What if...

[benVFR]

Would you continue to ride if motorcycles had been "perfected" and could never be improved upon anymore? E.x. no way to get more HP, they are all super comfy, super fast, etc..

If it was only about you and you couldn't really get a bike that was different/better/faster than the next guy, would you care? If the only thing you could work on was your own skill?

Just curious.. read this after reading a comparison between mountain bicycle and road bicycles. Road bikes haven't really had a massive tech innovation that would make you faster in a very, very long time. Motorcycles are much more like mountain bikes, every few years there is some new technical innovation that can make you faster. (Motorcycles are slightly different in that there is more of a chance the bike is beyond your skill level though)

Ben

[beet]

same as life

[TLRMan]

It's already being done in some European countries...Horspower is limited to 100, and that's all she wrote.....

[RSVMILLE661]

What may be a perfect bike for you is not neccesarily a perfect bike for me. I'm not just talking performance. I need some soul. The exhaust note in particular. Let her sing, let her breath I would give up a little comfort for handling and I would give up a smidge (very tiny amount) of handling for some attitude. Not to mention there is never enough torque.

[RandyO]

Originally posted by RSVMILLE661
What may be a perfect bike for you is not neccesarily a perfect bike for me. I'm not just talking performance. I need some soul. The exhaust note in particular. Let her sing, let her breath I would give up a little comfort for handling and I would give up a smidge (very tiny amount) of handling for some attitude. Not to mention there is never enough torque.

not only soul as you say, and Ben knows perfectly well that ergonomicly different bikes fit different people.. and that is why I can ride my SV till it runs out of gas then quickly continue on after gassing up, if a bike fits you perfectly, you don't need to stop & stretch every 50-75 miles

[TheIglu]

After ownin a nice bike, and a couple shitty bikes, I have come to one conclusion:

Cheap, slow bikes are fun.


I have more fun on my old 750 than I ever did on that nice Ducati I recently departed with. You can't take a nice bike up a trail if you feel like reliving some dirt bikin memories; you can do that all you want on an old beater. And there is always something to be said about keeping up with most street riders through the twisties on an old peice of shit. Just feels better. Nevermind the enjoyment I get when I lay a beater down in a parking lot and all that happens is some little guy heavin and hawin to get that 550lbs beast back on two wheels again. No broken plastic, no insurance guy cause the wind was too high, no turnin back cause the road is too bumpy, no suspicious looks from cops, $115 for the year insurance.


Most fun I ever had on a bike was my old 1979 Honda CM400T. Put almost 24,000 miles on that bad boy in three years. 39 horse, 350lbs, faded paint, Cheng-Shin tires every time. Me and my best friend took our bikes up a local dirt road and did some whoop-de-doo's for an afternoon. He blew both shocks on his old Suzuki GN400 Single(kickstart only mind you), but what a wonderful time it was anyway. Still doesn't beat the first time we rode together; 16 years old, mid-february, snow covered roads. He went down going about 7mph. Bike fell hard....well, looks like he enjoyed the way the handlebars were from then on! Pissed off? Nah, after a round of laughs and a hell of a lot of kickin, we were on our way again with both feet down around the icy corners. I wouldn't expect anyone to try that on a nice bike.

You can keep your Hayabusa's and ZX10's and R1's. Gimme a reliable beater to keep me glad I don't have a loan payment, and I'll just keep on thinkin about gettin something newer with some balls as a Sunday driver with all the money I save