Which bike do you regret not buying?

[Fat Angry Scotsman]

Well, since I am so new to biking, I don't have anything to contribute to the "which bike do you regret selling" thread: but I have regretted not buying a bike.

When I was doing the initial rounds of buying my first big-boy bike I really wanted to get an MT-09 and I am glad that I didn't go ahead with it, and that I took the BCF advice of buying an older second hand one cheap.

I got my 2009 ER-6F for £2,500 after test riding it once. I loved the sound of it with its' obnoxiously loud exhaust and it just felt nice. I had my eye on a 2016 SV650 but is was about double the price at the time and I guessed that since it was so much closer to price new that I would just go with the ER-6F.

To be fair to the ER-6F I have put more miles on her in my single year of ownership than she had put on her in the previous 7 years combined. I have not been kind to her, I've looped her once and she's been knocked over by a scumbag driver who drove away without leaving a note. I've probably spent as much on her in parts and fixing her as I did buying her in the first place. I am not bothered by that though it's part and parcel with buying an older bike.

Then today comes around and a mate who got into biking after me bought an SV650 and I just got a little ride on it and it's way nicer than my ER-6F. OK it is 7 years younger than my ER-6F but it just felt so much better.

In retrospect, I now kinda wish I had went for an SV650.
____________________
PRESENT: 2018 BMW S1000XR SE Sport.
PAST: 2009 Kawasaki ER-6F. 2021 Zontes ZT-125U.

[redeem ouzzer]

An RG500 in 1998 for £1650.00 pounds.

I will take that to my grave.
____________________
Be a REAL MAN!

[Zen Dog]

I think it might depend on which model of SV650 too. My missus has a 2007 SV and one of my mates had a 2013 (I think) ER6F, and of the two, I'd take the ER6 every time.

I don't really have any individual bikes I regret missing out on. I wish I'd bought a 250 two stroke in the early 2000s when you could get a nice one for about £1500, but I just didn't have the money. I've missed out on loads of bikes by procrastinating too long, but that's probably been for the best. The last couple of bikes I've bought I didn't procrastinate, because I knew what I wanted, recognised it when I saw it, and pulled the trigger.
____________________
Current - '94 VFR750FR, '00 VFR800FI Previous - '10 Street Triple R, '92 MZ ETZ301, '05 TTR250, NSR125R, KMX125, "Honda" Win (chinese copy of an old Honda design with a C90 engine)
My bike trip around S.E. Asia 2010/2011

[to v or not to v]

i regret not getting an rgv/tzr 250 when i passed my test in 91.
____________________
current bike Yamaha Thunderace.
its old and fat, but its a damned good ride. the bikes not bad either.

[stinkwheel]

[t121anf]

Gsxr600 as my first bike, but I stand by that it would have killed or seriously injured me.

[Ste]

[F18]

XJ650 (the early '80s one - in the early '80s).

Hesitated a week, was sold and the new model was even further out of my price bracket (and not available just then).
____________________
Summer is just around the corner

[kgm]

[jeffyjeff]

2008: My teenage son was ready to upgrade from the 4 speed vespa that I taught him to ride on. We went to check out a 1989 Honda VTR250. They called them "Barbie-cycles" in the states because Honda made them with a godawful white-teal-pink paint job. Only imported them for two years, probably because Honda blew the paint scheme so badly. "No way I'm ever riding that thing!" says junior.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52219670523_148b09ab03_w.jpg

OK, well, we came all the way out here, lets at least take it for a ride... HOLY MOLY this thing can fly! Faster than any 500 I'd ever ridden, I had it over 90mph with more on tap. Junior was non plussed, but Dad was smitten. Let's check this thing out a little more carefully. What!? No oil in the sight glass! The owner was really embarrassed. "I, I, I, don't know what to say. I never saw it get this low before." Needless to say, that was the end of that.

But Dad tasted the Kool Aid. I went on a year-long mission to find a decent, roadworthy VTR250. I found 3 in total; every single one of them had a low oil level. Two of the owners didn't even know how to check the oil. How can that be? How can anyone put a bike up for sale without checking the basic maintenance items that a prospective buyer would look at (cable adjustment, chain tension, tire condition, oil level?) How? Eventually I lost interest in the prospect of being a VTR250 owner. Sadly, to paraphrase Pink Floyd, "the child has grown, the dream is gone."

Best 250 Honda ever made, in my opinion, but they really missed the mark in the marketing department. Honda binned the Barbie look and continued to sell them in the Australian market until 2018, lucky bastards. Even today, fourteen years later, when I see a VTR250 on the street or online, I wistfully think to myself.. "what if...".
____________________
History shows again and again how nature points out the folly of men - BOC

[chickenstrip]

I don't think there has been one for me. Most of the time, I was able to buy the bikes I wanted at any given time, inasmuch as if something took my fancy, I got it (including an RG500 ).

My "regrets", if there have been any, are more to do with not being able to afford some of the bikes I would have liked to have tried, which mostly boils down to Italian stuff, from the days of the Jota, early Ducati 900SS, Montjuic etc, up to more modern fare.

Oh, and I never did get around to putting a turbocharger on a nicely modded muscle bike back in the day. The bike I bought to do it with got wiped out (along with the rider I let have a go on it) before I got a chance.
____________________
Chickenystripgeezer's Biking Life (Latest update 19/10/18) Belgium, France, Italy, Austria tour 2016 Picos de Europa, Pyrenees and French Alps tour 2017 Scotland Trip 1, now with BONUS FEATURE edit, 5/10/19, on page 2 Scotland Trip 2 Luxembourg, Black Forest, Switzerland, Vosges Trip 2017
THERE'S MILLIONS OF CHICKENSTRIPS OUT THERE!

[Islander]

A Laverda Jota in for £1500 in the late 90s.

Dammit!

[Rob Fzs]

i'd of liked an rgv250 but in my 13 years of riding they never have really been that well priced , silly now

do have a tdr250 which i could probably swap for one though...
____________________
'00 Aprilia RS50 > '92 Honda CG > '99 Yamaha Fazer > '91 Yamaha RXS > '79 Suzuki X5 > 01' Honda Cg > 07' Honda Cg > 82' Kawasaki Z200 > suzuki gsxr 400 gk73a > honda vfr 400 NC30> Yamaha RD350 YPVS F2 > Kawasaki ZZR 600 D1 > Yamaha TZR 250 2MA >Suzuki TL1000R > Yamaha TDR250 > Honda 929 blade > Suzuki SV1000 > Honda H100
Mod 2 Passed 09/06/2011

[chickenstrip]

[Islander]

[chickenstrip]

[Islander]

[Honda434]

I had a chance to buy a 1990 Honda rc30 for you guys across the pond vfr750r. New in the crate. This was in 97. I bought a ducati 748 instead and still have it. If I would have bought the Honda for 9,000 us it would be worth 40,000 now.
____________________
Honda434

[chickenstrip]

[Shaft]

[chickenstrip]

[arry]

Speed Triple. Last of the round headlights. Nice colour. Nice spec.

Was on way to Finchingfield and stumbled upon a Triumph dealer. Went in just on curiousity.

Salesman was expecting the new Speed Trip the week after so were desperate to offload the old stock. The long and short of it is he'd give me 1250 part ex on my CBR that I'd only paid 1200 for and the bike would come with me for 6 grand. It was an absolute bargain.

Mrs Arry put her foot down and I listened. Shouldn't have.

Would have saved me a whole bunch of cash because chances are I'd still have it. When I went looking for the R NineT the Speed was on the list of potentials but I couldn't stomach paying more for one than I'd have needed to back in 2009.

[Diggs]

A 'new old stock' Kawasaki H2 750 (triple, not IL4) I saw sat at the back of a bike shop 30 years ago. Only wanted £2,999 for it. Would be worth 18k today in that condition.
____________________
Now - Speed Triple, old ratty GS550, GSXR750M
Gone (in order of ownership) - Raleigh Runabout, AP50, KH125, GP125, KH250, CBX550, Z400, CB750FII, 250LC, GS550, ZXR750H1, Guzzi Targa, GSX750F, KH250 x2, Bimota SB6R and counting...

[Pete.]

[struan80]

I don't really have any that I regret not buying. Usually bought them if I liked them. Addictive personality. That makes it not my fault.

Would have loved an RD350LC. I fell in love when I was younger after I saw someone wheelieing for the first time, I was about 14, never forget it. Was so impressed. Guy was in the local motor gang, badder minehof. I liked Lambretta and Vespa scooters back then as I was a mod. In 1983.