[VaSteve]

I went through this same search about 4 years ago. I wanted an old BMW and folks made recommendations about the 250 Ninjas and the SV650 and all that. I looked them over, but I could never get the BMW out of my mind.

I ended up scoring a 1980 R65 (650) for about $2000. It was a lot of people's first bike but it was mechanically sound. The only work I have done to it was the clean the carbs and fix one of the valve adjusters. I don't ride it as much as I did in 2006, because my weekends are consumed with stuff with he kids now, so it sits a lot. The only reason I haven't sold it is because my wife keeps saying it costs little to nothing to keep it and she's probably afraid of what I brought home next.

It's a 650 and it's pretty slow but it'll move if you wind it up. It's all manual, clutch, brakes, etc. It has enough false neutrals to keep things interesting. It's the motorcycle version of and old 911.

If you ride a bike often, I think carbs are OK, but for an occasional toy I would have preferred FI. Sometimes this thing is a ***** to get started.