2012 Hyosung GV650 Aquila Pro - VOTED: COOL

[totalmotorcycle]

Funny enough, I saw my first Diavel on the road last Sunday. Two, in fact (a group of Ducatisti were riding together). Seeing it in real life made me a bit more forgiving. I'd say it looks purposeful and has lots of presence. Still wouldn't call it pretty though*.

*Ok, I've never had a V-Strom, but I ride a BMW Rockster, which IMHO, is way uglier than a V-Strom. A V-Strom, at the very least, is symmetrical.

LOL (about the Rockster). Seems we have great taste in bikes but it's obvious the "best bikes" are not always the "best looking" haha.

2? Wow. That's more than I've seen. I still don't know about the claim of them "selling off the floors like scottish hot cakes*"

As for the tail, I still can't pin it down 100%, but maybe it has a bit of Rebel in it... Honda Rebel that is..




* For those non-UK'ers (haha), Scottish pancakes are as close as the UK gets to American pancakes!

Have you ever tried maple syrup on your pancakes? Over 500 million North Americans cant be that wrong.

One Big Pancake is a good snack for a quick breakfast.

Two Big Pancakes with a great banana is a great lunch.

Three Big Pancakes is for when you're really hungry.

And four Big Pancakes buttered with Jam are perfect for when friends call round for coffee.

Big pancakes mean only one thing, big toppings so go wild, we do

[Grey Thumper]

Re: the rear fender; V-Rod Muscle?

[High_Side]

Re: the rear fender; V-Rod Muscle?

Yep - I think that you nailed it.

[wpetraska]

Hyosung definitely has their work cut out for them if they really want to be a competitive company. Even though I own one, I sure as hell wouldn't touch a single Hyosung bike that was built before 2009. Gas tank leaks, gauges that don't work, etc. They've literally been plagued with problems until just recently. If you know motorcycles, you'd probably be ok but if not and you're just a casual rider, they can be more stress than they're worth. Once they introduced the EFI models in 2009, I have heard much better things.

As for the company itself, there tends to be a cultural divide between their office here in the US and their HQ in South Korea. They don't want to front the money for marketing, let alone for a Peter Shroyer type that someone mentioned. That's why you see a lot of the design cues taken from elsewhere rather than come up on their own. In all honesty, I feel like a competing Korean manufacturer could swoop in and easily knock Hyo on their back if they were willing to make that investment and make a brand image for themselves, which is something Hyosung still has yet to do. It doesn't help that Hyo appears to be all for selling their bikes to other brands to sell under their name. They did it with United Motors a few years back (that is, until the company went bankrupt, shafted tons of riders with useless warranties and ended up with overstock that could last til the next ice age) and they're doing it again with ATK. It doesn't strengthen the brand at all. It makes it look some cheap OEM bike...

Don't get me wrong, Hyo bikes are definitely worth looking at but the company (and dealers) behind the brand have some work to do if they want to be taken seriously.

[totalmotorcycle]

Re: the rear fender; V-Rod Muscle?

Yup, funny enough, I thought about that bike, opened the photos of it and then forgot to do anything (ie, post it)... lol.

Mike

[totalmotorcycle]

I voted: COOL

Nice bike, nice price, great MPG and even though it's sort of a design copy of many other bikes, it seems to work. It's also different too and people like different.

I think Hyosung could sell a lot of them but there brand is still making a name for itself and its dealer network isn't very large. Victory came from no-where to something big (in fact, so did all the Japanese brands) and it's possible Hyosung could borrow a page out of their book of success.

I'd like to see a larger version of this cruiser and the naked, say 800-1200cc as well to attract even more interest to the brand.

Overall, I think it's cool... and judging by the 4+ pages of discussion on it, it's interesting too.

Mike

[sunshine229]

I voted cool.

The look of this bike is amazing and I'm pleasantly surprised about it's price tag compared to what's on offer. I'd love to vote Awesome but in order for a bike to be awesome for me it's a requirement that I would actually seriously consider it to buy, but this one I don't... But I'm not quite sure why.

I'm the kind of person that doesn't really pay attention to name brands, more interested in the fit and style. So I guess if this bike was the kind I was looking for (I'm not really a cruiser person) and when I sat on it, it felt good then I'd change my vote to Awesome.

I hope more people in North America start buying into these "other" brands because they do have a lot to offer.

One note though, I sat on a Hyosung Comet (GT650) at the motorcycle shows in London, Birmingham, and Calgary and the seat comfort is awful... the seat felt cheap and junk (the rest of the bike is very impressive!). Definitely something they should consider changing if they want to break into the market in a bigger way!