Still shopping for a motorcycle. What I really want is a standard bike from like the 1970s - around 350cc. I found this international motorcycle exchange that reconditions old motorcycles and sells them. Does anyone know anything about this place?
http://www.imxusa.com/
JillGat
Vintage Motorcycles, you say? Settle for nothing less than a Vincent Black Lightning.
Other than that, I have nothing to add…
Well Jill the site is OK at best. But the only bikes I saw were Honda, Kowasaki, Suzuki, Yamaha! No American bikes for you? Is that it? You want a vintage 70’s style cruiser…Do you want to check out a Vintage Harley? Indian?
What do you mean by standard 1970’s bike? What kind of bike? Harley, Honda, big, small, cruiser, dirt, on’off road??? Which?
As far as the site-> Good prices! But if you want vintage I wouldn’t go with this site…
Harley Davidson, actually, AMF Harley Davidson, as it was back then, made, in '73 and '74, a 350 CC street bike called a Sprint. Unless you’ve got a nice pick-up truck and a ramp, and enjoy spending time on the side of the road waiting to be picked up, avoid this bike at all costs. Biggest P.O.S. I’ve ever had.
hey jill!
i checked out the site you linked. the prices look pretty damn “optimistic” to me. many of these bikes listed are “niche” bikes and the rest are junk (in my opinion). i would stay away from early 70’s machines for your first ride. they will bring heartbreak and sorrow. the suspension, brakes and comfort features are not up to snuff. you can get yourself a nice late 80’s bike with modern hardware to learn with, for less then these machines listed. if for some reason you want to experiance the “golden age” of motorcycling (meaning lots of roadside repair time), then you can go out and get yourself some points-fired, drum-braked 26hp 460lb behemoth with 2" of suspension travel.
all the old-timers talk fondly of there 69 triumphs, the first CB 750’s (which absolutly revolutionized the sport), the wonder two-stroke giant killers, but they wouldn’t trade thier new GL’s for them. they are fun to ride once in a while, and make great conversation pieces but they pale in comparison to modern machinery. i got a garage full of these old klunkers, but i would rather ride something new. i bought the wife a modern bike to (re) learn on, and she can’t believe the difference between what she rode as a kid.
at least thats what i think…
This gives me a chance to ask for recommendations for someday when I might have the money.
I might like another motorcycle, but I’d like to get something a bit unusual. Harley has been done to death. I could do it, but I’d rather have something less associated with the Hell’s Angels, and look less like a bandwagon jumper. What’s something that would make people say, “Interesting choice”, but isn’t a total pain to keep in good repair?
For a true vintage American motorcycle, try an Indian http://www.indianmotorcycle.com
For a true vintage motorcycle, the Triumph really is a good choice.
A possible oldie but goodie might be a Suzuki GS 550.
The engines were bombproof, all the shafts had proper needle roller bearings rather than oil suspended in a soft metal.
Moto-Guzzi or Aprilla
The Vincent Black lightning is a great looking bike. I can’t see sitting on that saddle for long before getting sore, though. And it may be even a bit more vintage than I want to go.
Kawasaki makes an attractive knock off of the old Triumph Bonneview that’s worth taking a look at.
[[What do you mean by standard 1970’s bike? What kind of bike? Harley, Honda, big, small, cruiser, dirt, on’off road??? Which?]]Phlosphr
A cruiser, probably first popularized by Harley (and all the custom chop jobs going on), has longer forks than a standard bike. It looks cooler to a lot of people and is probably more stable on long freeway rides. A standard is a bike where the rider sits comfortably behind the tank and not too far from the front wheel. It’s going to be a more nimble bike, but maybe a bit squirrely for some. I don’t intend to do much freeway riding on mine… Just commute around town. I happen to think the old Honda350 would be a lot of fun. They look cool, too. My husband works on bikes, so that would have to be his job. I admit to a leaning toward a new machine, too.
Not interested in an off-road bike because:
For my kind of riding - mostly commuting around town - I don’t think I need something long and stable. I want something peppy to get me around and that isn’t a fat dog when it’s stopped. Thought about a Buell Blast (almost, but not quite the crotch rocket look I don’t like). This bike was designed by a guy who worked for harley. He took part of the sportster engine to make his bikes. The Buell Blast is a single cylinder thumper, but apparently has lots of pep. I think it’s a 400cc I’m going to test drive one of those tomorrow.
My brother lives in Singapore where he got a black market Japanese Honda 400, nice standard style. He takes it all th way up to Kuala Lumpur, which is quite a jaunt. They don’t import half these models into the US where apparently everyone thinks they need a 1100cc bike that goes 800 mph.
Hello-
I just wondered if you have looked at any Czech Jawa’s? They are really neat bikes! Here is a link for a place in the States- there are plenty more on Google. Funky vintage bikes that are fairly reliable. http://www.jawa-cz.com/ When I read ‘Zen and the Art…’ this was the bike that I visualized, for some reason.
I would also chime in for a Vespa if you are just tooling around town. They have 200cc engines, which is a bit smaller than you were looking for, but they are SO cool. My brother had a candy-apple red and chrome one that would cruise at 70 mph on the highway. And there are plenty of vintage styles that turn everyone’head when you drive by.
Just a few thoughts…
Take care-
-Tcat
Not to mention you could by a good house for what one costs.
and its a little bigger than what you are talking about, it set the world motorcycle speed record in its day at 150 MPH
From Song of the Sausage Creature, by Hunter S. Thompson
The Black Lightning is the full race version.
I named my kid after the Vincent Blackshadow, I always wanted one, but unless I win the lottory(and I dont enter so thats not likely), I will never be able to afford one. Jay Leno has one, however.
True, glad that somebody picked up on my (hopefully) jesting statement.
A restored Black Shadow will run around $100,000 and a restored Black Lightning can be upwards of $300,000.
But I can dream…
Besides, if JillGat actually bought one, I’d suddenly become her best friend and maybe get to ride it (or at least sit on it.)
And, I didn’t suggest the Vincent Black Widow 
^
|
sort of a Vincent joke, in that many people talk about the Black Widow motorcycle, but nobody has actually seen one and there are no records that any were ever made.
True vintage american motorcycle my ass. They took a bunch of off the shelf nockoff harly parts, and built a clone bike just like the hundred other clone bike companies did. Its an embarassment to the indian name, and its Aussie owned(not that I have anything against Aussies, but you did say American). You can build pretty much the same bike from a mail order catalog.
Whats really sad was that there was a company trying to build a new Indian(there was a major court battle over the name, a couple of people were thought to have rights to it), with a totally original motor design, not just a harley rip off. They got killed by the legal fees, so they lost and these folk who just wanted to make a fast buck off of the name won. I saw one of these new “indians” up close, and its just an S&S harley motor. What a sick joke.
Spritle,
check this one out, if you havent heard it already
http://www.alphalink.com.au/~sfy/RT/Lyrics/RumourAndSigh.html#1VBL
[[I would also chime in for a Vespa if you are just tooling around town.]]
You know, I love how they look. The Italjet in salmon or seafoam green… mm. But they’re horribly dangerous (worse than a real motorcycle). The small wheel circumference (what do you suppose happens when you hit a New Mexico pot hole on one of those?), the weight distribution is all wrong, they don’t handle well.
Yeah, the smaller wheels are a concern. My bro ended up in the hospital, but it was due to his own stoopidity. He was goofing off and tried to kick an orange pylon, lost control and flipped. The other time he got rear-ended by a car, so, not his problem.
I’m sure if he was on a normal bike his stoopidity would have worked. I had to kick a dog away from me on my Yamaha 750- no problem.
Jawa’s are 350cc, and I saw a chopper version on one of the Googled sites- neat! A cousin of my bro-in-law in Prague has a cool one with a side-car - real nice looking.
Hope it all works-
-Tcat
BMW’s cruiser line - R1200C and R850C - are, IMHO, great lookers and supposedly top-notch build quality.
Otherwise, as has been said above, go Italian. Or, if you really want to go outside the boundaries, the French Voxan is gaining a reputation.
Personally, of course, I’d love a pre-war Danish-built Nimbus, but those are hard to come by…
S. Norman