# Best Bike??!!



## hippo (Jun 27, 2006)

What is everyones best bike of all time?


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## mach 0.0013137 (Jan 10, 2005)

Well if you mean ones I`ve owned it would have to be a BMW R80 closely followed, in no particular order, by a 1946 BSA M21 (600 SV ridged frame girder forks), Kawasaki KH250 & Suzuki GT500.

If you mean best bike generally, I`d have to think but either the WWII BMW R75 or Zundapp KS800 would be in the running


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## thorpey69 (Feb 8, 2006)

I was very fond of my yellow Raleigh chopper


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## MarkF (Jul 5, 2003)

mach 0.0013137 said:


> Well if you mean ones I`ve owned it would have to be a BMW R80 closely followed, in no particular order, by a 1946 BSA M21 (600 SV ridged frame girder forks), Kawasaki KH250 & Suzuki GT500.


KH250 







I bought one of those at 17 years of age, boy was I lucky to be that age then







Sometimes it even ran on all three cylinders.

My all time fave is my current bike, a Kawasaki Spectre 750, I've never seen another one in the UK, it is as cool as ***k, I'll bang a pic up tomorrow now that I have put back it together..................squandering far more cash in the process than the bike is actually worth.


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## MIKE (Feb 23, 2003)

Out of the bikes I've owned It must be this one







Most of the others were from the late 70's early 80's



























I have not been on any of the latest machines







but it suits me fine, great handling and plenty of performance for REAL roads.

When I open the garage door it still looks good and sounds like only a triple can 

I don't have any real desire to change it for a newer bike. I would not go any faster, despite the extra couple of BHP and a few grams the designers would have shaved off the weight over last years model









Mike


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## mach 0.0013137 (Jan 10, 2005)

MarkF said:


> mach 0.0013137 said:
> 
> 
> > Well if you mean ones I`ve owned it would have to be a BMW R80 closely followed, in no particular order, by a 1946 BSA M21 (600 SV ridged frame girder forks), Kawasaki KH250 & Suzuki GT500.
> ...


I did the National Rally on mine in `89, ran as sweet as a nut and was an absolute delight to ride









BTW I forgot to add the RV125 to the list of possibles, I`m really enjoying it


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## Silver Hawk (Dec 2, 2003)

1935 Matchless Silver Hawk of course!


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## jasonm (Nov 22, 2003)

Why did you build the exhaust around a fish Paul?









That reminds me, I went to Donnington at the weekend and had another look round the museum, they have loads of old GP bikes ( Barry Sheens 1979 GP bike looked ancient!!







)

There was a mixture of of British and Japanese bikes, ALL the brit bikes had drip trays under the engines half full of oil, the jap bikes diddnt have trays


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## Silver Hawk (Dec 2, 2003)

jasonm said:


> There was a mixture of of British and Japanese bikes, ALL the brit bikes had drip trays under the engines half full of oil, the jap bikes diddnt have trays


"There was a mixture of old and modern watches, ALL the old watches had to be hand wound, the modern watches didn't need to be"


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## jasonm (Nov 22, 2003)

Touche....


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## hippo (Jun 27, 2006)

Saw this on Tuesday at Cadwell, intsant love!!!!!


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## Silver Hawk (Dec 2, 2003)

hippo said:


> Saw this on Tuesday at Cadwell, intsant love!!!!!


What is it? Animal, vegetable or mineral?









Doesn't look like a motorcycle.


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## hippo (Jun 27, 2006)

Silver Hawk said:


> hippo said:
> 
> 
> > Saw this on Tuesday at Cadwell, intsant love!!!!!
> ...


Just think of it as a Matchless with a fairing!!!









You should have bought yours down there it was a Classic Bike track day, all sorts of stuff there.


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## jasonm (Nov 22, 2003)

No fish in that exhaust.....


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## hippo (Jun 27, 2006)

jasonm said:


> No fish in that exhaust.....


Not a bad looker is it?

Amazing condition it had only done 700 miles!!!!


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## mach 0.0013137 (Jan 10, 2005)

Looks just a like a myriad other modern sports bikes to me
















Love that Matchless Paul, very cool



























BTW Re the drip tray`s Jase, it just means they regularly get a fresh shot of oil


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## Roger (May 17, 2003)

I,m going to restrict it to machines that I have actually owned.

1/ 1963 BSA 500 Gold Star....

2/ Velocette Venom Thruxton

3/ Honda CBX 1000 Six cylinder (for its engineering and diabolical handling!)

Opinions of the best ever can only be based on other folks opinions if you havent actualy had direct experience of them.

You need to "live with" a machine for a few weeks at least to form a valid judgement IMHO

Roger


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## thorpey69 (Feb 8, 2006)

Thats a beautiful bike and far from modern,its a Yamaha OW01 Fzr750r,basically a homologated for the road race bike,very cutting edge at the time and still very good looking nowadays considering it is 16 years old







,That matchless is a beautiful piece of machinery in its own right and a lovely classic shape.Both bikes that were great machines in their respective times


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## mach 0.0013137 (Jan 10, 2005)

thorpey69 said:


> Thats a beautiful bike and far from modern,its a Yamaha OW01 Fzr750r,basically a homologated for the road race bike,very cutting edge at the time and still very good looking nowadays considering it is 16 years old
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Please excuse my ignorance, as I said it just looked like any other `modern` sports bike to me but as with anything if you have an interest in a subject the differences are obvious but if you don`t then, as Jason said in my Old Camera thread...



jasonm said:


> Is it me or do they all look exactly the same as each other.....


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## jasonm (Nov 22, 2003)

Yeah Mac, but unlike the cameras, these all look the same and they all look fantastic


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## Silver Hawk (Dec 2, 2003)

> 2/ Velocette Venom Thruxton


Got a picture of it Roger? I dunno much about Velocettes, but the MSS and KTT models from the late 1940's are some of the best looking vintage bikes around...and then there is that beefy Venon Clubman from 1966


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## Roger (May 17, 2003)

> Got a picture of it Roger?


In the attic somewhere, Paul.!

This is a "borrowed without permission" shot...mine was virtually the same as this, but the "fishtail" was just slightly different

Roger


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## mach 0.0013137 (Jan 10, 2005)

jasonm said:


> Yeah Mac, but unlike the cameras, these all look the same and they all look fantastic


The old ones especially the likes of the Silver Hawk, Gold Star, any Velocette single or Vincent V-twin yes

but the newer stuff, sorry but IMHO, no


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## MarkF (Jul 5, 2003)

Great pics paul & Roger.

Are forum members nodders or non-nodders?









I used to be a friendly nodder but now I am a choosy nodder. I only nod where I deem it approppriate 

A race rep rider has no chance of a nod, a vintage always gets a nod as do moped lads as I feel for them. Harler riders get a start of a nod, get suckered in and then I blank them


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## limey (Aug 24, 2006)

Over here it's a wave rather than a nod, unless your hands are busy!

I wave at everyone, Harleys, sport bikes, mopeds, even the occasional bicycle. It doesn't matter what you ride, just that you ride.

Martin


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## mach 0.0013137 (Jan 10, 2005)

MarkF said:


> Great pics paul & Roger.
> 
> Are forum members nodders or non-nodders?
> 
> ...


No use nodding at a race rep rider, they are too intent on getting to their local A&E dept [attachmentid=6112]


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## MIKE (Feb 23, 2003)

MarkF said:


> Great pics paul & Roger.
> 
> Are forum members nodders or non-nodders?
> 
> ...


Intresting Mark, First time around in the 70's, I "nodded" at every biker and got a wave back. This time around (the last 5 years) I started "nodding"







but soon found out not every biker nodded back. I still nod but get a bit pissed off nodding on my own







I always nodd back to a rider.

I think as the season changes and the weekend hero's put their bikes away, the bikers I do see, are more likely to be nodders.

Mike a nodder


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## chris l (Aug 5, 2005)

[quote

There was a mixture of of British and Japanese bikes, ALL the brit bikes had drip trays under the engines half full of oil, the jap bikes diddnt have trays


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## MarkF (Jul 5, 2003)

I'd like to see the BM Chris, it sounds great, bang up a pic!


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## chris l (Aug 5, 2005)

MarkF said:


> I'd like to see the BM Chris, it sounds great, bang up a pic!


Love to; I'm not home for a week or so, tho'. Will do then...

It's nothing special, bit rattly, bit tatty; suits me jess' fine... I threw away loads of bits of apparently unneeded tin when I first bought it and fitted K&Ns which improved the midband a tad. Sprayed the metal work 'Bordeaux Red' because I liked the name and, well, just rode it. % years later I built a new (used) motor and fitted the carbs from the 800. Tyres, a clutch, batteries, all done in my garage on a Sunday morning.

I got a quote for a stainless steel exhaust recently, if I'm going to keep it/her. It's more than I gave for the bike in '95 (Â£450). Eats cheap pattern silencers, they rot out along the bottom seam.

I read somewhere about a Mini battery conversion; that would be good as I used to fit spotlights to the crashbars in the winter; at dusk in a rearview mirror with three lights you look like a P*lice bike and all the cages part in front of you like the Red Sea. For city use a handle bar mounted brake light switch for tailgaters - they can't figure why you're braking and accelerating...

I always nod. Well, it's traditional, isn't it? And I sometimes wear a large brown sheepskin flying jacket.

regards


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## marius (Mar 11, 2005)

Best one I owned was a VF 750 Honda. I loved the V4 mill and the shaft drive. I wanted the 1100 version of it, but we could not get them in SA. I also was always planning to buy the CBX, loved that straight 6 engine. In the early 70's I drooled over a 6 cylinder Benelli, I think it was only a 250 cc!! It must have had baby bee size pistons. If I could pick a brand new old stock bike today, it would probably be the old 750 "K nought" Honda.


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## foztex (Nov 6, 2005)

right I can resist this thread no more, I had a BMW R100GS , loved it, went to the dealers one day and had a test drive on a pre-release R1100GS. It was a religious experience, I bought it cash on my return.

I've still got it.
























rails lads, rails

Andy


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## cricketer (Sep 27, 2004)

This is mine







and I love her ......










and I'll nod at anyone on a bike


















Alan


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## foztex (Nov 6, 2005)

Actually having just had a conversation re. Akira with Jase. This is my fave bike.

My model one










A real one made by some mad Japanese bloke










Andy


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