Not in the last, oh, fifty years. And that was a day rental.
The Hondells - Little Honda (Shindig) - YouTube


But, seriously, life is good, but it's better on a Harley.

Harley Davidson and the Hitchin' Hottie - YouTube

I think I'll go riding tomorrow.

#1-Assume all drivers are trying to kill you

If you're going on a road with a speed limit above 25mph, you want a big bike. It's dangerous and terrifying to have an underpowered bike on any kind of highway.

I ride a 600 streetfighter on the highway, my 125 cruiser occasionally around town. Old pic:

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$60 OM617 Blank Exhaust Flanges
$110 OM606 Blank Exhaust Flanges
No merc at the moment

1(a)...Assume you are invisible.

S=B, you are spot on with the underpowered comment. If you need acceleration to avoid a problem and you don't have it, you may be in for a bad experience. Know your bike inside & out. Know what it can give you when you need it.

I got my first bike in 74, my first Harley in 94. I've taken the MSF ERC three times and each time came away a better rider.

To the curious minds out there, Jim Davis of Houston TX has a very interesting site about the physics of motorcycles. Watch these vids and learn. The more you know....
Motorcycle Safety Site

This!
Your head is only worth $20.00 to you?
Hope he is a verrrry good friend.

I would get another helmet. They are good for 5 years or first dropped whichever comes first.

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01 Ford Excursion Powerstroke
99 E300 Turbodiesel
91 Vette with 383 motor
05 Polaris Sportsman 800 EFI
06 Polaris Sportsman 500 EFI
03 SeaDoo GTX SC Red
03 SeaDoo GTX SC Yellow
04 Tailgator 21 ft Toy Hauler
11 Harley Davidson 883 SuperLow

Heck, you look at the prices for one of the 400 or 600 cc versions - which I'd need for my commute on 55 mph main roads - you're talking 6 to 9 grand new - you could buy a decent used MB diesel for that price, and have money left over for insurance and repairs.

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Just say "NO" to Ethanol - Drive Diesel

Mitchell Oates
Mooresville, NC
'87 300D 212K miles
'87 300D 151K miles - R.I.P. 12/08
'05 Jeep Liberty CRD 67K miles
Grumpy Old Diesel Owners Club

Or you can buy a used sub-650cc bike for under $2k, especially in winter. I paid $1900 for a pristine SV650 in spring of 2010. Look for carbed bikes on Northeastern Craigslist sites. People need to sell things quick to pay for flood/hurricane damage, and ignition controllers aren't terribly expensive to replace.

In the summer months there are way to many running around town without license plates. I only assume that these are the people with multiple DUI's that can no longer drive there POS rust buckets.

I bought my '07 Ninja 650 in mechanically sound (cosmetically not) condition for $1500 this past January. It had a little under 10,000 miles on it at the time. The year before I bought an '06 Ninja 250 in nearly perfect condition with 6700 miles for $2600. While it had nowhere near the power of the 650, it was still perfectly adequate to commute to Reno at 80 mph. I'd probably still be riding it if an old guy in a Tacoma hadn't run it over while it was parked.

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Whoever said there's nothing more expensive than a cheap Mercedes never had a cheap Jaguar.

83 300D Turbo with manual conversion, early W126 vented front rotors and H4 headlights 400,xxx miles
08 Suzuki GSX-R600 M4 Slip-on 22,xxx miles
88 Jaguar XJS V12 94,xxx miles. Work in progress.

Considering that the older Ninja 250s were about $3000 new, that's got to be the vehicle with the lowest depreciation ever. You see them all the time between about $1500 and $3000.

I've decided that I'm going to pick up an old japanese bike this winter and fix it up for the summer. My commute is only a couple miles but it'll be fun...

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TC
Current stable:
- 2004 Mazda RALLYWANKEL
- 2007 Saturn sky redline
- 2004 Explorer...under surgery.

Past: 135i, GTI, 300E, 300SD, 300SD, Stealth

That's what I paid for my truck in 2009 and I have written off $8k a year since.

So what's cheaper to drive? With the mileage write off and the market shift in used vehicles since 2009, my truck has pretty much been paying me to drive it.

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1999 SL500
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200

Yamaha 350

These are a blast to ride. I remember trashing these things when they were brand new way back when.

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Jim

2-smoker? Don't the engines last about 10k miles between rebuilds/crank seals and have a torque curve roughly the shape of a needle?

Yamaha 360

lol, first there is nothing then BOOM you are wide open reaching for another gear. You got to hang on when that jewel comes on the pipe. Have you ever ridden one sp? If you ever get the opportunity at least give it a try just for the experience. Not too sure how long they last but they are easy to repair.

My first motorcycle after a minibike was a Yamaha 90cc two cylinder two stroke street bike. I wish I still had that one. Not too long after that I had a Yamaha single cylinder 360cc two stroke moto cross bike. It was a chore just to crank it up (no electric start) but it was one bad ride on the race track. Around 2006 I purchased a Honda 450 single cylinder, four stroke motocross bike. That thing was scary fast. You could be cruising along at just about any speed and pick the front tire up just by twisting the throttle. I did not keep it very long because I enjoy living too much. Twisting that throttle was kinda addicting.

This is an example of the 360 I had back in the day. Bought it new around 71 or 72.

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Jim