A motard (supermotard, supermoto) is a style of bike that takes a dirt bike and replaces the large wheels and knobby tires with sport bike wheels and tires. You get the advantages of an off-road machine; verylight weight, long travel suspension, torquey motor, and add to that the massive grip from slick or near slick sport rubber.
They’re a riot to ride. Exceptionally quick but not fast relatively speaking. Extremely nimble
My KTM I posed above is an example.
I got bit by the Ducati bug last spring. 2016 Hypermotard 939SP. I was saving up to buy either a 950 Hyper or maaaybe a V2 Streetfighter when this beauty practically got dropped in my lap for about half of what a new one would cost. I was powerless to resist, I swear! Most fun I’ve had on 2 wheels since I started riding.
Super nice. I had a '14 821 Hyper and it was a blast.
Wow. To each his own, but to me that looks ridiculous. A weird bastard love-child of a Harley and a Vespa built in a junkyard!
See post #20. 
OK, it’s totally not my fault I bought an R1. In 2003 I went into the Yamaha dealership to get new tires for the Seca II. I’m not the one who put a brand-new, red 2002 YZF-R1 in the showroom! The dealership did it! Anyway…
Nobody discounts motorcycles. Or at least they didn’t back then. Everybody sold the bikes for MSRP. Ask what they’d actually sell them for and they’ll say (and this was said to me), as they point to the sticker, ‘That’s what it costs.’ Except for L.A. Yamaha Aprilia (as it was then called). They sold their bikes below MSRP. 
Now, a new YZF R1 was $12,995 MSRP if I recall correctly. They were selling it for at least a thousand dollars less (maybe more). But since the motorcycle I bought was the previous year-model, they discounted it even more. Got it for $8,995 out the door. 
I got laid off a few months later, but I managed the payments.
FWIW, MSRP on a 2024 YZF R1 is $17.999. Kelley Blue Book says a 2002 should sell for $4,895. No wonder that one guy keeps coming over every year ready to give me $1,000 right now for mine.
I came out of Kroger a couple of weeks ago to see a CX500 parked outside. I know they’ve got a cult following, but I haven’t seen one in about a decade. I’ve always wanted to compare/contrast one with my Guzzi.
God help me. No, really, God; Let me win enough in a lottery soon so that I can take care of a few things.
I found a '79 CX500 Custom for under three kilobucks, and it’s within the state. It would be a hard sell to the Missus, as I already have two bikes (undergoing, or planned to be, under repair) and no place to put a third bike. But I think it would be a good one for her to ‘learn on’, in addition to being one I’d ride.
Maybe I should start a GoFundMe? (
Just kidding.)
Is she actually amenable to learning to ride? Did she ever before? That sounds like a big ask for somebody her age; bravo for both of you if she’s game.
All these pix of bikes and lovely CA twisties are bringing back lots of nostalgia. And some twinges of “I want …”.
Sadly around here there’s nowhere within 500 miles that’s interesting to ride, and the entire area between here and there is filled with cocaine-fueled wackjobs, Florida Man and his jacked pickups, and their dangerously blind & senile grandmothers. Not gonna do it.
My last ride was a new ~1980 Kawasaki GPz550, the immediate forerunner to the Ninja series. I’m small and it was about the biggest thing I could reliably pick up if I set it down. Lotta fun & plenty quick / fast. Sold it in about 1990 and haven’t ridden since. Sigh.
The closest thing to a motorcycle I’ll probably get is an e-bicycle. That suits our local topography and scenic beachfront riding areas a lot better. Not sure what level of ATGATT I’ll settle on beyond a bicycle helmet. Road rash sucks, but so does heavy gear on a low-speed ride around town.
Check around. I’m an ATGATT person, but I believe in tailoring it to the ride, rather than assuming anyone not wearing Aerostitch is suicidal. I’ve got a variety of pants, flannel shirts, sneakers, light textile jackets and hoodies that can pass for normal clothing and offer “good enough” protection for 35-mph riding around town since I often commuted in Chicago traffic. Certainly better than what most e-bike and scooter people wear - I don’t get why people think physics don’t apply for scooters.
I have a 2005 Super Glide and a 2013 Road King. I also own a 1995 Sportster Custom but my brother rides that and keeps it at his house. I have not ridden that bike in 20+ years.
My favorite bike of all time was a 1988 Honda Hawk 650GT. I loved that thing. It was the only bike I ever took a dive on. Broke my foot and racked up damage to the cycle.
I always regretted not buying a Suzuki VX800 and a Kawasaki Concours (first edition) when they were out new.
I love me some vintage bikes, I sure do. But even more so than with automobiles, bike technology has really advanced since the good old days. Dunno if I’d want to put a new rider on a bike without ABS and modern braking power.
My last two bikes have had all the bells and whistles, cornering ABS, traction control, wheelie control. The first time I got a little too greedy in a dirty corner with the throttle on my Multistrada, I felt the back start to step out and then felt the bike gently correct my hamfistedness. Wouldn’t go without anymore, on pavement at least.
She’s ridden before, but it’s been decades. She’s not as into it as I am. (I started riding actual motorcycles with gears when I was 10.) Still, she has freinds/relatives/former coworkers who ride, and she’ll point out the bikes and mention something like ‘I think I could ride that.’ I don’t think learning to ride is an issue. It’s the motivation to ride. I think she’d do it, but I think more often it would be ‘That’s OK. You go ahead.’
(From the motorcycle commercials thread)
When I was riding in L.A., I thought of many drivers I saw as ‘Left Seat Zombies’ or ‘Left Seat Passengers’. They were sitting behind the steering wheel, but they looked like they were just along for the ride. Their blank expressions and total lack of looking around were amazing… and disturbing. I used to play ‘Spot the Murderer’, where I tried to guess which clueless driver was going to try to kill me.
Is it in the US ?
i used to ride one of these …
…but that was 40 years ago, so i’ll leave now !
Yes, it is.
Rats ! I won’t know it then !
Is that Laguna Seca? I’ve never actually been there, but it looks kinda familiar.
I did that for a few years. I’m surprised I’m still alive.
You got it! That’s the motorcyclist-only camping area up above the Corkscrew. That was 2018 or 2019, my last chance to camp there before COVID hit.
