Goldilocks phenomena: the quest for the perfect bike

We all have done it- bought and sold bikes in search of "the one". Or for those wealthy polygamists "the ones".

As for me I can only handle one love at a time so...

I began on a 70s cb750 and hated it.


I mean I loved having a motorcycle but it was top heavy and didn't have the chilled out soul of say...a 750 Vulcan???

Some 10 years later I bought a TW200 and fell back in love with riding in the Blue Ridge Mountains.



For a city slicker and mountain biker like me it was heaven riding a combo of farm roads and dirt trails.



I bought it on impulse and after bringing it home I realized it wasn't meant for NY metro roads and parkways.



So I test rode this (my first crush):


I loved the relaxed ride but always one to overdo things instead bought this:



What a hunk of junk! A big bike I could travel anywhere on that never felt like it could handle itself. Big oops. I could pack anything on it even though I didn't want to ride it anywhere.

So the decision was "more sport less touring" went and got this:



But secretly the grass would be so much greener on this:



So what's your tale of broken hearts and gettin back on that horse?

Could it top my thirst for variety??





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my first was a kh100 then lead to a rash purchase of an sv650s i had that for 6 months and swapped it for a new k3 gsxr600...2yrs later i turned that into a 03 R1 (5pw) and straight away realised that it was far too much for the road (or the way i ride is probably too much for the road) so after a little deliberation with my brother....... we got our race licence and set off with that for the next 2yrs. in sep 07 it all went wrong and i had a bad smash and lost the bike in a race related incident, i was also in a bad way for almost a year. then i bought a honda c90 just for work when i eventually went back to my job (this was the bike i had the most smiles on)
so december 2009 i bought my first 5th gen and loved it, spent silly monies on it trying to make it into an R1, after 9 months i sold it (regret) then bought a drz400! this was f..king great bike, i only sold it 6months later because of a police incident over me doing silly things on it (i actually ran from the police and sold it on eBay that night).
then i decided to wait a short while,and in nov 2012 i bought another 5gen ) it needed some work but to this day i'm very happy and i love my girl.

It's my first outing on her today, it'll give me chance to test out the new stuff she's had over tho winter.

SAFE RIDING ALL.

 

Started wit this:



Then this:



Now its these two:



But considering these:

 

Over the years (not actual picture of my bikes except VFR800)
View attachment 25802
305 Scrambler
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Norton Atlas 750
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Norton Commando (One month, traded back in on Z1)
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Kawasaki Z1 900
View attachment 25806
83 VF750 (Still have)
View attachment 25807
VT500 Ascot (Wife's)
View attachment 25808
03 VFR (Current)

 

A perfect bike.........I am still looking

 

There is no such animal. All bikes are a compromise of one or more things. It really depends on what you want to do and where you want to ride.
If I had to have only one it would be on the lines of a Ducati Multistrada or a BMW GS 1200. Nice ascot btw!


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We got the Ascot because it was the only bike my wife could get her feet on the ground. Fun bike, light and nimble, but peanut tank was a drag. #2 son took the rear bumper off a Taurus with the right side of the bike and his right leg. Leg healed, bike totaled. Like I said pictures are from the web, never bothered to take any of my own bikes. This was my progression over the years, not a search for the perfect bike. Like them all, most disappointed in new Commando. Kick start only, would literally throw me off about every third time and seat was unbearable two up, no padding over frame for first 6".

 

I think "best" really boils down to getting the most for your money. The getting the most out of it.

 

1st gen cb750, to me, is the pinnacle of motorcycles. Best friend cafe'd a '72 and I was his test/feedback rider.
It was surely not a long haul bike, but around town it was fun! I put some miles on that bad boy.

 

Went camping with my cb750 as a kid. My cuz rode an enduro so it was up to me to carry everything but the Coleman stove.

I had 2 small fiberglass panniers meant for a cb500, a 'glass trunk and a sissy bar to which I stuffed or lashed:
1 family size tent
1 4 man small dome
2 sleeping bags
A pot, a pan, utensils, etc
2 duffles of clothes
3 propane cylinders
Propane lantern
And a dozen bungees to hold it all together.
I think any bike would have been perfect at that age- I was a man on a mission!


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After nearly 50 years of riding and a bazillion bikes, this is as close to perfection it gets. Better even than a VFR. Superior braking, comfort, wind protection, panache and comes with bags.
That said, I haven't met a bike I didn't like... though there are many I don't want to own.

 

Nice Duck! St4?

There is a perfect bike. I have not found it yet. I will continue my search. I wish is to die in this quest.
Guitars too. Looking for the perfect one.....


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As an all around bike the VFR is hard to beat, if you only have one bike.

Boscoe's stable provides him with multitude of choices to savor the best of each discipline.

 

My quest was never about the perfect bike. It was always about the best bike I could afford. There were the bikes I wanted and the bikes I actually got. My BMW R90/6 was my reality while the R100RS was my dream. I rode many a mile on the /6 but I always wanted that RS. My Ducati 860GT was my reality and the 900SS my dream. I had a Guzzi T3 which should have been my La Mans. I had a Ducati 250 Scrambler that should have been a Sport. The list goes on and on. What would I have if money were no object? I don't know. Money seems to always be an issue. I do know that my current 5th gen VFR is as close to perfect as I have ever gotten in any one bike. I have had ridding buddies who were always buying and selling bikes in search of perfection. I just figured they did it because they could and not because they were actually looking for the best bike.

 

ST3 (best of 'em 3-valve engine. (st2)2 valve torque with 4 valve (sty4 top end).
For a while, I was looking for the perfect pistol. Had a shitload. Sold em - kept a Glock 26, Kimber Solo, Sig Sauer Mark 25.
It's got to be the goin' not the getting there that's good - to quote harry chapin

 

True. That's why I have them. It's like a Motorcycle Buffet. I'm very lucky. Probably my only real vice. In the end, cheaper than wine, women & song combined! Two divorces took half of what I owned...twice! LOL

Periodically, bikes come and go. My garage space is, sadly, finite. Recent departures are a 2009 CBR600RR, a 2011 GSXR600, a 1997 ZX 11, a 2007 Harley CVO Springer, a 2011 Harley SoftTail with a built (for H-D) 100-hp rearwheel engine, a 2004 VTX 1300, 1987 Yahama XJS 1100 and a 2010 H-D Road King Police (very smooth but freakin' fat) as I recall. I am not in the business. It is not a sideline. I see them and fall in love. None are garage queens. Depending on the size of the herd, each is ridden at least 100 miles (my daily RT commute) once a week or on weekends.

 

what a fine post to run across! makes me wish i had pictures...

 

Just swipe em from the net. That's what I did...shh!!


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lol irl

not that internet crap kind, but genuinely laughed out loud at that...