All great Bikes mentioned in this Topic! Love the EX300 Ninja with the "military" paint job!

Am going to suggest the Suzuki Gladius, the successor to the SV650 ... comfy Roadster ergos ... same Ducati-esque 650cc v-twin as the SV and used Gladiuses (what's plural for Gladius?) can be had cheap with low- mileage.

mpescatori wrote on 10/21/14 at 08:01:25:




See the Cagiva raptor up above ? Frame c/o "the Boys@Ducati"

See the Suzuki SV 650 below ? notice the frame looks like it was welded by a plumber ?  



See the Suzuki Gladius here below ?



Notice the siimilarity between the Cagiva frame and the Gladius frame ?

That's because the boys at Suzuki realized you need an Italian frame to compete with the Big Boys...  

PS Cagiva was Ducati's sister brand for a number of years...

Wow thanks for the info.  Yeah really it's just a case of choice overload.  I don't know about buying anything similar to the savage though.  The type of riding I've enjoyed most lately has been really fast back roads stuff.  I just end up scaring my pants off trying to keep up with the rest of the group on super sports.


Also screw gas mileage
For the amount of fun, no motorcycle will ever cost too much in gas.

I bought an SV650 intending to use it to whup the snot out of a certain sportster that showed up the Savages on our first trip to the Dragon, oh so many years ago.

An SV650 really can hit 120 mph just going down the exit ramp on an interstate .... it is a 74 hp sports bike, a ducati lite in other words.

Handles good, light for the displacement -- a generally excellent bike.

BUT the crotch rocket style seating position puts it out of the riding style that my old bones can stand for very long.

I spent 2 years trying to mod my SV to be more "short old fat person friendly" and was only able to get about half the way there and finally sold it for what I paid for it, selling the modded parts and the original parts  as separate deals to the boy who bought it.

The Gladus was the follow on model, it had less power and still had too much of a crotch rocket seating position.

The NC 700 was of interest until I found it had a VERY tall seat and wasn't able to be modded for much due tot he gas tank position.

The new Kawasaki 650 S cruiser might have more potential since it was DESIGNED to fit different leg lengths, it has a low starting seat height and it is intended for a comfortable cruiser seating position from the very get go.

Since then I have learned how to eat sportsters in the curvies up in the mountains using the Savage, but have also gotten simply too old and too feeble to really like riding all that fast.

runwyrlph wrote on 10/22/14 at 17:32:00:



Ralph, THIS is the ROMAN GLADIUS: used in close quarter combat, its short, heavy blade ate up longer swords and beat the daylights out of clubs and maces.



THIS is the ITALIAN GLADIUS: an underground paramilitary organization kept in "sleeper" mode lest the Warsaw Pact were to become aggressive.



Also known as "Operation Stay Behind".

When somebody blew the whistle, the Italian Communist Party literally sh!t its pants. Good as their intelligence was, they had no idea...