Ok so this is my massive tackle

What i was wondering is does size matter? Would you feel intimidated by larger bikes? I love big fat bikes with big(ish ) engines for reasons i just dont understand. Im jealous of Plugs cc's but are you or would you be happy with a small(ish) bike? Is it just the riding experience or does size matter?

Its big its round it bounces on the ground - zombies biiiiiike, zombies biiiiiike!

i dont like playing with the gearbox so a big tourquy bike suits me as i can 'rag' it all over the place in second or third gear. Some people love using the gears and go for sports 600s etc. How about you?

needs a polish though its minging!

I've done the peaky 600 thing but as I've got older and wiser much prefer a bit of torque to peak power (says he with claimed 143.5 bhp ), far less stressful to ride.

I can understand the lure of sports 600's - the way they scream and handle like , well, handle just friggin fantastically by all accounts. EB's daytona is incredible.
But I just love big engines and big bikes. i dont ride my bike particualarly fast and would get anhialated in any back road race against most smaller sports bikes but i dont care coz i just love the zed and the smoothness and flexibillity of the engine. Maybe it is an age thing. Dont think ill ever go down the cruiser road though, no disrespect intended to cruiser owners, but i can see the attraction of 1600 cc's and peak torque at 3000 revs or whatever.

Yep, stick the RF in top and just use the throttle. Big grunt and nearly 50mpg all day long. The only time it sees more than 6000 revs is when I miss a gear

So ive heard! Neighbours moaning in the morning!

Zomb as you can imagine Ive riden most bikes from 250cc to 1100 b/birds and now 1300cc,for me its not the speed as it once was but enjoying a good day out touring with the knowledge that the engine will or should get me any where with out much trouble.
I now go for reliability and smoothness and not bending over the high tanks that seem to be fitted to modern bikes,after a long career in riding all I want is a tour round without loud noises emitting from the rear exaust attracting attention to myself and of course Mr plod..

PS Your mum says she's put powder on bigger tackle than yours ..

You seen those pictures of me in the shower haven't you!

Well like plug I ve ridden all sizes of bikes even rode from london to n.wales on a honda c90 ( went to the dragon rally ) 11 hours to get there 3 days to get back but that is another story.

biggest bike ive ridden is a 1100.

Ive done the dispatch thing as most of you know for years n years ( retired now )

Myself as long as i could get from A to b with out breaking down I was happy.

the most comfortable bike i ever owned was a R100 BMW would sit at 90 all day long.

Zombie I watched you leave here when you popped round & you handle the bike well for a man with one leg.

You stick to what makes you happy mate

much respect

i've had my fair share af small bikes(lc's,gt's, rd's,400/4,kh) and we went all over on the damn things, but never had one breakdown and averaged 12.000 miles a year, and i was quite happy to do it, when i was 19 i had my eye opener crash which i walked away from, but could of easy gone the other way, for some weird reason i bought a CX500, if there was ever a bike that did everything "ok" it was that bike! it didn't shine in any respect but it did the job, i had it 3 years and clocked up 36,000 miles, i crashed it with the now wife on it, going away to clean it to trade it in for a gpz750 turbo, got married instead then it blow its brains out !
the biggest bike i owned has been the cb750's i've had a play on the newer stuff but at 6'4" they tend to cripple me! so retro's are the way for me... in answer to the post...god i go on mid range is fun, if you've never ridden a bigger bike, but like in earlier threads its hard work, i had a LC last year it was great fun until you had to go a long way

nearly all the bikes i've had have been low to mid range,
started out on a cm 125 then progressed to an x7, maddest fecking bike i ever owned that one. progressed on to a gs550 which i part exed for an lc350 roberts rep. my then girlfriend now wife talked me into selling the lc and i bought a car, bikeless for 12-13 years and now own the gsx250 soon to be 400 i hope. I always fancied something big n meaty but never quite got round to getting one.
I suppose the gpz 1100 fuel injected jobbie was the object of my desire when i was younger. wouldn't know where to start looking now though.
Although i still fancy the laverda ghost (sighs) :tounge:

I had only had small bikes, until I returned to biking. Then I jumped on the xbr500 single, when I did the DAS about four years ago. I didn't fancy going back onto the 125. I just didn't think it was practical for a bloke with my frame. (Orange on a toothpick, anyone ). The xbr wasn't a fast bike but the size made it feel better. After the vfr, I may be tempted by a 600 but omnly because of running costs. I'd love something like a Daytona but could I afford to pay the amount of money they want for a tyre these days.

I still fancy the zrx1200 though. If I could afford it, I'd always go for the bigger engine but not for the speed.