TOPIC:

I've kind of slipped off the road and into two wheeled action. Nowadays my leisure consists mostly of going places on my motorbike, or rather just "bike" because there are no bicycles in my life anymore. Not since the combustion engine has entered my kitchen. And, under acceptable weather, I'm commuting to and from work on an older Suzuki GS450 which gives me advantages over cars such as free parking, better passability through traffic and obstacles, and less fuel consumption / somewhat more positive economy.

I've visited a few motorcycle forums on the net, some very informative and helpful. I'm also registered on a couple, but I am still curious about others like me, who share similar hobbies like RC, what your perspective is.

I'd like to check if perhaps more people here are riding on motorcycle, given that our hobby is related. If you've gone 'two wheels crazy', or just commuting to work on a two wheeled vehicle without understanding that there's a motor inbetween those wheels, please write your story here; how it started, how it evolved, what bike/s you ride, and any tips on trips and perhaps some tinkering improving the vehicle. I'd love to hear about it.

This is my Suzuki GS450 from '81. I got it off "Blocket", a sort of ebay here in Sweden, and I paid 12000 SEK which was a bit too much as you're supposed to bargain with people. Well, I don't, I just want the stuff there and then.

And it isn't very fast, I can hardly push it to 120 kmh (I weigh around a 100kg) in slight downhill with the wind backing me, but it's great at going from 0 to 70, quicker than most cars which is more than enough for commuting. I love my 450 because it's not a heavy bike, and because of its weight it handles better on smaller roads. Yes, I would need a more adventurous bike, enduro type perhaps, and I am looking! But for now this awesome little 'red stripe' takes me just about every place I'd ever dreamed of going.




(... I just remembered that I do have a Honda XL500s! But it's in peices spread around my appartment, freshly painted and waiting to be assembled. And that will be the next chapter.)

My 2 wheel experince is from my moped days, had a Suzuki X1, 83' ish I think it was.
Slow that one.

But I did "loan" my brothers Honda MT5 which had 8.5hp kit fitted, ported, crank from a dirtbike and ER100 carb.
That did 130km/h with two persons and my brother built the rear silencer himself.
Hi did a techschool those days so one day they strapped it onto the dyno, and it did 14.4hp.
He did all porting, machine work himself, even lightened the pistons by removing the skirts and tuning the reed valve.
It was also raised a tad and it worked very good for me at 184cm.
And it could do wheelies in almost any gear.

I did like it very much as the weight was perfect, nimble and it was quicker than most 125 motorcycles.

I never had to take the moped licence as I was born at the right time, never bothered to take the 125 licence as it was expensive, and the motorcycle licence was killer for on that had paper route as income.

Motorcycles have never intrested my that much, so I spent my hard earned money on the car license and my first car.
I feel much safer in a car and I did drove very hard in my young days.
Usually racing bikes on roads and won.

But my speed record is on a bike as passanger at 260km/h and 245 in car

One of my friends are collecting old Kawazaki bikes and I have been promissed a ride if I buy a helpet so I can a ride when he is on vacation down in my area.
And my old landlord had a imported Kawazaki Z750 LTD I think it was.
It was the only registered in Norway as it was US spec.
Edit: After a bit research it was a KZ750 CSR I belive.

My best memories on a bike was on a custom Harley Sportster with rigd frame that my brother worked on for a friend.
Also that 260km/h ride has stuck to my mind as we drove fast for several hours.
This is 25 years ago or so..
I don't remember if it was on a 600CBR or it was a Ninja.
Also driving moped in -16C is also glued to my mind lol, it was cold, VERY COLD!

Now and then I have looked at sales ad of vintage bikes for fun, and prices are going up that's for sure.


I'm disabled so I don't work and I'm living on the countryside so there is no need for bike for me.
But I see the benefits of having a bike in big cities and rush hour.
I did a trip to Oslo on Wednesday and we came in the middle of rush hour, sitting in traffic was not that fun.

I would think the overlap on a Venn diagram of interest in motorcycles and RC would be bigger than that or RC & car ownership - there's a shared interest in things mechanical that it's there for a lot of car drivers, a car too often being a conspicous show of wealth, or no more than a way of moving the driver/family/stuff about at a speed greater than walking and in the warm & dry ...

-16C? And I thought I had it bard when it was -4 every morning for 4 months ... i've had a lot of bikes, lots of small stinkwheels first was a Yam MS50E Popgal (really), most fragile was a Yam DT50MX (59cc "big" bore & all the works), best was a Yam RXS100 that felt like a proper small bike, despite the poor 6v electrics, fastest was a Kwak KR1S (not sure what happened to that, the last I remember time I remember seeing it it was 30ft (10M) above me on a CB;DR course looking like it was being hit by anti-aircraft fire, having highsided it on a 105mph* right hander).

* actually a maximum 95mph bend, which I why I pranged it

4 strokes, i've had bigger and smaller, but the longest owned was a Honda CX500B, which despite its faults (indadequate top speed, tendency to stand up on right hand bends if you closed the throttle, front brakes that would lock up at the slightest hint of frost, sometimes even just rain - but could only be used once in the dry, silly low mpg) I kept for 9 years... it did have it's plus points though, comfy seating for 3, ability to play pob-pob-pob -pob tunes on the exhaust round town, up to 9.5k rpm VWORRRRPPPPP!!!!!, no chain requiring constant maintenance ...

One of my increasingly long list of medical issues in early onset osteoarthritis (mainly in the hips but in the spine & sacroilliac joints too), one of the many "fun" symptoms is legs giving way ... doesn't matter so much if you're getting up out of a chair, but touching a foot down at traffic lights & having a couple of hundred kilos of hot, rotating metal fall on me doesn't appeal, so i can't see me every getting on a two-wheeler again

A trike doesn't really appeal, but an outfit might ... can't afford that and a car ATM though, so a car, "interesting" car is going to win, the climate here being what it is.

Highest speeds achieved, 230 in a car, 165 on a bike (That's in mph for metric users) ... probably a lot faster than that on a bike on one occasion, but it didn't have a speedometer ...

I've been riding motorcycles for 40 years. My current bike is a Kawasaki Vulcan 900 Classic LT cruiser. I'm looking to get back into off-road riding as well.

Awesome! Well I knew there were bikers here. Great stuff guys. Keep it coming.

Impressive that you all seem to push your luck riding in cold weather, something I'd never dare due to the physics of the motorcycle. I mean the way you need to lean in turns would mean game over on a slightly slippery surface.

My last 2 wheeles expérience was in winter with my scooter. The power câble iced open and pof in the mercedes sprinter.... -12°C is not so good .

230MPH in a car???
What beast was that??

My brother used to drive very fast, but he saw his best mate lost his life before his eyes while driving with his mates and from what I know he does not speed anymore.



My brother lent a 1100 Blackbird that was set up for track, basicly a race bike with plates.
He did 200ish mph not far from where I live. His helmet hit the tank at the bottom of the hill before going up the other side, that piece of road have very shallow dump tp it traveling at 50mph, but at 200 it is pretty up and down action.

You know you can get studded tires, right?

That time it was -16C, I felt it was a bit chilly starting on my paper route, and I didn't know it would be cold that day.
Then I decided I would like to drive longer than the paper route, so I did.
My knees was hugging the engine like it was my best friend, even with thermo dress and thermo underwear it was painfully cold!
Not before I came home I did see the thermometer and it indeed showed -16C.
Think it was forecasted like 8 or something, so it was a bit surprise it was THAT cold!

Have driven plenty of times in the snow with mopeds, usually back in the days when it was cold, there was usually snow.
These days there seems to be mostly ice and black ice during winters, and that is simply dangerous going 2 or 4 wheeled.
We took it as a challenge to drive in snow conditions, not as much as problem.
And it is loads easier to drive in snow than on ice. At least you can see the snow.

One thing that have made me unconfortable on a bike is when the footpegs are located to high, like riding as a passanger.
My hips cramps up, same if you try to sit on a horse. My hips have always been like that.
For this reason I simply can't skiing as most of the norwegians seems to enjoy (funny saying here is norwegians are born with skies on their feet), because my hips cramps up when trying to brake.
So pegs has to be forward based.
I did not find the Suzuki TS50X comfy for me (that or DT50 was the ride to have around my neck of woods), the MT5 however fitted me perfectly.

A friend of mine had a r1 and another a cbr 1000 replica. My upper speed 210km/h. I like the motorbike but I was afraid with my last accident. And my wife said me: another 2 wheeles ok but alone.....

For as long as I can remember I have loved Motorcycles That's me as a Babe on the Honda, We still had it when I was old enough to touch the ground and I use to sneak it out at night even before I got my Licence at 15 hahaha I eventually found my way on to a Gsxr and Had that up until I left New Zealand in 2001 there were a few dirt bikes too The Yellow Suzuki 3 wheeler was at the school Fair when I was 5. After I became stable in Australia I picked up a Honda CR for dirt track riding and an XL600 for getting about I stopped riding dirt track because I didn't want to wreck myself with the Financial responsibilities I had, but Was riding a Yamaha WR400F up in the hills for a while. These day's I have a Yamaha FZ8N and have finished building a cafe racer for my Wife from a wrecked Honda CB250Rs Every year I ride to Philip Island for the Moto Gp and Super Bikes and was lucky enough to go to the Moto Gp in Jerez Spain a few years back while visiting my Wifes Family (she is from Spain)