What other bikes do forum members own?

Hello all,

I recently bought a 2008 Yamaha FZ6 Fazer, but don't worry, I am keeping the CB! Yamaha is now the daily hack with mini touring potential. The CB is being excused the daily hack duties and will now live the good life. Summer miles and winter garage.

Just wondering what other bikes are lurking in the background on here and what the reasons are for people having them.

BSA Sunbeam 250 scooter!

I own a Honda VFR800Fi, which is now my sole bike after a rather major accident on the CB    But I love the look of the VFR (in yellow of course, the fastest colour) and the whine of the gear driven cams. It is a superb all rounder and the torque goes on and on, had it at a 140mph (on private land of course) and it was still pulling like a train when I tapped off the throttle. It needs a few items for the MOT (have you seen the cost of new (non-chinese) brake disc's ) and then it should be good for the MOT again.

skyerae wrote:It needs a few items for the MOT (have you seen the cost of new (non-chinese) brake disc's ) and then it should be good for the MOT again.

If you need cheap(ish) discs then Tsuboss are made in the EU (Greece) and are TUV certified. That may make them better than the chinese crap (or not). Maybe other bikes have the same discs and you could pick up a decent used pair?

Have cbr 900 rrt fireblade. Used in summer.  And cb500v... And cb 500sy that my main transport since sold the van... A vfr be nice...

I own  another four bikes alongside the CB.  The list at the bottom tells of the eclectic mix.  I don't drive a car, so bikes are my main transport.  The CB is my daily rider covering 250 miles each week during term time (I work in a secondary school). 

My 'modern' steed is the CBF600S.  This used to be my daily ride but only covers about 1,000 sunny miles a year now. 

The other bikes are throw backs to my youth.  The Gpz305 has been returned to showroom condition and is one of the three 'nostalgia' bikes I own.  I bought my original 305 on the day I passed 'part two' of my test in '87. A bit of a 'marmite' bike I guess, but I love it.  This only ever sees dry sunny roads too. 

I also have a GPX 750 which is mechanically sound, but cosmetically challenged - a longer term restoration project. I originally had a second hand early one in 1993, but some light fingered git pinched it after six months!  

I've recently bought an early ZZ-R 600 to eventually have restored too.  It was very cheap and my mid life crisis told me I must have it!  I had to sell my original one, which I bought new in 1990, as I got married a year or so later and couldn't afford to keep it with a mortgage to pay. 

Not sure where the money will come from to have either of the kwaks bought back to rude health like the 305, but it's just nice to open the garage door each day and see them parked up in there.

Suzuki Bandit 400
Kawasaki GPZ 500
Honda CB500v
Kawasaki ER6f (650)
Honda VFR750
Honda Hornet 900

skyerae wrote:It needs a few items for the MOT (have you seen the cost of new (non-chinese) brake disc's ) and then it should be good for the MOT again.

Hopefully this may help you in finding some cheaper discs. Have you thought about getting some used disc's, just be sure to free up the bobbins when you get them and you'll be good.

Beresford wrote:

Jameshambleton wrote:Suzuki Bandit 400
Kawasaki GPZ 500
Honda CB500v
Kawasaki ER6f (650)
Honda VFR750
Honda Hornet 900

Have you ridden the GPZ much James ? On paper it is very close to the CB500 and I'd be curious to hear what you think of it - particularly if it is a twin front disc bike.

I like the fact that the wheels look so much easier to clean, don't you know.

Needs a complete electrical overhaul, new coil and a complete clutch (plates and disc's) never ridden it

I have 4 bikes, all Hondas.

1988 cb125 twin, runs but currently wont tick-over.

1997 cb250 TWOFIFTY running though it needs new exhausts but these are bloody expensive.

1994 cb500r now running though I have not yet took it on the road to listen if the rattle has gone.
 
2008 cbf600sa8 (abs version) currently my everyday bike until I'm sure the 500 is fit

I have a 1995 Cagiva 750 Elefant as a restoration project. Has not been ridden for at least 13 years.

2 questions for you all then;

1. What's the CB for in your collection? Everyday hack to protect something more expensive or fun bike while something more practical does all the hard work?

2. What do you all do for insurance? I got a rather rude awakening when I went to insure both bikes. 

Are you insuring them separately, multibike policy or just insuring some of them as and when you want to ride them

CB is my daily hack bike.  I love it though (although  at 64,000miles cosmetically the frame, forks, wheels and engine cases are starting to look a bit tired now).  I have all five of my bikes insured on a multi-bike policy with Bikesure.  £350 a year fully comp - but I am nearly half a century old now and have quite a bit of NCB too. 

I have an Aprilia Mana 850 GT which you don't see too often as it's a CVT and no longer imported.The red 500S is in very good nick and the other 500 naked is in bits.Both only used on sunny days except for the Addenbrookes Santa run in December.

I've got a 1974 Ducati 860GT which I bought from my ex neighbour.  Good fun - rather different from the CB - heavier, older and louder!

Not my bikes, but: My wife has a CB500 (yes we both have one!), an '08 street triple and an old SR125. She is trying to have less bikes but failing...

Insurance is a ball ache whatever your situation.  You'd have thought that you could get multi-bike and multi-rider insurance but you can't really (it *does* exist but it you have to nominate one rider as a main rider which wasn't really appropriate for our situation last time I looked).

I've previously found that it can make some difference playing with the 'miles' number - especially if you have a more expensive second bike that you don't ride much.  No point in overestimating how much you use it.

Why would she want less bikes? You can never have enough bikes.

Between the two of us we have 2 Aprilia Falcos (mine), a 1250 bandit (hers), a Triumph Bobber Black (joint) and her CB500.

She has the bandit and bobber on the same policy (no commuting) and the CB on a separate one (with commuting). The CB wasn't expensive to insure even with 0 NCB.

One Falco is more modified than the other. I want to strip them both down and make one from all the best bits and the other back to standard.

kungfupoodle wrote:Why would she want less bikes? You can never have enough bikes.

I mainly agree, however there is only so much you want to ride a Yamaha SR125 if you also have (say) a CB500 to ride.

In my experience it is nice to have a choice of bikes to ride on a nice day, assuming there is a fair chance that they will both work.  If you have left one in the shed for too long and it doesn't work, for example,  it is not as fun.

To add to that, if you haven't got a big garage, you have to choose (eventually) which ones are going to rot fast outside and which ones will rot slower in the garage, which isn't a nice choice really.  This is part of the reason my CB500 isn't worth doing up - it lives outside, so eventually it will all rust/look bad/etc (despite the cover).

Anyway, we also have multiple insurances; it *should* be cheaper to have one (which accurately captures real risk - two of you can only ride two bikes at once and not the same one!) but I suspect that motorcycle insurance is such a small market that the kind of 'innovations' that have happened in car insurance don't really make sense for bikes (or at least only address a *really* small number of people).

I had the same issue, the CB was living outside without a cover in the rain, snow and ice we experience in a special way in Scotland  It looked like a rat bike but was sound underneath the sad exterior. I now only have the VFR in a frozen solid metal shed - the condensation inside the roof has frozen solid as well and I had to use warm water to coax the frozen solid padlock open. Carole Nash is now trying to charge an extra £30 on my insurance despite it dropping from a multi-bike policy to one bike. Shyster is the word that comes to mind- I can get very much the same policy (minus a frill or two) for less than half the price. Guess which policy I will opt for?

skyerae wrote: Carole Nash is now trying to charge an extra £30 on my insurance despite it dropping from a multi-bike policy to one bike. Shyster is the word that comes to mind- I can get very much the same policy (minus a frill or two) for less than half the price. Guess which policy I will opt for?

The only thing insurance companies understand is you taking your business somewhere else and even then they don't really get it IME.

The complicated part is that insurance companies certainly vary in their response if you need to claim (or even if you don't, but are just involved in an accident) but this doesn't seem to have any bearing on the prices they charge.  It's also rather opaque as exactly who you are insured with - a lot of companies are just agents or brokers - there are actually not too many!

Cb 500s (26k)cb500v(57k) are my commuting bikes to work... Fireblade used not too regularly..

Suzuki gsr750 motogp

The cb is a rescue/custom/project and is getting there slowly.

wrighty wrote:

The cb is a rescue/custom/project and is getting there slowly.

That's looking great now, much better than when I saw her last... jeeze just realised that will have been over a year ago now.

As you will find out James, the older you get the faster time goes. (For me it bloody flies by). Recieved tank logos today, just waiting on pinstriping and i can finish the paint job. Then its mostly headlight, brackets, indicators and tidy up the wiring. Mot and a dyno set up (probably biggest expense of the job) and shes ready to go

I have a 1954 Triumph terrier.  (150cc and the fore runner to the 200cc tiger cub.) I restored it at vast expense a couple of years ago and is great way to enjoy the old world biking - will never part with it and my granddaughter Lauren has already claimed it when I am no longer here.

A cautionary tale and warning on bike insurance. 

Lauren recently had her new (5 months old) Honda cbf125 nicked in Leeds. It was trashed by the scroats and she claimed on the theft and was paid out.  However, she was insured through a broker called First Choice insurance brokers with a company called Marker Study Insurance Co . After the pay out from Marker Study which was no problem, Right Choice Brokers then wrote to Lauren saying that in line with the terms and conditions of the Marker Study policy and their dreaded small print. Her Insurance policy would be cancelled immediately  (still 7 months to run) with no refund - a loss of about £600. Absolutely disgraceful and she was then having to find a new company to take her on with a claim against her name even though it was no fault of her own. It made me wonder just how these 2 companies were tied together.

I am on a multi bike policy with Carol Nash and before my last renewal, contacted Bikesure for another quote. They came up with a quote from you know who above. I told them not on your life and told them why. Annoyingly, they knew that they had this clause in their Ts & cs along with another broker and yet were still trying to flog me this crap deal. 

The moral here is believe no one and ask the right questions because if you don't it might cost you.

Ride safe

Peter