What makes a bike fun?

[Samsbike]

I can't seem to work this out and is it one of those things where its very much in the feel to the beholder.

My fun bikes in no particular order are:

1. The Suzuki DL1000
2. MSX 125
3. Street Triple
4. VFR 800
5. CB500
6. GS1150

On the other hand I found the W650 incredibly able but very boring, a bit like a much better looking NCX700. Similarly the GS800, which I had great hopes for.

I really like litre bikes, but I no longer have the nerve or the ability (this I never really had) to really enjoy them, so for me they are just not fun.

Bikes like the Harley were kind of fun in the sense they were very visceral, but ultimately lacked handling and are very heavy. The latter becoming more important as I get older.

Other's have said the Triumph Scrambler is great fun, but I not sure why and to be honest I am not sure what makes a bike fun to me.

Things I like are light weight, revvy engines with a wider powerband (a contradiction I know), and decent handling.

What makes a bike fun for you?

[garth]

How the bloody hell did you find a cb500 fun?

It's the only bike out of maybe 35 where I'd rather drive my car (a diesel 106 ffs!)
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[Teflon-Mike]

Not a lot.
Fun's is not in the bike... it's in what you do with it.
A lot of 'UN-FUN' can be in the bike...... particularly if they aren't working for any reason... but beyond that, its pretty much all in the rider's attitude and expectation.
Gve me bikes other people think of as being 'fun', and it's often utterly lost on me; give me a bike no one would think of as being much fun, and I've often found them a hoot....
Eg pigging about with unloved 125 Super-Dreams! 'Fun' is the fact it actually WORKS! Then indulging in post juvenile juvenile antics on the thing, forgetting I'm closer to fifty than fifteen, NOT taking the thing very seriously, worrying about scamera boxes or the price of tyres or the 'doom and gloom' of bending the thing!
I cant think of anything less inspiring to ride than a VFR.... yet, the lack of 'un-fun' get on and go do, fun to be had, NOT in the riding, but simply being, somewhere, in the saddle or somewhere but sat at home; the fun is beyond the bike, making it a means to an end not an end in itself...
THAT is where the fun is to be found, NOT in the bike. ANY bike can be 'fun' if the riders attitude and expectations are in the right place.. if not? Pot luck whether there will be any fun to be had with anything!
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[Beehive Bedlam]

Something you can red line in every gear and wheelie at every chance.

That is my 'fun'.

[kgm]

I find my CG125 can be really fun at times, if frustrating at others. Feels like you're caning it everywhere, even though you're not going that fast. More fun around town than the bigger bikes. It's engaging to ride it 'progessively.'

I agree it's what you do with it. I think I would also enjoy a CB500 as it would fun pushing it. I find it more exciting ragging a bike like that than one which is way more capable than me. That said I love the torque of a litre bike bit it's a different kind of fun.

There's another type of fun to be had riding a very capable bike that makes the ride relaxed, easy and enjoyable when you're in the right area.

I think it's hard to define. There's so many different reasons, for me at least. I know others that aren't enjoying themselves unless they're going 100+ everywhere on something that's trying to kill them regularly but that isn't me. I've not ridden a bike yet that I couldn't have fun on, although some are more so than others admittedly.

The only kind of bike I don't think I'd enjoy is one that was a total dog due to either being knackered or a really terrible design. I need confidence that the thing will actually continue to work without falling apart.

[pepperami]

What makes a bike fun? Why do we ride bikes? And so on.
Teffers got it in his reply.
Something about being on two wheels rather than being on four wheels.
Certainly not taking it seriously helps.

All my bikes are fun and apart from my ZX6r, they are crappy little 250's and yet I still enjoy them.
I guess it's what Teffers said i.e. What you do with them.
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I am the sum total of my own existence, what went before makes me who I am now!

[Rogerborg]

A sense of eagerness. I'd even suggest that speed is the enemy of fun, because once you've got there, what next?

I agree that the F800GS (and variants) is more competent than fun. That's why I use that for long trips or commuting in manky weather, but have alternatives available for larks.

The Enfield is very engaging when I'm in the mood. Crude, a bit of a handful compared to anything remotely modern, and it needs more forward planning, but that's rather the point - to get more involved in the process. You can never forget that you're riding something that hasn't developed that much since the 1950s.

The Ninja can be comprehensively thrashed on a public road, using the rev limiter as an ersatz quickshifter. Revvvvvv-14K-bang-up, revvvvvv-14K-bang-up, I must be doing... oh, 55 mph.

But it's also a surprisingly flexible little engine, holding an indicated 30 in 6th without struggling, even up slight inclines. That, I did not expect. A 250 really is all the bike you need for commuting, and I find that exploiting every bit of its, or the Enfield's, performance more actively rewarding than dawdling along at 1/4 throttle on the Nazi Tractor.
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GONE: HN125-8, LF-250B, GPz 305, GPZ 500S, Burgman 400 // RIDING: F650GS (800 twin), Royal Enfield Bullet Electra 500 AVL, Ninja 250R because racebike

[angryjonny]

I found my VFR800 fun because I loved the engine, it's tone and eagerness. I find my FZ1 fun because I love the all out power. I find my wife's XJ6N fun because it's so chuckable. I found my wife's old YBR fun because it was like riding a BMX.

What's better? Mohammed Ali in his prime, or anti-lock brakes?

[trevor saxe-coburg-gotha]

[RhynoCZ]

[SophR so good]

[stevo as b4]

There's many correct answers to this, many are nothing to do with bikes themselves.

I'd say a time and place thing , weather and temperature, and events and atmosphere are the big things that make for fun on a bike, without having to elaborate too much.

Specifically to bikes themselves, what makes a bike fun for me these days is not having to rely on it, not needing it to be dependable for 10'000miles or more, and not expecting too much from it either.

Also on another hand having a bike that you won't let out of your sight when parked, takes away the fear of will it be there when I get back to where I left it. The downside is not having something you think you can safely chain up anywhere and leave it without a care all day long.

[Beehive Bedlam]

[Matt B]

Fun - very subjective and personal term where bikes are concerned.

For me, the bike I managed to have the most 'fun' on was the 1200 Bandit. They are just daft, big torque, absolute peach of a super smooth engine, quick for what they are, comfy, wheelie machines, traffic light drag racers, sound awesome with a stubby can on. What more could you want from a bike (apart from being a bit lighter)? Went to Santa Pod twice on it and abused it down the 1/4 mile.

It was a bike you could just jump on, ride, and it put a smile on my face every time. My ZX6 is lighter and handles better but it's a buzzy 600 so it needs to be revved. The ZX12 is an outright straight line speed monster but hard work on twisty stuff.

i may have just talked myself into buying another 1200 Bandit
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[G]

There's two aspects to 'bike fun' for me, one is a bike that really needs to be worked to produce results, the other is a bike that allows you to have your own fun.
So...

[chickenstrip]

Summer Warm sunshine and dry roads.
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[M.C]

Bikes are by default fun IMO. It takes some special effort for one not to be.

[chickenstrip]

[Azoth]

I believe that if you know exactly how a particular bike handles and performs in various conditions, it's a fun bike. That's probably why most people enjoy riding smaller bikes from time to time. You can extract a greater proportion of the overall performance available to you from them, than you can on litre sports bikes when riding on the road. Some people can get a lot of enjoyment out of very large and powerful bikes as well, but the majority of riders perhaps don't, and just want to be seen as man enough to handle them (only with lots of rider aids, etc.)

I also believe that a lot of people who ride bikes don't enjoy them at all, because they don't really like bikes but rather something else they associate with them. For example, someone asked, some time ago, why they shouldn't get a cruiser as a first bike. A physical man, more in-the-moment, who lives out in the country, deserves to know the truth, that to develop bike skills you're better off with a design other than the geometry of a cruiser. A sedentary man, living in London, only interested in being noticed by women, not really confident and doesn't like anything about bikes apart from being 'liked' by the clueless by pretending to be someone else for an hour or so, may as well buy the cruiser his heart desires, because his main focus is the ancillary benefit. So his enjoyment will be based all on the noise and appearance he makes, rather than actually handling and experiencing the physics of a bike.

All the people like different things. It's probably quite rare for someone to enjoy the experience of riding bikes.
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[chickenstrip]

[Jayy]

Loads of torque and loudness

You don't need to be doing 150mph to be having fun, just punching about on a big single or v-twin at lower speeds is just as much fun.

[Azoth]

[chickenstrip]

[struan80]

Is less weight more power not all that a fun bike would strive for?

I used to ride a VT 125 shadow and can confirm that the opposite, more weight less power, is not much fun.

[Poundshop Dave]

For me recapturing my youth. When I am out on the GPZ I am no longer Dave married with 2 kids and a nearly paid off mortgage, I am transported back to a time when times were good. My RD200 1976 model was fettled and tuned and had race pipes, a fairer day when speed limits were there as an 'advisory' and the local meeting point was a chip shop in Northfield. Where lads used to impress the girls with wheelies.

Where you could get a bag of fish and chips and a pickled egg a can of lager and still get change out of a quid. Good old times.
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