the NATO garage

[JavaBrewer]

I sat on a Z1000 today, I like the seating and bar position very much. For a liter bike it sure felt small, like the 919, and for me that's a good thing. I come in a inch shy of 6' and weigh 190 lbs. At first the colors seemed, well...bling like.



But after 10 minutes it really started looking nice. What do you guys think? My main requirement is that I want a bike that's fun and easy to ride both fast and slow. Am I barking up the wrong tree?

Seriously guys I really appreciate your comments. Todd, I'll be sure to stop by Oceanside Ducati/Aprilia this weekend. Thanks for the info.

[5axis]

If you have a thing for oil/air cooling, check out the suz bandit 1200.
And if you have a urge to mod, it is of the GSXR family and most of the go-fast bits interchange.
http://www.motorsports-network.com/SUZUKI/bandit12/bandit.htm

[speeder]

David, I like the looks of that Kawi. Actually, they seem to be making a lot of good looking bikes now. I want one of those newer Kawasaki sport bikes in the old Kawi green, it is like Porsche tangerine or vipergruen to me.

I have a soft spot for Kawasakis, I have this old GPz 550 sitting in the garage:

[5axis]

Denis. That thing looks great! I so wanted a gpz 550 back in 1984or 85 ? A friend of mine redid his to look like a Eddie Lawson bike. A few years later they actually made a factory ELR. Lots of fun for a few $'s.

http://sportrider.com/bikes/146-9910-ZRX-O-01-zoom.jpg

[JavaBrewer]

Denis, you have in your garage my first and only street bike of way back when. Many fond memories on that bike. Luckily as a stupid kid I survived that experience. Eddie Lawson green is available today at your Kawi dealer. Meet the ZRX1200r

[speeder]

Originally posted by dmoolenaar
Eddie Lawson green is available today at your Kawi dealer. Meet the ZRX1200r

Yeah, I've seen those. But the color is off a little, isn't it? You'd think they could get their own color right. It's supposed to be like this:


And how about this, what the hello is this? A green tire??

[nostatic]

how about a Suzuki SV-1000?

[nostatic]

or if you want more style (one of my favs)

[BlueSkyJaunte]

Those SV bikes are supposed to be really nice.

Too bad they're butt-ugly... I hate the current pointy-anime front ends these days.

[Shuie]

The SVs and the older TL1000s were never sexy like a Ducati, but they used to be good looking bikes . I dont understand why all the newer bikes are so pointy.

that triumph is cool, but I would hate to clean those wheels

heres a cool hooligan bike

[nostatic]

The SV is pretty much the "gold standard" in bomb-proof twins. The SV650 is the middleweight champ. They don't do it for me though, but I'm not a Japanese bike fan.

And David that gold Kawa is waaay too bling imho.

[ronin]

my second choice

[ronin]

my first choice

[BlueSkyJaunte]

Duc 748 is the dream mo-chine. With recent events in my life though, it'll never happen....maybe when I retire. :|

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/showthread.php?threadid=108020&highlight=ivana+duc

[Steve Carlton]

Originally posted by dmoolenaar
I was in the showroom yesterday and almost pulled the trigger on the 919. I'm working with a new customer and there is a guy here who splits his commute between a Land Rover Defender and the Brutale S



His only complaint with the bike is the frequency it visits the shop. I would have thought he would have been accustomed to that sort of thing owning a Land Rover.

Todd, I originally hated the look of the Monsters, but now they're growing on me. I am worried about maintainence and reliability and thus looking at the rice bikes. My time is already so committed I just want to focus on weekend rides with no extra hassles.

I like the stripped down look of the 599 and 919 combined with the Honda reliability. I want a bike with a nice fat powerband that I can torque around on. I'm too old, and conservative, for the peaky high rev engine. I haven't ridden in over 12 years so the state offered motorcycle class in on my agenda.

Does anyone have experience with the 919? I've read som e reviews and they are average. Biggest complaint about the 599 and 919 is the MSRP compaired to the competition.

David- I don't have any experience with the 919, but it is a good bike and does get knocked for its price. The 599 is a little steep too, but probably worth it. It usually wins most hearts with it's overall refinement and balance in reviews.

The 919 or anything with that kind of displacement is a lot of bike. You mentioned you haven't ridden in 12 years. How much did you ride before?

The R1150R is worthy of consideration. There's a promo with 0.9% for up to 5 years with the first 5 payments waived. Do that on a 48 month contract and the savings are huge, so the real cost is effectively much lower. They also come with a 3/36 warranty and are reliable, but not up to the Honda standard. The lack of chain maintenence and the forgiving nature of the suspension are big pluses, IMHO. And nice options, like hardbags, heated grips, and ABS brakes.

I rode the Brutale S. Awesome, fun bike. Standard suspension a little stiff for my taste, but not too hard to fix. I'm hoping to get lucky with one of my two $50 tickets to this raffle (click on the raffle in the link):

http://www.mvagusta.com/web-mvagusta/news.html

[BlueSkyJaunte]

I was driving up the highway in my 911 the other day and got passed by a 998 followed immediately by an MV Agusta F4.

Too much beauty in one small locus if you ask me....

[JavaBrewer]

Originally posted by Steve Carlton
David- I don't have any experience with the 919, but it is a good bike and does get knocked for its price. The 599 is a little steep too, but probably worth it. It usually wins most hearts with it's overall refinement and balance in reviews.

The 919 or anything with that kind of displacement is a lot of bike. You mentioned you haven't ridden in 12 years. How much did you ride before?

I've always been a Honda fan. I very much like the engineering and fit/finish of their bikes. The Brutale S would be an awesome, unique bike. But frankly it's outta my price league and my coworker is not happy with the reliability of his. Don't know the model year he has.

As far as previous experience, I raced enduro bikes (KDX 175 and Yamaha IT 465) for about 5 years in the 80s. I also rode a Gpz550 for a little less than 2 years. In the 90's I raced mountain bikes and road bikes for a good 8 years or so.

That said you are totally correct. A liter bike is ALOT of bike. I'm not really concerned about the max output of the bike as long as it's manageable. I just like the idea of not having to shift so much The throttle goes both ways and I'm a pretty conservative person. Actually that's why I was never really that good in bike racing, I loved to crush folks on the climbs but was overly conservative on the downhills.

Before I buy anything I will ride samples of middle weights and larger. I'm still in the shopper mode, considering my options, and desperately trying to get the wife pitch formulated.

[Steve Carlton]

Sounds like you've more than been around the block with bikes, plus you've got throttle discipline. I wouldn't worry about getting a bike with a lot of power, then.

You're absolutely right to test ride the bikes you're thinking of. All the magazine articles and opinions shouldn't carry the weight of your own feeling on the bike.

What kind of riding do you plan on doing? To me, it's like computers were in the old days. What you should get is determined by the kind of software you plan on running.

[Drago]

How about something like this?

[JavaBrewer]

Holy crap Marc, that is a good looking bike. Year and model?