I WANT ONE!!!!!!!

Hello qslim. Didn't you join the military? It's good to see you back. Tell us how it is going for you.

I think it was Hachiroku who stated:

SWEET!

Almost exactly my first motorcycle. Only mine was the Kawasaki version; a RED KZ440. Either one will out-accelerate most cars on the highway and they're a LOT more fun in the twisties! (Assuming a reasonably talented rider, that is . . . . )

They don't do so well when the snow comes, though. One disadvantage of living in Minnesota.

-D

-- Pooder approved this post . . . .

Well, that wasn't 'mine', but that's what I had.

I had it for one summer. After almost getting wiped by idiots FIVE times in ONE Sunday afternoon, I decided 4 wheels was better.

The only thing faster I ever rode was a Kawi 500 Triple. Whoooo! I thought my hreakin feet were going to go flapping in the breeze! What a rush!

So, I took the money from selling the RD and bought:

figured I'd fair better against the bears and the wolves than the idiots on the roads!

So are you saying that qslim was being sarcastic?

There was also a Kaw 750 triple that was even faster (the H-2?). Suzuki also had some, I think the prefix was GT. I seem to remember a weird displacement on one of them, the GT380, but it's been a long time.

Most of these were horrible at handling. They had to put on steering dampers to keep them from being tank-slappers, and it didn't quite control it.

I think the Yamaha RD series bikes handled a bit better, but they also didn't seem to offer as much raw horsepower. Most of them had really short wheelbases too.

I almost bought a Yammie RD400 Bonneville Special in '79. It was the last of the 2-stroke street bikes. I bought an XS650 instead and I think I made the right decision overall.

I don't remember any of the KZ series bikes being 2-strokes, so I don't see how the KZ440 could have been the "Kawasaki version" of the RD400. ???

The KZ440 was later anyway. The KZ400 would have been closer in age to the RD400.

I suppose you could say that the Yamaha XS400 was the Yamaha version of the KZ440. :-)

I had a friend that got killed on one of these... Going to fast, with the sun behind him, and another friend of mine's sister took a turn right in front of him. She never saw him because of the sun, a dip in the road, etc.

They estimated he was doing about 130.

It was a light, flickable bike with a ton of tourque, and when you got on the pipe it went plenty fast enough!

OMG...that's bigger (more displacement) than my first Corolla, and considereing how modern it is (the Corolla 1200 put out about 65 HP) I can't even imagine it...

I've been a good boy this year, hope Santa brings me one (maybe two)!

Nice!

later,

tom @

Me TOO! I'll settle for one!

Yeah. I think he was around for the tail end of the Supras, the hot Corollas, the MR2's, etc, and I have to say I agree with him. They don't make anything even remotely 'exciting' (or, as exciting as Toyota gets. They've always been somewhat conservative in their engineering. I think they go for reliability more than gut wrenching power)

All of the 'cool' cars are gone, the Celica 'died' this year, the Supra's been gone for a few, the MR2 got hacked, all they have now are Mom cars and the Avalon. The closest they come right now to any kind of driving enjoyment is the Lexus um...420SC? Can't remember...I know it's called the Soarer in Japan, and the Scion tC, and even that isn't as sporty as my '85 Corolla GTS. Close; it would prolly smoke the Corolla in the 1/4, but it just doesn't have the /'feel'/ !!!

They're like the Buick of the Japanese automakers!

I dont even want to be taken to the grave in a plain competent car, I'll be annoyed if i get a plain black oversized estate car!

Try this:

Or add a turbo kit and go for 400hp in a 500kg car :) Now THAT is fun. And cheap.

I prefer 4 wheels.

The SC 430.

I agree that Toyota could use something like the WRX to spice things up. Maybe their racing efforts will trickle down to their production cars?

Nifty! I've always liked the Seven anyway. A neighbor had one when I was a kid and then there was the one on The Prisoner. :-)