HC Motorcycle Gang

[VPI]

Good to know.  I was wondering if you were still out and about on the bike.  I have the Bohn armor and it works quite well if you have non-Colin jeans that will allow them to fit without imprinting.

I will look at the Firstgear as I just have the one Revit, which is awesome, but it would be nice to have another summer jacket.

[VPI]

Rode over to a local classic car show that was supposed to be motorcycle night. Not really a lot of bikes really.

Got a picture of sweet one for Ken.



Vintage BMW



Vintage Yamaha




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[grawk]

my dad used to own a vmax.  Those were frightening.  Super fast, amazingly shitty handling.

[VPI]

Dan, I found the vintage Honda you are looking for.

https://chicago.craigslist.org/chc/mcy/d/1974-honda-cb360/6673367364.html

[grawk]

that bike in sparkle blue is the bike my dad had when I was a kid.  Very cool

[VPI]

Shopping for a less gigantic motorcycle for riding around town/commuting and it seems the ones I find the most interesting will be hitting dealer floors next quarter.

https://www.cycleworld.com/2019-triumph-bonneville-speed-twin-first-look

The Speed Twin appears to be a more comfortable Thruxton, which is a bike I have long contemplated.

https://www.indianmotorcycle.com/en-us/flat-track-race/ftr1200/

Current favorite based solely on looks as I have never set foot in an Indian dealer and the bikes there now will not even resemble their new flat trackish bike for the street.

https://www.cycleworld.com/2019-ducati-diavel-first-look

Kind of an outlier, but I am intrigued.

https://www.ktm.com/us/naked/790-duke/

I have looked at the 1290 Super Duke previously, which is massively fun, but this smaller bike could be great if it is a bit more city friendly than the over the top Super Duke.

 

So outside of the typical HC, buy them all vote, do any of the motorcycle casers have any thoughts?

[n_maher]

The Speed Twin or Duke would get my vote and while I love the look of the Indian, I'd dock the it lots of points for being a ridiculous 1200cc.  For a city bike I'd be looking for something no bigger than 800cc but in reviewing a few man'f sites that seems like a unicorn and makes me like the Duke that much more.

Otherwise the Duc is seriously hideous to my eyes and looks (wheelbase-wise) like it'd be a bear to handle is slow speed situations.

[VPI]

Speed Twin is also a 1200 so I consider that and the Indian to be close, though the Indian will be much harder to get my hands on early I believe. 

You are right the Ducati is ridiculous and ugly, a Monster would probably work better if I just want to have a Ducati in the garage. 

KTM seems to be really popular and most people that I know that have them are big fans. It would probably be a good choice, but I think it might be a bargain bike built to a lower standard than the Super Duke, etc. with a new engine. 

[n_maher]

The monster 821 sounds like pretty much exactly what you're looking for.  Has most (all?) of the tech from the sweet Monster 1200, plenty of power, and not at all built to bargain bike standards based on what I can find online.  The BMW R NineT Urban G/S might also be worth a look.

 

[VPI]

The 821 Dark Stealth could definitely be a nice addition to the garage.  I have a few around here that I can try when I have the time.

Going to test a 821 and a Triumph Street Triple RS next week head to head.  I am reading that the soft suspension on the Ducati might be problematic for a fat man like me.

Edited December 9, 2018 by VPI

[VPI]

Scheduled to test those two plus the April Tuono V4 tomorrow. Which one will end up coming home with me?

[n_maher]

My $ goes to the Duc, springs can be changed to adjust the suspension easy enough.  Second place goes to the Aprilia, in my book.

[grawk]

Italian bikes are all too small for me. I like the triumph and bmw.

[Hopstretch]

They will all gather roughly the same amount of dust in your garage. 

[VPI]

At this point I am leaning heavily towards the Triumph as I believe the Aprilia may be a better bike for sport riding, but it is going to be overkill for me basically a world championship frame/engine with some fairings removed and straight bars.  The Triumph engine will also be the new Moto GP Moto2 engine so the tamed down R might be better for city riding.

The Ducati has the best torque down low for city riding, the same excellent brakes from the Triumph and an okay dash, but the suspension seems to be what should be offered on a much cheaper bike, so I guess I will have to see how it feels.

[Grahame]

And an electric motorcycle?
Or is that missing the point?

https://hiconsumption.com/2017/04/best-electric-motorcycles/
https://electrek.co/2018/11/11/milan-motorcycle-show-recap/

This seems suitably HC
https://electrek.co/2018/11/06/arc-vector-electric-motorcycle/

[VPI]

Grahame, I am a big fan of the Zero electric motorcycles. Lots of fun, but weird when taking off silently. I would consider one, but this bike is more about the sporty ride to dinner and curvy roads so gas at the moment. 

Taking this one home for a weekend trial.

I did a short ride on the only 2018 Monster 821 they had in stock which was the demo bike so not that appealing.  Really did not like the clutch at all and the exhaust is basically up against my leg and massively hot.  The seat also feels like a heated seat due to the engine, which was great today, but might suck a bit in the summer.

 

Edited December 15, 2018 by VPI

[n_maher]

^^^ I like the black a lot better than the silverish/chrome picture you previously posted.  If they made one in Lucifer Orange it'd be a no-brainer.

[VPI]

Finally got to see the new Indian FTR-1200.  Love the looks, but the fit and finish was fairly low end.  Buttons, plastic, etc. all felt well below even Triumph standards and light years from BMW standards.  TFT screen was okay, but seemed once again to be fairly low end.  These were display bikes with several elements not really working, so maybe the finished product will be nicer.  Triumph Speed Twin seems to be the winner from the sport cruiser class, thought the Kawasaki R900RS is a nice alternative, especially with all the deals and the free Achrapvic exhaust they are throwing in these days.

Got to see some nice customs at the shows, but I do not have time to do a lot of photos as we were rushing off to meet the realtor for house shopping and spent too much time at Arai getting fitted for a helmet and getting Kasia through the Zero Motorcycle riding class.

 

[VPI]

Finally got the Arai, drop shipped from Arai USA. The Japanese sure make things finicky, but the contraptions are quite cool. 

I think the AGV Sportmodular will be the BMW helmet, the Arai will be for whatever naked bike I end up with and the SCHUBERTH C4 will be the loaner helmet. 

 

Edited February 22, 2019 by VPI

[grawk]

I'm gonna officially start my midlife crisis this weekend if it doesn't sell before then.  I'm gonna go look at a '91 harley FXR saturday.