So...what's up with street bikes?

I know this question has probably been asked in a thousand different ways but no previous resolved question has really answered my question. So...who's better 'Kawasaki's, Suzuki's, Honda's, or Yamaha's? And why? And how come Buell's and Triumphs don't get as much attention? And is the Ducati like the Mercedez Benz of bikes? And what about BMW? I just really need to know the place of these bikes. Who's the best? Do certain types of people go for certain types of bikes?.....like do jocks like 'Zuki's and ex-cons like Yamaha's? I'm just trying to get a grip on the whole thing.

Well the big four are all Japanese and are known for cutting edge performance, style, and value. With the big four, you know you are getting a bike that is a good price for that style of bike. You aren鈥檛 buying something exotic because everyone with 10 grand can buy one. They all have bikes in similar sizes, prices, like 600cc's and 1,000cc so they are easy to compare between them. A lot of people will classify Honda's as being wide and predictable, Yamaha's as quick but twichy, Suzuki as the stunter bike, and kawa's as well, green. I Kawa鈥檚 they are least popular of the four. Unless you're splitting hairs, they are all great bikes no matter what current magazine says. Does it really matter that one bike has 172.5 HP and another 173 HP? Buy what feels good sitting on it and rides well if you get a change to test ride a few. Ducati's, some people love them, some other people think they cost too much for what you get. BMW, I think of dual purpose touring upright style bike with good ergonomics. Who鈥檚 best is a matter of opinion. They all have their ups and downs. For every brand, you can fine people who are loyal to it. More important than brand if you鈥檙e not familiar with motorcycles, is which style of bike you want to ride. From rockets, to standards, to dual sports, touring, cruisers, and everything in between, they all are unique. Ride what suits you. Absolutely certain type of people go for certain bikes. More, certain groups of people tend to go for certain styles of bikes. How many 80 year old guys do you see on crotch rockets? How many 20 year olds do you see on BMW set up for touring and how many guys in their 50鈥檚 with tattoos and white beards do you see on either of those? Stereotypically, Jocks like to stunt Honda F4i's and "Gixxers" and ex-cons like Harleys. It's easy to figure out. Go hang out at a few bike shows and see the type of people looking certain bikes. You can even do this at a large dealer or local bike hangout. Then try to spot all the 鈥減osers鈥?trying to fit into a certain group to be cool. It's comical.

Actually, they are all excellent bikes. However, I can't really speak too much about Buells. Buells and Triumphs are rare. Buell is now owned by Harley Davidson and just aren't promoted as much as H-D, of course Buell would be H-D's line of sport, standard/street, and adventure bikes.
Triumph is a European company that caters more to the cruiser market.

Kawasaki, Suzuki, Honda, and Yamaha all a line of sports bikes and cruisers. Kawasaki, Honda, and Suzuki have dirt bikes and adventure bikes. These Japanese manufacturers all build excellent motorcycles and you never really hear anything bad about them. When it comes to sports bikes, you'll find people talking about the pros and cons of the different small, mid-sized, and super sports. I think the same kinds of people that like Zuki's would also like Honda, Yahama, or Kawasaki. I believe Kawa, Zuki, and Honda are more known for their sports bikes although Yamaha get plenty of attention.

Ducati in a since would be more of a Ferrari or Lamborghini, than Mercedez, of bikes. They are expensive superbikes and are well built for sport. Then you have Moto Guzzi, another high end bike but not as expensive and most of their bikes (street/sport) are air cooled, so perhaps they are meant more for long winding mountain roads than urban adventure. Aprilia's may also fit into that Ducati and Moto Guzzi image.

BMW has bikes that cater to everyone except the cruiser market. They have sport/super sport, touring, street/standard, sport touring, adventure, dual sport, off road and are reasonably priced for well built and feature-full bikes.

Harley Davidson's cruisers/customs are a higher end market and tend to attract a certain crowd of people that want a particular image and a well built bike, which they are.

If you want an ultimate touring bike, you'd look at a Honda (Goldwing) and BMW has a model that competes with the Goldwing, but is more rare than the Honda.

Basically, it all boils down to what you want to spend, what type of bike you want, image you are looking for, what you know about the various bikes and manufacturers, etc.

The jocks and ex-con and other types of people (while I think you were joking) spread across most of the brands but the rarer bikes don't tend to attract many people, hence them being rare. You aren't going to see too many Ducati's, Moto Guzzi's, Buell's, or Triumphs on the road, at least here in the US. They are out there, just not as 'en masse' as the Japanese manufacturers, H-D, or BMW.

Hope that was informative enough.

By street bike I'm assuming you mean sport bike. If you didn't, this answer might not be useful. Also, this answer makes a great many generalizations, which are useful because you know nothing, but will become less useful the more you learn.

If you're trying to get the broadest, simplest overview of the sport bike market, there are more quality differences between different bikes manufacturers produce than between manufacturers themselves. Also, within displacement ranges (discussed later) the skill of the rider is vastly more important than the manufacturer of the bike.

As far as who rides what, the biggest divide is between those who ride sportbikes and those who don't. Keep that in mind as you continue. Further separation is by displacement (power) of the engine. There are three general displacement ranges, each being plus/minus 100cc.

250cc (cubic centimeters) is considered entry-level and commuter use, although there are some 250 cc racing circuits. Despite what some idiots say, there is zero shame in starting on a 250, and in fact it will make you a better rider in the long run. Kawasaki has traditionally been the dominant manufacturer for this range, with the Ninja 250R.

The 600cc range is what I would call the 'typical' sport bike market. It's powerful enough for regular highway travel and serious, professional racing, but it's also relatively light, inexpensive, etc. You will never need anything more powerful than a 600cc motorcycle. Although people will disagree, Honda's CBR600RR is currently the closest thing to a reigning champ in the 600cc range, followed closely by Yamaha and Suzuki. Kawasaki's offering in this category is currently garbage. See how it goes?

The 1000cc range is the biggest it gets in sport bikes. Any bigger and you're into touring bikes, which are for long road trips and not racing. 1000cc bikes are both frighteningly powerful and utterly unforgiving of rider error. If you don't know exactly what you're doing, a 1000cc bike will kill you. If you do, 1000cc bikes can be rewarding to ride. I don't know what the best bike is in this range, but forgive me if I say it really shouldn't matter to you just yet, anyway.

Yes, Ducati is basically the Mercedes of bikes. Like Mercedes, it's possible to put too much stock in the name on the side. I guarantee you that no matter who you ride with, you'll get more respect for riding like a pro than for buying their bike. A lot more.

Triumph doesn't get much attention because the company collapsed in the 80's and is only now making a comeback. Buell only got started in the 80's, and as far as I know has yet to make a significant dent in the sportbike market, thus no one talks about them.

You鈥檙e missing the most exciting manufacturer 鈥?KTM. Very few concept bikes go onto production without attracting the attention of bean-counters and marketing departments, not the case here. Although mostly known for off-road and adventure bikes, the new RC8 鈥?looks fantastic, has genuine, usable adjustability, brilliant build quality. Seems to me that Buell is the only other large-scale manufacturer that has (or possibly had) a drive to progress the basic form of motorcycles. Ultimately the RC8 will probably go down as exotica but other manufacturers already copy styling and design decisions from other KTM bikes and I hope the ease and range of adjustability will spread to other manufacturers.

>鈥淭riumph is a European company that caters more to the cruiser market.鈥?
That would be British and obviously you haven't looked at the model range recently, although it could be that Triumph views the cruiser market one easier to break into in USA.

like asking which kind of women we like all diffrent reasons and types

You should ride the new bike from Mexico. It's the ElGayo 69cc

its all on what u prefer like zukis gsxr are good bikes but i think the are too common, and Honda's i don't know much about, Yamaha's are good bikes they are what i prefer next to ducatis, and yeah ducatis are more like the....ferraris of the bunch, and about the buells and triumphs, i love buells i love the way they are designed but the arnt very common and ive only ever seen 1 triumph in my life it was like a older model,
so like i said man its really about wat designs u like and how your style of riding is.

I have had a new Yamaha TX 650 A - reliable and put 90,000 on it with out a break down Sold it

A Honda new CB 380 and loved it put over 55,000 on it Sold it

A new Harley XLCH 1200 nice but only a little more that 13,000 on it Sold it

Another new Sporter XLH 1200 last year of motor to frame mount okay but ?? Tired of the sissy bike comments Got 36,000 on it Still have it
Because of the criticism form other Harley riders Harley Sucks. Just because I don't have $20,000 to spend on a motorcycle.

Got a new 2006 VTX 1300c Prime of all the bikes I have owned period Got 48,000 on this one and it is my ride of choice. Still have it
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Honda- most reliable, limited and outdated models
Yamaha- reliable, made simple, easy to fix, they offer more model choices and the Yamaha Star line of street bikes exceed any other model
Suzuki- reliable, but cheaply made and generic, a lower cost bike than Honda or Yamaha but you get less
Kawasaki- I see Kawasaki as the exact same bikes as Suzuki, they share common parts as Suzuki, they don't change their bikes year to year, many models are the same now as they were 10 years ago.
BMW- top of the line touring bikes, quiet, smooth, but are very expensive and these bikes require more maintenance and are over double the price as Japanese bikes.
Ducati- the fastest bikes, but are also very expensive and when they break down cost a fortune to fix.
Triumph- they have serious fuel injection issues that dealers can't fix , Triumph dealers expect their customers to beg them to fix their bikes.

Don't rely on YA to tell you which is best. You need to swing a leg over the bike that fits your size .. etc and fits the kinda riding you do.

I'm a kawasaki man. Just always liked their dirt bikes and the ninja. Buell's are good bikes, i just don't care for the way they look. Yamaha's are good. Brother in law has a 07 zr1. All depandson what you like i guess. I have a 07 zx-6r ninja an so far it's been a good bike. Triumps an bmw's are expensive as so are ducati's. Get the colar you like an go with that.