So who's had a Honda?

[Hank]

I think this forum needs a post!   Also, I'm sitting in a hotel room with nothing to do.

I started out riding in 1982 on Honda 110 ATC.

My first "nice" streetbike was a '85 700 Sabre.  This would be in 1988 or so.   Put about 20K on it, rode it to the west coast once.  4400 miles in 9 days with 2 buddies.  Slept on the ocean beach and picnic tables along the way.   Was a blast.   

Then I bought an '85 700 Nighthawk S.. in a box.  Motor was blown up (spun crank bearing - common for those bikes) and dismantled down to the gear sets.   It was completely, I mean completely taken apart and thrown in a pile.   It had also been wrecked.   I bought a service manual, got the crank rebuilt, and my cousin and I rebuilt it.  Put a couple K miles on it, but never trusted it    so traded it and the Sabre in on a wrecked 1987 VFR700.   This was probably in 1990?  (Still in college and broke, hence the all the wrecked bikes).   

Fixed the VFR up and rode the crap out of it.   35K miles, trips all over including another to the west coast.   Summer of 1991 I wrecked it hard.. got turned into hamburger (see other post somewhere around here).    Totalled it.   But still in college and broke so I fixed it up again.   

Summer of '93, finally out of college and have 2 nickels to rub together, so I traded the '87 in on a BRAND NEW '94 VFR 750.  Great bike.  Up to the KTM (That's not a Honda so I'm not allowed to talk about it here.) it was by far the best bike I've owned.

Got married 2 years later.. riding slows WAY down.  Sell the VFR (mistake!).   Couple years later get the itch and get a new (carryover) VTR996.  Fun bike, motor like the KTM, but not nearly as good all around as the '94.   A year later start a business and have first kid.   Riding amount goes WAY down.. again.. (now its pretty much zero)... sell it and am pretty much bikeless until the KLR (That's not a Honda so I'm not allowed to talk about it here.), other than a brief stint with an 85 900 ninja (TOP GUN BABY).   That's also not a Honda so I'm not allowed to talk about it here.

My wife and I also bought a pair of XR250L's right before we got married.  She learned to ride on hers.   We moved to Wisconsin and lived right next to the Chequamagon national forest, which had some really fun trails.    She dropped it a couple times in the mud and that was the end of her riding interest.

So.  That is my history with Honda.  I'm sure no one gives a sh!t, but like I said I don't have a lot to do sitting in a hotel in TN.

Lets hear about your Hondas.   Civics and Accords (had one) don't count.   

[The Yeti]

'89 Honda Shadow (way to small for me)
'02 GL1800 (Wife loved the back seat, like a damn recliner!)
'03 Element (just bought about 2 months ago)

[loingrader]

honda's rule.  all things being equal, i would rather have a honda than any other cycle.  never mind their cars that get awesome mileage and last forever, their cycles are even better.

started on the old 300cc 3 wheelers.  they will not die.  roll them, jump them, skip them, drown them, run them out of oil, but you just can't kill them even with 0 mainentence.  then we moved to 300cc 4 wheelers on the farm.  just as bullet proof, but a little more utility to them.

i've only owned 1 honda motorcycle myself, and it is my current street steed.  2002 honda cbr1100xx.  160hp, 38-40mpg, 6.3 gal tank, super comfortable, super fast (i've seen 159mph actual on it), great motorcycle.  i put 15,000 miles on it each year the first 2 years i had it.  this last year, the klr is taking some of the miles off of the blackbird, which is good cause they aren't making them anymore and tires, chains, sprockets all cost much less on the klr than the honda.  i am planning on having the blackbird forever (but you know how that goes).

i've also got a 2007 honda rancher 4x4.  it is 420cc, water cooled, fuel injected and a lot of fun.  it is an updated version but it still feels like the old 300cc fourtrax four wheelers that i have spent so much time on in riding pastures, fixing fence, working cows, and spraying thistles.

my brother has a 90 cbr600f1, an 83 honda gl650 silverwing.  both are pretty fun rides. 

after watching "dust to glory" i would love to have a xr650r.  maybe someday.

[joedaddy]

Had a Honda VTX 1300s (2005).  It got poor mileage and was a rough riding bike compared to any kawasaki cruiser i have owned a 750, 800 classic, 1600 meanstreak.  I laid it over on the paved portion of Cottonwood pass in CO going about 45 mph.  Afterwards it had a terrible shake that two different Honda dealerships could never figure out so I got rid of it for my 08 KLR and couldn't be happier with the change.

[fringefan]

I bought  one for my dad and really like it. Had a chance to ride a yamaha xt450 I think and really have the itch for a dirt bike:) so an xr could get added to the stable sooner than later for trail riding:)

[The Yeti]

You guys gotta stop getting SMALLER bikes! Me and Jason are gonna be stuck alone on the "old-man" trails before long. 

[fringefan]

You just need to ride that pig how she was meant to be ridden.

[The Yeti]

You just need to ride that pig how she was meant to be ridden.

If you'd spend any time at all reading Orange Crush over on ADV you'd realize that I already ride the pig in the dirt a lot more than most of them folks!     Got the suspensions mostly sorted, hoping to show a bit more confidence on our next ride...but there's no way I'm trying to keep up with a 250cc dirt bike!!

[Trl_Rdr]

I started with A SL70 as a kid. then years later got a XL175 from a cousin. That led to a CB750C for the road. then the 175 turned into a XL250R (dual sport) which later was traded with the CB750C for A DR350S (Susuki) in the meantime I got a GL1100I then traded to a GL1500SE which in turn has been traded for a GL1800 which is due to be traded in (100000+ miles). After I hd the DR350S for a while I added a XR600R (Plated) which I still have & the DR350S has been traded for the XR650R (plated also) and in the back corner is an old CR250R.

The Wings have been used to tow the Dual sport bikes out west (and east to Ashville NC once) mostly to Colorado & a few trips to the Black Hills over the years.

The next trip is to the southern Black Hills in May.

[hayduke.klr07]

i started on a CM400E.  I told my pop that I wanted to buy a skateboard.  (this is back in waaay back in highschool 'bout 1985)  he said, "why would you buy a skateboard when you could buy a motorcycle?"  well, i said.....
that became way to small way too fast as a sixteen yearold pimply faced punk.  i moved onto a 83 VF750F.  now that was a bike.  wish i still had it now.  then i found all things outdoor while in college.  i.e. climbing.  jump to 2006 (wow that is lot of years).  about 14 years...i bought my KLR new.  Gus had bought his and i was on the fence about what kind of bike to buy.  i really wanted a 900 hornet.  then gus comes with this...."Stove, you can buy that and ride 400 miles of ashpalt with every other chrome plated yahoo out there or you can buy one of these and ride 6,000 miles of two-track with me."  that was the end of me buying a honda again.

[The Yeti]

"Stove...

There's gotta be a story behind that nick-name, out with it!   

[Dustin]

I had a Honda big red three wheeler once. Does that count  .

[Dr Psyko]

My first "real" bike was a 1972 honda CB or CL (?) 350. The one with the up "enduro" pipe. Rode it everywhere, and in my memory it was fast! The gear shift lever got spun somehow on the transmission. I remember tightening it with a pliers. Eventually it wouldn't hold as I had stripped all the teeth form the lever. I took it off and clamped a vise grips and used that to shift for about a year.
From there it was a 78 Yammy XS650 which I rode through college and all hell that bike went through. Odometer broke at 35K and rode it a couple more years after that. Eventually the chain was so loose (and I had no money) that it would slap against the swingarm and throw sparks when I slowed down. There was a brief 57 panhead chopper that would blow the carb off the side of the motor if it wasn't happy being started. The gas line would come off, and it would fly tethered to the throtle cable and end up by the front wheel. I ended up in treatment and the bike went away. It took a couple of years to get back to reality, but my next bike was a 1978 BMW R100RS. Beautiful. Put alot of miles on that one. Limited edition version, euro model, long story. Wish I had it back. Along with that I bought a 1981 Ducati 900SS Darmah. Probably the sexiest sound of any bike I've ever heard. Then came a 1998 Harley Road King (now up for sale)(email me), a honda xr70, and a DR650 which I still have. Also, there is the 2005 R6 which I own but my son thinks is his. Finally the KLR from Hank which now is bugging me for Spring to appear.

Cheers!

[Hank]

.. drown them... but you just can't kill them...

Well.. I dropped my 200X at full operating temp into a creek  that had just thawed (deep enough that it floated upside down by the tires), and I did manage to warp the head and cause a head gasket leak.

That probably falls outside the design parameters though.   

You guys gotta stop getting SMALLER bikes! Me and Jason are gonna be stuck alone on the "old-man" trails before long. 

So much for that.

... The gear shift lever got spun somehow on the transmission. I remember tightening it with a pliers. Eventually it wouldn't hold as I had stripped all the teeth form the lever. I took it off and clamped a vise grips and used that to shift for about a year....

I've welded the shift lever to the shaft on at least two bikes, back in the day when I couldn't afford to fix anything properly.  Funny how I now naturally check that the lever is tight about every oil change...  Once they get too loose.. you're screwed.  Its always fun when it lets go for the first time.  You're racing your buddy, grab that next gear, and the shift lever hits the stator cover and you almost blow up and wreck when you either end up in a false neutral or stay in first!!

[Hank]

Why am I quoting 16 month old posts?