I suspect most on here have had a number of bikes to their names over the years. It seems to me that a TDM is not a bike new riders would automatically lean towards as it doesn't sit in typical groups as comfortably as others. As such it's a bike whose pros people will learn to appreciate once they have ridden a bit and learnt what makes a good bike on the road and not just paper.
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But that doesn't mean there are bikes of our past that we don't miss and still wish we had, circumstances permitting.
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So my question to you is which of your bikes (no more than 5) do you still wish were yours and why aren't they?
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For me:
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1. My TL1000S:
The only bike I ever bought new. It's power was stupendous and I was the fastest I'd ever been on it: it's power delivery and size all suited me very well. However, a year after buying it on 60% HP, the costs were just too great. I was doing above average miles on it, commuting, some light touring and Sundays out and the fully comp insurance for a guy in his early 20s was crippling, not to mention 3 year tyres in the first year and the obligatory main dealer servicing for warranty purposes. I sold it with a heavy heart but got a TDM 850 as a replacement. Lower power for sure, but not so much that I felt like I was on a moped.
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2. My R1150GS:
I bought that bike for a trip around South America with my now ex-wife, then girlfriend. We did the trip and despite my utter lack of off-road skills, and a laden weight of 450kg it performed. It met its end on the Hogarth roundabout on my commute home when a nice lady didn't understand that they centre lane of the A4 was not for peeling off towards Richmond. It and I were shunted into the barrier. It died, I survived. They called out the air ambulance from White Chapel, can you believe it? It must have looked bad but the bike took the and I was only badly winded and with a very twisted ankle.
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3. My CBR600FH:
My first "big bike" after a string of VFR400 NC24s. This bike was what I rode to get me to my industrial placement year in Dijon, Burgundy. It was an FH, from '90. The last of the jelly-moulds. I got it for 2400, if I recall. I wanted the next gen one, ideally but used prices said no. I did some crazy stuff on that bike. I rode it all year, riding back to London for Christmas. In order to get an extra day of holiday this genius decided to ride home overnight. 2/3rds of the way back to Calais and I was hypothermic and exhausted and full of coffees. It took me ages to get back with all the stops and spend the "extra day" I'd earned in bad having fitful caffeine dreams. On another occasion, again not thinking at my most mature I utterly nailed it back down from London, making the journey in under 6 hours, including the tunnel. Not clever. It also met is end with me astride it, but not for any tomfoolery. On my last weekend a guy pulled out in front of me on an open country road. I was doing 50mph and I'd been visible to him for about 500m. He just hadn't registered me. I hit his car, totalling it and avoid decapitation by about 25 cm. I miraculously only had non live threatening injuries but all the same life-changing.
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4. My Dominator 650 SM:
Just because it was my first super moto that I had built. I got a set of Hagon wheels made up for it and I knew then that I had been right: Super Motos were for me. I've had three now: that Dommie, an XR400R and my Transalp (although being a twin, it's not a bonafide one). That bike was mad as... so much fun in town, being my commute bike. I sold it, thinking I'd try something else (used to sell a bike once a year and move on back then) but often found myself wishing I hadn't. It wouldn't have been a lifer, but I think I'd have enjoyed it another year or two.
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5. My CB-1 NC27:
an impulse buy when looking for a commuter bike. This little naked grey import had a 400cc Babyblade gear-driven engine that whirred and whined. I put a secondhand Fireblade rear shock and chopped two coils of the soft end of the progressive forks and fitted a Givi front headlight cowling. It was nimble, quick enough and never let me down. I sold it when I decide to move here. as with the Dommie, I think I'd have enjoyed it had I kept.
All the other bikes certainly had positives. None I truly hated but done were more me than others. But those are the 5 top missed bikes.
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So, what about you? No need to be as detailed as mine, although it is a Sunday and I would like to know why those bikes you miss are no longer with you.
Fantic Cabalero - 50cc field bike - first crash :-)
Maico 400 - field bike. Utter madness. More crashes.
FS1e - first road "bike"
RD250b - First proper bike at 17
GT250a
KH500 - Loved it, but it didn't love me. Big crash. Still yearn for another two stroke triple.
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Gap in riding for a while
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BSA 350 - ex army ww2 bike
Triumph 3ta
Triumph 5ta (x2)
AJS 500 with Westonian sidecar
RD125lc (taken in as repairable trade in) Had the full power valve/derestriction kit. Surprisingly quick and agile after a series of heavy old Brit bikes
900 Diversion
TDM900 - Bought in 2005 at 6 months old with 500 miles on the clock as impulse buy while taking a workmate to the shop to look at bikes having just passed his CBT. Came in that day in px. I was actually going to buy a new one exactly the same colour etc, so saved me over £2k.Â
Guzzi V11 - bought in 2010. I have pretty much the perfect garage for me and haven't really thought too much about changing bikes since.
suzuki gt185 ...two stroke âroadsterâ....bought when they introduced parking meters in central London, and bringing the car in became unrealistic
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suzuki gt 550...two stroke triple.... took me on the big adventure....London to Athens... in pursuit of a beautiful girl
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BMW R100R...bought in Raleigh Durham, to ride from South Carolina to San Louis Obispo, California with two pals, sold on Christmas Eve for $25 more than I paid
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suzuki GS750...bought new to be my elegant pride & joy, and to tinker with...still got it... 5k miles....never goes anywhere now
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TDM 850 4TX....the lasting love.....if only my little legs were a bit longer.......
Quote:Did you get the girl? Don't leave us hanging!!
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.....sadly not.....by the time I got there sheâd shacked up with some geezer.....and, I believe, hied off back to South Africa....where she came from...
Another ex-army bike. Ariel 350 single Military special. My first bike. Sold to a friend. I made enquiries about it not long ago but that was about 60 years too late.
CB125J Bought as a non runner. Used my neighbours cellar to repair it. Right faff getting it back upstairs. Used in all weathers without the proper winter gear. Ended up planting it into the side of a dustbin wagon with non functioning indicators.
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RD125DX Had alloy wheels too ! Lovely bike and FAF compared to the CB. Paid £100 for it as it was only running on one cyl. New battery and all good. Took me to Skeggy on a rainy bank holiday and got me back home no fuss. Thirsty for a 125 though.
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RD125LC Bought from a good friend who'd passed his test. Great fun bike, first one to be stolen and ragged around the local fields afore I got it back totalled.
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Long break from biking until I bought
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XL250R Bought it to do a bit of greenlaning which I did. Second bike to be nicked, this time I knew who'd nicked it but couldn't prove it. Never saw it again.
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XT500 Tatty looking bike but ran great. Was going to use it for taking my bike test on. Decided it was a bit too high for comfort. Sold it on.
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KLE500. Great little engine, revs up to 11,500rpm. Used it to do some bike lessons before taking my test on it.
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TDM850 mk1 in Green. Spent a small fortune changing it to silver and doing lots of other stuff to it. Love it. Got stolen and torched.
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TDM850 mk2a Silver. Bought with a knackered 3rd gear. Stripped down and repaired. Top end refurb. Painted wheels etc. Looked great. Sold it to Sidey and had a rest from bikes for a short while.
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TDM850mk1 Chris G's old bike. Bought from Alunl who'd rescued it from the back of Chris's garage and got it roadworthy and mot'd. Still own it.
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TDM900 Yellow. Bought from Big Dave. Bought it to use on a 2 week tour of Spain, France and Italy. Never let me down once. Sold it on shortly after the tour.
Quote:I suspect most on here have had a number of bikes to their names over the years. It seems to me that a TDM is not a bike new riders would automatically lean towards as it doesn't sit in typical groups as comfortably as others. As such it's a bike whose pros people will learn to appreciate once they have ridden a bit and learnt what makes a good bike on the road and not just paper.
Â
But that doesn't mean there are bikes of our past that we don't miss and still wish we had, circumstances permitting.
Â
So my question to you is which of your bikes (no more than 5) do you still wish were yours and why aren't they?
Hmm. Good question.
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<b>Ural 650, aka Trotskyâs Tractor.</b> I loved the fact that is was quirky and always in need of constant tinkering  I canât remember why I sold it, probably because it was a pile of crap!
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<b>Kawasaki z650 (C1 model).</b> Dependable and looked fantastic. Sold it because a mate gave me a GS750 after heâd had a stroke and the cash from the sale bought a bike for my wife.
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<b>XRV750 Africa Twin.</b> Loved the looks and the go almost any where ability. Sold it because of spinal problems.
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<b>Yamaha XT250.</b> Brilliant for green-laning and local knocking about. Swapped it for the XL600R which I still have (in bits at the moment).
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<b>R1100GS</b>. Easy to ride, easy to work on, comfortable, best of the oil cooled GSâs. Sold it to buy my 9er :good:Â
Iâm more then happy with what I have now though and have no plans to sell or change any of them.
I cam from the 1996 Divvy 600s route to TDM, which is still in the family doing service as first bike for nephew. Before that it was Honda 400/4, Yam XJ600 old type. Niner is the best Bike I have had,sticking with it. The Royal Enfield was given to me for a project by a friend. It's er very different...
Suzuki T20 Super Six my first real performance bike, and reliable after a series of crap British 250s.
The Quartermaster Triumph T100/5T Blown Dragster I knew every inch of this bike mainly because of rebuilding it after every race and wish it was still in my garage instead of Henry Coles!
TRX850Â My introduction to Yamaha parallel twins and a really easy bike to get along with, reasonable performance, relatively comfortable and looked great.Â
GSX1100F (Power Screen)Â 16" wheels, over-heavy and panned by the press, but actually a comfortable good handling missile.
CB500 Four 1973. Actually I still have it and just love riding it, polishing it, looking at it, licking it.Â
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Can I just mention my worst bike (by far)
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CZ175 Trail. Bought new and I still can't understand my thought processes in the run up to laying down real money for such a dog. Bit like my marriage.
 '73 Honda CB500 Four, Royal Enfield Interceptor 650 and Triumph Tiger Sport 660.
Quote:Suzuki T20 Super Six my first real performance bike, and reliable after a series of crap British 250s.
The Quartermaster Triumph T100/5T Blown Dragster I knew every inch of this bike mainly because of rebuilding it after every race and wish it was still in my garage instead of Henry Coles!
TRX850Â My introduction to Yamaha parallel twins and a really easy bike to get along with, reasonable performance, relatively comfortable and looked great.Â
GSX1100F (Power Screen)Â 16" wheels, over-heavy and panned by the press, but actually a comfortable good handling missile.
CB500 Four 1973. Actually I still have it and just love riding it, polishing it, looking at it, licking it.Â
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Can I just mention my worst bike (by far)
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CZ175 Trail. Bought new and I still can't understand my thought processes in the run up to laying down real money for such a dog. Bit like my marriage.
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Still got the TRX?
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I have to say, if one turned up locally, there's a real chance I'd jump on it!
I have to say, if one turned up locally, there's a real chance I'd jump on it!
Figuratively and literally!
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Sadly not. It was immaculate when I bought it, immaculate when I sold it and when I looked at its subsequent MOT history it was a sorry tale of neglect. Good luck trying to find a really good one now and I understand that they are now becoming collectible i.e priced beyond any reasonable logic, like Kawasaki triples or C15s
 '73 Honda CB500 Four, Royal Enfield Interceptor 650 and Triumph Tiger Sport 660.
XJ600f (pre diversion), (about 1992) enjoyed it a lot and jacked my job in to be courier for a couple of years with that, putting about 65,000 miles on it. Sold to raise deposit for house purchase.
A Yamaha XS250, dodgy electrics, sold 3 months after buying
Yam XJ600F (different colour). sold as an MOT failure (seized shock linkage)
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Kawasaki KZ550ltd. Had just sold the XJ when I started a new job, 18 miles away around the Edinburgh bypass, which took 1hr20 in a car each way in rush hour. Regretted selling the XJ a lot....but then 2 weeks after starting the job I went up to a chap's house in Fife to pick up an ebay purchase and as soon as I had said hello he half joked "you don't want to buy a bike too do you ? " He opened his garage and had 4 bikes for sale, all 'classic' including a classic Norton. He was moving to Spain and didn't want to take the bikes, so I offered 300 for the KZ550 with dodgy electrics and collected it the next day with my wife following me home, stopped three times in 30 miles due to electrics. Spent a weekend fixing it properly and then ran it as my only transport for 2 years, in all weathers, and once I fitted sticky rubber it started to be a lot fun. My commute dropped from 1hr 20 to 25 minutes, keeping legal, benefiting from being able to filter through the slow moving bypass traffic
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FJ1100, £450 with a full MOT. heavy but stable, strong,reliable and quick. Written off twice in two separate accidents caused by doctors. I later found research showing that doctors and surgeons cause more accidents than anyone else. In fact the top 10 occupations list for accident causality is dominated by healthcare professionals, which led me to believe that they're trying to make their own customers. I would set off in 1st, tap it into 2nd when rolling, and then could go into top gear at about 30mph....from there just opening the throttle produced a long torquey pull all the way up to top speed. Lazy riding
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TDM850 mk2, then a mk1, then mk2a, and now a 900 which I can't see me selling, despite it not being used much. It just works, and works pretty well. I have plans for some longer trips so that's why I'm keeping it, together with....
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KTM620 Duke supermoto. Just a hoot, designed for just one thing in mind. Doesn't have a high top speed but gets there quickly with a lot of fun. Love it's light weight and torquey single, which in this part of Scotland is ideal for a lot of the B and C roads. Again, can't see me selling it, or if I did I would have another supermoto. I wish I had got an SM at a younger age and learned what a well handling torquey bike is all about. Pals with bigger sportier and heavier bikes have to let me past on the narrow twisties, like I have to let them past on the straights. Can't recommend SM highly enough to anyone who can fund two bikes
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EDIT just found some photos on my laptop of xj600 diversions I did up either for friends or my daughter, after playing on them a bit myself
