Total Motorcycle Community Forums

What era of motorcycles do you like best and why?

Well for me, there is just something "magical" about a 1980's looking motorcycle... maybe it is because they are just on the verge of loosing their "chunkness", or the naked bike look originated from them...

There is something sexy about the new retro looking bikes too, like the Honda CB919 (Hornet 900), the Kawasaki ZRX1200R/ZRX1100R, Kawasaki ZX-7S, Ducati Monster and even the Suzuki GS500 and Bandit 600/1200.

To me, they just look like what motorcycles should look like I guess... It also could be subconscious things for me as well since I was a teenager in the 80's too...

Mike.

Great question Mike! I was tempted to go eighties or nineties but then I realized just how great bikes are today. There were great bikes from all eras, but bikes are better today than they have ever been before. We are livin contiuously in the golden age. You gotta love it

I always into the latest and greatest! I love the slick new styles with all the latest performance gear.

Although I'm quite new to riding I've had an interest in bikes for years, but for me bikes from 2000 and onwards get my vote as they're incredible in technology, manufacture and for the most part I like how the new breed are styled.

Something about 50's style british bikes that i really like. Sooner or later i'll get a Royal Enfield Bullet as a secondary bike. Still to much of a rattle trap to be a primary one though i'm afraid.

In the 80's the UJM began to morph in two directions, and it was cool to see cruiser-like bikes and sportbike-like bikes emerging from the same bike. Example kz750ltd...gpz750...both coming from the old kz/z1 family stock

Of course, the new ones outperform. Most riders have a long way to go before reaching the limits of a good eighties bike, though.

It's hard to beat those old commercials, too.

Cars of the eighties were awful. Motorcycles were incredibly good by comparison.

I can't say why specifically, but the '90's seem to tickle my fancy. Bikes were allowed to perform to their natural maximum [remember the original zx-11 and the original '99 Busa that did 194 stock?]
Retirement hadn't occurred to me then, and I could afford anything I wanted [almost bought a Bimota SB6, but didn't] and for some reason, everything about bikes just seemed exciting.

Mid 80's to the present, the evolution of the sportbike is interesting. You can watch it year to year as it progresses.