I quite like the look of the ST's time has been kind to them. One of the best looking bikes IMHO Bimota DB4
The R1 Big Bang is probably the nicer looking Jap 1L bike...But only once the stock cans have been binned...
Can people please stop looking at the older bikes, we are on about the latest modern crop. IMO Ugliest prize goes to the ZX10R I have always like the Blade and even more so in HRC colours I think the Panhandle is not pretty but is striking The rest just blend in to one
The crossplane R1 is even fuglier than the fuglystrada, and that's saying something. The ZX10 ain't pretty or striking. Fail. The Fireblade is just polite, you can't really love it or hate it, and the Suzuki lost it's way when it lost the twin headlamps. Personally, I'm not keen on the RSV4, the back end's too small for my fat arse, but it does at least look purposeful, as do the Pantygirdle and the RC8. Has to be the KTM for me. Away from the sportsbikes, the tourers all look identical to me, and the adventure buses too bloody big. The retros are too twee, and have had their nuts chopped, and the modern nakeds are too fat - the Z800 (which is quite a looker in my opinion) is way over 200kg All of which leaves the Triumph 675s, either in sports trim or as the Street Triple. No wonder they sell by the bucketload...
the new multi is ugly that beak what the f*%& happened there its hideous ! the panhandle the mirror terrible a after thought
I'm with MrC on this one. I think Kawasaki have lost the plot. I used to really like them (and owned 2) but the look of the recent ones is dreadful. Their exhausts must be designed by a blind man. I can't help thinking its a bit sad when some of their old stuff was so-so almost top-of-the-tree. Not an ugly era from my perspective though - I think the new Blade is quite tasty, the HP4 very tidy, and Pani absolutely drop-dead gorgeous.
There's nothing that stands out though, is there? Each bike has a kind of corporate character built into it, but they're not like a pet. Bikes used to be pets, and you had to treat them as such; fuss around them a bit with a grease gun, tickle them under the chin with a dash of wd40 and away they'd go, and they soon became very ragged if you didn't look after them. Now they're not pets, they're appliances. An iBike. No character. That's why I've still got the fuglystrada, and swapped a shiny Guzzi for a shit one. The fugly is like a labrador puppy, absolutely full of beans (but no greyhound), friendly, affable, and prone to the odd little 'accident'. And the Le Mans is like a fat old labrador, still keen to please but a bit too slow and heavy to go chasing round a field, yet utterly loyal. Go on, tell me you can say the same of your S1000RR...
D16RR, NR750 and Supermono are ugly bikes. As for cars, there was a big fuss made over the styling of the BMW E60 5 series, designed by David Arcangeli, now all cars are similar in design.
Do you remember the term Jap crap! I'm sure given the chance 30 years agonto show customers the future Z1000 they would have gone crazy yet show people a 30 year old Z1000 to modern day bikers and they go crazy for them. Today's market is old classics and I believe Ducati were way ahead of their time with their classic range. Have you seen how much the sport 1000s' s are going for??? In 2008 you couldn't give them away for more than 6k yet there is none available and when they do eventually come up for sale you can't get one for less than 7k for a 5 year old bike! As we unfortunately grow older we want to re-live our youth and own the bikes we couldn't afford. These are the machines which are selling in the industry atm. 8 years ago I wouldn't pay any more than 5k for a Jota..........Now look at them!!!!!!
There is certainly a burgeoning retro scene, but is that due to the look of the bikes or the unwillingness of an older biking population to go splitting their colostomy bags on a crotch rocket? There are more and more retros, more and more nakeds, more and more adventure bikes. And the vast majority of them have a face only a mother could love, so I can only surmise that the age of the bikers is the key factor, and as I've said before the retros only look good cos they ain't got no balls. So what of sportsbikes? We used to be a nation of sportsbikers. And while the 2-wheeled population is definitely older, I still know plenty of men who will happily blow fifteen grand and sling their arthritic cadavers over the latest missile. But there ain't one sportsbike available now (with the possible exception of the RC8) that warrants a second glance from me. For me, I think the manufacturers have forgotten their audience in the quest for headline-grabbing stats. The golden era for sportsbikes was in the nineties - and that means 750s and maybe 120bhp, lightweight, usable bikes with a bit of go in them, and power that's not beyond the realms of the average Joe. And those 750s were no prettier than today's hypersports bikes, but they were more desirable because they were more usable, more attainable. If you've got a litre sportsbike now, blag yourself a ride on a '90's 750 and see if it don't make you laugh like a hyena when you cane it...
I think you are right Fig, if you read mags like Classic Sportsbikes there is a massive scene for 90's useable Sportsbikes. A good friend of mine is parting with his 5,000 mile 595 Daytona at the end of this year which I am probably going to buy, 120 bhp is more than enough for some serious fun, and perfect to go along side my wheezy old 600ss
