Technology - has it taken over?

[rastuscat]

I was surfing through a thread on big Hondas and loving the trip down memory lane. Bikes from the eighties are just so cool.

I have spent too much time on TradeMe looking at bikes I'll never buy, but one thing struck me. Have we been overtaken by the technology?

My personal bike is a 1999 model, and part of the attraction is that I can work on it myself easily, it's fairly simple. There is a world of information and lots of blogs about things I can do to it.

Thing is, if I owned a brand new 1000cc fire breathing rocket ship of pretty much any brand, I wouldn't know where to find the spark plugs, let alone change them. Holy cow, the hi-tech thing has just gone mad on bikes. I'd be having to take it back to the dealer just to do basic things.

I'm getting old chaps (and chapettes), as I long for the days of simplicity, not increasing technology.

Am I alone in this?

[98tls]

Nope your not alone fella.Traction control,ABS blah blah blah might as well stick a roof and another couple of wheels on it for my money.As ive got older my longing to own ever older bikes keeps getting stronger and methinks a new inline 1000s about as appealing as a wet flannel.Not only have i and bikes changed dramatically but so have the roads and those that use em not to mention the ever present lawman on them.Personally i think we have not only seen the best of bikes but also the best time to ride one.Have to add that though bikes have come a long way from my experiance with them many of the younger generation buying them have no interest whatsoever on anything mechanical so its probably just as well theres not much cause to tinker with them.(walks away muttering and shaking his doddery old head).

[Eyegasm]

Well that is the thing with technology.

It is aimed at the younger generation, who grew up with cellphones before the were even in college. Where an iPad is the next greatest thing and everyone wants one. Look at any product by apple, way more applications than anyone really needs.

So they are doing it to motorvehicles (have been for a while)

I remember the olds when they had the Valiant. Engine block, Radiator and pretty much nothing else. When they got rid of it and got a jap car it was all wires and gizmos galore.

[Headbanger]

The best time to be riding a bike is anytime you're on your bike, try not to suck the fun out of everyone else's awesome activities.

Any bike that takes your fancy is only as good as any bike that takes someone else's fancy.

[98tls]

Well that is the thing with technology.

It is aimed at the younger generation, who grew up with cellphones before the were even in college. Where an iPad is the next greatest thing and everyone wants one. Look at any product by apple, way more applications than anyone really needs.

So they are doing it to motorvehicles (have been for a while)

I remember the olds when they had the Valiant. Engine block, Radiator and pretty much nothing else. When they got rid of it and got a jap car it was all wires and gizmos galore.

Got the fright of my life at work the other day,sitting in the smoko shed surrounded by the usual suspects clutching the blingy cell phones doing there thing with em when one went off and it sounded just like a real phonei shit you not,remember what a phone ringing sounded like? just about dropped my lunch.Oh and wtfs an ipad?

[98tls]

Any bike that takes your fancy is only as good as any bike that takes someone else's fancy.

Fancy that,thats lovely dear.

[Mom]

remember what a phone ringing sounded like? just about dropped my lunch.

I remember have 3 shorts rings as our ring, I think our letter was S on the party line. I shit you not the first time I used a phone at a friends place in Wellsford after I got married in 1979 was one like this, you had to wind a crank on the side to get the exchange to answer, then get them to connect your call for you.

[jim.cox]

I'm getting old chaps (and chapettes), as I long for the days of simplicity, not increasing technology.

Am I alone in this?

No you are not alone

I'm a luddite - I like things simple

There are some advantages to technology - electronic ignition for example - I dont want to go back to setting and adjusting points

But all the Techo crap on the new bikes leaves me cold

I dont need datalogging, fly-by-wire is a problem waiting to happen, I hate the idea that a liitle blackbox might decide my brakes wont work etc etc etc

I know how hard it is to keep older bikes on the road - and would hate to be trying to find essential parts for some of today's bikes in ten years time

K.I.S.S.

[98tls]

I remember have 3 shorts rings as our ring, I think our letter was S on the party line. I shit you not the first time I used a phone at a friends place in Wellsford after I got married in 1979 was one like this, you had to wind a crank on the side to get the exchange to answer, then get them to connect your call for you.

Yep had the party line thing when i was a young fella,remember getting sick of every time i went to use it there was people yapping away.well that this thread bastardized,sorry mate.Moms fault

[onearmedbandit]

many of the younger generation buying them have no interest whatsoever on anything mechanical so its probably just as well theres not much cause to tinker with them.(walks away muttering and shaking his doddery old head).

I grew up working on my own vehicles, from my first go-kart at about 7 (4hp B&S) through to my bikes and cars. Sure it was great learning to strip an engine, diagnose the fault, rectify/replace/modify and ride off again, but I only did that because I damn well had to. Every minute I was working on my vehicles was a minute I'd rather be riding driving. In other words, while it was enjoyable, it took away from my main interest, which was using them.

Now I own a couple of late model sportsbikes. They start every time, they don't require constant maintenance, I don't have to skin my knuckles, I don't have to wait 2mths to get a part or fabricate my own. In other words, I now can do what I really want to do, ride.

The new generation have got it good. They get reliable fuss free pleasure.

To answer the original question. I don't bemoan the increasing pace of technology, give me TC, ABS, supersmart fuel injection, etc etc etc. However what I don't want is increased weight due to the emission laws. That's why I love my K2, reliable as a swiss watch, massive amounts of power and torque, and it's not suffocated by Euro4 watchdogs. I'd like to add a K5 to the stable, as that was the last Gixxer to not be completely castrated.

[bogan]

course it hasn't, plenty of bikes available without all the fancy lecity bits, they're just a little bit older. The new bikes have to compete with one-another, as such they want higher hp, and with higher hp comes more lecity bits to control it, fuck riding the 180hp ss1000r without traction control . Personally I think the golden age of motorcycles was late 80s and early nineties, almost as if the beings upstairs saw that I'd arrived and though it best they get some sweet sweet bikes made for me but i digress, bikes in that period had it all, plenty of power, good looks, simplicity, and customisability

So there is a bike out there for everyone, sometimes it just isn't brand new. So there

[imdying]

Thing is, if I owned a brand new 1000cc fire breathing rocket ship of pretty much any brand, I wouldn't know where to find the spark plugs, let alone change them. Holy cow, the hi-tech thing has just gone mad on bikes. I'd be having to take it back to the dealer just to do basic things.

Am I alone in this?

There will be the ignorant luddites who agree completely, and others with varying degrees of agreement, but most people are smart enough to realise that they're really not that complicated. Sure the level or knowledge required to maintain a bike has gone up, but it hasn't risen as fast as the access to that information, courtesy of the internet.

Your spark plugs are exactly where they've always been, in the cylinder head, and changing them is still no big deal. Sure you might have to remove a tank and an airbox, but it half a dozen screws are a problem to you, you probably shouldn't be working on anything harder than getting your gut down to a reasonable size. Brakes basically haven't changed, neither have most of the other important maintenance items like brakes, tyres, batteries, bearings etc.

The most complicated part that has been added as of late is fuel injection, and most of the time it'll tell you what is wrong with it... not they often need to... just how much hand holding do you need?!?!?

[rastuscat]

It must be an age thing. I can live my life without YouTube, iPads, iPhones, Windows whatever. I admire wire-wheel Katanas, CBX1000s and ZX1300s. Those big sixes were dead sexy. And I don't care if they were heavy and hard on gas.

I was brought up in a Western Southland small town, and I recall our phone number being 40M. I think the M was the first letter of the street name, and we wre the 40th phone on that street. The crank handle was on the right side of the phone.

My 12 year old came to me last week and announced "You have no idea how hard it is to live without YouTube". I cringed.

Sadly, it's our fault that life is all about gadgets. My generation invented and financed them, I guess we can't blame the Millenials for relying on them.

My 1999 bike is an R1150GS. Beemer now does traction control. I already had traction control, it's called my right wrist, and works with CommonSense2.2

Happy to accept that it's my nostalgia gland kicking in.

So there.

[Headbanger]

Fancy that,thats lovely dear.

Thats the kind of mood I'm in today cupcake.

[bogan]

My 1999 bike is an R1150GS. Beemer now does traction control. I already had traction control, it's called my right wrist, and works with CommonSense2.2

beemer also now does double the horsepower of an RG1150GS, as do the other manufacturers, same weight, double the torque, still think your wrist is up to it?