I stand corrected. I know little of motorcycles, and there's only a few categories to me:

- Harley (or harleyesque) - that type of look, with engine parts sticking out and that general shape, attempting to look badass
- BMW / commuter - Slightly more covered, mild looking, may have panniers or other cargo-carrying apparatus, quiet
- Crotch rocket - Much more covered up with plastic body parts, high-pitched, aerodynamic, many with uncomfortable seating position

I fail at motorcycle identification. :)

"A man's got to know his limitations" -Harry Callahan :D

Even among Harleys there are several distinct styles.. Dresser, fatbob, mild chopper, radical chopper..

Back before they made crotch rockets we used to build them ourselves and called them "cafe racers"..

Any moron can go and charge a crotch rocket on their credit card, to successfully mod a standard bike for increased handling ability and speed is an entirely different thing.

I started with two strokes and still have a fondness for them, for something only slightly more complicated than a stone ax a two stroke can be remarkably sophisticated.. If you understand two strokes, four strokes are easy.

https://www.chuckbunnell.com/kart/jennings/jennings.html

I'm generally very good at knowing my limitations, and I'm not afraid to admit them. It's a really useful skill.

If I thought I could ride safely, I'd probably get a cheap crotch rocket for FE. However, I am aware of those limits; I could learn to ride defensively and I would usually do very well, but I'd slip up occasionally, in just the sort of way that's free of consequences in a car but dangerous on a bike.

A good piece of advice given to me by my dad was "A smart man knows what he knows, a very smart man knows what he doesn't know"

A mixture of different eras on that microbus...'70s with ***, Gas or Grass, then Bender?

FYI...the geeks had to work hard to get the girls then, too!

Went shopping for a new bike in '81...looked at CBXs (leftover '80s...not a big seller), wound up with a GoldWing. That wide engine on the CBX kinda scared me (saw one in a junkyard with a chunk out of it...had visions of falling over, not being hurt but the bike toast). But those six pipes coming out of the engine sure look cool!

Let's do the time warp again!!!

I did better when I quit trying to be someone I wasn't.. Once you have learned to fake sincerity, it's all much easier. :)

Yeah, those GoldWing motors are so damn narrow, it's not like you could lay it down and damage the engine.. :rolleyes:

A guy that lived right by us in 1980 had a CBX with a six into one pipe on it, no muffler at all.. You could hear that sucker shriek for a couple of miles easily when he jumped on the interstate and twisted its tail hard.

I would like to have been at the Isle of Man when Mike Hailwood was piloting the 250cc Honda six..

https://www.vintagebike.co.uk/Bike%20...250-6-1966.jpg

Here is what it sounded like with six individual megaphones:

https://www.vintagebike.co.uk/Sounds/...0Honda%206.mp3

And then there was the guy on the other side of the road who had a 750 Kwacker triple with chambers. A cackling handful that thing was, we used to call it "the flexible flyer" because it felt like it had an extra hinge somewhere under the saddle.. I think it got about 20 mpg.. :eek:

But...the GoldWing was heavier, and more expensive. Lots of incentive not to! Of course, I didn't let my roommate at the time ride it...he fell over so much that when he taught our other roommate to ride, the first thing he taught her was how to pick up the bike...to him, that was the most important thing to know (I don't think she ever had to put THAT skill to use!)

...when I posted my admittedly ignorant categorizing of motorcycles, I forgot the Gold Wing category.

Besides being heavier and more expensive, they seem like they'd be so comfortable and relaxing that you'd not try any spirited maneuvers anyway...