Bike aspirations, what were yours?

[Suntan Sid]

Which bikes did you lust after in your yoof?
The two I really wanted, but never quite managed to scrape enough money together for, are pictured below.

Ok, I did lust after various other exotica of the time, but for the purposes of this thread they must be something that, at a push, you could have stumped up the cash for.

Here's the first, a lucky escape really as they turned out to have camshafts made out of chocolate, and the inboard vented disks were a pile of poo!
This bike looked so sexy in the showroom, the photo doesn't do it justice.

Honda CBX550F

https://www.bikez.com/pictures/honda/1985/15439_0_1_2_cbx%20550%20f%202_Image%20credits%20-%20Philip%20Biddick.jpg

Here's the second one, I actually went to look at a couple of these, secondhand, but they weren't up to scratch so turned them down. There were loads knocking around in the early 80's! It'd be worth a fortune now if it hadn't disintegrated in the last three decades.

Ducati Pantah 500 SL

https://motorbike-search-engine.co.uk/classic_bikes/ducati-pantah.jpg

So what did you aspire to?

In the end I stuck with the 2-strokes FTW.

[Rebel]

https://www.ducatimeccanica.com/75_900_ss.jpg

[MarJay]

https://a933.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/125/l_46581b8054a09bad51888791fcf0d994.jpg
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British beauty: Triumph Street Triple R; Loony stroker: KR1S; Track fun: GSXR750 L1; Commuter Missile: GSX-S1000F; Cheap project: CBR900RR FireBlade
Remember kids, bikes aren't like lego. You can't easily take a part from one bike and then fit it to another.

[The Shaggy D.A.]

I really wanted a BMW R100RT, a CB900F2, a DT175 and a bit later, a GPZ900R.

Two out of four ain't bad

https://p1.bikepics.com/pics/2004%5C08%5C28%5Cbikepics-202568-320.jpg
https://p1.bikepics.com/pics/2004%5C10%5C13%5Cbikepics-227420-320.jpg
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Chances are quite high you are not in my Monkeysphere, and I don't care about you. Don't take it personally.
Currently : Royal Enfield 350 Meteor
Previously : CB100N > CB250RS > XJ900F > GT550 > GPZ750R/1000RX > AJS M16 > R100RT > Bullet 500 > CB500 > LS650P > Bullet Electra X & YBR125 > Bullet 350 "Superstar" & YBR125 Custom > Royal Enfield Classic 500 Despatch Limited Edition (28 of 200) & CB Two-Fifty Nighthawk > ER5

[Kickstart]

Hi

Wanted an RD350LC. Never have had one. Some time I might get a power valve.

Are Pantahs really worth that much these days? Thought they were still sitting at about the same price as they were 2 decades ago, but not really seen one for sale for a while.

All the best

Keith
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Traxpics, track day and racing photographs - Bimota Forum - Bike performance / thrust graphs for choosing gearing

[The Shaggy D.A.]

Strange, a bit like 80's music, at the time I thought the RD350LC was crap - ugly, and lusted after by wankers.

I want one now though
____________________
Chances are quite high you are not in my Monkeysphere, and I don't care about you. Don't take it personally.
Currently : Royal Enfield 350 Meteor
Previously : CB100N > CB250RS > XJ900F > GT550 > GPZ750R/1000RX > AJS M16 > R100RT > Bullet 500 > CB500 > LS650P > Bullet Electra X & YBR125 > Bullet 350 "Superstar" & YBR125 Custom > Royal Enfield Classic 500 Despatch Limited Edition (28 of 200) & CB Two-Fifty Nighthawk > ER5

[Hetzer]

Honda 750 when I was 15-ish, Laverda Jota some time shortly after that. Had neither.

But four Fireblades made the nut, between 1993 and 2008.
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"There's the horizon! Ride hard, ride fast and cut down all who stand in your way!"

[MarJay]

[Suntan Sid]

[Kickstart]

[Werny]

Ever since I first saw one, my lust for Katanas has not abated. I wish I'd bought one, but ended up with a Z1R for years instead (not such a bad thing, really).

https://www.q8moto.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/yoshi-11002.jpg

[Livefast123]

I guess that I was lucky enough to be in my yoof when all the quality sports 125's were being brought out.

My first love was the TZR 125 and the Suzuki RG 125 Fun. Due to never having any money I could never indulge myself!

I've kind of made up for it now with the project NSR but I still lust after a tidy late model TZR.
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Current ride - Yamaha MT-07

[tvchimp]

https://www.motorbikespecs.net/images/Honda/CBR_900_RRN_RRP_Fireblade_92-93/CBR_900_RRN_RRP_Fireblade_92-93_1.jpg

Neighbour over the road had one when I was about 5. I can remember running out and waving at him when he started it up and riding off. The sound was incredible. I want one, always got told that they were known as 'widowmakers' until the 98 R1 came out? (not sure if thats true, just what I was told as a kid).
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Bike: Currently Bikeless... Gahh

[Shaft]

Luckily, I've had most of the late 70s/early 80s bruisers pass through my hands, but I never did get one of these:

https://img27.imageshack.us/img27/1139/1977suzukigs1000s.jpg

And these were always stupid money, but beautiful, in the days of Jap pigeon shit welding and monkey metal castings:

https://img210.imageshack.us/img210/3276/hesketh.jpg
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Things get better with age; I'm close to being magnificent........
20 RE Interceptor, 83 Z1100A3, 83 GS650 Katana
WooHoo, I'm a Man Point Millionaire! https://www.bikechatforums.com/viewtopic.php?t=234035

[Suntan Sid]

[ChowderV4]

https://www.ema-usa.com/images/bow/bow_rick_r1_rt_sd.jpg
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V4 Is The Law

[Hetzer]

I hankered after the original z1000 for a long time, then the z650c. I came into the requisite sum at one point and bought one for cash (£1800 and something if I recall correctly) and destroyed it within a couple of months. No licence or insurance (I was very young and foolish, blah blah blah). I rarely remember having it and have only a vague idea of the colour.
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"There's the horizon! Ride hard, ride fast and cut down all who stand in your way!"

[Shaft]

@ Werny

Katana

Had a very hectic high speed dash to France and back on one of those, proper thing!
____________________
Things get better with age; I'm close to being magnificent........
20 RE Interceptor, 83 Z1100A3, 83 GS650 Katana
WooHoo, I'm a Man Point Millionaire! https://www.bikechatforums.com/viewtopic.php?t=234035

[kestrel]

[pinkyfloyd]

[Kickstart]

[Teflon-Mike]

Well, as a 'kid' I lusted after anything with two wheels and an engine I might actually be able to ride!
I started saving for a bike when I was nine years old.... I actually bought one when I was just 15, and I still have it! Its my Montesa Cota 248.
Fiddling with bikes all the while, I looked hard at 50's and decided they were a bit futile, and 125's almost as futile, but putting me off most was the complete nails most of my mates ever had!
I decided to skip that bit all together, and wanted to do my training and test on a school-bike with 'start-rider'... but half way through, they went bust... borrowing a mates bike, didn't do the trick... main jet dropped out mid way through my test!
But, in the summer before my 17th birthday, I had the notion of going straight to an RD350YPVS.
at the time, I think they were about £1,700 brand new, and I figured IF I was going to get one, given most were thrashed to bits, new was the way to go. Working on building sites as casual labour had paid for the Cota, in two weeks. That was a £300 bike. At the time my mates on YTS schemes were getting about £30 a week, which I made 'on the lump' on a Saturday, and didn't have to give half of it to my mum! Ones in 'good' jobs thinking themselves lucky if they made £70... but in the holidays, I was pulling down anything between £100 and £200, depending on jobs and over-time.....
Eight week summer holiday, I reckoned I could make best part of a new RD350YPVS.... it wasn't unrealistic!
Anyway, I was in Frettons of Coventry, one afternoon. My lift was looking at throw-overs for his bike, and I think I'd just collected a slider seal for the DT50 I had aquired for a bit of fun for a fiver!
And I was looking idley at one of these:-
https://i579.photobucket.com/albums/ss239/harrris_tweed/Stuff/900FBimota2.jpg
Bimota HB2, based on a tuned CB900F motor.
It was marked up at I think a tad over £2K but had been marked down to £1900. And I was admiring the billet yokes when teh salesman wandered over, you know, tell the kiddie to stop dreaming and wipe the finger-prints and saliva off the tank before you go, kind of thing.... but, I mentioned the RD350 idea, and he realised I wasn't dreaming.... and started trying to flog me the Bimota.... I was sixteen fucking years old! It was a BIMOTA!
Aparently, wasn't shifting, and it was a commission sale, and he reckoned if I offered list price of an RD350, bloke would take it, as he needed the money.... I went away to 'think' about it!
Well, I didn't buy it, I didn't even get teh RD in the end, due to test hassles and err... partying rather too much of the money away..... BUT the reason I decided against the Bimota, was it only had a solo seat!
Running costs, practicality, all that shit, were sort of encapsulated in that one feature... and at sixteen years old, I had inately rationalised MY kind of biking, and things that were so single minded they only had one seat, were not my kind of biking..... which was why i had a dedicated rock-hoppa with a solo-seat, and for a while, looked at MT125 race-bikes with a single seat, and even a couple of proddy racers.... but all for track use... for the Road, I wanted a road bike, and that Bim, no matter how droolworthy, was just too dedicated for my taste, and had no other purpose.
Though, even then, I knew it wasn't a rider, it was a sunny day bike, and an 'investment' £1700odd quid, back then, which was expensive for what was an eight year old bike, BUT not a desirable one. Bimota weren't an established manufacturer, and it had a 'dated' air-cooled honda four engine in it, it was a fancy special, and nothing more, and for me, its the one that got away.
Now, gawd knows what it would be worth, and I'd apreciate its value, and I'd apreciate its build, and detail, I apreciated it when I was 16, and knew it was going to be a classic, THEN... but... not for me.
In a similar vein, a few years later, when I passed my test, I was offered a Laverda SFC.... for £1000! Which I similarly turned down!
And I dont REALLY regret either....
So 'almost' bikes that I lusted after... I cant really say I 'lusted' after many... If I wanted something I normally looked to see how I could make it happen, from any bike at all, to that RD350.
At 19, they launched the original twin-beam Mito, and I bought an AR125. I now lust after a Mito becouse it is such a pretty little bike, and such a fun little hooning tool, but back then, I just looked at it as a pretty bit of irrelevence... twice the price of my AR, no more performance, no more use!
Drool over a lot of classics.... but again, always tempered by practicality.
Of the 'coul-Of' bikes I DID drool over.....
https://en.moto-guzzi-club.com/graphics/gallery/full/189_91.jpg
Moto-Guzzi Mille GT Classic with optional wire wheels. Basically a stripped down California.
In 1991 they were discounted to I THINK £2,999, and I was at Uni, still riding that AR. I looked at it, it was everything a classic bike should be. And I drooled.
With my head as much as my heart.
I knew it wasn't a great bike, and it wasn't quick, but It was pretty, and it wasn't going to get any more dated looking than it was, unlike the then new FZR1000EXUP. It was also something of a bargain against the Jap bikes due to yen exchange rates, and I promiced myself one as a graduation present.... I never got it, by the time I left uni, they had dropped them from the catalogue, and with student loans and in the working world, couldn't afford it, no matter how hard I tried.... but still a bike I would LIKE to own.
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My Webby'Tef's-tQ, loads of stuff about my bikes, my Land-Rovers, and the stuff I do with them!
Current Bikes:'Honda VF1000F' ;'CB750F2N' ;'CB125TD ( 6 3 of em!)'; 'Montesa Cota 248'. Learner FAQ's:= 'U want to Ride a Motorbike! Where Do U start?'

[Handsome]

To own one.
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Previous Bikes...Honda NSR 125 RR...Kawasaki Zephyr 550...Suzuki SV 1000 S...Yamaha FZ8...Current Bike...Suzuki GSX-R 750...

[Ichy]

XJ750 Seca. As a schoolkid it looked so cool. A race bike with antidive brakes and an LCD display. I eventually brought one in '89-90? Loved it. Managed to write it off a few years later and sold it to some Outlaws who wanted to build a trike. I would go out and buy one tomorrow given the chance.
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https://www.metacafe.com/watch/1972097/how_to_behave_on_a_forum/

[stinkwheel]

I really wanted an RGV250. Landed up getting a 350 powervalve. All good there then.

Now I would like a 350 powervalve with RGV250 running gear...

I also liked the SRX600 but when I eventually went to see one in the flesh, it turned out to be absolutely tiny.
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“Rule one: Always stick around for one more drink. That's when things happen. That's when you find out everything you want to know.”
I did the 2010 Round Britain Rally on my 350 Bullet. 89 landmarks, 3 months, 9,500 miles.