Keep the Girly or buy a Beaker

[aeronca]

[Chris Canning]

56 years old.  I am at the point that I don't care as much how fast my bike goes, but how it looks,. sounds, and feels.

As my wife pointed out to me!!'The average man live 3 score years and ten' so if your one of the lucky ones and live that long you'll be dead in 14 years!! me less!! buy e'm while you can,your a long time dead thats what my wife tells me so I do :D

The only rule in the house it has to carry two people,the trade off I can spend as much as I like on biking!! and I do  :oops:

[D-Fuzz]

I've had that same conversation in my head.  I love my Steamer but sometimes think it would be nice to enter the 21st century with fuel injection, ABS and such.  Then I think about the $10K difference it would cost me to make the switch, and those things seem a little less important.
I may look for a nice low-mile Bonneville for $5-6K and keep my Steamer.

How old are you?

Me, I'm 41, so according to your rule, I have a ways to go yet.  My wife hates motorcycles but manages to tolerate my affection for them.  I do agree that it is important to live for today as you never know what the future holds.

[Bixxer Bob]

....The average man live 3 score years and ten' so if your one of the lucky ones and live that long you'll be dead in 14 years!! ....

Me too  :?  I don't expect to still be riding big bikes then but I hope at least to still be drawing breath  :lol:

[Chris Canning]

I've an older mate(much older than me I might add :oops: ) he rode in 6 trials events over christmas all at least 50 miles from home,bike on trailer,gear in car vice versa at the event and home,he's 74 and nowhere the oldest,even at this time of the year if the roads are half decent rides a VFR,last year he rode to the Barcelona Moto GP and then on to Brno the following weekend for the WSB :roll:

If I get to that age it'll be a bonus,but I'm not banking on it  :D ,and if I don't I'll have had a good run,while most folk have been doing the 2.2kids Ford Mondeo thing I've been biking  :lol:

I'll actually be selling a bike this year :shock: my XT660X and hopefully buy an 690SMC and no doubt regret it :oops:

[Sin_Tiger]

I went out into my garage last night and replaced a headlight bulb on the Steamer.  Looking it over, I decided I did not want to sell it for an 800 XC just yet.  I could keep it and add a Thruxton, there's room in the garage......

The Thruxton is a blast in a very different way, great fun and contrast :lol:  8)

[D-Fuzz]

I haven't given a whole lot of thought to how many more years of riding I will have.  I have another 15 years to retirement and I plan to keep riding after that.  Considering my Tiger is 15 years old now, I could buy a new bike this year and still be riding it when I retire. :lol:  In my opinion, motorcycles haven't changed so drastically in the last 15 years to make my older Steamer irrelevant.  It will be interesting to see what technologies arise in the future.

[Chris Canning]

I haven't given a whole lot of thought to how many more years of riding I will have.  I have another 15 years to retirement and I plan to keep riding after that.  Considering my Tiger is 15 years old now, I could buy a new bike this year and still be riding it when I retire. :lol:  In my opinion, motorcycles haven't changed so drastically in the last 15 years to make my older Steamer irrelevant.  It will be interesting to see what technologies arise in the future.

In the last 15 years bikes have changed beyond recognition,the big one being fuel injection,with probably the exception of the last R1 going back to a carb bike is like having the throttle connected to the motor by Pony Express :(

Bikes are way more focused be it steering or brakes.

Far better suspension even with electric ajustment

Fly by wire

Traction control

Better ABS,even though I have it on a bike and dislike it.

Aerodynamics have come on in leaps and bounds,Triumph is still a young company with lots to learn,but both my R1100s and K1200 are light years better than any of the FJ1200's I had,anything over a 100mph you'd be getting your head ripped off,I've(we) ridden our Tiger faster than that for 14 hours,e'r yes I did say 14 hours!!.

Both 955 and the 1100s struggle on open roads with modern day turbo diesel cars,there was a time when they were huffing and puffing at 90 most cars can pull away very briskly at that speed so you have little advantage,the only bike that I have that can turn the traffic into slow mo is my K1200,oddly enough I don't like using it all the time but has it's uses just like the others,but bike's have come on a long way is the last 10 years,and so have cars :(

[D-Fuzz]

I suppose that is true when it comes to flagship motorcycles, but a 1996 Suzuki DR650 is the same bike as a 2012 and there are certainly more examples like that.  If you look at the new Tigers, are they considerably better bikes than the 955i or the 885?  I've never ridden a new one, so I don't know.  I had the opportunity to ride my friends 2009 Wee-strom, and I can say it wasn't a better bike than my Tiger, despite the ABS and FI.

I do agree when it comes to automobiles though.  Even entry-level cars have a ton of airbags, ABS, traction control, etc.  If I compare the 2010 VW Golf I have to the 1994 Golf I used to have, it is no comparison.  Hopefully technology trickles a little further down in the motorcycle industry as well.

[cascadetiger]

I test drove a new Tiger 800 last summer.  Nice bike in every way.  But it was not significantly better than my old Steamer. The Tiger 800 engine made a muted triple sound with the whistling/whirring sounds that come with all the new Triumphs.  Got back on the Steamer and heard that diesel like, agricultural motor fire up.  Nice!  Its hard for me to write the check when the new bike doesn't make me fall in love.

[Chris Canning]

I had two 885i Tigers,I took the second one in for a service(the first lasted 6 weeks),test rode a 955 and never went back to the collect it, there's a world of difference and thats in the space of 2 years,never mind the latest offerings,you seem to be in denial you'll never stop progress,hence why my 955 has been updated over the years,but I'm under no illusions that it has the fueling finess of modern injected engines.

I test rode a Multistrada,now while I was suprised it wasn't leagues better than my Tiger,I've spent 10 years(and a lot of money) trying to achieve what the Multi has straight out of the crate when it comes poise,be it on the throttle or brakes there's vitually zero movement front to back.

[D-Fuzz]

I don't think I am in denial about anything.  I just think when you compare how far motorcycles have come in relation to things like computers, cellphones, cameras, etc., things haven't changed that terribly much.  That is in my extremely limited view of things, as admittedly, I haven't ridden any bikes like the new Beemer K1600 or the new Multistrata.  Perhaps my view would change then.

[Chris Canning]

In the early 70's I had a brand new Kawasaki 500H1A a new CB750 mid70's,in 1980 a new 6 cylinder CBX from mid eighties to late 90's various FJ1200's in their day wonderfull bikes that were as good as it got at the time,the last FJ with 2 teeth off the back sprocket would show 165 plus on the clock but in comparsion to my K1200 9 years on it's the difference between Fred Flinstone mobile :D  and an F1 car,by the time the K is on the way to the redline it's warp drive,I'm not suggesting you need it,just trying explain the advance in 10 years which is colossal.

I don't think you will ever see the giant leap that the introduction of the CB750 made in 69,but things are still progressing at a fair old pace.

[flaco]

Since this thread is becoming age-related, here's my observation. A few years ago, I rode into a camp-site in Denmark, pitched my tent and was about to sit down with a beer when I heard that BMW sound. Now I was the only one on the site and the bloke could have pitched anywhere but he pitched up next to me. The bike was an old K-series BMW. The rider was Cyril, he was 73 and one of the most inspiring people I've ever met. 73, camping, and on his way to a rally in Finland. Been riding all his life. Reckoned if you didn't camp, you weren't really biking. He'd ridden that bike so much, his knees had worn away the paint on both sides of the tank. I asked him what the cord loops on the fairing were for. He gave them a tug and two fog-lights popped up. He had some tales to tell. He emerged from his tent at dawn, ate a bowl of cornflakes, smoked a roll-up, fired up his bike and was off again. A great man. 73 years old. Hope I'm half as cool as Cyril when I'm 73.

[TigerT]

I have owned a steamer and a 955i and ridden the 1050 and 800. All great bikes, the steamer was too unreliable and let me down too often despite a lot spent on it, but the best looking Tiger. I found the 1050 a great road bike but a bit characterless overall. The 800 is great but I wouldn't swap the Girly as I prefer the 955i engine. The main drawback is the weight for me. I much prefer the analogue dials and dash layout would prefer a metal tank.