If I was to buy a motorcycle...

[The General]

... I would be dead within 20 minutes...

Seriously, I would get one of these bad boys:

2004 BMW R1200C Classic

[Mat]

Hard to tell which would be my final choice but here's two that I really like:

Honda 599


Suzuki SV650S

[The General]

Well, I think I changed my mind:

Either this:


or this:

[driftor]

I love motorcycles foremost, and it has to be a twin--but that's another story.

The old SV650 shown by Mat was the greatest when the bars were high enough; the new naked bike would be ideal if you could find a fairing alias windshield for it.

This was the only bike (street bike) where I wheelied unintentionally on a normal start--don't try this at home 'til you have the experience.

The dual purpose BMW at twice the price is pretty nice for all kinds of riding but I would still be worried about the weight of the beast but if you don't insist on pushing the limit it is perfect.

Then, the ultimate would be a SuperMoto style dual purpose performance bike at a reasonable price. Long suspension travel to eat up those bumps and do safe jumps; but still set up to do safe slides on both pavement and dirt roads.

I bet it won't be long coming!

[kilby]

At age 55, my wife bought me a 2006 lime green and black Kawasaki 650 KLR Dual Sport. I have owned 17 bikes in my life, mostly street bikes. Last year I bought a Yamaha 650 Special from a friend who bought it new in 1979, I just wanted to see if I would like riding again. Well as much as I thought that I would recapture my younger years (I owned 3 650's) the bike was OLD, riding in traffic is different now, SUV's tailgating and a lot more older drivers make it not the carefree mode of transportation it used to be.

I went to my local Suzuki/Kawasaki/KTM dealer for their 2005 "spring" ride days and rode 4 bikes, a 750 Kawasaki street, Suzuki 650 V-Strom, Suzuki 400 Supermoto and a KLR 650. They were all great, but the KLR can be ridden as a "hooligan" bike in the city, world traveller or fast back country bike, it's comfortable, has good vision due to it's height, has a 500K range with a 23 litre tank, and costs just over $6000 Can. which is about $4000 less than the more competitive KTM's. It's only 32 hp, but very torquey, slow by motorcycle standards, but 0 to60 of 4.7 seconds is like a Porsche 930 Turbo. So when looking at those flashy cruisers just remember you are relegated to driving on smooth boulevards and not the back roads of the Laurentians or the Rockies.

[The General]

Post pics of you bikes kilby.

[kilby]

Not sure how to post, on the two other groups I belong to you just take from "my pictures" I am not a very tekkie guy with computers. Maybe I'll get my children to help!!!!!

[driftor]

NEWS: JUST HEARD THAT ARNOLD sCHWARZENEGGER CRASHED HIS MOTORCYCLE WITH HIS SON ABOARD (IN SIDECAR)--no wonder he needs a Hummer to be safe.

Kilby, you are a man after my own heart, and age, and I have the same considerations--had trouble posting pics too. Now we're getting free parking in Toronto, I have a socially responsible reason for getting a bike, but the danger nowadays is real; My some 20 falls especially on oil-slicked corners around Vancouver. KLR is stil one of my favorites, but which I did not get a chance to drive. I thought I would miss the power needed to escapeSUV's pickups and vans.

It's actually through motorcycling that I developed an automatic space cushion form of driving which I habitually follow still. I always keep a good cushion up front, but these tailgaters I will not tolerate and they can get angry if I don't stay that 3 feet in front of them; at my own peril I did some tests to see if they were doing it to be aggressive and not just out of habit, and yes,m they really mean to attack, and so the only way is to get out of their way, and they also get annoyed that I always get through traffic faster, and so those jsrks make it difficult to have a safe journey, --the number of rear-enders Ive had in my car despite thiis great effort are also embarrassing, but unavoidable as stopping for a policy motorcycle going through a red light, braking for a passing bike cutting in front of me, or stopping for a red light

The only cure I've got is to get off the rad when we notice someone on our tail, even on a highway. REecently, I've also slowed down rather than sped up, but the anger of the truck is a danger too.

I believe the only way to not be a victim is to act as a group, as in the famous bike gangs.

[kilby]

What kind of 3 do you drive driftor? have you seen www.tunerworks.com website, they are in Calgary, very good to deal with, I have added adjustable camber plates and UUC adjustable trailing arms in the last year, also just got new door rubbers from them $325 compared to BMW's $500 ish. Now that I have the KLR, I'm afraid that I will not be able to give attention to my 2 3's as well as the bike....or finances.

[driftor]

I now am struggling with the camber Kilby Mzda Canada offered me 4 Michelins and a fourth whell alignment wheel alignment. I think I'll refuse because the left side feathering on all four tires iws probably a tire problem mostly and secondarily excess negative on the left rear and inadequate caster and too much camber both on the right front. (see elsewhere on this site for more) I put you rec'd site on my favourites. It's the lackinbg castor on the drver's side front that has me most 2worried and would be most difficult to adjuct, but the car does fine on slippery roads where I have better control of sli8p angles.. So I plan to get a precisi9on alingment and put the problem to an adjusicator; if the numbers were not faked by the Mzda deal as being within their specs, I may not have much recourse.

Of course they tried to blame my fast cornering; I immediately retorted that my left corners were much faster than the right ones; and through a dozen cars in my life I've never had edge feather ing despite participation in motorsports. I've had excess wear on the outside thrd of the tire because of cornering, and so want some negative camber on the driver's side front anyhow to compensate for the caster problem---I'm sotempted to go to a bodyshop and have them bend it back into place 2 degree cqaster is not bad except on this car.