Are you a bike brand loyalist?

For dirt bikes I was strictly Austrian for 25 years. Since the financial fiasco and screwing over their suppliers .30c on the dollar, I will never buy another Austrian bike again. Just got a Beta 430RR 6 weeks ago.

I’m a Honda guy, but I might add a Ducati to the fleet. 

Every bike I’ve ever had was a Yamaha and they’ve all been bullet proof. I had buddies with kawasakis, and suzukis that were blowing up constantly and that’s always scared me away from those brands. I’ve ridden a KTM once or twice and just didn’t like the feel of it. Something about the YZ just fits me, though I do wish the 450 was just a tad narrower

KTM since 94 unbelievable.

Curious, being near Baton Rouge do you have a Kawi dealer you normally deal with?

I started on a Yamaha but I’m most comfortable on Kawis so I stick with Team Green because the bikes just fit me and I feel most confident on them.

For 2 strokes I go Yamaha since it’s the only Japanese OEM that makes 2 strokes.

I’ve considered an Austrian 2 stroke but they just cost too much and I like how easy it is to get parts for a YZ250

Not at all

Go in phases, had Suzukis for the longest time, a couple kawi, then had Yamaha for a long time. Now have standardized on KTM minus the pitter. Just nice to have spares when sticking with same brand

Local shop loyalty for me. Honda or suzuki sense 2002. They always treat me right I have purchased 12 or 13 new bikes from them over the years

When I raced i was loyal to my locally owned dealership.  

I bought an 87, 90, 92 and then after a gap 02 Yamaha YZ 250s from him.

Being that he is retired and if  I was to get another bike I would get a Honda 250 from JMC motorsports.

So no, I am not brand loyal but dealership loyal. 

Honda or Yamaha only for build quality and resale value. Wouldnt touch any other brand. 

Maico all the way! LOL

Current garage has a Gas Gas, KTM, Suzuki, and Yamaha. I've also owned a Kawasaki and a Honda, with my first bike being a fun off-brand called "yamoto". 

Not brand loyal, just like to look for the bike that's best for me, has a reasonable price, and that I like. 

I've liked all the brands I have owned, well, outside of the "yamoto" 😂

Nope…Love em ALL! Every color is GREAT! 😝

Been riding/racing moto (as a hobby!) since my first bike on my 8th birthday in 1973 and there are very few bikes I’ve owned over these past 50+ years that I don’t wish that I still had! (That 1986 KX250 was definitely a dud!)
I do prefer to stick with a good shop too though, and lucky for me, my two favorite shops sold Honda & Suzuki at one, KTM & Kawasaki at the other! AND the best Yamaha shop around, (although long out of the business now) ran the local MX track for many years too! It was a good time to be a moto-fanatic here in the Land 0’ the redneck! (that is Oklahoma! ha! 🤪)

ALL moto-bikes MATTER! 😎 👍❗️

No. I’ve had every bike except Yamaha and I’m about to get a YZ250F soon.

I wasn’t brand loyal in 98 I had  a 98 Rm I rode the most . A 97 yz125 Noleen Jeff Wiloh,s was 1st , a 98 yz250’i hated that bike i don’t think I owned it 3 months.  91 cr250 I liked a lot and a 95 yz125 NCY Pedro,s sx bike I wish I would ve kept . All at the same time .  1st bike 87 cr125 purchased on my birthday 11-18-89 , because it was a dominate bike.  2nd bike new 92 RM125 not as fast but easy & fun to ride. Then bikes listed above.  Then a 01 RM 125 new .  Went to dealer in 06 to buy a rm125 , I left with a 04 cr125 2,995 out the door .  I wished I had bought a honda earlier it’s by far the best bike of them all or other brands I rode .  I didn’t like the 02 cr when it came out either .  Then 2 06 cr125,s they & the 04 where stolen in 13.   In 2021 I got another 04 cr125 then 2 more & a 05 I sold that.  I love these bikes I never thought of being loyal to a brand but I guess I.am now .

This topic is making me laugh at myself because I absolutely consider myself a Honda guy, always have and always will….Yet I haven’t owned a Honda for myself since 2012 😳.  But I grew up on them, from age 3-28 the only bikes I rode where red. Then in 2012 the new Kawi 450 won every shootout and once RV switched to it in outdoors he was crushing it. So it seemed like “the bike” I decided after 25 year on red I should try something else, I legit lasted 4 months on the green pos, after 15 hours the bike was roached, it handled like a turd and I crashed it more in 4 months and then I did in four years on a Honda. 

 My brother-in-law happened to work for Suzuki at the time and I scored a brand new 2012 RMZ 450 for four grand, I couldn’t pass that price up and I absolutely love that bike. So them I was rm army until for while, eventually owning a 2016 rmz450 and a 2006 rm250. After eight months of having both bikes and legitimately not riding the 450 at all, I knew I was a two stroke guy, I of course had more fun on the two-stroke because they are more fun to ride, but I was also somehow faster on it. 

With KTM making the 2017 250 two stroke a true modern developed two stroke, I had to switch to them. I owned 7 of their 250’s making them all 300’s. Still to this day I consider the fuel injected 300 cc two-stroke to be the ultimate motocross bike. It retains all the fun characteristics of a two-stroke, but has the easy to ride characteristics of 450. However, both  24 and 25 were plagued with electrical issues it obvious that Ktm didn’t fully develop those bikes to be ready to be sold to consumers.

 Still wanting to ride two strokes, I was hoping that Kawasaki would actually give us something, but got tired of waiting and picked up a 25 YZ 250, while I love that bike and think it is extremely fun to play on, it pals in comparison to the Ktm 300 as a race bike. So I grabbed a 24 yz450 and fuck me I'm back as a four stroke guy. 

Being true to my “Honda” roots though last year I got my wife a 25 crf250, I’ve been absolutely loving that bike but it’s not “mine.” Once I knew the yz250 wouldn’t cut it for racing mammoth this year I was trying to find a 25 crf450 for myself and literally couldn’t find one, thus the yz450 mentioned above. 
 

I’ll def find myself a 26 crf450 and complete my bike life circle and come back to Honda as my main whip. But I truly love all bikes, as of late I’ve legit been riding a different bike each moto. I’ll usually start with the yz250, then next moto is my yz450, then my wife’s Honda, then I finish with my 2022 tc125. I do spend 1-2 hours washing bikes but I honestly kinda enjoy that, as I’m just looking at my favorite things as I do it. 
 

In another “Honda guy” move I scored a brand new refurbished 1996 cr125 a few years ago, that bike was my first real bike so I was stoked to get that as a trophy bike for the garage. As mentioned I started riding at age 3 on a z50, my next bike was a Honda cub, yes those jet skis looking bikes from the 1990’s, yes the same ones featured in the amazing “maximum drive” tv show. (YouTube link will be in next post) then I rode an xr100 until I was 16, poor frame….

Here is maximum drive, god I woulda given anything to be on that when I was 8!!

Sharp 96 still Hot looking .  90 to 97 the dealers where sold out every yr.  

Yamaha.  We’ve had everything from small generators, outboards, snow machines (RIP) and motorcycles.  

Even had a Toyota Celica with a Yamaha engine.  

Never a major issue with any of it and they are usually the most innovative of the Japanese OEM’s.  

They also do the most to support the grassroots level of the sport.  

Still developing and selling two-strokes.

As far as racing goes, I first got into riding and racing during the Henry/Dowd/Windham/McGrath era.  Also at the time, Yamaha had a full factory effort in Snocross.  Anything Yamaha racing at the time was just the coolest to me.  

As a Henry super fan, the peak time for me was after he won the 450(250) outdoor title them went on to a part time MX schedule and did some Snocross and supermotard racing.

I will continue to favor Yamaha products.  I would also give honorable mention to Honda, but I can’t get on board with their corporate philosophy and their politics have, in my opinion negatively affected their product lines.

KTM. Been on a Suzuki on 85s and two years on the 250, but the KTM simply has too much power. I'm Dutch so most of the tracks I'm riding are heavy sand. Have owned 8 KTMs since 2017. Had a few 150cc's, 250Fs, 250-2strokes, loved all of them. Switched briefly to Honda last year (loved it), but on sand tracks the bike got way too hot to be comfortable with it. Plus, my favorite dealer where I'm buying bikes from currently only sells KTM and Yamaha's.

Now that I'm at the end of my 'career' and barely do any races, I plan to still try different brands. My friend group and myself switched from Dutch sand only towards ride days in France, Germany and even a week in Italy. So the bikes get less abuse.. haha.

Yamaha is high on my list, also due to the amount of support they give to the sport. Triumph is something I'm planning to buy, if their first years issues are handled. Ducati.. well yeah it looks awesome. That said, I really loved the Honda. 

I,m 1/2 Dutch my mom is from Holland.  Most of our tracks here in district 16 Wi. & The UP of Mi. Are sand . I,ll ride any older bike with good pegs.  I don’t really care for the new layouts .  The 12+ age125 class kids say they liked the older yz125 layout too.  

I tend to avoid kawasakis and suzukis at this point, wouldn't dare buy a triumph. Do plan to buy a desmo if the opportunity arises. Buddy bought a 2024 kx450 and while the chassis seemed really good, man it felt slow from behind the bars. He don't look very slow when he is within a bike or two during impromptu drag races , fwiw. 

I’ve been a Kawi guy since i was a kid (85), owned a lot of 250f (11-15-19-21-23). Currently on a 250 MC 2 stroke, i still love kawis tho

ill buy anything that isnt austrian. We have several different brands,  a couple YZ125's, a YZ85, a KX450, and a new CRF250 in the stable. Im most impressed with the Hondas build quality, its a SOLID bike and i havent seen many mechanical issues with the platform

Mostly a Kawasaki guy. Grew up on green on 80's and 125's. Left the sport for a very long time, but when I came back it's been all green except one YZ125 because Kawasaki quit 2-stroke big bikes in the US in 2007. Because of that, I didn't buy a new Kawasaki for 16 years. In moto, thats a long time to not buy new. 

But beginning in 2022, I started buying new Kawasaki's again and have added 2 four stroke KX250's to my stable. I own 5 KX250's and one YZ125 currently. Three of the KX250's are 2 -stroke 05's and an 06'.

Kawasaki's fit me, they are durable as hell, and last a long time. You could call me a loyalist

Curious why you ask? Is that something you can share?

Not until I started riding Beta. Best brand out there when it comes to supporting the customer. Especially when hearing all the horror stories about other brands. 

Started on a CR80, but that was my dads choice (just got it used and cheap) Once I started buying bikes, it has predominantly been Yamahas. Have owned a YZ125, six different 250F's and a 450. I was away from riding from about 2010 until 2021. When I decided to get back into moto, I had my mind set of a 350. So I ran out, bought the only new KTM I could find during the start of the COVID years and thought I could return to what I was in my early 20's. But in 2021 at 38 yrs old, I felt like I had never ridden a bike before. Sold it instantly. I couldn't get over I had given up so quick, so I went back out 6 months later and bought a new husky 350. A little better, but still couldn't make the bike do what the body remembered. Frustrated again, I sold that bike. Once again, I couldn't get over that I threw in the towel so quickly, so I bought something I hoped would feel familiar, a used 2022 YZ250F. The moment I rode it around the yard, the feel was different vs. 2008, but if felt like home, even had the smell I remembered. A few days later at the track, yet still not as fast as I once was, I felt like I could ride a bike again. Now if they would only give us what we want, a 350!

I did buy a 2024 KX450 and actually really liked it. I ride a mix of woods and tracks and the KX just felt heavy in tight stuff. Although I loved it at the track, I don't need two bikes, so I sold it and stuck with my 2024 YZ250F. 

Yes and no. I'm a (fairly) loyal Yamaha rider, but it's because the handling suits me. (Thank God they still make 2-strokes!) I like straight-line stability and have come to really value the reliability from that brand. 

Some dudes are fanbois of a brand because of a color preference ("Ride Red!") or an illogical assumption ("KTMs are the best and every other brand sucks!") Not I. I've owned all four Japanese brands at some time or another. 

I was a KTM junkie as I grew up in the Michigan woods watching the orange bike dominate enduros.... But Meh. Im done with KTM after the last few years. Id rather buy a knock off Amazon bike before I give them a single cent more. 

The childish over spending just to look "cooler" than the other companies is so lame. They deserve what is coming tbh.