Do I win the prize for youngest? 19, sophmore in college. Bought my first GS450 at 16 as soon as I got my license and learned to ride on it(auto-clutch made that easy). Got bored with that after 3 months, sold it for what I paid, and bought my '85 Magna V30. Rode that until about half way through July this year, when I picked up my Vmax with 2 summer's worth of work.
The little GS450 "Suzuki-matic" was great to learn with, but WOT it did 80, the bike was beat, had a bent frame, tank and panels, and was overall a POS-ran pretty good though, all 23hp of it. Buzzy from high RPM's on the highway got annoying quick though. I'm only 5'9", and even that was too small of a bike for me.
The Magna was a nice step up...68hp V4, 6 spd, and it would TOP 100mph! w00t! I rode the crap outta that thing...over 8k miles in 2 upstate NY seasons. Never had to touch the engine or carbs, or anything really. Ran like, well, a Honda. I got 125mph out of it once going down a pretty good hill. Would cruise on the highway no problem, and around-town performance was very peppy for only 500cc. I knew V4's were the way to go. I was originally looking at upgrading to a V65, but I also wanted something a little newer, and honestly I was getting bored with the V30's performance also, even though the "baby Magna" smoked every H-D with 3x the displacement I came into contact with. Figured if I was going to upgrade, I might as well cut the crap and get the bike I really want, go straight to the top of the bike food chain.
So now I ride a Vmax, and I love this bike- dreamed about owning one pretty much since I first heard about them---"king of cruisers" "the ultimate power cruiser". Now I'm the proud owner of a REAL "Road King".
Crotch rockets never interested me. I like power and speed, but I also like to cruise and just take in the freedom biking offers me. I quickly learned that high performance was not just in the realm of sportbikes, and the "muscle cruiser" pretty much started with the V65 Magna in the early eighties....that's why I ended up with a Magna. Then the Vmax came along and just snatched Honda's cake right up, and proceeded to munch on it for 22 years. I'm still amazed every time I crack the throttle- limitless power on command with the flick of a wrist.