While I can appreciate the work that went into all the bikes. Johnie's is the only one I would enjoy riding farther than a few blocks. I just kinda feel that a bike should be able to have some serious saddle time rather than oggling time.
Now, if some of the race type bikes had trophies next to them, I might be more impressed and swayed.
I guess I'm too old to have a desire to punish myself during a ride.
Just sayin'...
Cheers,
Sorry, tt, but I would disagree. I put araound 16k miles on my Valkyrie the last two years, maybe 25 miles on my Beta Techno and probably a couple of hundred on my CRF200R. Does that mean only the Valkyrie is a worthy bike? COme to think of it, the Beta doesn't really even have a seat, so I guess it would automatically be out of the running for serious seat time validity. As for the CRF, well 200-300 miles of tight single track is far more taxing and chanllenging than rolling up the numbers on the valkyrie.
One reason I have such a variety of motorcycles is that I like them all. My GoldWing tourer, the Valkyrie cruiser, the old RWB INterceptor sportbike, THe CRF trail bike, the Beta trials bike, the Old Penton Six-Day enduro bike, the Elsinore MX'er, they each have their own personalities and their own purpose. Maybe some can't appreciate the variety and varied purposes a motorcycle can serve. Maybe some cannot appreciate that a single model of bike can be turned into many different things.
Maybe ecosse is right about categories. I've done stock OEM style restorations, I've done swaps (CRF450 chassis + XR200 motor = CRF200R), and I've modified bikes for a number of "looks. Each has its own merits and values. Personally, doing the stock to OEM restore , though chalenging, was the least rewarding to me. Once done, it was like any other return to stock, like "new" restoration. The bike had no personality, no individuality, there was no "soul" put into it. Now that's not saying a stock OEM restoration is easy. Not by a long shot, in fact it can be much more difficult than simply modifying a bike, but still, it does not give the bike any soul. It does not reflect the creativity and vision of of the owner, but instead reflects only the original design.
I guess that's why we see so many different styles in this forum. From the purists to the radical and anywhere in between. Bikes can mean a lot of different things to different people. Even the very same bike can mean something so dissimilar to two different people.
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