I think I'm at the point now where I'm realizing how addicting this **** is. Other than Jlee, I know there are some people here that like to ride and work on bikes. I'm actually fixing to buy a third one for here, because I'm having a serious problem trying to get the title for my TW200. A friend of mine has a CB125 he wants to get rid of for sorta cheap.

My bikes (most of these belonged to my father);

1970 Kawasaki G31m Centurian
1975 Yamaha DT360
1963 Honda C105T
1975 Kawasaki KE175
1976 Suzuki GT500 Titan

My bikes (ones that have pretty much always been mine or that I have here);

1966 Honda S90
1986 Yamaha TW200

My first and only- 2000 Suzuki SV650

Runs great, but needs a valve adjustment on the front cylinder and some body parts to be cosmetically presentable.

I've always wanted to get a bike, but I've never had the money to get one.
You have way too many bikes, Rob. Give me one.

I'm planning on taking the MSF course as soon as I can. I was thinking an older Ducati Monster, but perhaps a bit ambitious.

You don't want a Ducati as your first motorcycle.

You can't work on them because they're too complex. They're performance motorcycles, they're riddled with things that make it go vroom vroom but increase service frequency, and decrease the life of parts.

If you want a good bike to start with that will take you from beginner all the way up to acting a fool like I know you will on the freeway, get an SV650.

I have an 07 SV650 currently. My first bike was a 97 (I think) Vulcan 1500. I also work at a motorcycle shop. I strongly suggest the SV, it's a great bike. So much fun and relatively inexpensive to own.

Like most twins, they're also REALLY easy to work on and maintain.

They're relatively low tuned, and have great engine life. I don't know if the faired version is the same, but the standards have a wider set ratio, which makes it a lot easier to ride because you don't have to shift through three gears to make it through a left turn so you don't over rev.

Rob, not that it's healthy to give you encouragement of any kind, but I have to say, that stable of bikes is so badass! Props.

Har, I have an 03 SV650. I started on a ninja 250, then went to a Buell Xb12Ss, had tons of problems with it so replaced it with an 07 ZX-6R. This bike was crazy fast and I had a really hard time avoiding the notice of the cops so I got the SV650 instead. It sort of helped... now instead of attracting cops on the freeway, I attract them in town. *sigh*

Quite a collection of bikes there rob

I got myself a 2007 Honda CB600F Hornet (my first bike) and took it on a bit of road trip out to Geneva (around 800km's in two days). Weather was utterly atrocious, hardly stopped raining the whole trip but the bike never skipped a beat.

Been using it on average around 4 days a week to go into work, even with it snowing outside. Had some interesting mornings with ice on the road and having to hold my thumb/spit on the ignition to unfreeze it so that I could put the key in also wet tramlines...not good, still no falls yet. I've also began cuddling the rad at the front at traffic lights to get feeling back in my hands some days...I refuse to wear any thicker gloves than what I have already.

All in all the bike is great, will be keeping it when I get back to the UK and will be using it in London, although I plan to tour round europe a bit in May before I come back, weather should be nicer by then.

You ride a motorcycle on ice/in the winter? Do you have a death wish?

Honda CBR1000RR in Repsol colors

If you ride like a sane person and watch what the **** you're doing, it really isn't that bad.

My riding is almost NEVER what puts me in danger, it's everyone elses driving. The people that do a buck 10 down the highway and blow by so fast they almost push me into the next lane.

Man, you know they only sold those here two years?

The Honda Hornet is a detuned CBR600F3.

They have about 20-35 less hp, and a more spread out gear ratio for standard riding. They get PHENOMINAL gas mileage for a 4 cylinder, they're already a solid engine that has been detuned, and they insure for far less.

They're small and easy to handle, really light, and if you felt like it you could even slap a full fairing on it.

What you need to do to solve the cold hands issue is get some heated handle bar grips. Don't buy the kind that are for motorcycles, get the ones for ATVs. Most ATV heated handle bar grips will slide over the stock grips, and have two equal sized heating coils on both grips. Motorcycle ones usually the throttle side won't get as warm or only has one coil. You can then even put some super soft grips over that, and then get some wind gaurds if you don't already. The result is that you no longer have to grab at your exhaust manifold at red lights.

They're also easy as piss to wire in.

So I know little to nothing about bikes, but really want to get one and learn all about it. I've been saving up and looking at older Triumphs. Is that a good direction to go?

1989 RGV250, Pepsi racing colours

I gave my kawasaki 175 away this past summer, and right now I don't have anything. As soon as I get back to school after winter break I'm going to be looking for just about anything that will get me around town.

This was definitely a good thread idea. Motorcycles are win.

I have a tendency to be paranoid when it comes to speed, even with faster cars. Mostly the thought being that there's a time and a place, and I like my clean driving record, but I know what you mean. No sense dropping or making newby mistakes on a dream bike even if it can be picked up for relatively cheap.

I'll put some thought into it when I get closer to the course. I'm really into the look of the naked style bikes. They remind me of the old Sportster XR1000.

Nice GHORG!

I'm not big on motorcycles, but I would kill for this bike

http://poser.nsr-world.com/poser/images/steve-559x331.jpg

Depends on how old.

There are very few vintage bikes that are actually practical, get a modern japanese bike.

I want a Triumph 500.

That's what Sirius drove.