Ever bought a bike and immediately realised your mistake?

[B.Curvin]

I just bought a used 2009 KLR with 4,200 miles on it. I previously had a 2000 KLR I bought new and traded for a new SV650 after 6 months and 10,000 miles. I should have known better.

I think I'll be selling the 09 KLR soon.

Any takers?

[steelerider]

Just traded in my 2009 Triumph Sprint ST. I bought the bike with 896 miles on it. The P/o was too short for it, and took it back to the dealer after a few weeks. I picked it up and put 10,000 miles on it. Great bike, but.... I just couldn't stand the stupid "smiley face" headlights. Is that weird? I just could never get used to the way it looked from the front. It was like it had this retarded grin stuck to its face - which is a shame since from every other angle the bike looked awesome. My wife also sat so high on the back seat that she never rode with me. I had this strange love hate relationship with it. I'd come back from a ride thinking, Dang this bike is awesome and then the next morning look at it in the garage and think - ugh you are so ugly. It was comfy, powerful, smooth but I just never bonded 100 % with it.
I then bought a 2002 R1150RT That was a 1 owner bike with full service history so that I could have something for longer trips with more wind protection. It had 38k on the clock. It was pristine and I went over it again with a fine tooth comb, techlusion, overhaul starter, valves, TB syncs, etc etc. For some odd reason, I feel in love with it, maybe because I bonded with it all those hours in the garage - but something was missing. It shifted like a tractor and my better half asked me when I was going to ride my "old mans bike." Finally, a few weeks ago, she told me to "figure out what bike I want, and go buy it."

There's a brand new 2012 R1200RT in my garage. Traded everything in on it. What an awesome machine. I finally feel like I've found my bike.

[Texnmidwest]

I bought the first bike I ever owned back in March. Suzuki M50 2006 model. Loved it...until I started doing the GLMC USA rally! Found that my stamina on the thing was a little over a half hour before knees and legs got to hurting so bad it was not fun anymore. Highway pegs make it even worse. Bike handles well, fun to ride but the riding position and I don't get along very well. Stamina is getting better but can not wait until I can sell it and buy a bike with a different riding position and more comfortable on longer rides.

Until then, I am a cruisin'!

[scooteraug02]

As a master procrastinator and lookie loo. I have been pretty sure when I pull the trigger.

A friend of mine was buying bikes every couple of months. I got to ride a lot of different bikes and learned there a lot of weird bikes. I realized those magazine testers aren't so smart. If you ride 4 similar bikes it is easy to see this one has great power, this one brakes well, this one handles best, this one is quirkie etc. So know I know the bike that looks really cool my ride like crap. So test everything and ride as many different bikes as you can for experience and knowledge.

[The Kurgan]

Originally Posted by Slappy00

Every year I want to sell my 2004 K1200GT and every year it stays in the garage, hell at this point I am just going to buy another bike for around the city, because the GT has staying power, mostly since it is so damn smooth, relatively quick, and the brakes can stop a train.

Ok on topic.

2009 KLR... Great bike for commuting, easy to work on but : big, slow, and worst brakes ever. Sold it within a year, got the K1200GT.

I would love to retract my earlier statement regarding my K1200RS... not long after falling in love with it, it started leaking oil from the timing chain cover. The expensive dealer "fix" lasted three weeks. The rear shock gave up the ghost after 21,000 km. The brakes were pure punishment to bleed, and much of the rubber bits dry rotted. There were a few other deficiencies that cropped up. I don't want to bad mouth it too much as I could have lived with the brakes if that was the only issue.

It was drop dead gorgeous to look at and it had turbine smooth power. If there weren't too many technical turns, it was pretty stable. Got everything fixed and lost $7000 on the sale.

Ironically, I sold my 2008 KLR650 and my 2005 Triumph Tiger 955i to buy the KRS. The KLR was forgetable, but selling my Tiger was a huge mistake. If only I could turn back time.

[scrannel]

Originally Posted by The Kurgan

I would love to retract my earlier statement regarding my K1200RS... not long after falling in love with it, it started leaking oil from the timing chain cover. The expensive dealer "fix" lasted three weeks. The rear shock gave up the ghost after 21,000 km. The brakes were pure punishment to bleed, and much of the rubber bits dry rotted. There were a few other deficiencies that cropped up. I don't want to bad mouth it too much as I could have lived with the brakes if that was the only issue.

It was drop dead gorgeous to look at and it had turbine smooth power. If there weren't too many technical turns, it was pretty stable. Got everything fixed and lost $7000 on the sale.

Ironically, I sold my 2008 KLR650 and my 2005 Triumph Tiger 955i to buy the KRS. The KLR was forgetable, but selling my Tiger was a huge mistake. If only I could turn back time.

Was this bike subjected to high doses of radiation by any chance?

[AZbiker]

My Concours 1000.

I might like it if I stripped it naked, but that's not going to happen now that it's wearing a really expensive piece of billet steel where the shit-tier fairing mount on the steering head was. Oh well, this mount will never break. Now it's just a matter of time until the fairing stay itself breaks, hope that it doesn't happen on the trip I'm planning this summer.

Part of it is me. I just don't like big fairings. I liked the bike a lot more once I got rid of the Cee Bailey barn door and got a short little Gustaffson shield.

Don't knock it till you've tried it. I've tried it, and now I'm definitely knocking it.

I was tempted to make it into a naked bike but I didn't think I'd have time to complete it before I left on my trip on the 31st.

I also didn't want to spend the money on a headlight bucket, fork ears, front signals, relocating the TS flasher, and wiring some gauges in, either Koso, Acewell, or Vapor. And then there's my time which I don't have much of because I'm working a lot of hours at work.

[tlm]

....I don't want to talk about it :(

[corndog67]

I bought a Ducati S4. Within 10 minutes, it ate the fuel pump wiring and I pushed it home. The dealer (I bought it from a Ducati dealer), came and got it, and when I got it back, it ate the fuel pump wiring again. I started to get a bad feeling about this bike. I looked under the tank and it was rubbing the wiring on the rear cylinder head, that's why the wiring was cooking itself. I made a spacer and the dealer put it in with a new fuel pump and wiring. When I got it back again, it started cutting out real bad, within the first day, remember, I had not put more than 10 miles on it yet. I was just about the ask for my money back, but this time it was the sidestand safety switch cutting out. OK, one more chance. To this day, 4 + years later, it's been almost dead nuts reliable. It is the most fun bike to ride that I've ever owned. Real good power, it spins the back up coming off of turns. It will wheelie in third gear if you clutch it up, power it up in 1st and second. It handles great, Ohlins in the back, Race Tech reworked Showa's in the front. It is as fast on a tight road as anything I've ever owned, and I've owned a lot of bikes. I've owned faster bikes, but this one beats them all for fun.

I'm glad I kept it, the KTM 950 I just bought has a big job ahead if it is to top the S4.

[DAKEZ]

Originally Posted by kraftwerk

Ever bought a bike and immediately realised your mistake?

Nope. I've never owned a Kawasaki.

[AZbiker]

Originally Posted by DAKEZ

Nope. I've never owned a Kawasaki.

I owe you a beer for that.

[The Kurgan]

Originally Posted by scrannel

Was this bike subjected to high doses of radiation by any chance?

It spent most of its life in the garage, and up here in Ontario, we don't exactly have a great deal of "sun days".

[pennswoodsed]

Originally Posted by sark

Yamaha MX100. Abandoned it in a patking lot before I even made it home.

The cat's meow in 1972 or before ,after ? in good condition a trail bike ,left for freaking dead by Hodaka's ,hondas,suzukis,Steens and everything else on the planet.
Regards,Ed

[pennswoodsed]

Originally Posted by DAKEZ

Nope. I've never owned a Kawasaki.

Ah, what does it mean if you can't remember if you did or didn't ? Shit now I remember ,77 kz 400 in 1979/80 . What will it take to forget again ?

Regards,Ed
ps I really didn't remember this bike until starting this post

[pennswoodsed]

Originally Posted by RedRam

No offense or anything, and maybe it's just me, but it really looks like that seat could put a hurtin' on the family jewels

Put a post in the bottom of the rear portion and put that back on the boat !

Maybe it's just me,Ed