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Why did you buy a sportbike?

280 squaggler had a bike, so i wanted one. I was never interested in them. 4 years of riding and still lovin it today.
 
My father is probably the reason I got into motorcycles. I can still remember cruising around the neighborhood on his Honda750K. So when I was old enough I bought my own bike, and then another, and another, etc...

78 Honda 750K
75 Honda 750F (I miss that bike)
69 Honda 750?
?? KZ1000
86 G1200 w/ trailer
02 ZX12R (currently own)
84 XL600 (currently own)

So, the reason I got a sportbike was that I used to ride the Berkely hills on my 750F. I had it setup somewhat as a cafe racer and used to buzz up and down Grizzley Peak with the other sportbike riders. One day we were racing down the hill from the wall and I am in the middle of passing this girl on an EX500 on the outside in a right hand downhill turn. There was this bump in the middle of the lane that I knew was there and had avoided on many other occassions, but this time, I couldn't. So I hit this bump and it setup an ocillation in the spongy 750's frame that threatened to highside me. To avoid this I straightend up the bike to get it to calm down. Well, this had the effect of sending me straight into the other lane where there was this big pickup truck comming the other way. When I see the truck, I turn to the right to get out of it's path and end up striking the side of the guy which then sent me tumbling behind him. Everyone stops and I get up just a little brused (more ego than anything else). I pick up the bike and all it has is a few scratches and a minor bend in the handle bars.

So, at that moment I decided that if I wanted to ride in the twisties at a faster than moderate pace I would have to get a bike that was made for it, so several years later I finally decided that it was time to have some fun on a bike again and got the zx12r.

That and to go super sick fast......
 
squidhunter said:
So, lets be honest here, why did you buy a sportbike over another kind of bike, or even a bike at all.
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I bought my first motorcycle for two very important reasons:
































To look cool and to get layed, not necessarily in that order. :D
But than I found out it can also do other stuff like go fast and do Wheelies.
 
to look cool and get some pontang

Naww...My dad used to work back in the motherland as a bill collector and used a bike as means of trasporation..He used to give me rides around the block in the bike. Now that I have a bike he's scared shitless of me riding. I guess it's cause he had an accident on a bike and was out in a comma for 2 months.......so I like the bikes but at the same time I hate them...
but i got a bike anyhow...
 
Okay. I got my scooter because I was car-free (sounds better than car-deficient?) in college. I got my GS and CB350 because I wanted a "real" motorcycle. I got hard luggage for the above because I wanted to be able to go grocery shopping and camping on the weekends.

And finally... I got my 'Wing because I wanted to continue the above trends with a better capacity to do long trips. Goldwings too big, ST/Concours/BMW too expensive for a poor starving college student <but am now saving up>

I did not and will probably never get a sportbike because my touring rigs are more comfortable, quite capable of thrilling me in the twisties, and can carry as much as a small 2-seat sports car on the long haul. And may I say that having experienced chain maintenance with my CB350, SHAFT RULES!!!!

-Becca

<not a rant against the true perfection of YOUR sportbike. YMMV>
 
The sequence of events

1) 1990-91: Standing waiting to get into a club w/ some friends, someone one on a White/Red/Black gixxer rolls by and the ladies were in awe. Ohhhh... Ahhhhh... Wonder who that cool guys is? [see where this is leading]

2) 1991-2001: Have had friends who road and found out my interest also, so they ask me. But I didn't have the $$$ for bike AND insurance back then so I declined even if they (some of them) were willing to teach me on *their* bikes (FZR600 - FZR400 - small cruiser). I missed out hanging out w/ good friends who road sport bikes (latest were F4 and a TLS1000).

3) When $$$ was better and after my co-worker on a TLS bugged the hell out of me, I was gonna start on a 250R. Found a (yes) silver and black F4 (not F4i, mind you). Decided to take a chance and go straight to a 600 (partially regretting it, partially not). This bike would be unique since there are no other silver black F4's around.

4) Now that I had a bike, #1 above was still in my mind and I thought I would be cool (yeah, right), but decided riding by itself (after riding) was the ultimate factor for me keeping it. Besides, it's not like it helped me with the :boobies in the beginning. :rolleyes :laughing

Now after a rear end lowside, a front end wash and a highside all in the same year (my 1st year).... :rolleyes
 
After I lowered my Harley Fatboy two inches to attain that absolutely poserific Harley image, I noticed that every time I pushed on the bars sparks would fly out from under my floorboards.:teeth Now, as cool as that looked, I just knew it couldn't be a good thing. Something had to be done to remedy this.:confused Finally, I decided that instead of ruining my poserific image, I'd just get a bike that could turn.:teeth You know, for the few times a guy from Illinois really has to turn his bike. Like maybe the on and off ramps on the expressway.:) So off I went to buy a little bike for when I needed to actually lean over. I looked at a few of the scooters and decided to settle on a pretty little 2k2 R1. That's how it all started. Since then, the little blue R1 and I have lived happily ever after.:cool
 
morthrane said:
Bought my marauder with a slightly different set of criteria... after riding around the santa cruz hills for some 2500 miles, I guess my desires changed.

So I guess ultimately it comes down to wanting to be fast.
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Oh c'mon Dan, you know you got the R1 because you wanted to oneup a certain someone else....or did she just talk you into it?:teeth :twofinger
 
I needed a vehicle but couldnt park a car aound my school, so bike it was. I love scaring myself a little with the adrenaline rushes. Just like riding dirt, I would scare the crap out of myself a few times and get used to it and want more. My first time getting off the ground i was like AHHHH! ..and then turned right around and got even higher. :teeth
 
Ever since i was a little boy i used to ride my ten speed road bike with my own sound effect of it being a motorcycle v-four interceptor by honda. those were the bikes 15-20 years ago. so when i came of age i bought a gsx-r 750 (1992) stage three jet kit,fox shock, all pollished, fansy squid machine. i ended up wrecking it and selling it for parts, and Moma said you ain't havin no bike while you live under this roof again. i was like dam!!! i f%$@ up! a few years went by and i always saw them and even occassionally road a friend's or uncle's harley here and there. then the day came and i move out the house at the ripe age of 25 to get back on the road again. plus traffic was horrible in 2000. cagin it sucked.
 
I got my first bike in hawaii because all my other firends were getting them and I had always wanted one. So it was the perfect time for me to get on then. But then I moved back to cali and didnt have a bike for a whole year. About then my roomates bf brought over his new gixxer and I just couldnt resist the temptation to ride again so I bought a new one shortly thereafter.
 
hondagrl said:
Oh c'mon Dan, you know you got the R1 because you wanted to oneup a certain someone else....or did she just talk you into it?:teeth :twofinger
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Hahah... if I wanted to one-up-man her, I'd have gotten a ridiculously expensive car :twofinger

It was actually waiting on repairs for my bike that goaded me into getting #2. I figured... two bikes, I'll always have one to ride! :twofinger

(In practice, that never seemed to work. Downtime always ends up happening at the same friggin time!)
 
:teeth I agree! I was initially choosing between the street bike and the sport bike. However, I opted to go with a sport bike, because there weren't very much choices for street bikes for my petite size.

I have always wanted to learn how to ride a motorcycle, since I was around 6 years old. My sister back then was a motocross champinon. I guess, I wanted to be bad ass like her. I only started riding motorcycles a year ago. I thought it was time to do it. I wasn't getting any younger and tired of thinking "I might die riding a motorcycle." Having fun ever since! I should have done this much earlier!
RC51rider said:
...because they are cool.
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I didn't know anything about any of the racers back then.

I wanted a motorcycle, because cruising the strip was BIG back in the late 70's, when it was legal. We'd cruise "The Strip" in Fairfield, CA....I think it was Texas Street....one long continous drag from one end of town to the other. I was working Pietro's Pizza and late after work, I would go cruise the strip and talk to my long haired friends parked on the side.

My most memorable ride was taking the two strokes back through rockville at night. We all had either a yammy, a Cowi, or a suzuki. 350's, 400's 500's all smoking up the place. I remember using a cigarette foil wrapper for a fuse on my R5 back then by "The Bridge" up at Lake Berryessa. We had a drought and the drop from the top of the bridge was far, you could see the base of the pillars back then. I drank about 12 Heinekens and jumped off that thing...what a long fall....seemed like forever to get back up (from the depths).....crazy...about 16 back then.
Never did it again...wind blowing me all over the place through the fall. My old glasses are still at the bottom of "The Rock" where we used to jump off of opposite "The Bridge".

RD400man
 
I wanted something different. something crazy to ride. only a 2 stroke fit the bill. all the magazines were ranting and raving about the new RZ350 but I couldn't quite afford it then. I almost bought a gamma for $2,500 (I swear!!!) out in the richmond but looking at it scared me at the time. remember, first bike! somehow found a blaster of a bike an RD400 for $600 and just did it. no license, no insurance but I did have a lid and ski gloves :p

speed. noise! radical yellow paint with bumblebee stripes. I guess I'm still an old skool yammie fan even going back to get the RZ I couldn't then.

ps. mrtnz, I want to meet your sister :teeth
 
"It's one of those thngs I always wanted to do"

Dunno where the interest started, maybe just because I used to bicycle out in the hills a whole lot, and increasing my lean angles on that got real infectious, and bikes just seemed like the next logical step.

Fast forward about ten years, I came to bikes finally for more economical reasons - I have a car with 210k miles on it, and it's getting real expensive to maintain, so I started learning engines on bikes, because it was cheaper to pick up one of those and the maintenance on them is way easier..

Never went into it knowing that I'd be falling in love!
 
Whether anyone reads this or not, it doesn't matter. I just wanted to let this out. The first time I ever sat on a bike was in the Philippines. My uncle had a standard bike, not really sure of the size. Four of us would ride at the same time, my pop, myself, my youngest uncle, and his older brother (the driver). I was about 10 years old at the time, 1986. It wasn't a cool looking bike, but the feeling of riding was something that I knew I loved. The thing I remember the most was when my uncle would let me kick start the motorcycle (who needs electronic ignition, j/k).

The next time I would sit on a bike is when another uncle bought a 1987, maybe 1988, 600 Ninja. I know I have a picture of me sitting on it when I was a kid. I'll post it up if I can find it. When we were at the dealership to buy the thing, my pop and I saw a sportbike that was my size. I can't remember what it was though. My pop wanted to buy it for me, but my mom said NO!

Because I respect my mom's wishes, I never did get a bike till last year. It wasn't till I got on a scooter version of a tricycle in 1997 in the Philippines (pinoy people know what I'm taking about) that the bug got to me. It belonged to my pop's friend. When ever I went back to the Philippines, I would ride my cousin's 125cc tricycle. My grandma bought it for him so that he could earn a living.

Well, here I am now. Finally committed to something. I don't do it for the cool thing that's for sure. Hell, I try to ride in the early morning when not too many people are around. Only a few people know that I am riding. I do it for that feeling, totally free. Why a sportbike? Performance. Trying to be like the guys on T.V.
 
Growing up my brothers rode bikes. Enduro and full street (cafe style). All of their friends in the neighborhood rode as well. I was drawn to motorcylces from watching them ride. Then at about 7 years old I rode my first minibike. I was also taken for rides by my brothers and their friends. At times I was allowed to work the controls while sitting in front of them on their bikes. This was wear my passion budded.

In 1986 I bought my first bike. Kind of a sportbike I guess. It was a 1985 Suzuki GS700ES. I rode the piss out of that bike until about 1990. Just loved the twisties and the power. Do to financial issue I sold the bike and ended up bike less for a few years.

In 1995 after years of hearing me whine, my wife told me "let's go buy you a bike." Knowing that a family was on the horizon I decided I needed to try and slow down and not ride the way I did on my GS. To try and remove the desire to cornine I decided to get a cruiser and purchased a Honda Magna.

This did nothing to my riding style. I spent the next seven years riding the Magna and scrapping peg in the twisties. Wishing I was on a sportbike instead of a cruiser. So in 2002 I went out a bought me a knew sportbike. My wife now rides the Magna.

So in a nutshell. I grew up around bikes, found I had a passion for riding and have passed that passion on to my family.
 
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