My collection

I have four bikes. Honestly its too many. You dont have enough time to ride them. Best to have two and if they are brits
probably best to have two examples of same bike. Makes parts etc easier.
Havent had my first ride this year yet.

I have 11 runners plus a project Norton.
Some weeks I manage to get out on all 11.
Those are good weeks!

Glen

worntorn said:

I have 11 runners plus a project Norton.
Some weeks I manage to get out on all 11.
Those are good weeks!

Glen

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Sounds like a full time job Glen!

I’ve got a mate with a big fleet (I forget the total as I can’t keep up with it) that he keeps running well, but he retired nearly 20 years ago and is in the ‘shop’ 7 days a week. The only thing that keeps him out of the shop is riding!

I’m not knocking him, I’m just jealous, mere worker bee mortals like me can’t quite do that!

But... let’s not forget, gp’s issue is primarily one of space.

Nigel, I really don't recommend owning a dozen bikes, the oil and battery changes alone are costly and time consuming. Then there is all of the time spent keeping them reasonably clean and polished.

I think having 2 or 3 good runners is plenty to own and have fun.
I may cut back to that number at some point.
Maybe 1dirt bike and a couple of road bikes.

Good or bad space is the definitive limiter. 15 years ago I bought a house with a 5 and 1/2 car garage. My motorcycle collection grew to 9 street, 3 off road, and 1 road racer. I also collected and restored vintage outboard motors. 15 of those old beasts. My daily driver was a '66 VW Bug, Now that I'm living in Arizona outboards make no sense, a two car garage means 4 bikes, too hot for the VW, and I quit road racing a few years back when I noticed that my physical reflexes were now slower than my mental processes. I also promised my wife that her car would always have garage space. Our garage is crammed and as I'm not the best at neat organizing it seems that the walls just keep getting thicker. This summer the Honda XR is going to Michigan to my son and I hope to sell my wife's 1986 Honda Elite 150 as it has less than 200 miles and I'm thinking that she's probably not going to use it. This will make space for what I'm sure will be more useless treasures. A friend has an old Guzzi V7 sport that he no longer rides, Hmmmm.

Go for the Guzzi , hardly bigger than the scooter you need to move anyways ..

Good call. As the S1000RR is also going, I do need a sporting replacement.

There's always room for Jello.

Wasn't Jello Bill Cosby's nickname for his "junk".

eskasteve said:

the S1000RR is also going, I do need a sporting replacement.

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Duh... no brainer...

Nice bike. BC has nothing in common with bikes or quantities thereof. I'm shocked.....almost.

Good news!

I went up to Leander for the home inspection (all good except leak in water heater pressure tank, it'll be changed), then called my son to see if he wanted to get lunch; he couldn't, but told me of one of his employee's Dad who owned a LARGE shop, and gave me his contact info.

It was a 10 minute drive up the road in light traffic, and sure enough it's a right fine garage complete with several hot rods! He used to build rods for people, and had a couple of his own (one or two of significant fame), and said he'd be happy to let me use a big chunk of now-unused garage space with good lighting & ventilation.

We chatted for almost an hour, he's retired and in fair health, so still tooling on rods he needs his clients to come and get out of his way; he's also a shooter and loads his own ammo (totally separate section of the shop). Very cool, I'm ALL SET!

...Oh, he used to be a Harley guy, but says he's ALWAYS loved NORTONS!

The Superlight is an awesome looking unit with great specs, but at around $27,000 USD it's not going to happen. Price, parts availability, and a small dealer network (none in Arizona) mean a new age Norton won't be happening for me. In 2016 I went to the Norton dealer in Washington State fully intending to replace my S1000RR with one of the new Commandos. They had two in stock and neither of them ran. They'd been waiting for an ECU for over 6 months for one, and the other ran but spewed oil from the crankcase into the air box. I had two of the original Combats in '72 and I'm not gonna be a quality control beta tester on a new bike again. If I was back in the market for a full on sport bike I'd probably look for a low mileage Buell XB9R Firebolt.

A Harley man with long grey whiskers informed me that a Buell is merely a gender confused Harley.
He seemed pretty sure of his info.

Glen

I wonder what he says about Cal Rayborn’s racing Harley?

If I was looking for full on sport bike and $ was no worry , it would be the new V4 Panigale , without a test ride .... but $49,000USD is just too far for this old man .... test ride might be kinda fun , if only , eh ....

I am happy with my collection of bikes, one 850 Norton I have own since new and converted it into the Featherbed frame back in the early 80s, a 650 Manxman project bike, a 2013 Triumph Thruxton, a 2016 Thurxton S and can't forget my Honda CRF450X for my bush play, each bike is different and enjoy riding them all, but what has surprised me was my 1200 Thruxton S, its feels as light as my 850 Featherbed althought is heaver in weight, it handles as good as the Featherbed if not better, what ever Triumph done they made a well balanced bike, its no sports bike but it shows up a few if you know how to push it hard, its no speed demon but hey I no need to ride my bikes at 300kms plus, I get into enough troubles now without doing super speeds.
So having 5 bikes and building a old Shovel Head Harley for my uncle my big shed has enough, my workshop has no cars as cars can't get up the back of my house, just a big bike shed and workshop and I can still walk around without tripping over bikes, I have a big awning off the front of my shed and its where I have my bike lift table set up so I can work out side on the bikes when its to hot to work in the shed in summer, working under the open awning area or relaxing with a few cold beers with mates, life couldn't get any better and able to choose which bike I am going to take out next, to many bikes and some won't get ridden for sometime, but its bad enough paying 3 bike rego's as well car rego when no longer working.
One of my mate's has at last count 49 bikes but only 4 that are regoed for the road the rest just sits in his shed he said they are his retirment investment but when he goes to sell a few hes has to spend lots of money to prepare them for sale because they been sitting to long, and he lives not far from the bay and gets a lot of salt air that is not good for bikes untouched for years, and try getting to his workshop bench to do any work is a night mare, no thanks I am happy with my little collection of bikes, no need for any more.

Ashley

grandpaul said:

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!!! what the wife thinks is the truth !!!! just ask me . i've been told!

If I'd have kept them all through the years that's where I'd be sitting, but alas like a fool I parted with them as love faded. My 850 is the only one I've ever been truly faithful to.