All my favorites would be considered old. I stopped caring about new stuff around 1990 and went vintage road racing exclusively . If you want to take exception to that; I don't care.
For the existentialist street rider, motorcycles peaked with the '89-90 Honda RC31 (the '88 had weird gear ratios). About as exciting as a mayonnaise on white bread sandwich but does everything a street motorcycle is supposed to do exceptionally well. Friendliest bike I ever met. They're confidence inspiring. I've owned 7 of them over the years, I am currently riding one. My current one has everything I can do to it for handling; 43mm CBR900rr fully adjustable forks, big brakes, big wheels, sticky tires. VFR swingarm, Fox 6 way shock, breathed on motor, Supertrapp... all the stuff ya want... BORING. I describe the bike as "Grand Prix handling with a moped motor". They're GREAT.
If you think you wanna go fast, as a street rider, you want a '92-'96 900SS Ducati. The problem with that bike is that no one year was any good, ya kinda have to pick parts off the different years. You want a later frame, early aluminum swingarm (that hopefully isn't cracked), the ultra light's forks, shock and Brembo wheels, the V2 heads with the big cams that only came on random bikes (ya gotta love Ducati and their parts bin SPECIALS). The friendliest FAST bike I ever met. I rode buddy's cross plane R1 and I wasn't much faster than I was on the Duc. I've owned 3 900SS's, each one better than the last. The one I got now has had a hard life, but it's the best yet. I buy them, build them... then never ride them, cuz I only wanna go 100mph+ ALL the time. The bike WANTS to go fast. Ask Ric, he had one.
Nothing eats super slab like a Road King. I had a Road King and a Goldwing at the same time. Ya take the Gold Wing for a day trip, if you were going to spend more than a day on a bike: ya want a Road King.
Bestest dirt bike: I finagled a factory RMX250 in '89. Same bike as Sharpless got, same bike as Sharpless took 3rd with at the '89 Daytona . Mine ended up stroked and bored to 331cc, White Bros forks, some RM parts. I had no problem keeping up with Blair in the open, but as soon as there was trees HE WAS GONE. That bike was the best woods weapon I have met. I miss that bike most of all.
Bestest open dirt: I had a XL600. Had the entire White Bros. catalogue installed on it. EVERY go fast part there was AND a custom made aluminum swingarm. All day long wheelies, I was a lot younger then...I would NEVER ride like that today. NAH, if I found that bike today, I'd be dead by morning. I parked the bike when I found myself one afternoon doing a 100MPH (YES miles not KM) wheelie in the forest with my soon to be wife on pillion. She thought it was fun and definitely exciting. She was a real trooper that way. But that bike could climb trees. Any hill, any time, any gear, it just goes BRRRRRRRRRR. POS was a PIA to start though. 12.5/1 compression, a 4" bore and a kick start will do that.
Best existentialist vintage road racer: Toss up between a CB450/500T or a RD400. Either can be a class killer and both can be entered, and be competitive, in multiple classes. The Honda has a hinge between the gas tank and the seat... but you get used to it, they all did that. There are better vintage racers, but there's no better cost return than those bikes.
Rereading what I've said here... I don't have favorite motorcycles, I take motorcycles and MAKE them into my favorite motorcycles, what I want.
That RMX was the only NEW, in a crate, bike I've ever had. Picked up the bike, brought it home, took it into the basement and took it apart. Wife comes home, comes down to the basement, sees dis-assembled bike. She had some smartassed comment about buying a "KIT". I tried to explain to her that I knew how to build a bike for ME, better than the engineers at Suzuki knew how to build a bike for ME. Let's just say it was a seminal moment. Glad I know how to cook.
She was equally un-impressed when I started it, in the basement, in January (Yes an '89 RMX was two stroke).
... but then I also rode an mostly stock EX500 for 13 years. I get rid of bikes when they become a problem. It took 13 years for that stupid EX to become a problem. EX500: the K car of motorcycles.
No real world grunt, no character at all.
