Who's your favourite manufacturer?

[Mattastic]

Mine has to be Kawasaki. I don't know why but I find there is always something about them that makes the little hairs on my neck stand up!!

How about you?
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Too skint to buy a bike

[Ste]

Kawasaki the engines break
Yamaha the chains break
Suzuki the gearbox's break.

[Phoenix]

I don't have a favourite, not owned enough. So far I've owned 2 Yamaha's 1 Kawasaki and 4 Hondas and thus far Yamaha are my least favourite due to shoddy gearboxes on em, but then they were both 1989 bikes and the FZRs/R6s etc I've ridden since have seemed ok. The Kawasaki was excellent, and the Hondas so far have been excellent too.

[ZaphodBeeble]

It's gotta be Honda. I have always had Hondas, and the brief moments that I've had other makes have been brief indeed
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Current bike: VTR1000F Firestorm. Previous: Firestorm (written off) - XJ600 Divvy - NSR125 - DT125 and a load of offroaders.

[kev]

Honda has got to be the best.
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20:02:36 Jammy-R6: any holes a goal
20:02:48 kev: even if its a hairy mans arse
20:02:56 Jammy-R6: hell yes

[swaffs]

I spent ages asking everyone I knew about bikes when I upgraded the ER-5, and hands down Honda was the most popular for all round reliability and the CBR for just all round everything.

[Robby]

Suzuki for me.

Modern bikes are all as reliable as the next one, so its down to the little things. Suzuki make the best gearboxes, but have poor quality finish. I'd rather have a little rust than a shonky gearbox.

It also pisses me off when people talk about the "legendary honda build quality". Its not that good, and BMW blows it into the water.

[Kickstart]

Hi

From an engineering point of view, Cagiva. Engines wise the Yamahas I have owned have been best. Styling it would be Aprilia (although they did loose the plot from the mid 1990's, hopefully having just found it again with the new RSV).

All the best

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

[scooby doo]

Suzuki for me never bin tempted by anything else apart from MV augusta but out of my price range

[Hex]

I really don't care, if it looks nice (really important to a tart like me) and rides nice I don't care if its made by skoda!?
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The BCF's very own Party boy! Though he's getting old and feeling it!
Monkey hanger, Born and bred
My little photo portfolio

[bikedudextrm]

I like Italian manufacturers (Aprilia, Ducati, Cagiva, MV Augusta, etc). What i like about them is the styling of their bikes, they just look so much better than the Japs. I know reliability ain't going to be as good but as long as you look after them (service regular) they are fine. I might be getting a Cagiva 500cc 2 stroke supermoto bike, which looks alot of fun.

[Spikalot]

Well.... based on my experience with bikes my favorite would have to be Honda. For the simple reason that I have only ever owned one bike which is the one I currently ride which is an NSR125.

Very fun bike... i understand that there's a few NSR'ers here too? you'll agree with me i'm sure! But like I say, it's my first bike so... What do I know, eh?

[MarJay]

[askew]

From the bikes I've tryed, I much prefere riding a Yamaha. For some reason I find the gear ratios so much easier to use (especially easier than a bastarded Honda). Although in reply to Ste, my yamaha chain has broken - my own fault though. (lack of oiling)
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What's ya name? What av' ya taken? Chase the lasers, safe as f*ck!

[R1stu]

My name says it all! My last 5 bikes have all been made by Yamaha.
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Carbon closet tart! https://www.bikepics.com/members/r6stuk/02r6/
Stolen bike. 2000 R1: https://www.bikepics.com/members/r6stuk/00r1/
Current bike 1991 Honda ST1100 Pan European, 1986 Honda cb350sg (Finished)

[stevo as b4]

It's a very individual thing what make of bike is best, but i cant say that any jap bikes are crap, they are all good. Each one has at some point made a better bike or invented a new class/ type of machine, that the other firms either copied or ignored!
for example the GPZ600R was the first 600cc sports bike, and where would we be now without that bike?
Suzuki GSXR750 iconic sports bike of all time?
Yamaha invented the street supermoto with the TDR250, but it was misunderstood, and no one was interested in supermoto back then. (should have launched that bike in 98 instead of 88).
Generally though im a Kawasaki fan, and secondly i like Yamaha's, having enjoyed owning these makes the most. I also reckon that for road going 2strokes, no one could ever compete with Yamaha, they are the masters of the stroker, but could never beat the HRC 500's in GP's which is the only area where Honda have done anything great with 2 strokes.
Never been a big Suzuki fan, as i always thought their build quality was the worst! Honda's can be fantastic, but most are not radical enough, or sometimes easily labelled characterless!

[Sparks!]

Definetly Yamaha.

I've owned 1 x Kawasaki and 1 x Suzuki.

The suzi was just pure shit, everything about it, the quality the finish etc. Never again.

The Kawasaki was much better but un-reliable and just annoying as everything kept breaking.

The Yamaha, only had it 3 weeks but already mucho happier. Maybe because its a new bike so nowt wrong I don't know, but so far the yam is sooooooo much nicer, the only thing I don't like is the standard clunky 2nd gear.
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Current Toys: 06 Yamaha WR250F | Nissan 350Z GT | Tech 4 Homes

[Adam_P]

I've had three bikes on the road in total, Honda MT50, Kawasaki KH125 and Yamaha Fazer.

The Honda was pretty bombproof, the guy who owned it before me siezed it up as he forgot to check the two stroke oil level, ever!
When I had it it it never missed a beat, even when I almost put it into a ditch!

The Kwak was great. It was reliable, except one night in a torrential downpour, when the electrics got wet and ot stopped on me about three miles from home. Sat in a bus shelter with it until it dried out (great thng about a hot engine in the wet!) and it got me home.

The Fazer is new so everything is fine on it and haven't had any problems.

Is suppose because its my first bigger bike I will go with Yamaha. I chose it over other makes for my first bike because it was quick enough, comfortable and will do everything I want it to while I get to grips with biking.

So, in a long winded way, Yamaha for me peeps!
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Colin McRae MBE 1968 - 2007 RIP
Orwell Rolls in his Grave
God is imaginary

[zaknafien]

So far I’ve owned two Honda's and one Yamaha, the Yamaha is newer and bigger so obviously feels better than my old CG and NSR.

I plan to get another Honda next which probably means that so far in my biking career I’m a Honda man.
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02 Firestorm.

[AcIdBuRnZ]

Would probably say Honda, because I have an NSR at the moment, and the CBR600RR is my bike of choice....

Also because of their build quality and reliability.

Oh, and Rossi rode one, and won, a lot!

But when is he gonna regret leaving Honda!?

Mark
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Past: Honda NSR125R >> Kawasaki ER-5a2 >> Kawasaki ZZR-600e1 >> Suzuki GSXR-750Y >> Honda VTR 1000 Firestorm
"Chickity China the Chinese Chicken..."

[dainesefreak]

I can only really go on the bikes I've owned over the years, I've owned four Aprilia's, one Yamaha and two Honda's. I have just replaced the same model of Honda that I'd had written off because it was the best bike I've owned.

It's the best machine I've owned because of the "Usual" Honda traits, it's easy to ride in any weather/conditions, nothing ever goes wrong, does everything I ask of it well, gives me plenty of confidence in many aspects, works well day to day every day, has a good strong motor, handles well, blows BMW build quality out of the water, etc. . .

Quite a few other bikes probably do the same things for other people, horses for course and all that, but I can only comment on the bikes I've owned.

So, so far I would have to say that I'm a Honda man, never thought I would say that whilst I owned the Yamaha but there you go.

Then again there are plenty of bikes out there I've never tried and I'm sure some of them are just as good and some not!

[andrew]

Would have to be Kawasaki I think. I've never owned one but they're a smaller company than Honda etc... IMO they make fairly decent bikes and are overlooked a lot of the time. I've had 3 Honda bikes and 1 Yamaha, the build quality of both was nothing special, thinking about it the NSR and Firestorm are terrible in terms of build quality and in my opinion the XJR wasn't exactly brilliant either. My favorite bike of the moment is the new R1 or ZX10r so I would say my favorite manufacturer is either Yamaha or Kawasaki. It all depends on the bikes really, if I like a particular bike I would like to own it no matter who makes it.

[shaggy]

[Phil.]

Mine - Honda
Dads - Yamaha
Mams - Dyson

[Rob]

There is only one:

https://www.robgordon.co.uk/triumph/triumph.jpg
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Love is 1050cc