Another cool Top 10 list…

Here’s another top 10 list from one of my favorite magazines, Motorcycle.com, and it’s on the top 10 cult bikes of the modern era.   Nope, we’re not on that list (yet), but I’m predicting within a few years the RX3 will make it.   We’ve already made a couple of Motorcycle.com’s top 10 lists for the best value in all of motorcycling.   I think we’re probably too new to be considered a cult bike, but I’m sure it’s going to happen.  You just don’t meet RX3 owners who aren’t passionate about their bikes (with good reason, I might add).   The combination of the RX3’s passionate following and its iconic appearance, I think, have already made it a cult bike.

The KLR 650 made the Motorcycle.com cult bike list, and there’s no denying that the KLR belongs there.  I owned a KLR for 10 years (I just sold it this year).  It was a good bike, but (and you knew I was going to say this), I like my RX3 better.  I just wasn’t riding the KLR anymore, and it needed to go to someone who would enjoy it.

My old KLR, somewhere in Baja.

Two of the bikes on the top 10 cult list are bikes I would like to own someday.  Well, sort of.   One is the Honda GB500.  That’s a Honda 500cc single (it’s been out of production for some time) styled like a British classic bike, and I think it just looks cool.   They are a bit pricey, but if the right one came along, I’d be a player.

The Honda GB500.

My “sort of” comment above pertains to the Buell Ulysses, another bike that made the Motorcycle.com list.  I’m not a big fan of the Ulysses (although they look and sound cool).  My cup of tea is their streetfighter model, the Lightning.  I test rode one when they were new and took a pass, but I’m thinking now if I could find a Lightning at the right price (especially in that translucent orange color…it’s awesome), I’d go for it.

A Buell Lightning.

Ah, well, I can dream.  When I test rode the Buell a good 15 years ago, it felt like the wheelbase was too short, the bike felt a bit twitchy, and the noise when the rear cylinder cooling fan switched on was unnerving (a band-aid corrective action if ever there was one), but the exhaust note and the overall appearance of the thing was just flat cool.   Maybe I’ll take a gander at CycleTrader later today.   Don’t tell my wife…