James Deuce
6th August 2008, 19:19
Still reeling from WW1, the world's major "powers" signed the 1922 Washington Treaty in the hope of limiting the naval arms race that had characterised the build up to WW1. This limited the total tonnage, armament, propulsion, and fuel capacity of different types of Capital warships and resulted in strangely stunted Battleships and Aircraft Carriers.
One such vessel that complied with the Washington Treaty was HMS Nelson.
<img src=http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a7/HMS_Nelson_%281931%29_profile_drawing.png/300px-HMS_Nelson_%281931%29_profile_drawing.png>
Forcing engineers to comply with limitations tends to imply permission to innovate your arse off, leading to clever ideas like using boiler water storage tanks as a kind of protective crush zone to supplement armour, and inert gas for fire control in the magazines of those massive main armament turrets, each sporting three 16in guns.
Harley Davidson found itself in a similar position to the "Great Powers" of the early '20s, sixty years later. After being put in their place by British motorcycles during the '50s and '60s (In terms of sales you understand. One does not want to intentionally inflame the faithful), and the Japanese in the '70s, and having to weather the AMF years (which some people are now convinced actually did more good than harm in retrospect) as well as a cash poor period during the Management buy out of the early '80s, Harley Davidson looked about as secure an investment as the German Mark of 1922. Not very, that is.
Rather unlike British Naval engineers of the post-WW1 era, Harley decided to stick to it's damn knitting. A decade of producing the same sort of motorcycle in the 70's had entrenched Harley in the public's mind as a manufacturer with "tradition", so Evolution became a byword at Harley. In fact it was practically the ONLY word.
"Battleships", you say?
"Harley Davidson?"
"I'm not with you."
Bear with me. My Paternal Grandmother married a bloke, who for me, is the epitome of what a brave man is. He served on the Nelson. After serving in the Merchant Navy from the age of 15 with the Empress line, just so he had somewhere to live, and something to eat (The Great Depression was worse than anything you can imagine), as well as running freight to the South of Spain during their Civil War of the mid-'30s and seeing the appalling depredations of war up close, he joined the RN as a Petty Officer in 1939, and his training as a Steward was extended to running the Galley on the Nelson and acting as the Fire Control chief for the "X" turret magazine. This involved two blokes, one on the outside of the magazine who locked the other (the bloke whom my Grandmother married) inside, so that the bloke inside could kill himself by releasing several 1000 lbs (archaic measurement there kids) of Halon gas, effectively removing oxygen from the atmosphere of the magazine. He'd die of course, however the ship was more important than the individual.
Harley did something similar, in that they suppressed the natural tendency of their engineers to innovate in an extrovert fashion, and instead of the world's fastest sportsbikes, best tourers, best Police bikes, the engineers had to refine a tradition. The innovation came from improving reliability, reducing mass but maintaining the impression of massiveness, and trademarking the "potato potato" sound. The individual's desire to shine was suppressed for the greater Corporate good. The trade tariffs, of '83 limited Japanese bikes to 700cc, tiddlers compared to 883, 1200, and 1340cc engines, and made them just a little more expensive than the "big" Harleys.
But there's always one weirdo, often patriotic, some would say Quixotic, who would rather that Harley had a broad range of bikes, including Sports bikes, and spent 20 years yelling "Look at me!" at Harley Davidson until they paid attention.
They bought the company and the innovation that went with it. Now we, us lucky little people, get two distinct lines of motorcycles from the Motor Company, each with their own expression of personality. And like the Nelson the TT manages to look stunted and "massive" at the same time.
<img src=http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/albums/thumbs/6/932a7821dcb572d00dca1395d3d331c0_6625.jpg?dl=12180 07410> (http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/picture.php?albumid=685&pictureid=6625)
Personally, I'm sick of Motorcycle Magazines, especially English ones, largely bagging Buells as pointless, slow, and contradictory. I haven't ridden a Buell yet that hasn't taught me something new about my riding, or how to learn about riding a new and different motorcycle, or how to have Fun.
The TT really reminds me of a friend's 1970 Triumph TR6A (the bike you dunderheads), but it has brakes, suspension, and (joy) an electric start! Yes the engine vibrates, but could this be at the core of the dimly understood "character" that so many motorcyclists gaily throw into conversations about bikes, without having a clear definition in mind? Over 3000rpm and the engine smooths out until it hits its (very) abrupt rev limiter, but it has enough go to be entertaining with no scary bits! Very important that. I'm old and sick of staring Death in the eye. Over it.
This is a motorcycle that YOU ride, very much like that TR6A, and you can chose your own pace without suffering from imposter syndrome. You can chose many different sorts of roads too. It's not solely a sportsbike, a motard, or an adventure bike, but it will do all those if you want it to. The long travel suspension on the TT is brilliant on rough tarmac and gravel and shod with the right rubber, as it is in this case, takes surface changes in its stride, along with the odd slip, tree, or 30cm deep stream. Even a beach covered in 1kg "pebbles". I've encountered Pirelli Scorpion Syncs once before on an Aprilia Pegaso Trail, and they have to be, in my limited experience, one of the better "all-terrain" tyres available for a bike.
<img src=http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/albums/thumbs/6/0fdc880d9f6a3186ba0b197d364b51f7_6627.jpg?dl=12180 07410> (http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/picture.php?albumid=685&pictureid=6627)
If you attempt to passively experience a Buell you've missed the point. For many people the "lack" of outright performance is a killer, for some the innovation of the Fuel in Frame idea, and the rim mounted front brake is just too weird, but they all work really well. There was a stoppie welling up at every intersection, and a power slide on every bit of loose gravel in a corner. The gearbox isn't slow or balky at all, you just have to tell it who is boss. It has definitely improved from the XB9S to the XB12TT, losing the big clunks between gears and the excessively heavy boot needed to select a gear.
It's tall. Those under 165cm should probably look at an XB9 or 12S. I'm 177cm if I stand up straight and I had to slide off the seat a little to get a foot flat. The seat could get a little firm after a couple of hours in the saddle, and despite having no pillion pegs the "solo" seat is still longer than a modern Speed Triple's seat. Add $650 and you can get a longer seat and pillion pegs. I'd rather spend $650 on a Ventura rack and getting the seat recovered. Then you'd have a do anything, anytime bike. You may not get there first but you won't have to go home and get the car, trailer, and the CRF or KLX to do those gravel roads.
<img src=http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/albums/thumbs/6/14c3dd82e66475737e6e5ba9484cd7d2_6628.jpg?dl=12180 07410> (http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/picture.php?albumid=685&pictureid=6628)
The steering lock is good enough for a feet up U-Turn from this position
That brave bloke who married my Grandmother? His martial bravery was never in doubt, and the bravery he displayed in his personal life was exceptional. He was on the Nelson when it struck a mine and lost most of its bow in 1939, participated in the only Royal Naval Commando operation in Norway in 1940, one of only two to survive in his unit, served on the Nelson through the Malta convoys until 1943 being torpedoed three times (only one attack caused damage) and when the Nelson struck another mine, volunteered for service with what become the SBS (Special Boat Service) in Ceylon. He lost one wife to a GI, another to cancer and my Grandmother to multiple strokes. I used to ride up and see him as often as I could, and every time I turned up on my bike, what ever it was at the time, he called ME brave.
Now you lot need to be brave and try a bike you think wouldn't be "you". You owe it to a bloke who ended up serving through three wars, just because his parents couldn't look after him once he turned 14 and he needed somewhere to sleep and something to eat. A Buell has to be in there somewhere.
<img src=http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/albums/thumbs/6/d6e56105ecfb906d72d9f4cd290dc79b_6629.jpg?dl=12180 07410> (http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/picture.php?albumid=685&pictureid=6629)
With my very grateful thanks to Pete McDonald of Wellington Motorcycles, and to Krayy - Just F--king buy it!
One such vessel that complied with the Washington Treaty was HMS Nelson.
<img src=http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a7/HMS_Nelson_%281931%29_profile_drawing.png/300px-HMS_Nelson_%281931%29_profile_drawing.png>
Forcing engineers to comply with limitations tends to imply permission to innovate your arse off, leading to clever ideas like using boiler water storage tanks as a kind of protective crush zone to supplement armour, and inert gas for fire control in the magazines of those massive main armament turrets, each sporting three 16in guns.
Harley Davidson found itself in a similar position to the "Great Powers" of the early '20s, sixty years later. After being put in their place by British motorcycles during the '50s and '60s (In terms of sales you understand. One does not want to intentionally inflame the faithful), and the Japanese in the '70s, and having to weather the AMF years (which some people are now convinced actually did more good than harm in retrospect) as well as a cash poor period during the Management buy out of the early '80s, Harley Davidson looked about as secure an investment as the German Mark of 1922. Not very, that is.
Rather unlike British Naval engineers of the post-WW1 era, Harley decided to stick to it's damn knitting. A decade of producing the same sort of motorcycle in the 70's had entrenched Harley in the public's mind as a manufacturer with "tradition", so Evolution became a byword at Harley. In fact it was practically the ONLY word.
"Battleships", you say?
"Harley Davidson?"
"I'm not with you."
Bear with me. My Paternal Grandmother married a bloke, who for me, is the epitome of what a brave man is. He served on the Nelson. After serving in the Merchant Navy from the age of 15 with the Empress line, just so he had somewhere to live, and something to eat (The Great Depression was worse than anything you can imagine), as well as running freight to the South of Spain during their Civil War of the mid-'30s and seeing the appalling depredations of war up close, he joined the RN as a Petty Officer in 1939, and his training as a Steward was extended to running the Galley on the Nelson and acting as the Fire Control chief for the "X" turret magazine. This involved two blokes, one on the outside of the magazine who locked the other (the bloke whom my Grandmother married) inside, so that the bloke inside could kill himself by releasing several 1000 lbs (archaic measurement there kids) of Halon gas, effectively removing oxygen from the atmosphere of the magazine. He'd die of course, however the ship was more important than the individual.
Harley did something similar, in that they suppressed the natural tendency of their engineers to innovate in an extrovert fashion, and instead of the world's fastest sportsbikes, best tourers, best Police bikes, the engineers had to refine a tradition. The innovation came from improving reliability, reducing mass but maintaining the impression of massiveness, and trademarking the "potato potato" sound. The individual's desire to shine was suppressed for the greater Corporate good. The trade tariffs, of '83 limited Japanese bikes to 700cc, tiddlers compared to 883, 1200, and 1340cc engines, and made them just a little more expensive than the "big" Harleys.
But there's always one weirdo, often patriotic, some would say Quixotic, who would rather that Harley had a broad range of bikes, including Sports bikes, and spent 20 years yelling "Look at me!" at Harley Davidson until they paid attention.
They bought the company and the innovation that went with it. Now we, us lucky little people, get two distinct lines of motorcycles from the Motor Company, each with their own expression of personality. And like the Nelson the TT manages to look stunted and "massive" at the same time.
<img src=http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/albums/thumbs/6/932a7821dcb572d00dca1395d3d331c0_6625.jpg?dl=12180 07410> (http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/picture.php?albumid=685&pictureid=6625)
Personally, I'm sick of Motorcycle Magazines, especially English ones, largely bagging Buells as pointless, slow, and contradictory. I haven't ridden a Buell yet that hasn't taught me something new about my riding, or how to learn about riding a new and different motorcycle, or how to have Fun.
The TT really reminds me of a friend's 1970 Triumph TR6A (the bike you dunderheads), but it has brakes, suspension, and (joy) an electric start! Yes the engine vibrates, but could this be at the core of the dimly understood "character" that so many motorcyclists gaily throw into conversations about bikes, without having a clear definition in mind? Over 3000rpm and the engine smooths out until it hits its (very) abrupt rev limiter, but it has enough go to be entertaining with no scary bits! Very important that. I'm old and sick of staring Death in the eye. Over it.
This is a motorcycle that YOU ride, very much like that TR6A, and you can chose your own pace without suffering from imposter syndrome. You can chose many different sorts of roads too. It's not solely a sportsbike, a motard, or an adventure bike, but it will do all those if you want it to. The long travel suspension on the TT is brilliant on rough tarmac and gravel and shod with the right rubber, as it is in this case, takes surface changes in its stride, along with the odd slip, tree, or 30cm deep stream. Even a beach covered in 1kg "pebbles". I've encountered Pirelli Scorpion Syncs once before on an Aprilia Pegaso Trail, and they have to be, in my limited experience, one of the better "all-terrain" tyres available for a bike.
<img src=http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/albums/thumbs/6/0fdc880d9f6a3186ba0b197d364b51f7_6627.jpg?dl=12180 07410> (http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/picture.php?albumid=685&pictureid=6627)
If you attempt to passively experience a Buell you've missed the point. For many people the "lack" of outright performance is a killer, for some the innovation of the Fuel in Frame idea, and the rim mounted front brake is just too weird, but they all work really well. There was a stoppie welling up at every intersection, and a power slide on every bit of loose gravel in a corner. The gearbox isn't slow or balky at all, you just have to tell it who is boss. It has definitely improved from the XB9S to the XB12TT, losing the big clunks between gears and the excessively heavy boot needed to select a gear.
It's tall. Those under 165cm should probably look at an XB9 or 12S. I'm 177cm if I stand up straight and I had to slide off the seat a little to get a foot flat. The seat could get a little firm after a couple of hours in the saddle, and despite having no pillion pegs the "solo" seat is still longer than a modern Speed Triple's seat. Add $650 and you can get a longer seat and pillion pegs. I'd rather spend $650 on a Ventura rack and getting the seat recovered. Then you'd have a do anything, anytime bike. You may not get there first but you won't have to go home and get the car, trailer, and the CRF or KLX to do those gravel roads.
<img src=http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/albums/thumbs/6/14c3dd82e66475737e6e5ba9484cd7d2_6628.jpg?dl=12180 07410> (http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/picture.php?albumid=685&pictureid=6628)
The steering lock is good enough for a feet up U-Turn from this position
That brave bloke who married my Grandmother? His martial bravery was never in doubt, and the bravery he displayed in his personal life was exceptional. He was on the Nelson when it struck a mine and lost most of its bow in 1939, participated in the only Royal Naval Commando operation in Norway in 1940, one of only two to survive in his unit, served on the Nelson through the Malta convoys until 1943 being torpedoed three times (only one attack caused damage) and when the Nelson struck another mine, volunteered for service with what become the SBS (Special Boat Service) in Ceylon. He lost one wife to a GI, another to cancer and my Grandmother to multiple strokes. I used to ride up and see him as often as I could, and every time I turned up on my bike, what ever it was at the time, he called ME brave.
Now you lot need to be brave and try a bike you think wouldn't be "you". You owe it to a bloke who ended up serving through three wars, just because his parents couldn't look after him once he turned 14 and he needed somewhere to sleep and something to eat. A Buell has to be in there somewhere.
<img src=http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/albums/thumbs/6/d6e56105ecfb906d72d9f4cd290dc79b_6629.jpg?dl=12180 07410> (http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/picture.php?albumid=685&pictureid=6629)
With my very grateful thanks to Pete McDonald of Wellington Motorcycles, and to Krayy - Just F--king buy it!