What bike(s) do you ride?

[groundhog719]

First pic from 1981. My '79 HD LowRider while on a 2 1/2 year, 80,000 mile tour or North America. Lots of mods done to that bike (no polished aluminum - all chrome, big bore & blueprinted engine, etc).

38 Years later in almost the same spot me and my 2010 Ducati Multistrada "S" Touring. At the North end of a trip through the Rockys from Mexico to Canada at the age of 71. And again the bike has lots of engine work.

Before the LowRider I had several BSAs (441, 650 Thunderbolt, 650 Lightening) and a few RM Suzuki. In between the HD and the Duc were a fleet of other bikes including (a few favorites) Honda V65 Magna, GSX Susuki, a Yamaha YZF426, KTM 690 and a KTM 990.

[MotoToph]

Here is mine. 2013 Ultra Limited. The last picture is me on "The Dragon" in 2007 on my 05 FLHTI. Sold that for my current bike with 110k miles.

[Tor4]

Here is mine. 2013 Ultra Limited. The last picture is me on "The Dragon" in 2007 on my 05 FLHTI. Sold that for my current bike with 110k miles.

Great! Nice photo on the bike, I would even tap like if there was one here.

[Stu]

Here is mine. 2013 Ultra Limited. The last picture is me on "The Dragon" in 2007 on my 05 FLHTI. Sold that for my current bike with 110k miles.

Great! Nice photo on the bike, I would even tap like if there was one here.

There is a like!

Top right corner of the posts

[Scarecrow]

Hi Guys & Gals
I have a Kawasaki Versys 1000 GT
My Second one to be precise I have an Arthritic elbow so had to swap over from a z1400
and I wasn't sure that I would like the change so riding style
How WRONG I was I absolutely love this bike and can give most other bikes in a similar engine size a run for there money
Stay Safe everyone

[Stu]

I looked at the Versys [mention]Scarecrow[/mention] and I really liked it

The trouble was the wife and her little legs struggled to get on the back

[Scarecrow]

I looked at the Versys @Scarecrow and I really liked it

The trouble was the wife and her little legs struggled to get on the back

[Les]

My R1150GS, bought new in April 2001, only done about 65,000 miles though, not used it much since buying a motorhome, intended to go down to Portugal (again) this year, hopefully next year may be better.

[KingRat]

Having taken up much space in the 'newbies' area and the XT area with help to use it from a completely analogue starting point, I don't even have a smartphone, so I won't get the full features of the XT, but I am fine with that i will get what I can get.

Quick background to explain the mileage I used to rack up - i was a photographer for a motorcycling publisher and would do between 50,000 and 80,000 miles a year going to do feature shoots or just touring trips to satisfy an itch. There was one 5 year period for that publisher (Myatt McFarlane Publishing for those Brits who might recognise it) when I got 7 days off, not 7 days a year, 7 days in the 5 years. I am not complaining, when you enjoy your work you don't actually go to work. I viewed as being paid to ride my bike and take pictures! I still work for a couple of titles, Back Street heroes (BSH) here in the UK and Cafe Racer in the USA, but back in the day I worked for titles right across the world and was fully FIM accredited across all disciplines. Things have changed, I am now an old git with a couple of old bikes!

I had a Ducati 900ss (bevel drive) that I clocked over 90,000 miles on and she was pretty reliable. That was my fun bike at the time. Alongside I had a Morini 350 that I put 184,000 miles on then sold her to a student and she is still going strong and well known in the Morini Riders Club. No major worries and still on the original clutch when I sold her. I sold the pair of them to get a BMW R100RS, which I had some years and put 334,000 miles on, again she was still on the original wheel bearings, clutch, suspension...everything except consumables. I never had a single breakdown with her, but got persuaded to fulfil a dream: I was going for some service parts from Bluebell BMW in Crewe when I saw the first incarnation of the R1150GS Adventure in the showroom, complete with the panoramic, gatefold brochure shot in the Atacama... I still have that brochure somewhere. Anyway, there was no chance on earth I could afford a new one, but visiting a dealer with the Editor of Streetfighters they had one came in part exchange... Dave Manning was the editor at the time and he saw it and said: that's what you need, not that heap of junk you ride around on (the RS)... it was November and we were there to get some shots of Californian imports of bog standard bikes that he had Streetfighter versions of.. so this is the standard bike.. and this is what 'Joe Blogs' has turned it into type features. The salesman's radar must have been on short range! he was over in a flash and offered me a really good deal on it, as it only arrived in PX that day. I ended up in hock for 5 years for that throw away comment by Dave!

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I had that bike 13 years and put 225,000 miles on her, without incident. As it happened, another, 1 owner 1150Adv came up with only 24,000 miles on it. I hummed and haard for a bit and decided I could afford it, use the old one for winter and the new one for summer, gently. Well, I was on my way back from a job in Shoreham (next to Brighton on the South Coast) and got taken out on the M40 by a bloke driving whilst using his mobile phone... with two punctured lungs, the right one in two places, 17 borken ribs, with many in several places, broken sternum, browkn shoulder, scapula in 6 places and right collar bone in 5 places... I was lucky, there was an ambulance with two paramedics about 100 yards astern and they were working on me before anyone had even phoned (the Policeman who attended told me). I survived.... I even rebuilt the bike, which would be the 'new' 1150Adv wouldn't it, it couldn't have been the old knacker! It took me 2 years to recuperate but the bike was put back on the road and I went to Orkney on her...

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But that trip proved to me that she was too big. I had to have help each time to get her off and back on the stand... so she was sold.

I kept hold of the 1988 R80GS that we bought in 1991, and we still have her.

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For everyday use I needed lightweight, so I got an X Country, a unicorn of a bike. 158kgs fuelled with 53hp.. lightweight and pokey, great fun! this little bike I have put over 50,000 miles on her and she is brilliant. I love it, who needs a big bike? Picture to follow because I have reached my limit!

[KingRat]

Post continued: X Country picture

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Recently we had a bit of a windfall and a chap in the area and on a bike forum I am a member of completely restored and rebuilt an R100CS, i saw the progress as he worked on her, documenting everything for the forum as he went along.... when she was finished he put her up for sale. I had one years ago, whilse I had that old RS. It was a much easier bike to live with because of the constraints of that big fairing in tight confines, otherwise they are the same bike. The RS is a mile muncher alright , I did a trip for one job for the day down to Lake Como. It was a classic motorboat rally for various magazines. I left here in the middle of England first thing Friday morning, caught the ferry across to Calais and rode down to Bellagio for that night. Saturday I was on the water all day, doing the rally and various owners and their boats fo rfeature stories in various magazines. That night there was a black tie dinner at Villa d'Este, I wasn't missing that opportunity! My dinner suit and posh shoes were in the right hand pannier! It was a fairly late affair, as Italian dinners often are. I was up for breakfast, loaded the bike, saw the boats away and was on the road for 10.00 Italian time. I was home here in my bed for 03.30 that same night, 3300 miles and a long days work in 3 days.
The R100CS that I have recently acquired:

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I hope my little story has given something back for the help I have already received. One of the bikes I have shot recently for BSH, an Indian Larry tribute:

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And a cover that just happens to be lurking in the same folder!

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