Brand loyalty

[Hillsy]

There's been a fair bit of (mostly good natured) ribbing about people's choice of ride on this site, just wondering if there's anything deeper / more significant than the obvious "mine's better than yours" thing?
For me, I've owned bikes from all the Big Four, and I don't think there's a great deal of difference between the products nowadays (especially when you compare R1, Gix Thou, Blade, ZX10R) to warrant any "loyalty" to one particular brand??

Your thoughts, wise folk.......

Fuggen hippified commie. The Big K has always been best, the rest of you are just followers. :D

But gotta admit, even I think the R1's are pretty good. While Kawasaki and Suzuki certainly dominated back in the 80's when it came to solid powerhouses, I think you're right when it comes to the modern era, they all produce pretty outstanding machinery. Even Triumph is getting up there as well, may not have cutting edge track weapons, but they're turning out some damned fine road machines.

[chopiesel]

the kwaka thou bikes of late build quality really sucks. and the gixxers are just plain fuglafied. for me the r1 has it all, best looks and performance to match.

[megareg]

I guess I'm a Suzuki fan, I've had 6, although I like my Laverda's, with the new crotch rockets now, they all look the same, at least the Kat stands out in a crowd... if it didn't have a badge on it saying what brand it is, I'm lost.... but then I'm an old fart.. what would I know!!

[TurboKat]

quote:Originally posted by chalk10

Fuggen hippified commie. The Big K has always been best, the rest of you are just followers. :D

Werd 'em up Homie. [^]

[Hillsy]

quote:Originally posted by turbokat


quote:Originally posted by chalk10

Fuggen hippified commie. The Big K has always been best, the rest of you are just followers. :D

Werd 'em up Homie. [^]


Hey - I can afford to be a hippified commie - I've got a Kwaka.....[:p][:p]

quote:Originally posted by Hillsy


quote:Originally posted by turbokat


quote:Originally posted by chalk10

Fuggen hippified commie. The Big K has always been best, the rest of you are just followers. :D

Werd 'em up Homie. [^]


Hey - I can afford to be a hippified commie - I've got a Kwaka.....[:p][:p]


Then time to wise up mate, you're one of the Master Race(rs), more fuck'em attitude needed mate :D

[devo]

I have to confess I am a Suzuki loyalist but we may put shit on the others but at the end of the day we still get kick arse pleasure from them .
I apart from racing early cb72's and a nice matchless for a fellow and some yamaha's I still go back to the Suzuki's.
I have owned my share of Kwakas and yep they are bullet proof
but still keep them maintained and any bike will be a good bike.

[Benz]

Well...I own a 7/11 Gixxer, and a GPZ750 turbo. I've owned 2 RD 350's,a Ducat860 GTS, a GPZ1100A2,an '88 1100 slabbie, built a Katana dragbike, built a Z1Rmark2 from the ground up.... so my loyalty is a bit divided, to say the least!
My real preference is to a bike that is comfortable to ride over distance, doesn't fuggen break down every other day, and can commute as well as tear up the tarmac when I feel like it...
My personal choice is the BIG K........
but you gotta respect the grunt from an 1100 oilboiler!!
Pity they couldn't make gixxers a bit more road user friendly, they are ALL getting too track focused , in my opinion.
Having said that I'd buy a new Triumph triple if I had the money, even if they don't have as many horses as the jap 4, they sure got torque down low, 1000cc shouldn't have to be revved to 8k or more to perform.

[dazz]

SUZUKI UP OR YA FUCKED:D

[crazymofo]

werd dazz.

owned a couple of kwakas early in the peice. but after dodgy build quality and coolant issues, sold em for a suzuki, never looked back. my gsxf was reliable as an ox, crashed well too :P lol. and my SV sits on redline at full throttle on most ride days i do... still yet to have any issues with it.

another main reason, i love a good box, suzuki have always had great gearboxes. every mate of my who owns R1's have issues with gearbox or clutch and beefing up the clutch in them like one of the blokes i know, would mean other shit would bust LOL!, so wouldnt i bother with them.

theres a fair chance i would "consider" a honda, if they ever brought out a bike that was at least half interesting to look at, and ditched their apparent need to use technology, for the sake of it, all the gizmo's they like to employ just means more shit to go wrong for me lol

triumph have interested me as of late, their new weapons look the shit, and seem to preform quite well.

for me if i was to buy a new bike tomorrow.. it would be an aprillia RSV-r ;)

cheers.joe.

[Cruisecontrol]

Cheap, reliable and look the ducks guts.

Suzuki ticks all the boxes, none others do.

Simple.

[alfiestorm]

Suzuki and Kawasaki for me both 1st place then Triumph followed by Yamaha then sachs, enfield, villiers, bsa, hiyosung ,thumpstar, BMW, Monarch, Zundap, Henderson, Airial, Raliegh oh yeah and Honda :D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D

[Jockney Rebel]

ive destroyed...er owned /ridden most of the big fours 70's and 80's stuff [a few 90's bikes too ]on the streets of london and [ill get caned for this] my VFR 750 s build quality kept it on the road .took the hardest bashing with very little if any maintenance done 150000 miles and is still going strong ...mind you i sold a little gsxr 400 to my ex bro in law and thts reaching its 100000 mark and its still alive
for 2 strokes ...toss uop between yamaha and kwakers ive owned both id have to say the sub 400s go to yamaha but the big smokers ...no substitute for out and out nuts ..kawasaki

the worst .....? 3 XS400 yams i had i needed 3 of em just to keep one on the road paid 50 quid for all three
worked em for 6 months then got the arsehole and sold em to some nutter who collects the XS range for 200 quid

[Zed14]

i have in my possession kawasaki's (the best) suzuki, yamaha.

[Iceman]

I prefer Suzuki, but in saying that the GS has been built using parts from all of the big 4.

[speeddemon]

so like apart from the engine who the fuck here actually has a single brand bike with all parts bins going around on this site like mundys bike:D[:o)]

Suzuki all the way:D

[Jockney Rebel]

def mines definately a yamhonduki

[evad]

Still trying to deceide, only had the z650

for 28 years
lol

[sharky]

Mmmmm SR125,XS650,XS250,XS1100,FJ1200 x 3,FJ1100 X 2,XJR11/12....













Oh and a honda cx500 [xx(]

[War_Hound]

I have Had 4 Kwakas .. all with cooling issues .. Great to ride .. loads of fun "Let the good times roll" but too fussy and soft for my liking. The Hondas .. I agree with Joe onm that one .. too much gadgets (more things to go wrong) emissions sensors in pipes, linked brakes ..., Yamahas .. The only reliable one of those I have seen was a Virago .. I think when it comes to Yamahas all you have to do is go look at there recall lists (some scarey stuff in there) .. Brands outside the big 4 seem to suffer from high running maintinance costs and wait around 4 months for parts ..issues .. So that gets me to Suzuki .. I have owned one.. The GSX750F ... 6 years, 70 000kms from new .. not one issue with it .. 1 dead battery in all that time ... I smashed this bike to bits (bent the frame 7cms) dropped it off a truck into my shed 3 years ago .. and the bloody thing turned over .. It seems to me you just cant kill em.. Not always a fan of the style .. but the other thing they seem to have going for them is they seem (more than any other brand) to have interchangable bitz 8) .. Handy for guys that build fighters 8) .. So Suzuki has won my loyalty through proven performance and reliability 8)

[zx12argh]

My last(first) 3 - were all Kawasaki - great build quality actually - 88 gpz900 2004 zrx1200r 2003 zx12r. My next bike/project is definitely going to be based on a twin sports so looks like I'll have to step out side the kwaka box tho... Probably Suzuki.

Hondas are just too gay.

[Jockney Rebel]

dunno..... u put an 87 VFR up against any of its peers from the late 80s and in real world terms itll give all of em a good run for thier money
V4 ultra light chassis , low maintenance ,100ponys ,good low down torque, what was its competition ?

gsxr750 slabbie great bike but had handlin issues ,and couldnt do long distances due to being uncomfortable i believe,
yamaha FZ750 super complicated engine too heavy,
gpz750r? didnt really mmake it untill they stuck the engine in a decent chssis in 89 the ZXR

[Cruisecontrol]

quote:Originally posted by War_Hound

I think when it comes to Yamahas all you have to do is go look at there recall lists (some scarey stuff in there) ..



Need I say TL?

I loved my TLS but it gave me the shits right and royal having to send it back for a new frame after the original one cracked, but at least the steering damper was fitted stock on the later models...

[Scrapyard]

I've owned and worked on all the big 4 bikes. I can find one bike from everyone that I would love to own and one that I absaloutly despise. I have no brand loyalty. My bike has at least one part from everyone, along with some Korean junk and car parts. There are certine qualities that some brands posess that I lean more towards, but ultimatly I pick out quirks in all of them. It boils down to with I can live with over the others. In the end, Brand loyalty is for the meek, unimaginative, close minded cunts that need to be lead around by there twig and barries to find "their" bike, LOL. I'm kiding. Ride what you like. They'll all wind up a former shell of themselvs after we get our greasy mits on them.

[War_Hound]

Nah Brand Loyalty decides whos VIP tickets you are going to buy for the GP and who your willing to share a beer with LOL .. The TL was before my time with bikes .. they were phasing it out when I started riding I think .. I didnt know about the frame crack and thats a fiar point .. but the screw that falls out in R1's and could lock open the throttle .. thats pretty scarey too .. I thought wow .. but I am sure thats worst case senario.. two weeks later I was talking to a patient on my ward.. I said so what happened man ... I was going round the roundabout outside dreamworld there when the throttle just went on full and the bike ran me into the signpost .. the cops just said I was speeding ... shit.. so what do you ride... I did ride an R1 he replied .. 8) .. problem with my job is I do see the dark side to riding .. I tend to agree with personal preference .. I think if you have used something and its proven itself ..like a helmet in a crash .. or a bike for a lot of kms and years ... you cant help but be attatched to it somewhat

What ward you work on Warhound? I was a nurse in Intellectual disabilities for 10 years.

[War_Hound]

Ward 35 (soon to be ward 23) Greenslopes Private - Orthopedics and Neurosurgery 8)

You'd be providing a few of my clients then.

[TurboKat]

quote:Originally posted by chalk10

I was a nurse with Intellectual disabilities for 10 years.

That explains a lot.

[loosebruce]

My wife used to work at Princess Alexandra in Neuro.
She used to come home and tell me lots of stories about people with smashed in heads.
Usually one of the following,
PFO (Pissed Fell Over)
PGIF (Pissed got into fight)
PRO (Pissed run over)
CRAFT (Can't Remember A Fukn Thing)
FITH (Fukd in the head).
Funny people nurses.
Suzukis RULE.



[:o)]

[War_Hound]

You'd be providing a few of my clients then.

Sorry chalk Iam the new guy here ... scuse the ignorance but what do you do for a living

[ozkat]

I love all brands of bikes, as long as they are Suzuki.

[Hillsy]

quote:Originally posted by ozkat

I love all brands of bikes, as long as they are Suzuki.


Not surprised Oz....not surprised at all....:D

How many have you got in your shed now????

[ozkat]

only 4 1/2 [V]

quote:Originally posted by War_Hound

You'd be providing a few of my clients then.

Sorry chalk Iam the new guy here ... scuse the ignorance but what do you do for a living




I was nursing in Intellectual Disabilities, you know the sort of people who can't read

[Watto]

For me twas Kwakas and Suzi's - never really got into hondas - had a cafe style gpz 750 that I rode from Ballarat to Greensborough every day for about 14 months and it was fair to say it copped a floggin every day and just kept going even when I rode it back to WA

had an 88 gixer 750 which was nice until it and I had a disagreement about which we were going around a corner - needless to say the corner won and the suzi and i parted ways - literally

Went out to by a replacement and thought about puchasing/stripping down a guzzi lemans off a mate but came across a speed triple and was hooked on the howl n still got it :o)

Still wouldn't mind doin a twin tho (hector I'm still eying that 850 MKIII in the back of the shed mate):D

[damo1]

Im going to say Honda just because no one else has and i own one:D

[damo1]

As for Chalky being an itelectually disabled nurse for ten years that could have somthing to do with his desicion on bikes.[:0]:D;)

[pt]

quote:Originally posted by War_Hound

Nah Brand Loyalty decides whos VIP tickets you are going to buy for the GP and who your willing to share a beer with LOL .. The TL was before my time with bikes .. they were phasing it out when I started riding I think .. I didnt know about the frame crack and thats a fiar point .. but the screw that falls out in R1's and could lock open the throttle .. thats pretty scarey too .. I thought wow .. but I am sure thats worst case senario.. two weeks later I was talking to a patient on my ward.. I said so what happened man ... I was going round the roundabout outside dreamworld there when the throttle just went on full and the bike ran me into the signpost .. the cops just said I was speeding ... shit.. so what do you ride... I did ride an R1 he replied .. 8) .. problem with my job is I do see the dark side to riding .. I tend to agree with personal preference .. I think if you have used something and its proven itself ..like a helmet in a crash .. or a bike for a lot of kms and years ... you cant help but be attatched to it somewhat



wow another nurse. i'm still doing my degree, but hopefully finished soon.



as for the real topic, not blindly brand loyal, don't mind yamahas, but suzukis seem to be the best of the bunch[8D]

quote:Originally posted by damo1

As for Chalky being an itelectually disabled nurse for ten years that could have somthing to do with his desicion on bikes.[:0]:D;)


Steady there now Damo, wasn't my bike that inspired a Goatse session just recently now was it? Hmmmmmm? [:0] :D