i pretty much climbed the ladder when it comes to motorcycling:
1. started with a honda express when i was about 13. used it to ride to all of the summer jobs i had for the next couple of years.
2. toyed around with my father's kawasaki 454 ltd. nothing real special but a few trips around the block, etc.
3. in '90 while at ftcky, bought my first bike- a kawasaki ninja 250! had a friend of mine on the back on a fast run to nashville with the speedo pegged at 115! my first real road trip on it was to cleveland, oh, and was rewarded with a crash at ft knox (visiting a cousin), and getting hit with two really bad storms, complete with hail. also lost my riding gloves at king's island on that trip and the only thing i was able to find at that hour were some gardening gloves! the bike was totalled at 7500 miles exactly when a stupid newbie private came right across me- sending the bike and me airborne and flipping over the car! as a side note, my magnetic tank bag never came off! the new ones look real hot, much better than the one i had.
4. ten days later, bought a '91 zx-6. about a year later me and it were in italy for three years. great times! however, my last night in country, i decided to take it out one last time to test out some extreme cold weather riding gear i bought. it was december, towards midnight, with snow and some light ice on the road. yeah that was smart! going around the second of two traffic circles and lost the front. the bike slid across the road and down a ditch and into about 5 feet of water. it took a wrecker quite a bit of time pulling it out. the next day, the movers came and got it to ship it back to the states (which they were SUPPOSED to do the day before but they didn't have room on the truck for it). the bike never ran right again and i sold it for parts. it had almost 30K miles on it. i raced it in several clubs and did pretty good despite it had almost all of it's street gear on!
4a. while in italy, i bought another guy's xr-125 (?) while waiting for my '91 zx-6 to get to port. single cylinder, 125cc, about 70mph, handgrips about 5' apart...one of most fun bikes i've owned. had to get rid of it because we were restricted on the number of vehicles we could have.
5. while back at ftcky after returning from italy, i bought two '95 zx-7s. one was totalled while on a ride and the other stolen while parked outside my barracks. i'm pretty sure one of the guys i rode with who was getting out snagged it, the sob. i was prepping this one to compete in 750ss and had a lot of mods on it.
6. after several years sans bike, i bought a '78 kawasaki 750...can't remember it's designation. rode it through all sorts of weather- snow, ice, rain, heat, and it just plain worked. even when the clutch cable snapped i was able to ride it by basically getting really creative at lights and intersections! traded it in on a fiero. not sure if i got a good deal on that or not, since the car died about a year later.
7. '95...zx-10r. they were on clearence (being sold for less than a zx-6r). horrible range (about 120 miles), rear tire gave out after < 1.5K miles (and almost all upright riding- ain't no twisties in MS). kawasaki refused to accept i had a defective tire. great power and looks, but totally unusable for carrying things (no (real) bungee hooks, my tank bag was always in the way). traded it for the C14.
8. '08, the C14. it's ok. i've had better, more fun rides. i've farkled the doo-doo out of it and still not happy. personally, i think it's taken the enjoyment of riding back a notch or two. it's for sale, BTW. it doesn't matter now, as knee surgery is coming up and riding is more a pain than anything. we'll see what, if anything, i'll be on next year.
so, of all the bikes, the zx-7's were my absolute favorites! i even met scott russell at muguello, italy, during a WSK round (and he signed my SR replica helmet)! even with its porky weight and anemic hp (about 500lbs and 115hp), i would consider buying one.