) stretched over the top, big black boots with fishermans socks turned over the tops and big black gauntlets :Vomit:. Had to bump it to start as it didn't have a kicker, incredibly narrow power band but boy did it shift :Woot: the problem was stopping the damn thing :Jawdrop: probably the loudest bike I've ever owned and one of the few I wish I still had
The first time I took a multistrada for a test ride. I was sitting bolt upright and opened her up in 2nd gear and :Wideyed::Jawdrop: I just wasn't prepared for the fierceness of the acceleration. But you get used to anything. Loved my mutley.
Partly age but partly the bike but without doubt it was the KX420 crosser I had when I was 15 - kick starting it was terrifying but that was nothing compared to when you cracked it open[emoji15]
3rd vote for the CR500, I had 2 of them 1989 and 1991, both mental, both made an induction noise that still makes the hairs on my neck stand up, and i can honestly say the fastest thing i have ridden up to about 60mph. I was clocked at almost 120mph on southport beach during the beach race in 1989, the bike was geared for a top 10 motocross rider, did weston beach race twice on them also. I sold the last one for £900 and wish i still had it, I would love one now but they are getting really collectable now and popular with the supermoto boys. Happy Days.
