Motorcycle of The Decade

Ham

K 1600 GTL UNBELIEVABLE!!!!!

Here's my take on the '70s. I think the airhead BMWs were the road bike of the decade, especially the R90S. The Brits and Harley were having trouble with the new Japanese competition. BMW side-stepped the Japanese and continued with their old ways. Looks like it worked, short-term. Horrible chain life condemned the 70's Japanese bikes to secondary status. Then the Gold Wing took off, hey, that's another decade. Dual-sport bikes, enduros back then, were generally lousy. True dirt bikes, the Maico was the undisputed king. Yeah, the Elsinore heralded a new era of light weight and high output, but those chain-drive primary Maicos could get traction when there was none.

Piaggio MP3.

DR 650 ?
But which decade
It is the Popiel Pocket Fisherman of bikes. Timeless . . .
The David in a world of Goliaths.

90s: Hayabusa - because it ended the top speed war that had been battled for decades, 300 was enough.

Though, the 916 would have to be close because of its racetrack wins and styling that set a standard.

King of the Nineties ??..........Simple : Honda VFR.

KLR650 for the last three decades. What other bike was good enough to remain mostly unchanged and still sell well for over 20 years? What other bike has a doohicky??

60's - Honda 250 Scrambler CL77/CZ 250 MX (tie)
70's - Kaw Z1/Honda 125 Elsinore/Suzi RM125 (tie)
80's - Yam YZ125H/Duc 851 (tie)
90's - Suzi GSX-R750
00's - Yam YZF-R6/BMW R1200GS/KTM990A (tie)

Honda CT110 has been around a bit longer, sold a bucket load more , remained more unchanged and did a gazillion collective miles more than the KLR & DR combined and is cheaper.

Does any one aspire to ownership of one of these machines or is just a fitting example of the acceptance of mediocrity forced on you by the totalitarian Industrial / Military complex?

i would agree... Busa for the 90s.

1150gsa 99-05

I would say that everyone who owns one of these machines aspired to ownership before owning one.
As for mediocrity, mediocre riders are much more of an issue than mediocre bikes.

1986 GSXR put a factory race bike in the everyday man's garage.

bike of the 60's is the honda CB750. No other bike changed motocycling as much

Before that was the Honda Cub

Rod

GS1100 1980-83
GS1150 1984-86
GSX-R1100 1986-98

I bought the '84 1150ES new. If the GSX-R were available I'd have bought it. That 1150 was a hog.

I am going to come-at this question from a different angle. Instead of historical importance, I'll just say the bike that "pops into my head" whenever I think about the decades.

1940's Harley WLR

1950's Norton Manx

1960's Honda CB 350 early, 750 late

1970's Skinny-assed Harley Choppers with amazing psychedelic paint.

1980's Honda Hurricane

1990's Suzuki Gsxr/ Kawasaki Ninja

2000's BMW 1200 GS

2010's Cafe Racers (interestingly enough, bringing us full circle to the Norton Manx)

On Dirt:

1940's Harley WLR

1950's Triumph Scrambler

1960's Husqvarna/Maico

1970's Yamaha

1980's Honda

1990's Kawasaki

2000's KTM

2010's Interestingly ALL OF THE ABOVE (with the exception of the WLR)

If true how sad.
I always thought it was a price driven thing.
But knowing how tight KLR riders are with the purse strings you are probably correct

The biggest thing in motorcycling in the 2000-present period was the emergence of capable adventure bikes from almost all manufacturers. This is the most recent and fastest growing market segment in motorcycling.

Suzuki VStrom
Kawi Versys
Ducatti MultiStrada
Yamaha Tenere
and many more....