Dale's Motorcycle Blog

Archive for July, 2009

For quite a while now Roehr Motorcycles has been readying themselves to build a single product.  Their dream is to produce an American-made, 50-state legal, superbike that can compete with the best from Japan, Italy, and Germany.  They’ve now moved one step closer to fulfilling that dream.  The Environmental Protection Agency has certified the Roehr 1250sc as meeting the environmental requirements for sale in the United States.  That makes the bike legal for sale in 49 states.  Approval from the California Air Resources Board is expected shortly.

This means that a real American superbike is almost ready for sale in the United States.

The Roehr 1250sc is powered by the water-cooled, Harley-Davidson Revolution engine, which, with the addition of a proprietary supercharger developer by Roehr, that provides an output of 180 HP at 9100 RPM, and 115 lb/ft of torque at 7600 RPM.

The 1250sc is ready for a track day right off the showroom floor, since it comes stock with and Ohlins 43mm fully adjustable upside-down fork up front and a Ohlins fully adjustable linkless monoshock in back providing the suspension.  Stopping power is provided by 2 x 330mm semi-floating discs with radially mounted Brembo 4 piston calipers on the front wheel and 245mm single disc with 2 piston Brembo calipers on the rear wheel.  The exhaust system flows through dual Akraprovic carbon-fiber performance mufflers.  The final drive is a 520 O-ring chain in the single-sided swingarm.

The dry weight of the 1250sc is a claimed 432 lbs (196kg).  Wet weight won’t be all that much more, since the fuel tank only holds 3.2 gallons, which kind of limits the bike’s street potential.  You may find that the price does too, since all those premium components come with a $50k price tag. But, people buy the Ducati Desmo, so there’s no reason they can’t buy this, too.

More information about the 1250sc is available at Roehr’s web site.  And if you’re really interested, and will be in the Santa Monica, CA area, you can set up a test ride.

I went back to Biggs Harley today.  I scheduled a test ride on the Buell 1125r for next Saturday.  They did have a sales guy there who is familiar with Buells (he rides a Uly), so I was able to ask him some questions about the bike.

Just sitting on the bike, though, I really do dig the ergos on the 1125r.  They are about the best sportbike ergos I’ve encountered.  When you sit on an R6, for example, you really are stretched out over the tank, your legs are tucked up into your guts, and you are putting a lot of weight on your wrists.  Not comfy at all for anything other than the trackm or for any extended riding.

On the 1125r, the riding position is still relatively aggressive, but while you are leaned forward, it’s not enough to put any weight on your wrists, so you can keep your elbows bent, and your arms loose.  And your shoulders aren’t hunched up.  The footpegs are also slightly lower so that’s more relaxed as well.  It seems like a sportbike that you can actually use as a commuter without discomfort.

Next week, I’ll see how the bike is for things other than sitting.

For the first time in 30 years, Honda motorcycles are no longer produced in the United States.  The Marysville, Ohio plant opened by Honda in 1979 has shut its doors.  All Honda motorcycles for the US market will now be imported from Japan.  Honda blames the closure on the global economic recession, and the tighter credit environment which has stifled demand for cars and motorcycles.

Zero Motorcycles DS Electric Dual Sport

Zero Motorcycle is just giddy with excitement, because they’ve released the DS, an all-electric, zero-emissions, dual-sport motorcycle.  They Claim that it’s not only emissions free, but almost completely recycleable as well.

Powered by the most advanced drive train in the industry, the Zero DS is a fully electric motorcycle that can handle any surface you can throw at it. Navigating obstacles and maintaining control is accomplished using a specially developed suspension system and a rugged wheel set. During technical maneuvers an optimized direct drive gear system delivers astonishing responsiveness with the twist of your wrist.

Well, that sounds like it’s just chock full of motorcycle goodness…except for one, tiny little thing.  When you look at the specifications, you see this:

Top Speed: 55 MPH
Range: Up to 50 Miles
Recharge Time: Less than 4 hours

So, let’s see, it’s too slow to actually commute on any freeway with.  The range is “up to 50 miles” depending on your riding style.  Then it takes about 4 hours to recharge.  So, essentially, you can ride it for less than an hour at speed, then you’re stuck at an electrical socket for “less than 4 hours”.  So, let’s say 3.75 hours.

Great.

And it’s a trail bike, too.  Now, I don’t know about you, but I can think of no better vehicle for riding trails in the middle of nowhere than one with an unpredictable range, because its power usage increases with hard riding.  and, of course, you can’t carry any extra fuel with you for emergencies.

On the upside, It won’t strand you more than 50 miles away from your last known location.  You can walk that in two or three days, depending on the terrain.  Five days, max.

So, take it out into the boonies.  You’ll be fine.

Doesn’t everybody want a motorcycle that can’t be ridden more than 25 miles away from an electrical socket without stranding you?

Somebody at Buell’s marketing department must be so proud of his cleverness.  Buell has gotten the defunct 2010 crushed Blast into the Motorcycle.com specs listing.  They’ve replicated their  Book of Buell dismissal of the blast there.  “cause God knows that buying full-page ads in the mags, and putting up front on their web site wasn’t good enough.  No, they’ve got to show off their cleverness to the world.

Because they’re extreme, maaaan!

Hm.  Maybe for 2011 they should think about dumping their current boring product names, too.  There’s tons of great potential names out there.  The “Moody Loner”  The “Social Misfit”.  The “Outcast”.  The potential’s unlimited.

And, yes, I’m still planning on riding an 1125r.

I‘ve been looking at Buell’s web site since the new models were rolled out, and looking up some information on the 1125R.  I’ve also been watching that young Eslick fellow sweep the Daytona races around the country.

So, I stopped off at Biggs Harley-Davidson today to look at one in person.  All I got to do was sit on the bike–they have a white one on display, as well as a couple of CR variants.  The CR is too much of a naked bike for my taste, but the R model looks sweet.  I know the looks are controversial, but I like them.

Just sitting on the bike, I could tell that the ergos are far more forgiving than the Kawasaki Z-Bikes, and way more comfy than the R1 or R6.  You aren’t forced to lean as far forward, and the pegs aren’t set quite as high, so you aren’t crouched into a full fetal position.  This is a sportbike I might actually be able to ride for more than 30 minutes at a time.

Surprisingly, the Biggs guys are open to letting me take one out for a test ride.  So I’ll probably have a test ride report on the Buell 1125R in the near future.

So, it’s about 6:45 this morning when I go out to get the bike out of the garage and head off to work.  I put on all my gear, threw a leg over, turned the ignition key, and for a brief moment, while the key was turning between the off and start positions the dashboard of the FJR lit up.  Then, when the key clicked into the start position, everything went dead.

The dreaded FJR ignition problem strikes again.

This happened once before, and stranded me in the middle of the road on my way to work.  Fortunately, this time, it was in the garage.  But, I was still pissed.

I stripped off all my gear, went out to the truck, threw my tank bag in the passenger seat, and started her up.  As I pulled away from the house, knowing there’s no way I’m gonna make it to work in time driving my diesel truck, I notice that the fuel tank is almost at the empty mark.  So, now I’m gonna be later.

Well, I thought, as I was putting 35 gallons of oil in the tank at the gas station, I guess I’d better call and let someone at work know I’m running late.  That was when I noticed that my cell phone was dead.

It was not a happy morning.

Fortunately, when I got to work, my insurance’s raod-side assitance line was ready to help me, and North County House of Motorcycles could fit my bike in.  Not only that, but they had the ignition switch for the FJR in stock.

As it turns out, my FJR had never had the recall fix for the ignition switch done.  for some reason, I thought that the new ignition switch I got last year when this happened had taken care of that.  Turns out, it didn’t.  It was one of the pre-recall ignition switches.

So, in addition to free towing, I got a free ignition switch repair.

As I was on my way home from work, I got a call on my freshly recharged cell phone saying that the bike was ready.  I called Chris to tell her we needed to go pick it up.  When I got home, I loaded Chris, our dogs, the grand-daughter who’s spending the summer with us, and her dog all into the truck.  I tossed my riding gear in the bed, and, at 4:30Pm we were off on the 16-mile trip to the dealership, up CA-78.

And, about 1.5 miles up the 78, traffic came to a dead stop.  All lanes.

Unfortunately, because there are some inconvenient mountains and lakes in our area, there are very few ways–and no direct ones–from Escondido to Vista except the 78.  And it was shut down.

So, we had to go to the GPS, get off the highway at the next exit, and take the most tortuous route of surface streets you can imagine.  And, because 78 was jammed, the surface streets were jammed, too.  It took us an hour to go the last 10 miles.

Happily, we arrived at NCHM at about 5:40, and I was able to pick up the bike before they closed.

The east-bound side of the 78 was pretty clear so I took that back home, and saw that the traffic problem on the eastbound side was that a fire had started by the freeway, so the fire department and CHP had essentially shut the highway down, except for allowing cars to trickle through one at a time on the shoulder.

I’m glad this day is over, let me tell you.

The mavens at Motorcyclist magazine have announced the winner of the award for 2009 Motorcycle of the Year, as well as their other picks.

Motorcyclist's Motorcycle of the Year: 2009 Yamaha YZF-R1

The bike picking up the top award this year is the Yamaha YZF-R1.

Modern sportbikes are engineered so close to the edge of the performance envelope that we’re conditioned to expect incremental changes: a shaved pound here, an added pony there. It’s almost unimaginable that any sportbike could surprise us with a novel riding experience that realigns our understanding of what a liter-class sportbike is, and what one can do. The 2009 Yamaha YZF-R1 is exactly that sort of bike-which is why it’s our Motorcycle of the Year.

Other notable picks include:

Ben Spies as the Motorcyclist of the year.

The Kawasaki ZX-6R as the best sportbike of the year, closely followed by the Ducati 1198.

The Ducati Streetfighter as the Best Naked Bike, followed by the Harley Davidson XR1200 Sportster.

The Kawasaki Concours14 as the year’s Best Touring Bike, followed by the Harley Davidson Ultra Classic Electra Glide.

Best Adventure Bike honors go to two BMWs, with the F800GS in the top position, and the R1200GS Adventure in second place.

The Best Dreambike is the Aprilia RSV4, with the BMW S1000RR as the follow-on.

Best Bang For The Buck goes to Kawasaki, with the ER-6n as the winner, and KLX250SF as the second-place finisher.

For Best Cruiser, Motorcyclist goes strictly for muscle this year, with the Star (Yamaha) V-MAX ruling the roost, and the Harley Davidson V-Rod Muscle in the supporting position.

Best Dirtbike is the Husaberg FE450; second best is the Honda CRF450R.

Best New Technology is the Honda Combined ABS system, followed by the Ducati Traction Control.

And, finally, the Best New Product honors go to the Gopro Motorsports Hero Wide Camera, with the Bazzaz Performance Z-FI Traction Control taking the runner-up position.

Italian motorcycle designer Oberdan Bezzi is convinced that Ducati will be revealing a new scooter at the Milan EICMA Motorcycle show in November.

Oberdan thinks the motor will be an 850 and offer a multi-mode transmission like the Aprilia Mana. That’s not a bad assumption; I just had a conversation with a source at Piaggio, who told me Piaggio loves to sell powertrain units to anyone who’ll buy them. “Would they sell one without heads so Ducati could install Desmo heads,” I asked? “Sure” was the answer. Oberdan’s drawing shows the Testastretta motor’s deep sump, so maybe that’s not what he had in mind, but it’d make sense, no? He also envisioned an “S” version, with Öhlins suspension and maybe some lightweight 16-inch wheels as well.

Bezzi also has a concept drawing of this supposed cross between a scooter and a Ducati Monster.

Ducati Scooster

Huh. We’ll see.

As I mentioned before, the economy isn’t good.  And since motorcycles are a luxury good for most people, they are being hit especially hard.  The MoCo had a 91% drop in profits last quarter, Suzuki’s sales numbers have collapsed…it’s bad all over.  And I can prove it now.

The Motorcycle Industry Council is reporting their collected sales data for the first six months of 2009, and I can’t find any good news in it.

Scooters took the brunt of the fall in sales, decreasing over 67% year to date compared to the same period last year and an incredible 77.5% in June 2009 over the same month in 2008…

Dual-purpose motorcycles fell nearly 47% in year to date sales compared to 2008 while the month of June saw 58%, or 4,431 fewer motorcycle sold than the year before…

But not all of the drop can be attributed to motorcycles falling out of favor with the would-be riding public. Many buyers complain about trouble finding financing for their new motorcycle purchases.

Regardless, looking at the year to date number, a staggering 177,650 fewer motorcycles were sold in the first six month of 2009 compared to the year before.

So, the good news is that a lot of motorcycles are just sitting on showroom floors, waiting for someone to buy them.  The bad news is that it’s getting hard to get motorcycle financing.

And I don’t think it’s gonna get any prettier any time soon.

Some motorcycles are inherently uncomfortable.  Some of them get uncomfortable as you age.  Sometimes, if you really like a bike, you try to modify it to make it fit you better.   The thing is, there is a right way to do this, and a wrong way.  Case in point:

Well, at least it has good lumbar support.

I’m sure that getting this thing up to 80MPH + on the freeway is an…interesting experience.

In case you haven’t been keeping up with current events, things are slow in the economy.  We went to the local mall Friday night to see about getting a part for our dishwasher, and the place was a ghost town.  After finishing up at the mall, we also went to a popular local eatery.  We were one of three parties in the place.  All the rest of the tables were empty.

This afternoon, I went to Escondido Cycle Center, and North County Yamaha.  I was the only customer in NCY–another customer was leaving as I arrived–and one of two customers as ECC.  Dead, dead, dead.

Interestingly, the sales guy at NCC couldn’t have been less interested in trying to sell me a bike.  Since I have an insurance settlement coming from my accident last December, I am looking at possibilities for a second bike.  Something small and hooligan-like, but without the cramped riding position of the Gixxer or CBR.  I went to NCY because they have Triumphs there, and wanted to look into a Speed Triple 1050.  I told the sales guy what I was after, and he said, “I don’t know mcuh about it.  It has a good torque range.  Broad. why not go sit on it and see if you like it.”  He then turned on his heel and left me to my own devices.  Apparently, trying to sell a motorcycle didn’t fit into his schedule this afternoon.

And, keep in mind that this is their chief sales guy, and as far as I could tell, the only sales rep there.  I’ve seen him there before, and his whole vibe was that I was being a pain in the ass for trying to engage him.

Wierd.

The sales guy at ECC, on the other hand, was knowledgeable, and showed me not only the sportbikes, but an array of standard bikes that have same sportbike engines, but more comfy ergos.  Totally different sales experience.

Sometimes the guys at NCY are helpful, and sometimes they act like they’d rather you just didnt show up at their door at all.  When sales are as bad as they are currently, you’d think they would deep-six the latter attitude.

I‘ve spent some time going over the new 2010 Buell Motorcycles web site that was unveiled today. I can’t say as I like it much.  And I don’t think much of the marketing effort they put into one of the main features on the new site, the co-called “Book of Buell“.

Something about the tone of the thing just puts me off.  Now, don’t get me wrong.  The Buell is a fine motorcycle, and Erik Buell really is a fine engineer and racer, who has contributed some fascinating ideas to motorcycle design.  Many of Buell’s design concepts seem spot on.  But the tone of the thing gets right up my nose.

SITTING IS NOT A SPORT

There is no World Champion of sitting.  No governing body to ensure that when two people try to out sit each other, they do it by the rules. Because sitting is not a sport.  Unfortunately, most people who buy sportbikes do just that.  They hit the starter button, raise the kickstand, and sit their asses off…

Actually, most people raise the kickstand, and then hit the starter button, because they have modern bikes with a safety interlock that won’t let you start the bike with the kickstand down.  If the bike isn’t in Neutral, at any rate.

…There’s nothing wrong with these people.  They just bought the wrong bike. A sport bike is not designed to be sat on.  it’s designed to be hung off.  Moved around on.  Constantly manipulated beneath the rider. A self-propelled platform upon which a sport takes place.  Before you buy a Buell, take a moment to think about what you really want to do on it.  If the answer involves sitting, you may want to consider something different.  A porch swing, maybe, or one of those floating pool chairs.

Well.  Aren’t we just a little too cool for the room?  But hey, while we’re on the subject of whether or not we should consider a sportbike, maybe we should also take a moment to consider if the sportbike we want has an air-cooled V-twin engine that was pulled off of a Harley Sportster, and puts out 103 horsepower like the XB12R, or has a water-cooled, I-4 Engine that spits out 178 horses, and is smooth as silk, like a GSX-R1000.  Even the 1125R is only putting out 145 horses.

So, let’s be honest.  If you’re looking at a Buell, your prime consideration is probably something other than the raw power of the motorcycle, and the ability to push it past 135 MPH.

The BoB continues:

ERIK BUELL DIDN’T BECOME AN ENGINEER SO HE COULD MEET OTHER ENGINEERS

The truth is, he’s made a career our of alienating them.  But this has never been his aim.  It’s just what happens when someone discards accepted principles in search of a better way.  Put gas in the frame, turn the swingarm into an oil tank, sling the exhaust under the engine, and develop a perimeter-mounted front brake…

…use an engine that was originally designed for a cruiser…

…and all of a sudden your invitation to the American Society of Mechanical Engineers annual golf tournament gets lost in the mail and that one guy from Poltech stops sending a Christmas card.

Because Erik is so extreme, maaaaaan! The Establishment shuns him!

Yes. Erik Buell’s ideas were so disfavored, and he was made such a figure of ridicule that all the other engineers felt  awkward in his presence because of his shunning.  And in his hideous shame, the country’s largest motorcycle manufacturer acquired his company, provided him with capital, manufacturing capability, and parts in order to build his crazy machines.

The next section is entitled, “A Buell Won’t Make You Any Friends”.

Many people buy sportbikes as a way to connect with other people who ride sportbikes.  Equipped with their new sportbike, they gain instant admission to a fun, freewheeling group of like-minded riders…This will not happen to you if you purchase a Buell. No one will understand why you’ve done what you’ve done.  In fact, they may even be disturbed by it…

And often, this includes the sales and service departments of  the local Harley Davidson dealer where you purchase it.

Because we don’t engineer motorcycles for acceptance.  We engineer them for performance. And we engineer them without mercy.

And frankly, because they have to engineer them without mercy, considering that they–the 1125 excepted–use an antiquated motor design that every other manufacturer discarded years ago in order to replace them with engines that deliver 60-70% more power.

Let’s be frank, here.  The Buell Thunderstorm-powered bikes are excellent motorcycles, considering what they are.  But all of the engineering in the world will never deliver the horsepower or anything like the top speed out of an air-cooled V-Twin based on the Harley Evolution motor that a modern I-4 engine of similar displacement will.  That doesn’t mean it’s a bad motor, or that the Buell is a bad bike.  It isn’t.

But let’s not pretend it’s a CBR100RR with a top-gear roll-on from 60-80MPH that’s half a second faster than the XB12R, with a similar gap in quarter mile times, with the Honda moving 15MPH+ faster at the marker.

Anyway, it goes on that way for a bit more.  Then we get to the real kick in the teeth for some Buell customers:  The elimination of the Buell Blast.  You have to see the way they handle that to believe it.

They show a picture of a Blast crushed into a cube, and the text goes:

The Buell Blast was a cute little motorcycle.  It just never made much of a sportbike…Hey, there’s no denying the Blast’s aforementioned cuteness.  But there’s nothing cute about racing or riding a sportbike the way it was meant to be ridden.  And while racing and sportbikes have always been important at Buell, they are now officially the only thing that matters.  So the Blast will not be moving forward.

In other words, we never cared about this bike.  We thought it was dumb, and we are happy to dump it.  And if you are one of the stupid, poser suckers we sold one of these suck-machines to, then you got screwed.  Enjoy your cute little thumper, loser.  Because we’re all about being extreme now. And racing. And flipping off The Man.  The Blast didn’t give off that moody loner vibe we’re cultivating.  We not only don’t care what our competitors think, we don’t even care about what our former Blast customers think.

OK.  It’s a given that they don’t care what I think, then.  But I think, “Nice PR, Ass,” anyway.

Yes, Buell’s have been racing since the very beginning of the company.  They’ve been very successful in Thunderbike.  But when Buell really wanted to compete at the superbike level, they had to design a new bike from scratch, using an outsourced Rotax water-cooled motor.

The Firebolt is great in it’s available range, and in initial acceleration, and it will keep up with most sportbikes stoplight to stoplight.  But at the end of the day, it can’t put out the top speed of almost anyone else’s liter sportbike.  And we won’t even try to compare it to the ‘Busa or ZX-14.

Still, it’s a very good motorcycle, and personally, I like Buells a lot. Overall, I think Erik Buell outs out a very good product, with competitive street performance at anything less than “Go ahead and take my license and impound my bike, officer” speeds.  And I really think Buell’s whole design philosphy has a lot going for it. And Buell does, in fact, put out an XB-RR race bike with 150 ponies.  I bet if Harley gave him the green light to produce a bike with a modern I-4 powerplant, it’d be an absolute monster.

But the arrogant, too-cool-for-the-room, “I’m a rebel, man!” marketing really turns me off.  And the way they wrote off the Blast like it was some worthless POS just has a total lack of class.

The MoCo has released their 2010 model year line-up, and an expansive lineup it it is. For 2010, Harley-Davidson will carry 34 motorcycle models, including 9 new  bikes. Below is a little taste of Milwaukee Goodness.

Laura Vecchio at Harley-Davidson wrote to me, to provide some of the MoCo’s talking points for the new models:

The Electra Glide® Ultra Limited model delivers the performance upgrade of a Twin Cam 103™ engine, and features standard equipment items previously offered only as accessories on regular-production Harley-Davidson Touring models.

The new Road Glide® Custom model looks lean and mean, with a slammed suspension, 18-inch front wheel and a new 2-into-1 exhaust system.

The Wide Glide® returns as an all-new Dyna® model done in old-school chopper style, with black laced wheels, a chopped rear fender, black “wire” sissy bar, 2-1-2 Tommy Gun exhaust and an optional flame paint scheme.

The new Street Glide® Trike brings stripped-down, hot-rod styling to the three-wheel category, and joins the Tri Glide™ Ultra Classic® in an all new Trike family for 2010.

The new Fat Boy® Lo presents a darker and lower interpretation of the motorcycle that still defines the fat-custom segment.

Updates to the 2010 Street Glide® model include a larger front wheel, slimmed-down exhaust, and a new tail light assembly.

Harley-Davidson Custom Vehicle Operations™ (CVO™) will offer four new limited-production models for 2010: the CVO Softail® Convertible, CVO Street Glide, CVO Ultra Classic® Electra Glide® and CVO Fat Bob®.

I like what Harley is doing for some of their paint schemes by breaking away from solid colors, and going with factory flame paint jobs.  Very nice.  I’m also really liking what HD has done with the Road Glide, giving it a lowered, meaner look.

Hopefully, Ms. Vecchio will be sending me some more pics of the new models, and I’ll post them here as I get them.  In the meantime, HD’s 2010 model lineup page is here.

Unfortunately, no one at HD is talking about it, and no one at Buell has contacted me, but the new Buell line-up for 2010 is out, too.  They are all up at the Buell web site.  At first glance, I’m not seeing a lot of changes.

Other than the demise of the Buell Blast, of course.

Honda Europe has set up a new web site to set up the rollout of the new V-Tec bike I wrote about last week.  There’s not much to it but a tantalizing video that shows a few close-ups of pieces of the bike.  But it’s clear they’re getting set up.

If you’re interested, here’s the video:

Based on the images in the video, MCN’s artist conceptions were a bit off.