I love reading about everyone’s long biking careers on here and looking at your photos. To indulge an over - zealous new biker…
Which bike is or was your favourite of all those you have ever owned and why? It could be the one you met the love of your life on, had the most fun on, made your getaway on after that bank job that made you a multi millionaire or were just most drawn to for no real discernible reason. Pictures VERY welcome!!
For me it was my first Yamaha RD350LC that I owned in the mid eighties and wished I had kept. I now have a different and fully restored 1981 LC for pure indulgent nostalgia but it still provides lots of grins 
The one I look back on with the most affection was my 2002 Triumph 955i Daytona. It was my my second bike and a serious step up from the first. I found it thrilling and scary in equal measure - it was the one that made me really fall in love with biking.
Unfortunately I can’t find an actual picture, but it looked exactly like this -
I’ve only owned 3 bikes in my life. Would say my current Speedmaster, and only ‘big’ bike, is my favourite, it’s the best looker and the best goer 
Though I thought my second bike (a 400) was OK on those fronts.
Actually, going on mine and bike’s weight at the time (3 decades ago) it may have had similar performance 
(Just looked it up, and current bike is exactly twice the weight, and I’m 50% heavier.)
50 + bikes, 50+ years had some real crackers and now cult bikes, if I’d hung on to them all this year I’d be a millionaire 
but for me, for the pure essence of motorcycle, two wheels, an engine, and somewhere to sit it has to be this
I’ve liked a lot my BMW K100 RT, not because the bike was exciting by itself, but because of all nice trips, vacations we did with. Also because it never failed in 188 000 km with me.
Favourite bike, not necessarily being the best bike. On that basis I’ll go with the under-appreciated Suzuki VX800. I really liked it, and it was my first big bike. I don’t have a picture of mine but it looked like this.
The sachs version with the same engine is a peach.
Some great bikes and memories in there, thank you. @geoffb you’re looking every inch too cool for school there 
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@BrownMouse thanks for warning of the perils of increasing the weight of the bikes we ride…I’ll certainly factor in the possibility my kit will “shrink” if I ever get a bigger bike 
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Mine was a BMW G1000 Bumblebee bought new in 1990. I remember the test drive up a twisty, mostly deserted(especially by the local constable) stretch of road convenient to the dealership and being delighted with the handling and ergonomics. But what got
me laughing with joy was pulling over and realizing I could flick the bike easily back and forth at a stop with just 2 fingers. The CG was so low and the weight distribution ideal that I plopped down the money for it as soon as got back to the dealership. This was coming off my experience with a K100 that was about 50% guaranteed to go down on any unscheduled shoulder stop. Get it leaned over 5 degrees either side and it’s going down! You ain’t stopping it. Ridiculously high CG which BMW extended to the next generation of GS Bikes. Why take 75 years of careful evolution and toss it out the window for this “new”, “revolutionary” design which they made significantly heavier and with a higher center of gravity. I bought into the hype and bought a GS1000 when the new ones came out after foolishly selling the Bee which I regret to this minute.
My wife and I had taken that Bumblebee 2 up over wilderness area 25000’ mountain passes on rocky unkept trails. (And I want to say here that had that bike not been so competent, I would have never risked her life or mine on the roads we traversed) We would pass stuck Jeeps and offer to send back help which got us the stink eye and comments about Yuppie MF’s out where they shouldn’t be. Only “real” men in 4 wheel machines should be out here. Spit. The Bee didn’t have and apparently didn’t need the ground clearance of the later “advanced” 
version but we hardly ever grounded or bottomed out with the two of us on it and did things on it even we look back on in disbelief. Riding along on roads where if you went off you’d fall a few thousand feet before you hit anything to slow your plummet to death with complete confidence. Same roads covered with snow and ice. The “new” GS couldn’t even come close to the confidence the Bee inspired. While the Bee was made for every and anyone to ride anywhere the “new” ones are mostly road bikes to most of the riders who own them.(this is confirmed by survey)They are ridiculously heavy even before saddlebags and equipment are added, with high center of gravity and seat heights that make it a certainty your going to go down hard over roads and trails the Bee easily traveled. The new ones, if ridden off road, need a linebacker to to operate.
I have a new 22 red/silver Bonne that I love. But I still have a twitch(or two) of regret when I think of how much I loved that BMW G1000 Bumble Bee and the rides my wife and I took on that wonderful machine.
I dare anyone to take a passenger on any current BMW GS on off road trails(I’m not talking fire roads or gaveled jeep trails) with rocky single track sections and hairpin climbing and descending 5” deep mud thick turns full of horse piss and come out the other end smiling and laughing which we did time after time.
I’m 70 now and at home and happy with my beautiful Bonne, but that Bee was the best bike I ever owned. I only hope my new future memories will be as strong.
That was written with so much feeling that it allowed the reader to experience some of those same emotions. It sounds like you and your wife had some incredible adventures on the Bumblebee. I had to Google it to see what it looked like and it’s a lovely looker too!!
Have to agree about modern adventure bikes. Too tall, too heavy, too ugly! Comparable to the same trend with cars.
I went to look at one of those in Holmfirth a few years ago that a chap was selling. I just fancied some sort of V twin. The day I went, it wouldn’t start. He bought a new solenoid switch and got it running but the next time I went to look at it there was fuel pouring out of the carbs as it ticked over. I decided something was telling me that the bike just wasn’t for me so I left it alone.
You need a KTM Superduke 
Too quick !
My wife and I tried to take the “new” GS up one of our favorite trails from Silverton, Co. up through Engineers
Pass to Lake City. We realized pretty quickly the hype surrounding this bike did not match the actual experience. We got about a third of the way up and pulled over onto a grassy knoll where the bikes high CG had its 1st negative result. The bike was new and flawless, polished, waxed and shiny with a few 1000 miles on it. We’d taken it on a few trails, all graveled and graded but nothing like this wilderness one on which I’d already gotten that funny gut feeling that this bike was way different from our buddy the Bumblebee. The weight and CG were letting me know my legs weren’t long enough nor my arms bulging enough to compensate. As we stopped I sensed the bike was at an angle where both of those factors(all this in a mental split second) we’re about to precipitate an unstoppable tip over. We had a routine worked out that when this was imminent: I’d cry out “going over” and Mary would(she was practiced and skilled at this) jump off as the bike went down.
Now this bike with saddlebags, topcase, fuel: etc was well in excess of 650lbs. The two of us managed to get it righted and inspection showed no damage to anything that couldn’t be replaced or was only a little scuffed-except for a little pea sized dent in the gas tank on the R side to which it fell. 1st dent and like most of us would have, I felt like I’d been gut punched. It was nobody’s fault. Just that high CG, heavier weight with a high seat height, soft grass and already on my tip toes on a slightly off camber surface. Yep, “Goin down”! Well it had to get that 1st dent at sometime but
that had put a damper on the ride for both of us so we started back down into Silverton for a make us feel better beer.
Going down we hit a rather steep section of road that was rutted, the ruts filled with talcum powder consistency dust, about a 15 degree camber to the L and to top it off speckled with ball bearing like rocks between 3 and 6 inches. It was about 3 miles of this but seemed like 20 because as soon as we reached it down we went and heavily. Mary got off the bike and we removed the saddlebags to try and get past this absolutely diabolical section of road that was designed by nature to test the metal of any person or machine. I dropped that bike 5 more times trying to progress without having to walk it down at maybe 2MPH 30-40 miles from town in the late afternoon. The last fall launched me over the front fairing to go chest surfing on the aforementioned ruts and rocks. Mary’s eyes were wide as I, with anger, frustration and adrenaline wrenched this heavy bike up off the ground like it was a
mini bike. Man was I pumped! The tank now looked like a metal tiger had come after it with titanium teeth and nails. The weight of the bike helping to ensure maximum damage. The upper frame supporting the lights and instruments badly bent, L turn signal hanging by it’s wires. Cylinder-head very close by to loosing oil. Easily a good $3000-4000 worth of damage in a few miles(feet?)of road. Mary was getting a little tired of carrying the fully loaded saddle bags so we reattached them and, yes, I tip toed the bike for another 10 miles to get out of that nightmare portion and when we reached more reasonable ground we rode the rest of the way into town and parked at the nearest bar.
Why we didn’t have trouble going up the same road we came down is a study in the dynamic difference in climbing and descending terrain combined with road conditions and the weight and design decisions of present day adventure bikes. I know there are people out there that can ride them like trials bikes and good on them, but it is a strange disconnect between experiences on the same road on a “new, improved” ADV and the old ones that many, many more of us could ride without having to take a weekend course and spending the week lifting weights.
Anyway, we’re putting the bike on the stand and grabbing valuables to take into the bar when a young man(jeez, I was young then too) walked over, examined the bike to say “Wow, what a great bike!” He was clearly puzzled at the blank, expressionless look we gave him and no response as we walked into the bar. We sat down in the back to be alone with our sorrow and drank our beer which about halfway through on an empty stomach and a harrowing experience we started giggling which preceded into full throated laughter at our concern over the little pea sized dent compared to the road attack that left our new BMW’s L side looking sorry indeed. We laughed until we had tears in our eyes and people were staring. Which is why I end with a comment on how lucky, lucky, lucky I am to be married to a woman with whom I can laugh at some of life’s really crazy moments and put them into the perspective they really belong in. We’ve been together for 40
Yrs.
Never had a problem with mine but that one in Holmfirth sounds like a dud. Haven’t seen one on the road in many a year.
