Non Jap Bikes - pros and cons

[DMNTD:Me]

Who needs 200 hp in a ROAD bike? Not me thats for sure. I value my licence & the freedom it imbues way too much!! I dont subscribe to the "Mines bigger, better ,faster ,got more HP than yours" school of thought ,and anyway,I get tons of smiles per mile riding my collection of dinosaurs.

Awesome! I look forward to the day that I too can have some style parked in my garage but until then I likey what I see

[TLDV8]

Who needs 200 hp in a ROAD bike? Not me thats for sure. I value my licence & the freedom it imbues way too much!! I dont subscribe to the "Mines bigger, better ,faster ,got more HP than yours" school of thought ,and anyway,I get tons of smiles per mile riding my collection of dinosaurs.

My point was how could it stop with "puny" 4 piston calipers.... over 22 years of owning Euro "dinosaurs" for me..I was wondering how a detuned TL engine in a SD900 chassis would go .
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Bottomline is i like Japanese bikes for what they are,same with Euro bikes.The Europeans have shown many times over the years,you don't always need big anything.......Look at the first Ducati 916 back in 94..104 RWHP and 4 piston Brembo's,it spanked a lot of bikes using the less is more principle simply because it was a balanced package.

[jim.cox]

"but just confused why anyone would buy a bike with old technology"

I did buy a bike with old technology

Mostly 'cos I'm a luddite.

I like a bike that's simple - like me

And I like large capacity air-cooled V-twins for the way they go.

(although it didn't figure in the purchase - cos I aint going to sell it - I expect that mine will have the better resale value)

just my $0.02

=mjc=
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[HenryDorsetCase]

Who needs 200 hp in a ROAD bike? Not me thats for sure. I value my licence & the freedom it imbues way too much!! I dont subscribe to the "Mines bigger, better ,faster ,got more HP than yours" school of thought ,and anyway,I get tons of smiles per mile riding my collection of dinosaurs.

Im with you!


smiles per mile for me is the CB400F!

I cant decide what big bike to get, but I know I want comfortable, light, adequate power, readily available bits etc. its about how it rides, not about how many gee gaws it has.

I am an avid reader about this sort of technology, but iI dont want to own it.

One of the reasons I am leaning towards a Buell or Triumph Bonneville right now....

[Mooch]

I think a couple of older technology Triumphs did well at IOM last year, the riders must have been so embarrassed.

All joking aside, It's what your into that counts, not necessarily the sum of parts. I brought a Duc when I could have had GSXR k2 , R1 etc and some change. A few years on I'm still happy with the DUC which was basically designed and styled in 1993, I may even keep it forever like those Guzzi owners seem to do, they must be on to a good thing. I don't need a 200 hp bike , don't even need a 100 hp bike so 8 piston centra-radial break callipers big stoppers don't do it for me , brakes it has now seem to be up to the job. (Don't actually use brakes much )

[HenryDorsetCase]

.I'm sure a few here are familiar with single piston brake calipers on stainless steel discs from years gone by.

squeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

you've ridden a CB400/500/550/650/750 then ???

[Eurodave]

Most of the appeal of my collection of 'old outdated junk' IS the simplicity that older bikes have.Really, you dont NEED quadruple overhead cams,5 valves per cylinder & a mega computer to control the whole shebang And my old fashioned 2 pot Brembos stop me just fine thankyou very much
I can do ALL my own maintainance on ALL of my bikes & dont need a Degree in Rocket Science & shares in a ANZ Bank to be able to fix things should they ever go wrong

[skelstar]

So who are the other two people that want a Hyosung?

No offence taken.

[WRT]

I bought the RSV-R cause its got MORE power than the jappa v-twins, its got the handling that the jappa's should have had, it looks the biz, and its not as common as most of the other bikes out there.

Maybe if the TLR was still in production and they had managed to get a bit more poke and a bit less weight, with better handling and a face lift, I might have bought another one of them instead . . . maybe.

But they dont still make it, and I have no regrets on choosing an Italian bike (yet!). Well, two maybe - it makes me walk like John Wayne after riding it for more than a couple of hours, and the mirrors are crap. But these are common complaints across a wide range of sports bikes.

At the end of the day, its all down to personal choice. Some people like jappas, some like euros, some like hogs. But to only like one type of bike is very close minded in my opinion, and to sit back and slag everyone that doesnt agree with what you think makes the ideal bike is just immature. Just get out there and ride, doesnt matter if it is a guzzi, a beemer, or the latest gixxer.

Well, so long as it isnt a scooter, they're just ghey.

[Mattyc]

Well, so long as it isnt a scooter, they're just ghey.

LOL - i used to think that too

[Lou Girardin]

If the guy on the 'old' tech Triple knows what he's doing, he'll be exiting a tight corner before you can get that 'modern' ZX9 to consider turning.
Technology is mainly for wanking rights.

[T.W.R]

it doesn't matter how current the technology is with a bike even today 15/12/05 its all been here before, what we have today is only a refinement of whats already been done.
Older bikes be it european or jap have more character especially european bikes, it used to be the "spend as much time maintaining as you do riding" with the older Dukes, Guzzis, & laverdas but it was worth it! when a big old Itlian bike is on song its an experience a jappa just can't compete with!
Current bikes have developed tenfold over the years but that refinement has diluted their character

[Eurodave]

Current bikes have developed tenfold over the years but that refinement has diluted their character

Yeah, what ever happened to that elusive thing called 'character'? I know my Guzzis have it in spades, I am especially reminded of this when I used to get stuck with mysteriously blown fuses :slap: but at least I CAN fix it on the side of the road,at night, in the pissing rain with no tools unlike the more modern sanatised, deodorised appliances where if someting goes wrong its a case of 'on the cellphone for help, come get me'

[Test Pilot]

Love ma japas, the price is so good compared with a ducati or aprilia yet you get the same perfromance and goodies. Although the styling of some of those ducs are what you pay for. But still for 11g you can have a 2004 japa or a 1997 duc so i know what id rather have

[**R1**]

a passing fad huh, a long fad...... 6 pots seem to be more the standard on late model bikes now, rather than 4 pots

I know for sure that under braking, my usd forks dont flex back under hard braking (which i do a lot) like conventionals used to on my older bikes ive owned. I wouldnt be without them on my MX bike..

6 pots aint all they are cracked up to be, I know 2 guys that have ditched the 6 pots off their GSXR's and gone to the 4 pots of the 750's, and would never go back....