NY Motorcycle show | FerrariChat

NY Motorcycle show

Discussion in 'Motorcycles & Boats' started by boxerman, Dec 2, 2017.

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  1. boxerman

    boxerman F1 World Champ
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    Sean
    Went and had a look yesterday.
    Sadly some notable manufactuerers were not present, neither Ducati not Triumph.

    Bearing in my my old bones and ludite nature are not into supersotr bikes here are my impressions.

    The Yamaha XS 7 and 9 struck me as really comfortable modern renditions on what we used to know as a "motorcyle' in liquid cooled well built form.. They are smallish, light, you sit relatively upright and all the controlls fall to place. I could say the same for the Vmax, except your knees spayed a bit. Build on all of them seemed really good. I dont think I could ride a VMX in the NE without going through a tree, all that power would be too tempting.

    MV had a big stand, the bikes looked great, real eye candy, but even the brutale and dragster tend towards sportbike riding position. Really nice though. To me MV occpied the place where ducati was 20 years ago.

    Honda was just a sea of plastic nothing caught the eye except two. The VFR 1200 is now a sporty tourer off roady styled thing. It seemed intresting and these bikes are way less to buy than BMW GS.
    The star of the honda stand if not hte star of the show was the new goldwing. Really impressive bike, it does not seem overly massive as the BMWs or goldwigs of old. Seating position was great, build was honda excellent and even the last one rode great. I am getting old, this bike really appeals. As a tourer why would you buy anything else.It really looked that good.

    Harley was well harley, and their stand was packed. Over at Indian, the various scouts looked great, and
    the tracker concept looked really appealing but its a small bike, no indian reps knew anything about it or cared. Still dont undserstand why the two american companies dont build street trackers, seems like a wide open market for them and its quintessential american style.

    Ural, well if you dont mind a real antique and somehign crude its Ok same with the enfield bikes from India even though they are supposedly new designs.

    Suzuki, why do they still exist?

    Kawasaki was ok if you dont mind weird styling and I guess they still have the HP king thing going.

    Would live to have seen the new Duc supersport bike and Triumph rocket for comparison with the Vmax
     
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  2. boxerman

    boxerman F1 World Champ
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    Forgot also.
    KTM stand was packed like harleys. KTM not my thing but clearly their expanded model rnage is resonating.

    I thought the CB 1000R was just a concept bike, apprently its a prduction bike.

    If youre into nakeds (I am) this bike was the pick of the show.
     
  3. stever

    stever F1 Rookie
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    Thanks for the reminder! The show is in the Twin Cities this weekend; Might want to go.

    'Harley is Harley'...if you're not interested, it doesn't make a difference, but I wonder if the crowds at their booth are due to the major(?) redesign of their cruisers, I think....?

    'Why does Suzuki exist?" I've never been close to Japanese brands....why do you say that? Is Kawasaki any different?
     
  4. boxerman

    boxerman F1 World Champ
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    Amongst others I have a harley, they are very well built, highly stylish and fun for what they are. Basicaly a very charismatic engine in so so frame with minimal ground clearance and in many cases a silly pedal position for any serious riding, plus crap brakes and lots of weight. They are like modern antique bikes, modern in the sense they are reliable and really well made with decent power, antique in their charisma(which is a plus) and dynamics(which is poor). I know this year they are "vastly" improved, but once you own one harkley what is the reason reason to buy more, the new bikes are very much the same as the ones they replace, with some on paper improvements.
    Harley sales erode each year.

    For a younger crowd Harley would do well to make a tracker styled bike with great suspension and brakes.

    Suzuki basicaly has no new product, and any bike they make one of the other japanese companies has a better version, there is nothing adeventurous or inspirational in what they do. If they dissapeared would anyone notice.

    BMW and the other Japanese are exploring various naked bike, and semi retro themes, they look good and are fresh while handling well and going fast. Amongst younger riders this is the fastest growing streetbike segment and there is massive variation of interpretation from BMW R9t to the Kawasaki retros to Honda Cb1000r. Once again Harley would do well to have a street tracker, even Indian showed a concept street tracker.

    I have no idea why anyone would buy a Japanese vtwin cruiser its not like this format has great power or handling., Harleys here are just so much more machine in every way, I guess its price. But the game moves on, and Haley is too much of a one trick pony with an aging demografic, hence the eroding sales.

    Probably I would buy another Harley with the new engine one of those ones with the floorboards etc, for fun. But realisticaly for touring you cant beat a goldwing, or even a Bmw. Harley owns the cruiser market with gpod reason, but basicaly thats it. I am not even saying they should abandon the aircooled Vtwin the harley motors are great, just that the styling image and product is one trick, and they could do so much more..
     
  5. boxerman

    boxerman F1 World Champ
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  6. Texas Forever

    Texas Forever Seven Time F1 World Champ
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    They tried that with the XR, didn't work. Too bad.
     
  7. boxerman

    boxerman F1 World Champ
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    XR was not quite the same thing. Harley seems unable to design a bike thats not a classic sportester or electra.
     
  8. Texas Forever

    Texas Forever Seven Time F1 World Champ
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    Funny, when I came of age in the '60s, Harley only had two motorcycles. The Sportster and the Electra Guild. The Electra Guild was for old men. The Sportster was for hoods. The really cool cats rode Triumph Bonnevilles, but not at night. :)
     
  9. boxerman

    boxerman F1 World Champ
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    Sonny Barger worte in his biography that it was a pity harley became the defacto bike as there were so many otehr good marques about why be stuick with one..

    In any event the game has moved on cosiderably since the 60s when harleys were amongst the few big bore bikes. Harley seems to have tapped out the traditional harley crowd, in addition to euro riders and women who might go harley, hence eroding sales. New models are essentialy improvemnts on the old formula.

    Sportbikes are unlikely to ever be a harley thing and its a dying category anyway.

    What people want mostly today is cool bikes that are rideable on acaaul roads. Hence Duicati sells more monsters than superbikes.

    Amongst the non harley people nakeds are in, we have seen cafe racers become cool, and now trackers are the thing. Harley componants lend themselvs idealy to tracker. Its even part of the Halrleyt DNA yet would be imensly popular with non harley people. Assuming of course they made a decent bike with non bendly frame and great suspension. Mule makes these tracker bikes very week, many of harley componants

    Indian looks poised to make a production street tracker.

    You can also look at an Egli Vincent to see what harley naked sportsbike could look like.

    These are all designs that dont conflict with tradional harley virtues, can use many existing components, and yet are fresh yet classic designs.
     
  10. boxerman

    boxerman F1 World Champ
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    Been ridign since age 7. Most of my youth bikes once I had a license were japanese.
    Then i saw the Harley in the attached pic and bought as soon as I saw it and an emotional purchase, simply because it belw me away stylisticaly and semed tio be so charismatic.. Always loved classic bikes, love a vincent dont have 100k. This bike stylisticaly just hit all the sports. Its also extremly well built. The way the bolts on the gearcase cover turn, its like a precison gun.

    In My case I had to move the pedals to whats known in Harley land as Mid controls. I have no idea how anyone seriously rides at any pace with the pedals out in front. Being able to stand up on the pedals for say a big bump or tire tread in your path etc is to em crucial.

    The motor once sorted with a power comander retune is fantastic, full of charisma and lots of power with gobs of Tq. The bike is letdown with really crappy suspension and brakes that work as well as a 1980 kawasaki. Even them braking hard you can feel the forks flexing and the front end bending. Above 100 the bike is simply all over the place, and ground clearance to the right sucks because of the exhaust.

    yet it wouldnt take too much to make something brilliant of this platform. to em a tracker is the way to go. Just as stylish, same motor, but with decent ground clearance, great brakes great forks and shocks, and the exhuast could be one of those swirly supertrap harley pipes.

    cant believe harley does not build such a machine.
     

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