For me the Honda CBR 1000 , what a heavy and fast beast that was , charcoal grey and light blue colours , Yamaha DT50 , DT 125 and the DT 175 and the Suzuki RD500 LC rocket ship , the Yamaha Genisis YZR 750 and 1000 .
Yamaha RD and RZ 350 YPVS Yamaha power valve system , two stroke , but prone to engine failures , the yellow Kenny Roberts colouring was one of mine too .
Unlike my Dad I was never interested in motorbikes only cars and bought my first car before I got my licence.
All the 1970’s two strokes were quick from Yam RD’s to Suzuki 750.
The Kawasaki Z900 four stroke was also quick.
All arguably too quick for their own good.If I had have liked bikes I’d have gone for an old classic Brit type.Like the Ariel Square 4 or Vincent HRD of my Dad’s day.Or a later Triumph Trident with the bonus that it would have been a better investment than cash in the bank.
ZXR750 came out around the time I was on a DT50 and top of my want list. Those air intake pipes looked great. Dont think actually riding one would live up to my expectation though.
Honda rc30 was a great pin up bike but dont think ive seen one in the flesh.
i’m still riding old school bikes! Harley Ironhead,and ‘57 AJS with box sidecar…haven’t got around to buying anything modern yet…tho’ i do like the look of the new RE Interceptor
What is “Old School” I wonder? Probably depends on the age of whoever is talking, whatever was current when they were a youth is old?
Does water-cooled count as new? Fuel injection rather than carbs? Cast wheels against spoked?
My list of bikes owned is 67 BSA Bantam 175, 61 AJS 350, Triumph 500 Tiger 100A (with the distributor), Norton 650SS, rearsets, clip-ons, swept-backs, large tank and full fairing. Then my first new bike, Honda 750 Four.
Been through some newer types since, Suzuki VX800 sat in shed currently, Honda Pan European now sold.
I do have a hankering for an older Honda XL trailie, but to be honest the fast road bikes are not for me today: roads too crowded and regulated.
@ CarryFast youre right that some bikes were too quick for their own good: classic example being the Kawasaki 500 Mach 111. Quick, light, and with a frame made of india rubber ! Having said that my Triumph 500 had the single downtube frame, with a bolt at the bottom of the front downtube, even with hard Avon tyres you couuld feel that twist and flex. The Honda was really a good handler once the Bridgestones were replaced with TT100s. Could lean that enough to ground the foot pegs and even let the rear wheel slide as the centre stand grounded out. Nothing like a modern bike on sticky rubber, but good for its day. Love to ride one again, but I doubt Id get sparks flying and boot soles chamfered as I once did.
Rg 500 and then the gsxr1100.
As a kid I lived in a countryfied area and my Dad bought me a field bike (a knackered Honda C70) when I was 6 years old. So started a lifelong love affair with two wheels! I remember as a young teenager being able to identify every single bike from a distance by sound only.
My first foray onto the mean streets ( legally that is 
) was on the ubiquitous Fizzy, come my 17th birthday my RD250 hit the road. I soon fitted the RD400 engine into it, illegally of course as I was still on L plates. Then followed a KH500, a “kettle” (GT750) and an RE5. Wish I had them now as I’d be able to sell them and retire!
A few years away from bikes with my young family but then the bug bit again and I returned with a GSXR1100k (last of the oil cooled engines), WOW! This bike recalibrated my mind! Blisteringly quick but handled like a bathtub half full of water, this stood me in good stead for what was soon to follow! A brief foray onto an R1 convinced me that I could not afford to lose my licence and my liberty so racing was the way forward.
My first ever race shocked me with 30 lunatics all hurtling into the first corner and it still remains the only time I ever got lapped! Apparently I wasn’t as quick as I thought I was!
I took a year learning my craft racing a Honda Hornet against the likes of Dennis Hobbs, James Toseland and Stuart Martin (Guys brother). I eventually won a championship and drifted into endurance racing. By this time I’d picked up a few sponsors which helped massively, did The Manx and some Spanish stuff too.
A massive crash at Snetterton saw me in Norwich general with 8 broken ribs, a broken sternum and a shattered right forearm. 6 months off and I was good to go, except I wasn’t! I’d caught “the fear” and found I was only riding around, not racing! If I couldn’t win then I didn’t want to do it.
Hey ho, back to the lorries then.
i was thinking we were going to be drowning in stories of triumph bonnys,vincent black shadows and norton commando type of old school…however,i bought a ner rg500 which was good for 137mph flat out,which was exactly th speed i came off it at when the bend i had comitted to turned into a hairpin halfway round it.
after i came out of hospital i decided to calm down,so went out and bought a new fzr 1000 exup…
i fancied an rc30 but they were so tall geared you had to burn out the clutch every 3rd set of traffic lights as you could exceed 70mph in first gear…they looked good though?
dieseldog999:
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i fancied an rc30 but they were so tall geared you had to burn out the clutch every 3rd set of traffic lights as you could exceed 70mph in first gear…they looked good though?
Ooh RC30, creamy underpants time!
Had a (rich) mate who bought an R7 for the road. Absolutely horrible to ride at anything less than 10 tenths on the road. Real licence killer that bike. Unbelievable on the track however.
Might not qualify as a “Bike”, but definitely old school. Five days before my seventeenth birthday in 1970, I paid £153-8s-3d for a brand new Honda ST50 “monkeybike”. I’ve still got it, and still ride it often, even in winter. Before that, I’d had an old (1940’s) Matchless 500 single and a 1957 Francis Barnett Falcon for the fields, and afterwards came a 1973 Montesa Cota 247, a 1975 Honda TL125, 1977 Yamaha DTMX 250, one of the first two imported into Britain, plus a horrible 250 Suzuki trail bike and a very nice Kawasaki KMX125. I lost a few good friends who’d moved up to bigger bikes and paid the ultimate price, it’s so easy for ‘young and daft’ to become ‘young and dead’, so I stayed with the little 'uns.
dieseldog999:
i was thinking we were going to be drowning in stories of triumph bonnys,vincent black shadows and norton commando type of old school …however,i bought a ner rg500 which was good for 137mph flat out,which was exactly th speed i came off it at when the bend i had comitted to turned into a hairpin halfway round it.
after i came out of hospital i decided to calm down,so went out and bought a new fzr 1000 exup…
i fancied an rc30 but they were so tall geared you had to burn out the clutch every 3rd set of traffic lights as you could exceed 70mph in first gear…they looked good though?
The guys who rode those bikes, and I mean ride them, not trailer them to a concours…, are dead. You’re talking about guys in their 20’s and 30’s during the 1950’s and 60’s. We wont see those days again.
I moved from a Vespa Ciao, via a Suzuki ST50, to a Honda CD50 which started a linage… CD50, Ss50, CB550F, CX550 Silverwing, and a GL1200 Gold Wing. Oh, and a Kawasaki Z200 inbetween, which I rode from Swansea to Germany, and back via the Netherlands.
the nodding donkey:
The guys who rode those bikes, and I mean ride them, not trailer them to a concours…, are dead. You’re talking about guys in their 20’s and 30’s during the 1950’s and 60’s. We wont see those days again.
That was my dad’s generation and don’t think I’d have had any problem with finding an Ariel Square 4, like he rode in the 50’s, when I bought my first car in the mid 1970’s if I’d have been interested.I’m sure he would have been pleased.While ironically I’ve got an older cousin who rides classic Moto Guzzis throughout Europe and even some older 1930’s types and hasn’t even got a trailer or a car with a tow bar.
the nodding donkey:
dieseldog999:
i was thinking we were going to be drowning in stories of triumph bonnys,vincent black shadows and norton commando type of old school …however,i bought a ner rg500 which was good for 137mph flat out,which was exactly th speed i came off it at when the bend i had comitted to turned into a hairpin halfway round it.
after i came out of hospital i decided to calm down,so went out and bought a new fzr 1000 exup…
i fancied an rc30 but they were so tall geared you had to burn out the clutch every 3rd set of traffic lights as you could exceed 70mph in first gear…they looked good though?The guys who rode those bikes, and I mean ride them, not trailer them to a concours…, are dead. You’re talking about guys in their 20’s and 30’s during the 1950’s and 60’s. We wont see those days again.
I moved from a Vespa Ciao, via a Suzuki ST50, to a Honda CD50 which started a linage… CD50, Ss50, CB550F, CX550 Silverwing, and a GL1200 Gold Wing. Oh, and a Kawasaki Z200 inbetween, which I rode from Swansea to Germany, and back via the Netherlands.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
i was quite happy with my vfr 750 sports tourer which was a good all rounder till i read the road report on the rg500 saying something like "if you drop the clutch with less than 6k on the dial,itl ■■■■ and chug.
if you do a racing start,then alls well till it hits the power band whereupon the clocks will come up and smack you in the face.
this bike is for lunatics,adrenaline freaks,and lobotomy cases…after reading that,i drove 240 miles doen to manchester and bought a new pepsi replica one on the spot.
kept it for 3 months and then wrote it and myself off…job done.
Favourite bikes that I never owned…Kawasaki GPZ900 R…I lusted over that bike 
The throw yer pants at Honda RC30…fantastic!
Also Yamaha RD500 LC…bloody flying machine!
Ones I owned; Top of the shop has got to be the Suzuki TL1000s…you just can’t beat a v-twin bought a set of aftermarket oval sports end cans for that beast…omg what a sound!! 
Also liked my lazy mans motorbike Honda Blackbird. Didn’t matter what gear you had it in, It pulled like a train!
Atm i have Honda VFR800f1 in it’s bed for nearly years 