What classic motorbike should I buy?

September 26, 2005 10:01 PM

What classic motorbike should I buy? I want a street bike for occasional use that has some pedigree to it. I am looking for suggestions as to what are "classic" bikes - ones that have a solid history and will not be too hard to repair or find parts for. I want something ideally between 350cc and 550cc, but would consider up to a 750. Possible examples would be Honda CB400, BMW R75, I dunno....anything before about 1990. Old is good, but the only caveat is that I do not want a loud bike, so a 4-stroke preferred. The last time I rode it was the late 80's, and I had a '83 Yamaha Vision, which I always thought of as the poor man's beemer - it was liquid cooled and had shaft drive, which seemed pretty cool at the time. (I am not interested in any low riders or racers, although I would not rule out an on/off-road.)
posted by SNACKeR to Travel & Transportation (22 answers total)

Back in the late 90s my femme, yet fully capable, girlfriend woke up one morning and said "I want a motorcycle". Her desires were pretty close to yours. She bought herself an '83 Yamaha Heritage Special 650 a week later.

She did basic maintance herself and dropped it at the shop once or twice for the more serious repairs - totalling less than $300 total over the 5 years she owned it.

I bought the same bike a few months later because I was so impressed with it.

There are many societies and sources for parts, information and general bike-geekiness around. Just do a Google search for yamaha 650 and you'll get loads of good info.

Solid.
posted by FlamingBore at 10:19 PM on September 26, 2005

Over at Kevin Kelly's Cool Tools, the Kawasaki KLR 650 is rather highly thought of.
posted by Marky at 10:47 PM on September 26, 2005

I am partial to BMW twin boxers, the bike I currently own is a 1984 R80ST. It is more power than what you are looking for. The most interesting variant if you can find it is an early 1970's R50 or R75 "toaster".
posted by JJ86 at 12:27 AM on September 27, 2005

I'm no bike geek, but I've really enjoyed my 1980 Yamaha SR500. It's a 499cc single—a "thumper." Light, torquey, and with a distinctive exhaust note. Mine's loud because it came with a supertrapp exhaust, but I don't think the original setup was particularly loud. Not particularly fast by today's standards, but it sounds like you're OK with that.

The cool thing is you've got one carburetor and one spark plug to take care of: pretty simple.
posted by bricoleur at 3:27 AM on September 27, 2005

I swear I didn't get the "one carburetor, one spark plug" bit from the KLR 650 link, which I hadn't read 'til just now. That bike sounds pretty cool, too, but it isn't as good looking as the SR500 IMO.
posted by bricoleur at 5:40 AM on September 27, 2005

Response by poster: Great suggestions, exactly the kind of thing I am looking for. Keep 'em coming!

I would love to hear comments on some British bikes too...
posted by SNACKeR at 6:41 AM on September 27, 2005

I've been lusting lately over the Triumph Bonneville T100, which has a distinctly retro look to the Bonneville of the 1960's but is 864cc. It's not as up-to-date or powerful as some of it's competition, but the look & feel are classic.
posted by Pressed Rat at 6:47 AM on September 27, 2005

My first bike was a 1977 Yamaha RD400 and it was great. unfortunately it was a 2 stroke. Great dual purpose bike though. Next bike was a 1979 Honda CB750F, 1st of the superbikes and a great bike at the time for the twisties. In reality though I wouldn't recommend to get any of those pre 1980 bikes for any serious riding. The technology has advanced so far for performance and reliability since then that I would highly recommend you buy a newer bike unless you've got time and $$ to devote to keeping an older bike on the road.
posted by white_devil at 7:21 AM on September 27, 2005

Those BSAs are really nice too. And Nortons. Anything with that classic flat seat/spoke wheel thing gets me excited.

Here are a couple of links, although not the best pics:

Norton

BSA
posted by spicynuts at 7:49 AM on September 27, 2005

If you're okay with a bike with some "character" (i.e. may stop working when it gets wet, or when vibrations get too much, or when it feels like it) then how about an older Moto Guzzi? Shaft drive, plenty of torque but not tons of power. Easy to ride, though a little heavy and "sturdy" perhaps for many people's liking. That lovely v-twin exhaust note. They're easy to work on, and almost bulletproof in construction -- it's just the electricals that can get a little tired if they haven't been updated.
posted by 5MeoCMP at 9:03 AM on September 27, 2005

I have a cb400 and I love it. Easy to maintain - prevalent parts and I like the look of it a lot. Having owned vintage English (argh - so much oil) and vintage Italian (argh - will it ever run) - vintage Japanese is awesome! It's relatively quiet. There are a few things:
It's pretty slow. It gets out of its own way - but just.
This is actually good because the breaks aren't particularly good at stopping it. They ALL squeak and the single front disc is a bit of a joke.
The charging systems in a lot of the mid 70's hondas is poor. You're going to want to get a really good trickle charger. They changed the lights to be "always on" but didn't bother to upgrade the charging system. After a few days of riding to work - I have to make sure I plug it in when I get home. It seems to need decent charge to start - bump starting without battery will get your no where.

In the same cc range - the Honda CB1 is a bit newer (80s) but still good looking and a great bike. If you can find one the GB 500 has a fantastic classic look but a bit more modern technology.

The RD in my circle is called Rapid Death. So cool looking and a freaking blast - but tweaky. Proceed with caution.

Ducati has some amazingly beautiful 60's era bikes in the low end of the CC range. Hard to find and a bit more expensive than most everything else being discussed here - but *droool*. Again - you're going to want to either be friends with a bike mechanic or really enjoy weekends in the garage but you could end up with one sexy machine.

Hurray for vintage motorcycles - let us know what you end up with.
posted by Wolfie at 9:05 AM on September 27, 2005

I have a 1973 Honda CL350 with which I've been very happy. They're inexpensive, and don't have anything particularly stupid in their construction that make them difficult to maintain.
posted by waldo at 9:05 AM on September 27, 2005

This bike ain't old, but it's retro...
posted by black8 at 9:37 AM on September 27, 2005

I had a BMW R75 back when it was new, and it was a great touring bike, reliable, easy to maintain. The R75 is also a very comfortable riding position -- great for long trips, but nippy enough for fun. I got it to travel in Asia but got married instead. I've ridden other beemers since and would go back to the R75 happily. Its only major oddity was that the steering needed to be manually tightened before going over 90 mph, or it would shimmy; The front rack has a big knurled knob on top, that turns to stiffen it while you ride.

I've just sold a Honda Nighthawk, which was also a steady, reliable workhorse, but a bit more fiddly to work on. Damn, I need a bike again (I'm living with an '81 Vanagon instead, but it's really not the same!)

Get an R75, you'll be happy with it, and it will take you round the world in comfort if you want.
posted by anadem at 10:09 AM on September 27, 2005

If you opt for an old British bike, chances are you're gonna need an awful lot of mechanical knowledge to keep it on the road. They're cultish, though, so finding parts shouldn't be a big deal. Purty too.

I bought a vintage-ish UJM to commute on -- 1982 Suzuki GS450--and it's a nifty little bike itself, though a bit picky to work on. I'd go with a 70s UJM, sounds like it would fit your criteria pretty well.

Oh, and if you care about such things, not only are 2-strokes noisy but they are also much more polluting than fours.

Check out vintage bike magazines too.
posted by scratch at 11:40 AM on September 27, 2005

How about a Honda Four/4? They have a beautiful four-into-one exhaust, look gorgeous (without the windscreen) and because there is a community around the bike, it's easy to get parts, advice, and information.

I used to roll a 1978 Honda CX500 and it's a classy ride. The shaft drive (!) is pretty much zero maintenance, the bike's got a lovely sound without being loud, has the advantage of being a twin, and is generally comfortable to sit on. The worst feature about it (apart from the Lucas electrical system which never really gave me much trouble) was the rear drum brake.
posted by majick at 12:58 PM on September 27, 2005

I used to ride a late 70s era Honda Hawk, which was, at the time, a 4-stroke aircooled inline twin with a chain drive. It was reliable and had enough juice to get a couple of fit young adults out of harms way if you dropped it down a gear. The only problem was that the charging system sucked. I gave up on keeping my battery charged. On the other hand, it wasn't a problem to kickstart. Seating position was upright, good for around town or long rides on the open road.
posted by Good Brain at 1:39 PM on September 27, 2005

Water buffalo.
posted by mendel at 1:55 PM on September 27, 2005

Yet another vote for an R75. My first was a short-frame R75/5 with the chrome toaster tank. My goodness it was a thing of beauty. Later I had a long-frame R75/6, an R90, an R100S and then an R100GS. I could recommend any one of them. I am not very mechanically minded so the simple maintenance of boxer twins is a treat.

Not really vintage, but an extraordinarily fun bike, was a Honda GB500. Incredibly light and flickable, kickstart as well as electric start, single-cylinder, very attractive, stone reliable, and affordable. I probably miss that bike as much as any I've ever owned, especially from a casual 'Sunday ride' perspective.
posted by cairnish at 2:08 PM on September 27, 2005

1982 Yamaha XJ650RJ
I rode this bike across the u.s. 4 times and down to Mexico City. Shaft drive, 5.5 gal. tank. Very solid.
posted by JohnR at 4:47 PM on September 27, 2005

Rather than a Honda CX500 (sorry majick, I should say "in addition to"), you might look into the GL500, the SilverWing (pickup-with-a-camper-shell, as compared to the Winnebago-sized GoldWing). Much comfier seat (front and back) good luggage capacity, a very effective faring and smooth ride. Same ease of maintenance. I still see them around occaisionally, more often than the CX, strangely since they sold a lot more CXs.
posted by johngumbo at 6:02 PM on September 27, 2005

Response by poster: What a great bunch of ideas! I would be happy with almost any bike mentioned, and there are some real beauties here. I hadn't considered the BSA bikes, wow. What an eye opener.

It is amazing how well you all honed in on what I was looking for. Thanks for the ideas. Now if only there was someplace I could go to test ride them all....

I can't even tell you which way I am leaning, because it will probably depend on what is available. Hence the usefulness of the list.
posted by SNACKeR at 7:10 PM on September 27, 2005