renegade Posted August 14, 2004 Share Posted August 14, 2004 It's because we started our biking lives in the 60s, the start of the Japanese conquest. Bikes were our only transport (rich kids had cars)and I spent ALL my money on bikes. Every year there were seriously cool and innovative bikes coming out of Japan. Younger riders can never realise quite how excited we got when the first C72 Honda arrived, or the first RDs, 750 and 500 Fours, Z1s, not to mention the Suzuki and Kawasaki triples. They simply blew the Brit Bikes away. The current market is bland and tame in comparison. People like you and I are also survivors. The early Superbikes were really dangerous. For example: the 750 and 500 Kawa Triples were absolutely evil and staying on one without crashing was nigh on impossible. All the technology was in the engines. Just look at the tyres we used to ride around on - thin, hard. Compared to today the brakes were a joke and to get a peg down on those bikes was quite something. Even the worst bikes today can be flung on their ears without a second thought. Only in the last 15 years have the Japanese got the hang of frame design. The younger generation will never know just how much skill it took to hustle these wobbly beauties along. I don't remember any of that !! I'm too young at 27 + vat Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XT Alan Posted August 14, 2004 Share Posted August 14, 2004 If you boys are gonna start reminiscing perhaps you'd like to tell us some of your less than perfect moments and the lessons you learned? Too many I'm afraid. How about riding two abreast and overtaking cars on both sides? A favourite game when we were 16. What did I learn? At the time - nothing! 16 year old boys are, and always were, morons. I was a moron! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XT Alan Posted August 14, 2004 Share Posted August 14, 2004 :oops: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XT Alan Posted August 14, 2004 Share Posted August 14, 2004 71 for me Alan...I'm considerably younger than you! :roll: FWIW....I've always reckoned that the Kwak triples weren't as dangerous as folklore would have it. I had a 400 and a 500, and they didn't handle particularly well that's true....but they never felt dangerous. Now the Suzuki triples....they were extremely nasty. I had 2 x 380, 1 x 550, and 2 x 750. I hit the deck on one of the 380's and one of the 750's...both down to the evil handling. The 750 incident was a 110mph tank slapper. I started riding in 1962, when I was fourteen. We lived in the bush in Zimbabwe and the police allowed me to ride to school. The Kwaks were, in my experience, worse than the Suzukis. I had a Suzy 380 and it was pretty good, with its "lovely" bit of tin on the cylinders which they called RAM Air. The Kwak 500 was vicious when the power band kicked in on bends. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted August 14, 2004 Share Posted August 14, 2004 Too many I'm afraid. How about riding two abreast and overtaking cars on both sides? A favourite game when we were 16. What did I learn? At the time - nothing! 16 year old boys are, and always were, morons. I was a moron! I'm not a moron :? D is for lysdexia Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete Posted August 14, 2004 Share Posted August 14, 2004 If you boys are gonna start reminiscing perhaps you'd like to tell us some of your less than perfect moments and the lessons you learned? There is of course the legendary incident involving a Suzuki Hustler and a foreskin. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XT Alan Posted August 14, 2004 Share Posted August 14, 2004 I'm not a moron :? Don't be so modest :wink: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
liquidcooled Posted August 14, 2004 Share Posted August 14, 2004 Don't be so modest :wink: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted August 14, 2004 Share Posted August 14, 2004 Don't be so modest :wink: :wink: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete Posted August 14, 2004 Share Posted August 14, 2004 Keep digging Darren....cos payback's a bitch! 8) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted August 14, 2004 Share Posted August 14, 2004 Bring it on :wink: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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