Show your motorcycle ride

[Nigel]

I had 2 or 3 of those big 1100s, none had 16" front wheel. Since I never bought brand new, many bikes had earned reputations that made it easy to avoid. Of the posts above, I find the "70o v-twin" an odd angle !!

Also noted Dags thinks the old Guzzi thou to be a good bike. For the time maybe, but Guzzis have always been too heavy for a sports bike, make that all Guzzis.The big 1100 Suzis, 18" (19?) wheel were perfect tourers. Much better than the BMW Ks I rode. Took one London to Piraeus and back 1988 (?), great trip with a mate on a GPZ1100 - early injection.

[Bugs]

My brother and I bought two new 750's in 1983, his a Suzuki GSX and mine Kawaski Gpz. The GSX had the fashionable 16" front while mine had the 18' wheel, both were cutting edge, "anti dive" forks and  Pirelli Phantom's fitted. A decade a go I bought a Katana 750, popup headlight version for a restro project sight unseen. Went for a quick spin, no rego, plates or blinkers, but it showed how far bikes had progressed from my then ride a Bandit 1200, lost interest soon after sold without losing money, from memory the first Jap bike with 16" front to handle was the GPZ 900

[Batty]

I had the GPZ750R water cooled, that handled pretty good.

[Darren69]

  On 03/02/2019 at 10:22 PM, Nigel said:

I had 2 or 3 of those big 1100s, none had 16" front wheel. Since I never bought brand new, many bikes had earned reputations that made it easy to avoid. Of the posts above, I find the "70o v-twin" an odd angle !!

Also noted Dags thinks the old Guzzi thou to be a good bike. For the time maybe, but Guzzis have always been too heavy for a sports bike, make that all Guzzis.The big 1100 Suzis, 18" (19?) wheel were perfect tourers. Much better than the BMW Ks I rode. Took one London to Piraeus and back 1988 (?), great trip with a mate on a GPZ1100 - early injection.

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Guzzi- used to test the little 120(?) rear Phantom out, that's for sure.  And more weight and corner momentum than anything else. With a set of pod filters and full Staintune system, it was a nice soundtrack through the bush. TL1000S has been the biggest pig I have owned to date. Parted company at T4-5 at QLD Raceway. Had serious injection map[ping issues once the motor dropped back into the cold map (under 82 deg?) which it did at very random times. Still handled OK. Speed Cripple was average until I sent the suspension off to Suspensions R Us for a re-valve and harder spring on the rear. Fantastic road motor though, the triple. Shots from 2011-12 ish methinks.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Nigel]

Dags, that bike in the top photo is freaking out !!! Look at its eyes !! You musta been going too fast.

Presumably that the STriple, a friend in Adelaide was considering going from a VF750 to the 900 Trumpy and asked my opinion. I had a quick look at the specs and said there is no comparison. He takes his chick on the back alot and so I told him the grunt from the triple will be impressive.. A few weeks later he wrote back to say thanks.

ps you should fit a little wheel to your knee scrapers....

[Darren69]

  On 04/02/2019 at 1:36 AM, Nigel said:

Dags, that bike in the top photo is freaking out !!! Look at its eyes !! You musta been going too fast.

Presumably that the STriple, a friend in Adelaide was considering going from a VF750 to the 900 Trumpy and asked my opinion. I had a quick look at the specs and said there is no comparison. He takes his chick on the back alot and so I told him the grunt from the triple will be impressive.. A few weeks later he wrote back to say thanks.

ps you should fit a little wheel to your knee scrapers....

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Are you imagining a leetle skateboard wheel? Or a castor-type arrangement.

 

Wobbly shopping trolley wheel?  

 

Have gone back to Ye Olde WIZ sliders recently, the cheapies are poo. Got some sparkies for $hits and giggles for the 2018 PI GP ride. Have not tried the WIZ leather versions. The original Spyke sliders are good.

[TerryO]

  On 03/02/2019 at 9:14 PM, Darren69 said:

Yes, it was 16-in front wheel time!! I had the Moto Guzzi MkIV Le Mans (converted the front wheel to 17 in from 165, death trap combined with the big flywheel effect, excellent bike though) as well as the big Yam FJ1100 (who didn't want one with the smoking-up poster hanging in every Yamaha dealership?). Left the 16 in on the front of the Yammie and used to ride it back and forth from Grafton to Newcastle for tech. I had traded up from a 750 Katana, was 17. Taught me how to relax to get out of stop-to-stop tank slappers, haha, haven't had these problems for a long time now.

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Possibly the worst bike I ever rode ever was a Mk iv Le Mans, I rode one to Oran Park to, from memory, a 6-hour one year. Hated the thing that much that I would not ride it back home to Coogee. How much did I dislike riding that bloody thing? I actually let my flat mate double me home on it and I seriously it was always a really bad thing to be on the back of a bike with him and I considered that to be the lesser of two evils.

 

Funny thing Dazzle, we have owned a number of the same bikes, my first road bike in Oz was a FJ1100, couldn't wait to get rid of that porky thing either. 

 

cheers Terry 

Edited February 4, 2019 by TerryO

[Bugs]

'The brother  had a Guzzi Le Mans, 18 inch front, have to say the most uncomfortable bike I've ridden, and the clutch was a pain to use in traffic, sounded good though, later on he bought a TLS and we went out to QR for a trackday, the rear end used to wobble and slide a lot, apparently the rotary? shock was the cause, don't think Suzuki persisted with the idea, it's a pity cos the bike itself was great 

Edited February 4, 2019 by Bugs

[Darren69]

  On 04/02/2019 at 2:41 AM, TerryO said:

Possibly the worst bike I ever rode ever was a Mk iv Le Mans, I rode one to Oran Park to, from memory, a 6-hour one year. Hated the thing that much that I would not ride it back home to Coogee. How much did I dislike riding that bloody thing? I actually let my flat mate double me home on it and I seriously it was always a really bad thing to be on the back of a bike with him and I considered that to be the lesser of two evils.

 

Funny thing Dazzle, we have owned a number of the same bikes, my first road bike in Oz was a FJ1100, couldn't wait to get rid of that porky thing either. 

 

cheers Terry 

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They were all my first bikes, maybe I didn't know any better? Maybe ignorance was bliss.  

 

The Ducati ST2 and ST4s were OK when they decided to actually start. Never again. Frame cracked on the ST2.

 

The FJ1200 was a bit better but my first real bike was the K5 Gixxer. The first 'modern' bike I have owned and holy bloody hell!! Pulled hard to the limiter in top gear which was 297km/h and you got home feeling like you had spent the day water skiing. Incredible.

 

 

Unfortunately we parted company outside Wauchope and heading west for the Oxley. The headstock was alsmost snapped clean through, it got a ride to the Wauchope NRMA yard by a Fireblade owner in a tilt tray, I got a ride in the Wetspac chopper to John Hunter in Newie.

 

 

 

 

 

Very sad. My Shark RSR 2 helmet got sent back to France for analysis and to help with their ongoing design, they rarely received road crash helmets, only race track ones which are a different animal. They sent the bike shop condolences, the bike shop said, 'No he's still alive'. I was very lucky and my good quality gear saved my life along with the ambo's jamming me with a coma needle and the Westpac guys flying me out so quick. I cant remember anything. Coppers booked at home a few months later. The Blade rider said the rice burner drivers take their shite heaps out where I crashed at night and diesel up the road so they can get them sideways, a-la that drifting crap. Some very highly worked up pensioners apparently howled and spat out a witness account that I had overtaken them at supersonic speed on double whites and then lost it on the corner. Prolly fast for them but I wouldn't have been hooking in that much, was in 'transit mode' with the back pack etc on. Spine protector done it's thing, crushing a can of shaving cream in the back pack like a grape when I went back first into a cutting, the bike went up over the top and through the trees. Cracked all my ripbs and had swollen frontal lobes with short term memory loss.

 

I got better.

 

 

 

 

Edited February 4, 2019 by Darren69

[Nigel]

Very lucky to survive with so much brain damage, also.

Easy to say, "going too fast" when you hadn't seen the surface conditions (unlike race track), but with clear vis and nothing obvious on the road, one would never expect some geese pouring slidem on the road. Bet you enjoyed the cops visiting months later to see if there was any money in your wallet.

 Only time I've been up the Oxley, was in the rain, couldn't see through my fogged up visor, had to let a K100 go by, very embarrassing. He could ride though.

 That shot of the K5..nice, that's a-my- baby (near enough -K4). Borat says - very naaarsss.

 Seriously, I get that Johnny Rea's bike is better, but it's taken 14 years to see a clear difference. That, and the BMW RR, clearly better than my bike.  Wonder if they're as light as mine 165Kg dry.

Edited February 4, 2019 by Nigel

[The Bluesman]

Yes Suzuki made great bikes and my GSX1100efe was a beauty, glad I was able to kinda document it in my video, I liked the way it handled with the 16 inch front as it made a big bike back then steer , it went hard and vibrated accordingly, great open road blaster that I rode down to the 1990 Australian GP with my mate on his then new FJ1200, interesting side by side with the FJ seeming more powerful with that wonderful torque curve but the GSX winning every drag race hands down

 

moving on and with many Suzuki GSX's under my belt I to was the proud owner of a GSX-R1000K6, best ever sports bike and I'll never forget that induction roar of that thing out on the open road, it did  everything and was one of my best bikes, 

 

I did lots of dirt roads on this bike and here it is on the Barry Way taking it in it's stride coming back from the World Super Bikes 2012, hot day and friggin great ride, awesome bike it was, Suzuki made a bike that I believe BMW stripped down to see what made this bike so awesome and then made their RR, me I'll take the Suzuki any day  

[Darren69]

  On 04/02/2019 at 5:54 AM, Nigel said:

Very lucky to survive with so much brain damage, also.

Easy to say, "going too fast" when you hadn't seen the surface conditions (unlike race track), but with clear vis and nothing obvious on the road, one would never expect some geese pouring slidem on the road. Bet you enjoyed the cops visiting months later to see if there was any money in your wallet.

 Only time I've been up the Oxley, was in the rain, couldn't see through my fogged up visor, had to let a K100 go by, very embarrassing. He could ride though.

 That shot of the K5..nice, that's a-my- baby (near enough -K4). Borat says - very naaarsss.

 Seriously, I get that Johnny Rea's bike is better, but it's taken 14 years to see a clear difference. That, and the BMW RR, clearly better than my bike.  Wonder if they're as light as mine 165Kg dry.

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Haven't tried one but I believe, like the GSXR's, that the BMW RR fits proper sized people as well.

[Darren69]

  On 04/02/2019 at 8:41 AM, The Bluesman said:

Yes Suzuki made great bikes and my GSX1100efe was a beauty, glad I was able to kinda document it in my video, I liked the way it handled with the 16 inch front as it made a big bike back then steer , it went hard and vibrated accordingly, great open road blaster that I rode down to the 1990 Australian GP with my mate on his then new FJ1200, interesting side by side with the FJ seeming more powerful with that wonderful torque curve but the GSX winning every drag race hands down

 

moving on and with many Suzuki GSX's under my belt I to was the proud owner of a GSX-R1000K6, best ever sports bike and I'll never forget that induction roar of that thing out on the open road, it did  everything and was one of my best bikes, 

 

I did lots of dirt roads on this bike and here it is on the Barry Way taking it in it's stride coming back from the World Super Bikes 2012, hot day and friggin great ride, awesome bike it was, Suzuki made a bike that I believe BMW stripped down to see what made this bike so awesome and then made their RR, me I'll take the Suzuki any day  

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Great shot, K1 is pretty cool too huh? Number plates etc.

 

My K5 is the only bike where I could have a straight line from my right hand to the rear contact patch, throttle feel is the best I have experienced and I wont experience it again due to electronics, I assume. I could hold the rear three or four inches out of line, laying a darkie, as much as I liked, a VERY flattering engine/chassis set up. Have never done those things again, Trumpy didn't have enough grunt and then the big K1300R that I now have has electronics or is too snappy (read-scary) with them off, haha. They just stop designing stuff to be operable without the electronic checks and balances and fair enough I guess. I am seriously entertaining the thought of grabbing a 2016-17 Gixxer but I don't know if this is a valid mental proposal or an ageing motorcyclists version of a mid life crisis.  

 

By the time the K1300 is sparking up pegs on the public road, anyone faster is gone and anyone slower is gone so it probably doesn't matter.  

 

Due to where my size 11 Alpinestars like to be when changing gear, I snapped the end off the gear change lever about 12 months after I got the K, ground it out on the road. A flip-back motocross shifter end fixed it and then some Wilburs really fixed it, the new suspension allows much more lean, usually more than I am comfy with these days. Funny how that few extra mm's feels like three feet when you're keeling over 200+ kg of 175hp sickle plus my own dugong ass.  

Edited February 4, 2019 by Darren69

[The Bluesman]

  On 04/02/2019 at 11:15 PM, Darren69 said:

Great shot, K1 is pretty cool too huh? Number plates etc.

 

My K5 is the only bike where I could have a straight line from my right hand to the rear contact patch, throttle feel is the best I have experienced and I wont experience it again due to electronics, I assume. I could hold the rear three or four inches out of line, laying a darkie, as much as I liked, a VERY flattering engine/chassis set up. Have never done those things again, Trumpy didn't have enough grunt and then the big K1300R that I now have has electronics or is too snappy (read-scary) with them off, haha. They just stop designing stuff to be operable without the electronic checks and balances and fair enough I guess. I am seriously entertaining the thought of grabbing a 2016-17 Gixxer but I don't know if this is a valid mental proposal or an ageing motorcyclists version of a mid life crisis.  

 

By the time the K1300 is sparking up pegs on the public road, anyone faster is gone and anyone slower is gone so it probably doesn't matter.  

 

Due to where my size 11 Alpinestars like to be when changing gear, I snapped the end off the gear change lever about 12 months after I got the K, ground it out on the road. A flip-back motocross shifter end fixed it and then some Wilburs really fixed it, the new suspension allows much more lean, usually more than I am comfy with these days. Funny how that few extra mm's feels like three feet when you're keeling over 200+ kg of 175hp sickle plus my own dugong ass.  

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Yes my mate has owned that K1 since 1993, he has retired it now but it will be on historic rego soon, how long have you been riding for Darren, me I've had a registered bike on the road ever since 1979, bikes have played a big part in my life and had many over the years, here's a couple of shots from 2002 with my GSX-R1100H, now this bike was one of my favourites and an absolute cracker out on the open road, another shot of my mates K1 down at Phillip Island 2002 as well

[Batty]

Some pretty old pics of me, RD400C and CB400F2

[Batty]

A great friend of mine (RIP) toured Scotland for 2 weeks on out 600s, His FZR600R and my GSX600R.

[Darren69]

  On 05/02/2019 at 5:51 AM, The Bluesman said:

Yes my mate has owned that K1 since 1993, he has retired it now but it will be on historic rego soon, how long have you been riding for Darren, me I've had a registered bike on the road ever since 1979, bikes have played a big part in my life and had many over the years, here's a couple of shots from 2002 with my GSX-R1100H, now this bike was one of my favourites and an absolute cracker out on the open road, another shot of my mates K1 down at Phillip Island 2002 as well

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My old man always had an old bike laying around the farm somewhere, he came from a bike background, even had a go as a bike cop for a few years before a 650 Thunderbird Trumpy + blown back tyre at speed just south of Tenterfield sent him dairy farming. I was a fixture on the ag bike whilst we pootled around the farms whilst he still did his Goulburn training thing, riding up walls or over our see-saw whenever he got the chance with a shrieking Mum in the background. I think that's where it started.

 

Jumped on a TL125 Honda once I was brave enough to kick start it and it all went from there, I was 8 yrs old.

 

Have had quite a few bikes though not as many as some. In order-

 

Suzuki 750 Katana (pre pop up light model) with custom full fairing and full Tranzac system (polish those headers boy), not just the silencer!

FJ1100

GSXR1100 Ltd Ed. (only new bike I have ever had, wish I still had it)

FJ1200

Moto Guzzi Mk IV Le Mans

Ducati ST2

Ducati ST4s

Suzuki TL1000S

Suzuki GSXR 1000R

Triumph Speed Triple 1050

BMW K1300R

 

Some scanned pics from the late 80's, look out for the Rivets!!

 

 

 

I got the Katana when I was 17, when, if you had your 'blacks' for 12 months you could ride any bike on silent P's, no pillion for 12 months, you just had to go down the end of King St and do a feet-up u-ey and come back in front of the RTA dude and that was that. I thn proceeded to ride up and down the old highway between  Grafton and Newcastle every six weeks to attend my apprenticeship TAFE training. No wonder my mum was beside herself, haha. 17, been driving a few years. She also used to see what we got up to on the TL so probably gave her grounds for concerns.

 

Bikes have been a major part of my life also and I believe in a lot of ways they saved me from who knows what. Those of the faith know what the word 'bikes' means. What is understood need not be discussed.  

 

I know one day I will need to bow out and who knows when that will be. I know my reflexes have dulled since maybe 45. I guess I will know when the time comes.

 

Bu I tell you what, I have given it one red hot go. Am sure we should swap stories over a thousand beers one arvo-night.

 

 

Edited February 5, 2019 by Darren69

[TerryO]

Before I got into road bikes and then road racing I was in to Motocross in NZ, the reason I came to Oz originally was to race MX, but that didn't happen for a number of reasons, so I started riding road bikes and got hooked on going up the 'Old Road' as we called it, which was the Old Gosford Hwy.

The section of road that was the most fun was between Mt White and Cowan. I had several early Gixxer 750's (first pic) but the bike I had the most fun on up there was my 1986 G model GSXR1100. I fitted it with 36 mm Mikuni flat slides, a pipe, Yoshi rear sets, Marvic magnesium wheels and a White Power shock. The old girl really hummed, but the carnage was that bad up there that eventually I decided to go racing because I knew sooner or later it would be me they would be scrapping off some granite wall or from under a Armco, which was a regular occurrence up there back in the 80's.

Edited February 5, 2019 by TerryO

[Batty]

Once it is in your blood it always calls you.

My Mrs had a Suzi GT250 quite a few years ago, got knocked off that and hurt a bit, she got back up and bought a Yammy XS500DOHC, spunky woman that she is.

She still misses bikes and we are both 60 now.

[The Bluesman]

  On 05/02/2019 at 8:00 AM, Darren69 said:

My old man always had an old bike laying around the farm somewhere, he came from a bike background, even had a go as a bike cop for a few years before a 650 Thunderbird Trumpy + blown back tyre at speed just south of Tenterfield sent him dairy farming. I was a fixture on the ag bike whilst we pootled around the farms whilst he still did his Goulburn training thing, riding up walls or over our see-saw whenever he got the chance with a shrieking Mum in the background. I think that's where it started.

 

Jumped on a TL125 Honda once I was brave enough to kick start it and it all went from there, I was 8 yrs old.

 

Have had quite a few bikes though not as many as some. In order-

 

Suzuki 750 Katana (pre pop up light model) with custom full fairing and full Tranzac system (polish those headers boy), not just the silencer!

FJ1100

GSXR1100 Ltd Ed. (only new bike I have ever had, wish I still had it)

FJ1200

Moto Guzzi Mk IV Le Mans

Ducati ST2

Ducati ST4s

Suzuki TL1000S

Suzuki GSXR 1000R

Triumph Speed Triple 1050

BMW K1300R

 

Some scanned pics from the late 80's, look out for the Rivets!!

 

 

 

I got the Katana when I was 17, when, if you had your 'blacks' for 12 months you could ride any bike on silent P's, no pillion for 12 months, you just had to go down the end of King St and do a feet-up u-ey and come back in front of the RTA dude and that was that. I thn proceeded to ride up and down the old highway between  Grafton and Newcastle every six weeks to attend my apprenticeship TAFE training. No wonder my mum was beside herself, haha. 17, been driving a few years. She also used to see what we got up to on the TL so probably gave her grounds for concerns.

 

Bikes have been a major part of my life also and I believe in a lot of ways they saved me from who knows what. Those of the faith know what the word 'bikes' means. What is understood need not be discussed.  

 

I know one day I will need to bow out and who knows when that will be. I know my reflexes have dulled since maybe 45. I guess I will know when the time comes.

 

Bu I tell you what, I have given it one red hot go. Am sure we should swap stories over a thousand beers one arvo-night.

 

 

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Some nice bikes mate, love that GSX-R1100J and you know what I mean with the respect of these Bikes, the big Yamaha FJ1100 was also a head turner back in the day and I was surprised to see one on historic Rego up the Old Road,  shows we are getting old, hey I tested out a Le Manns 650 and a Ducati Panta 500 back in the day and could have easily gone down the Italian path but didn't, so my first European bike is now a KTM, my heart is with Japanese bikes and will post a list of my bikes soon, Motorcycles, HiFi, Beer and Blues is cool

[The Bluesman]

  On 05/02/2019 at 8:28 AM, TerryO said:

Before I got into road bikes and then road racing I was in to Motocross in NZ, the reason I came to Oz originally was to race MX, but that didn't happen for a number of reasons, so I started riding road bikes and got hooked on going up the 'Old Road' as we called it, which was the Old Gosford Hwy.

The section of road that was the most fun was between Mt White and Cowan. I had several early Gixxer 750's (first pic) but the bike I had the most fun on up there was my 1986 G model GSXR1100. I fitted it with 36 mm Mikuni flat slides, a pipe, Yoshi rear sets, Marvic magnesium wheels and a White Power shock. The old girl really hummed, but the carnage was that bad up there that eventually I decided to go racing because I knew sooner or later it would be me they would be scrapping off some granite wall or from under a Armco, which was a regular occurrence up there back in the 80's.

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The Old Road, been riding it since 1979 and here's a bit of my old footage from way back, hey nice old photos by the way, love them 

 

 

Edited February 5, 2019 by The Bluesman

[TerryO]

  On 05/02/2019 at 8:43 AM, The Bluesman said:

The Old Road, been riding it since 1979 and here's a bit of old footage from way back, hey nice old photos by the way, love them 

 

 

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Thank you for the video, most of your footage is from Rock Corner which a number of my old pics were also from. I stopped riding up there in about 89 to go racing, the last time I rode up there was on a J model 750 with slicks on it. We used to stop at the old road house around the corner that the owners did an insurance job on and burnt it down.

 

cheers Terry

Edited February 5, 2019 by TerryO

[Darren69]

Love the 1000S Guzzi, itself a remake of the V9 off memory. Might get one and tart it up.

 

Hoi, since when is the mid 90's a long time ago?? Haha.

[DRC]

You lucky bastards who got to own 1100 Gixxers. If I could find a clean G or H I'd buy it. 

 

Terry, that is going pretty hard on the road... Glad you went road racing in the end.

 

I did have an identical 750M to the one on Bluesmans video above (but red/black). It was the lardiest of the GSX-R750's, I think it comes in wet a handful of kgs lighter than my Hayabusa.

[The Bluesman]

  On 05/02/2019 at 8:53 AM, TerryO said:

Most of your footage is from Rock Corner which a number of my old pics were from. I stopped riding up there in about 89 to go racing, the last time I rode up there was on a J model 750 with slicks on it. We used to stop at the old road house around the corner that the owners did an insurance job on and it burnt down.

 

cheers Terry

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Yes and you could buy Beer there, was a good stop and the new Road Warriors Cafe was once the ABC garage I think, back then it was a riders road now it is a Police trap, society has caught up with this once hidden gem