Bikes you liked more than you thought you would

Lifan 200 GY5

My daughter and me used to ride around the wilds of Oregon on a pair of old Trail 90s until one of them died of a major engine failure. I decided to try a cheap Chinese bike that might last a couple years until my daughter went away to college so along with 4 friends we ordered Lifans to be drop shipped in factory crates for $1375.00 each. Never thought I would like it much or keep it for more than a couple years but it's never missed a beat in over 5 years and 36,000 miles.

Three of the bikes we bought together on a trail ride in Central Oregon.

Husky TE250. I thought; it'll be too underpowered, and rattly and unrefined with on-off power delivery. Whilst I'd expected it to be great offroad (it is) I was very pleasantly surprised by how good on the slab it was compared to most dirt bikes.

FJR1300. Never thought I'd like a bike that weighs over 600 lbs, but I luv this big pig!

In 1981 I bought a new Yamaha IT125 for riding with the kids, $600. It was one of the most fun bikes I have ever owned.
I entered 5 enduro’s with it, finished and trophied in 4.
Why did I ever sell that bike?:eek1

My new KTM 690R and 2008 Yamaha WR250R. Also my son had a 2002 Ducati 750 Monster 'Senna'. I loved that thing. Lastly a 1971 Penton six days. Before the Elsinore, the Penton owned the track in the 125 class. Most lastly, my 1979 YZ125.

Oh heck the question should be 'which motorcycles were your biggest disappointment'? In my case it was a 1971 BSA 500 MX. I owned it long enough for a single race and traded it for a Husky round case 250.

Sold my gsxr 750j ,and test rode a 89 fzr1000 exup, owned by a cop, no miles, great condition...... Had the barn door closed on me on a traffic island, bailed and let the bike hit the car....... Couldn't really give it back to the cop in that state ,so I bought it and did a rebuild with custom yamaha race paint....
I was ure I would sell it, but it got under my skin.kept it from 92 until 2007. Had a few other bikes but couldn't part with tis one.... Regrettably had to sell it when we moved to Canada... Fond memories.
Import

1987 K100LT.
It would do anything an RS would do and I was warm!

Never used oil, worked on pavement and on gravel. Amazing bike.

I came of an R90/6 prior to the K.

Those were and are hot bikes but they don’t really fit the category, do they?
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Bikes you liked more than you thought you would<o></o>

How is that? My moderns mixed with my antiques? Exactly what is your category? I thought the question was about motorcycles that exceeded expectations? I listed them!

Jeepers...Gestapo is everywhere.

Now THAT is an interesting post right there! I never would have believed it myself.

I've been mostly a euro bike guy for many years, KTMs in particular, none the less to see if I like doing the Adventure riding thing I picked up a KLR for cheap ( is there any other way? ) and several years later I've still got it and still enjoy riding the thing.


Initially I dubbed it the rubber chicken but now I think of it as la cucaracha. No milk crate yet but it's on the list. Fore sale? No way!

The son of a guy I know bought a "Blue"chinese dual sport( Iirc, it was a 250 or mabey 350?) don't know the brand. Had a few problems( 1 bullet wireing connector wasnt crimped enough and it needed a muffler mount tab brazed back on after a while). He rode it to college and back every day( about 60-70 miles round trip) and I think it's still going 4-5 years later. It was ~$1400bux total.

KLR 650. It was slow and ugly, but I found myself really enjoying it. Then the new bike bug bit and I traded it in...wish I still had it.

Triumph Thruxton

Triumph Tiger 1050

Ural Patrol

Burgman 650 Executive

Suzuki V-Strom DL650

Buell Ulysses

Kawasaki Concours 14

Honda Fury

Harley Davidson V-Rod

CanAm Spyder

You exceeded my expectations.
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Geez, who&#8217;s acting like a Nazi
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I can understand a guy being surprise and delighted by a cheap Chinese bike.A bike he liked more than he thought he would. I had a similar experience with a inexpensive Yamaha IT125 I didn&#8217;t expect much from. But I would expect a lot from a new KTM 690R.

My Sertao.
I was coming off a Husky TE610 and a G650X Challenge. I was thinking no way, I love my bikes, I like them light and off-roadable. Then, while the XChallenge was in the shop, the dealer let me borrow their demo Sertao for two weeks. I took it through the woods, put 600 miles on it. The on-road performance was so much better than the XChallenge, and it still went nicely through the woods. When it came time to get my XChallenge back, I liked the Sertao so much I bought the demo. A trade-in deal I couldn't pass up didn't hurt either.

T'was the best of bikes; t'was the worst of bikes...

I bought a 16 year old R1100GS for $3,200 with the intention of using it on trips with a lot of highway time. I got to love riding that bike so much that it became my main ride and last year I put more miles on it than on my 12K F800GS. I was surprised because a few times I rode R1200GS, I never liked it enough to want one. It has a few small issues but it has a character. I read here posts from several R1200GS riders that they regret not keeping the 1100. Particularly the 1995 model I have has very good handling.

I bought a '90 model new in early '91

Done my first track-day on this bike, back in '92.

48,000 miles later I sold it to start my racing career in '93. I LOVED that bike...I just can't find one in good shape, at a decent price, to buy...

Suzuki DR350...

A group of us got together to race the first Perry Mountain 24 Hour Challenge. Bone of us wanted to volunteer our personal bikes, we talked a friend onto loaning us his DR350 in exchange for a new set of tires, chain/sprockets, and re-ringing.... The bike that I thought would be TERRIBLE, wound up being just what we needed...light, smooth, bullet-proof, and very easy on the rider.