South West Bikers | Motorcycle Forum

Right , here it is ...........The top five bike manufacturers of all time are :

1 Harley Davidson - without doubt , the daddy of em all .
2 Triumph - ask those w.....s , called mods , about THE rockers bike .
3 Norton - british ... say no more .
4 Kawasaki - any model ....fast as f..k .
5 Victory - Harley wannabes , but still cool bikes .

Daddy of useless crap motorcycles maybe?

Need to have Ducati and KTM somewhere up there. Kind of hard to have any one of the big jap four without the others.

i'd go one further and say daddy and mother of all useless crap motorcycles


Actually they do an all matt black one that I quite like, for my more “don’t want to go fast round corners “ moments

No one has been making Bikes successfully, for as long as Harley has, so has to be at the top of the list. Kawasaki have made some legendary bikes, definitely in the top five. My mate use to have a commando we rode it around the Isle of Skye (when we wasnt fixing it ) some 20 years ago when we was working up there, superb bike, has to be in the top five. As for any other bikes to be in a Top Five, i dont know ............or care as long as these three manufacturers are Oh yea! i took my 76, CB 400 4 up to Skye fantastic little bike, wish i never sold it but needed the money

No one has been making Bikes successfully, for as long as Harley has

if you define success by sales, then probably yes. I mean the fact they convince someone to buy a 20k lump of chrome that handles like a tractor, well, that has to be a success

but in terms of engineering and desgin...not so much.

Tom L wrote:

No one has been making Bikes successfully, for as long as Harley has

if you define success by sales, then probably yes. I mean the fact they convince someone to buy a 20k lump of chrome that handles like a tractor, well, that has to be a success

but in terms of engineering and desgin...not so much.

yeh they sell bucket loads but they sell the image - thats why you can also buy your Hardley lighter/underpants/aftershave etc...hell my cat even had a Hardley neck collar (my misses bought it as a joke )

If you accept their bikes for what they are (chrome infested peices of vulgar tacky jewellery) they cant be beat and as a business concern or an excercise in marketing they have got to be top dog.

but as motorcycle maunfacturers they fail on almost every level.

was that a poll taken amongst leather clad wearing homos that live on straight roads with surfaces like bowling greens by any chance ? Hardlys serve one purpose - mid life crisis. Other than that have no practical use. Mind you i would like to see a rossi/stoner race with them both on fatboys or 883's

mate, two of your top five went out of business years ago in the truest sense, and mark their spot wherever they park with a drop of the old black stuff; and two of them have flagship models where a separate gearbox is powered by a giant rubber band

seriously though how can you draw up a list like this when there are so many factors? How can you leave the make off the list who invented the race rep with the gsxr750f endurance, or that brought such mental bikes as the rgv250 or 500 gamma, k-series gsxr's or Busa? Or similarly the make that gave us the RD250/350/500 or R1's? Saying that what brit bike afficionado could leave BSA or Ariel off this list? Much as I loathe to say it, H*nda brought out the first SOCH fours, and bikes like the Blade and CBX1000 (although they otherwise have a lot to answer for - maggits ft500s or wet dreams anyone??) so does that earn them a place on the list? what about our italian friends - for all the talk of dodgy electrics, high servicing costs and unreliability Ducati did bring us the iconic bike of the late 20th centuary in the 916...

what do you want on the list? commercial success? Consistent engineering triumphs? Or just the marque that you would most want your mates to see you arrive on at the pub?

Revised top 5:

1: Honda - Largest market share in europe, gave us the Blade, RC30, RC45, NC30, VFR etc. Best build quality.
2: Yamaha - Gave us the R1, R6, RD (various sizes, all good), 0W01.
3: Ducati - For sheer design beauty, 916/996/998 and of course the 1098 & 848, overlooking crap electrics
4: Suzuki - for the madness that is the GSXR range, and of course the RG & RGv
5: KTM - for incredible motocrossers, the awesome handling RS250, the great RSV, and the hooligan Tuono.

Fundamentally all of the above manufacturers make great bikes that actually excell in some area of PERFORMANCE. Admitedly the first list features some much better options if you wish to plow a field, or cover the nations roads in oil, or if you just have a strange polishing fettish!

Oh, by the way, not saying anything bad about Kawasaki or Triumph, just think the others are more noteworthy. That said the KR1 definately deserves a mention as does the 675 & 1050 Speed Triple.

chris_1127 wrote:what about our italian friends - for all the talk of dodgy electrics, high servicing costs and unreliability Ducati did bring us the iconic bike of the late 20th centuary in the 916...

As much as I dont like twins - You would have to have Ducati on any proper list if it was to be taken seriously. They are still in the here and now - but they retain a sense of their history whilst moving bike development on, they have a race history that spans right up to present and is absolutely top of the pile. They have an individuality that is beyond the scope of any other manufacturer. As well as off the back of thier race success , like Hardley they sell alot of units through clever marketing and image to people that dont really know that much about bikes - unlike hardley they also make decent motorcycles to back it up though.

Bladerunner wrote: 5: KTM - for incredible motocrossers, the awesome handling RS250, the great RSV, and the hooligan Tuono.

your getting your makes a bit confused

jason wrote:

Bladerunner wrote: 5: KTM - for incredible motocrossers, the awesome handling RS250, the great RSV, and the hooligan Tuono.

your getting your makes a bit confused

DOH!!!

I was struggling to decide between KTM & Aprilia! Think it would have to be KTM for their crossers and the Superduke!

Bladerunner wrote:Revised top 5:


2: Yamaha - Gave us the R1, R6, RD (various sizes, all good), 0W01.

Not to mention inovation ie: TDR250, GTS1000, V-Max, 5-valve motors. Not always a great sales sucess but ideas way ahead of their time.

KTM - small & brave enough to be different (plus build quality), even tough I'm biased I still don't think they rate in the top 5 (yet!).

As much as I'd hate to say it, what about BMW, historically advance in using superchargers, telescopic forks and now their tele-lever design, shaft-drive, aerodynamics etc. A manufacturer now having to be very inovative to throw off a 'boring' image.

Bladerunner wrote:Revised top 5:

1: Honda - Largest market share in europe, gave us the Blade, RC30, RC45, NC30, VFR etc. Best build quality.
2: Yamaha - Gave us the R1, R6, RD (various sizes, all good), 0W01.
3: Ducati - For sheer design beauty, 916/996/998 and of course the 1098 & 848, overlooking crap electrics
4: Suzuki - for the madness that is the GSXR range, and of course the RG & RGv
5: KTM - for incredible motocrossers, the awesome handling RS250, the great RSV, and the hooligan Tuono.

Fundamentally all of the above manufacturers make great bikes that actually excell in some area of PERFORMANCE. Admitedly the first list features some much better options if you wish to plow a field, or cover the nations roads in oil, or if you just have a strange polishing fetish!

Oh, by the way, not saying anything bad about Kawasaki or Triumph, just think the others are more noteworthy. That said the KR1 definately deserves a mention as does the 675 & 1050 Speed Triple.

i wouldn't put honda top

they have been selling underpowered bikes for years n years
even the new 08 blade is no match for the GSXR1000 or zx10r or R1 and the 600 no one use it in stock 600 cos it to slow
they have build quality thats about it
and the reason they have the largest market share is because of the cub`s 50 , 70 , 90 ect not quite top of the range