Because it’s fun to ride.
I am into japanese big blocks…
… but as decisions are not my strongest part, I always keep the backdoor open…
By doing it this way, I have two completely different bikes with the same DNA…
Like that one, does the air cooling work pretty good. How significant is the power loss on hot days?
You won’t feel it - it’s a 1.300 ccm, so you normally have enough power and here in Germany you don’t have so many days above 30°C. Even at that temperature the oil won’t get above 110 °C while cruising at 180 km/h for a long time…
In general you just have to take care in a traffic jam… but in these moments I just take a right and have a shot & a brew…
:+1:
I haven’t ridden a motorcycle since 1982. Seeing all you guys with really cool bikes makes me want to get back into the sport. Oh yes, I do have a motorcycle license.
Edit: The reason why I stopped is a few of my riding buddies were killed, mostly due to their own fault. Still, it scared me enough to stop riding.
Jealous !
TTR would have looked good in the picture.
@Winston Wulf :
I love both your XJRs ! I went for the 1200 because of my budget, and old versions are more couple-friendly (my wife and I are really into travelling with two-wheels !)
Love the Valkrie!
Cambodia on my Honda CRF250, November 2017.
Same day at around 10 PM and still 4 1/2 hours to go. 
Did you do your own tour Icarus?
Yes sir.
My rented Royal Enfield Bullet 500cc motorcycle just before the start of a 1 month journey in October 2016 in Nepal.
On the way from Dulikhel to Janakpur on the Banepa Bardibas Highway. Construction started in November 1996 with a grant assistance of the Japanese government and has been handed over to the Nepalese government in July 2015. It links Kathmandu Valley with the Eastern Terrai over a length of 158 km and reduces the journey from Kathmandu to Bardibas by at least 200 km.
It sounds like you have had some really nice adventures Icarus. I love the way you got your knees down on the CRF250. I’d have fallen of in all that mud. 
I can assure you I had. :sunglasses:
I got down also but before that picture was taken I sunk into the mud until my knees.
Look how the wheels are covered in mud. Three people had to help me to pull the bike out.
When I joined I mentioned something about "...yet another expensive hobby". I hereby present my main "expensive hobby": motorcycles.
I'm blessed to have a lovely wife who is also a Rider. She's been on my six (and occasionally on my twelve) for more than 80,000 miles while astride three different bikes of her own. Wife & I are long-time motorcycle enthusiasts. She encourages me to buy bikes, and will happily discard excess Christmas stuff to make room in our basement workshop for more bikes, as long as she has something to ride!
First two are our His-n-Hers '93 CB750 Nighthawks bought new as a pair in 1993. '93 was the only year in a 12 yr. CB750 Nighthawk production run that Honda made the Nighthawks in two colors. Only changes we've made are color-matched Targa fairings. Otherwise they're box stock, both showing more than 65,000 miles. Reliable as anvils.
She insists that her Candy Metallic Red Nighthawk is "prettier" and faster. Rubbish I say! My Candy Tahitian Blue Nighthawk is clearly more handsome, and undoubtedly quicker.
Her Hawk. She "claims" HerHawk is prettier & faster. I have ended up chasing her tail light a few times when I haven't been paying attention & she just whips right past me...
His Hawk. My unshakeable position is that HisHawk is more handsome and quicker.
Our 2009 Honda ST1300A. Pan European to our friends across the pond. It's really my wife's bike. I'm just the lowly chauffeur, tasked with spiriting M'Lady safely across the land & into adventure. We were somewhere south of Pueblo, Colorado when this pic was taken.
We collect & restore vintage Kawasaki Z1's. This is where our real passion lies, and where the "expensive" part of the hobby really makes itself known. Wife has not only succumbed to the vintage bike bug, she's become a very good mechanic's helper in her own right. I've learned not to get between her and a fastener needing tightened when she's wielding a torque wrench.
In order of acquisition:
1974 Z1A. My first Z1, aka His Z. Bought new in 1974. Keeping it as a period custom. I've done nothing to this bike that can't be undone in a day and put back to stock appearance. Original factory paint. Me and her did lots of courtin' and sparkin' on this bike 
. Lovingly referred to as One of Six.
1975 Z1B. Her Z. Two of Six. From this bike my wife got her nickname: The Lovely Z1BEBE. We are third owners. Local find in the newspaper classifieds. Period custom. A stock Z1 is tall for a street bike. Suspension and seat modified to fit her better by lowering the overall seat height. This bike has the most pronounced primary gear whine I've ever heard from a Z1. I ride it sometimes just to listen to the music. It's a perk of being her wrench 
. Original factory paint.
1974 Z1A. Three of Six. Third owners. Local word-of-mouth find. As close to box stock as the current parts situation will allow. Factory paint.
1973 (late '72 manufacture date) Z1. Four of Six. Barn find. Had been in a flood during over a decade of barn storage. Z1BEBE secretly thought I'd lost my mind the first time she saw it, but I could see the diamond in the rough. An intense, daily 18 month restoration effort. Original factory paint (!). We spent hundreds of hours bringing the paint back from the brink by gently rubbing it out with jewelers rouge. As close to box stock as the current parts situation will allow. One of our favorite toys.
1975 Z1B. Five of Six. eBay find. History unknown. As close to box stock as current parts supply allows. NOS factory paint set.
1973 (late '72 manufacture date) Z1. Six of Six. History unknown. This is the bike that completed a two-decade goal for us - a complete production set of Kawasaki Z-1's. Found it in a dingy New York warehouse. There was just this one eensy-weensy little problem; it was a basket case. Bare frame, two partial motors (one of which has the correct #'s for this frame), over two dozen boxes of disorganized, grimy parts. Guy I bought it from wasn't the one who took it apart, but he said the guy who did was pretty sure all the parts were probably still all there. He thought. So me & Z1BEBE are standing there in this ancient, dimly-lit warehouse in Marion, NY, hundreds of miles from home looking at a piles of parts & boxes. I'm thinking about the sheer scale to the project confronting me when she says "I think we should buy it!" 
That's probably still echoing in that warehouse to this day. And so began the project that became known as "The Seven Year _itch". We could have probably gotten it done in three years, more or less, but life sorta kept getting in the way during this project. Almost all of the correctly date-coded parts were eventually found in the many boxes that accompanied the frame & motors. We touched every part of this bike, from the crank & tranny to the smallest washers and electrical bits, cleaning, painting, refurbishing and, occasionally, bleeding along the way. Aftermarket paint set imported from Japan for this project.
If you buy a bike, it's yours. If you build a bike, it's even more yours.
The Z1 family photo. This photo predates Six of Six, so it doesn't appear. We need to do a new family photo, but it's sort of a PITA to get all the Z1's out of the basement at once.
And now, for your viewing pleasure, a bit of universal truth. Or, Life Explained.
slmjim
Very nice slmjim. Some beauties you have.
simjim, that 1974 Z1A, man does that bring back memories! and the man/woman analogy at the end of your post is pure genius 
What an amazing story from someone who has an even more amazing wife. I take my hat of to your efforts and the collection you have built is second to none. If I’m ever fortunate enough to be in your area and your willing I’d love to visit slmjim. Well done. 