Wretched XS

[noodlenoggin]

Hey, AZR. I think I'd like going 180 in silence -- it'd be like the time I was at Michigan Int'l Speedway in the 1980's while the CART indycars were practicing. I stood next to the wall on the tri-oval, basically 3 feet from where cars were going past me at 230mph. The sound was like "rrrrrrrrrr -- THOOM!! --- BWAaaooowwrrrrrrmmmmmm

NOBODY Expects the Spanish Inquisition!!

Okay, I just like Monty Python, I don't really have any Spanish Inquisition content today.

I did wear my motorcycle jacket today, just for the heckuvit. Scuzzy, cracked and scuffed and weathered, 15-plus-years-old brown leather thing. Lining mostly ripped out, all the pockets holier-than-thou. I just felt like it. I suppose I can't fit my head into my Crown Vic if I wear my full-face Shoei...

I was thinking of yesterday's entry...mostly the part about liking opposites of bikes. Thought I'd bore everyone -- erm -- share with everyone some of the bikes I find that I like.


1948 Indian Chief -- any of the full-skirted fender Chiefs, actually, but I like the girder forks the best. The earlier leaf-spring fork is cool, too, the later hydraulic fork is just "meh," to quote the teenagers. Strangely, I don't like the short-lived Indian revival motorcycles from around 2000...I think the Kawasaki Drifter looks more like an Indian than those "new" Indians did.


Kawasaki 750 2-stroke triples. I dunno...it's the first 3-cylinder anything I'd ever seen. A 250cc 2-stroke pulls almost as hard as my 650cc 4-stroke Yamaha...and 750cc?! Cheez o'Lou! Cup-O-Brutal? Yes, please!


The early 1980's Honda 750 Interceptor. These are just about the first sportbikes I ever saw. I remember sitting on 'em at the Honda dealer when I was a teenager and trusting after one. I love that they're a V4, not the so-standard I4. I never have ridden one, but I HAVE ridden the next bike...


...another Kawasaki with ghastly amounts of power, the mid-1980's GPz 750 Turbo. Turbo. To date, it's still the only sportbike I've ever ridden -- my uncle Howie had one in the 80's and let me ride it at the age of whatever-teen -- I think I've blogged it already. Dang, whatta bike.


Honest Charlie Flathead Ford V8 bike. Boss Hoss? No, thanks, too ugly, too caricaturish, too impractical. This flathead V8 bike? Nice proportions, not overblown, totally rideable. Nice lookin', too. I saw a segment on these on Speed tv, and liked the quote from the announcer. "It doesn't have that classic v-twin rumble...heck, nothing sounds like a Harley -- then again, nothing sounds like a flathead Ford through straight-pipes, either."


Then, I like custom choppers. I like almost everything Hank Young builds (and I like the truck, too!) Not necessarily the "old school" look...more of a 1930's vintage look. I also read that he uses old car parts on the bikes, as well.

So there...wow, I've been picking away at this entry for most of the day, in-between doing work. There's more I like, but I think I'll cut off here. Maybe next time...bikes I don't like.

[AZRider]

Dude who could get bored with that?

If you really like the old interceptors, you should try and get one. they are still around, and they arent that much. My first bike was an 84 700 interceptor. Fast. Fun. I went 140 on it once. They were the origional sport bike. I wish I still had mine. Maybe someday Ill get another one.

[Wrider]

Saw a '92 750 Interceptor here the other day for 10K. It had 8K miles on it, and didn't look like it had been dropped... but wow, wouldn't pay 10K for it... lol
Wrider

[noodlenoggin]

Wow, $10k for an old Interceptor? What's that, five grand per decade?

Bikes that make me go, "meh."

Yeah, I like loads and scads of bikes, but there are some that just don't do it for me, for whatever reason. There are some bikes I think are nice but just never want, and there are some that I wouldn't keep if someone gave them to me...first and foremost being:


Choppers made from Japanese bikes, like this old CB750. I just don't like 'em...they don't look right. The motor doesn't have the right shape, nor the right sound or character. A chopper's supposed to go "bu-blap, bu-blap," not "brrrrip!" Old UJM's make great cafe racers, but terrible choppers, IMHO. This website tries to explain why my opinion is wrong, I guess. I can even appreciate that people put a lot of work into one of these things...I'm just left wondering "why?" A chopped out Honda is gonna be worth the same $750 they bought the project bike for.


Every Japanese cruiser, ever. This won't win me any points around here -- I know most people on this forum ride one of these, and most of the people I know personally who ride, ride one of these. I can say that they've made 'em look a lot better in the 20 years I've been watching bikes...and the whole time, they've been trying to make them look like a Harley. And that, right there, is the crux of why I don't want one...why would I spend my money -- even if a Japanese cruiser is several thousand dollars less -- on a wannabe, an imitation, when the real thing is out there? "Nice Harley." "It's not a Harley, it's a Kawazukiaha." "Oh." I don't want anyone here to feel offended -- I'm not bashing anyone's decisions or anything. I, personally, just don't like 'em.


"Old-School" hardtail choppers. This may be like splitting hairs, because I do like lots of custom bikes -- I lean more toward pro-street or beach cruiser bikes -- long and low. I'm not really a fan of the really tall choppers...something about all that open space between the top of the motor and the bottom of the tank seems inefficient.

And then the whole impracticality of a hardtail bike. Maybe somewhere the roads are smooth enough to ride one, but not in Michigan -- I don't want to pee blood because I've just beat the bejeezus out of my kidneys for 20 miles. I get that the hardtail frame looks cleaner, but seems really non-functional, and I really think form should follow function.


One word: Hondamatic. Ugh. An automatic transmission on a motorcycle...that's just wrong. "I want the wind in my hair and the sun on my face, and the feeling of freedom and danger that one can only get on a hawg...and I don't know how to shift, and maybe it could have a cupholder for my latte." Please, unless you're missing a leg, if you can't work a shifter, maybe you need to re-think your desire for a motorcycle, and buy yourself a nice Buick instead.

And that's the end of my work-day, so since I'm at work, I think I'll leave. There really aren't as many bikes that I dislike as bikes I like. I hafta feel good about that.

[AZRider]

GRRRRRRRRRRRR

[Sev]

I agree with almost everything you've said. But I think the Japanese cruisers have a place .

[Wrider]

I agree with almost everything you've said. But I think the Japanese cruisers have a place .

+1 Yeah! I like my Japanese cruiser! *pouts* But other than that, agreed!
Wrider
And yeah, it was in a bike shop where they only sold new Korean bikes...
Wrider

[roscowgo]

I don't like those tall choppers with the huge space between the tank and the engine either. Lower that junk down, or put a decent sized tank on it for goodness sake.


The i-4 thing in a cruiser frame im mixed about. i've thought about doing it myself.... not for looks but just for seating position. And if i start doin things like that for comfort, it wouldnt matter to me if it looked like the north end of a southbound mule.

[noodlenoggin]

I thought that'd rile some people...

I hear what the four of you are saying, and I agree with three of you. (honestly, who can agree with a growl and an Uzi? ) Japanese cruisers DO have their place. People DO like their Japanese cruisers, and if you're the one chopping a Honda, it SHOULDN'T matter what anyone else thinks about it.

The Japanese Cruiser's Place: Thousands of people want a laid-back cruiser-bike, whether they're more comfortable, or they like the "image," or they simply don't like "them thar' crotch-rockets." Thousands of people DON'T have the $15,000 to $20,000 for a Harley, but they DO have the $5,000 to $10,000 for a bike that looks nearly the same...and they're just not as picky as I am. And I am picky. Picky picky picky...

People Do Like Their J.Cruiser: I would hope so, if you bought one. Like people who go out and finance a new car...and immediately start griping about it...why didn't they just find a car they liked to begin with? I work with a couple of people who would pointedly NOT buy a Harley -- impressions of low quality, etc -- and like their Vulcan, or Intruder, as the case may be. If you buy a bike, buy one you like because really, that's the only criteria for choosing one, isn't it?

If You Chop It, Nobody Else Matters: That's really the thing...the best choppers are the ones someone made using their own original ideas, and d@mn what anyone else thinks. That's also how the worst choppers are made, but I digress. If you build your chopper, that you're going to ride, according to what "everyone else" likes then I guess why bother? If what YOU want is to put a Rotax snowmobile engine in a hardtail chopper frame...more power to you. If what YOU want is to put a Chevy 2.2liter Ecotec 4-cylinder into a GSXR frame, more power to you. The only one who has to like it is YOU.

However, I do understand that the whole chopper culture started with American servicemen returning from fighting the Japanese in the Pacific in WWII. When Japan started selling bikes in the U.S., they were understandably opposed to buying anything from the very people who had killed their buddies on Iwo Jima, on Okinawa, on Guadalcanal; the people that the pervasive propaganda of the time had taught them were unscrupulous, godless, mindless amoral killers. (Check out any movie made in the 1940's and see how derogatorily they portray any and all Asian culture.) Their enemy, if you will.

So, they bought, chopped and rode American bikes, and created the whole custom/chopper/cruiser scene. The acceptance of Japanese cruisers kind of runs counter to the whole origin of the thing. I know, it's all history, and that generation has pretty much all passed away by now, and is certainly no longer riding bikes. I choose to respect the history behind the phenomenon...it's my choice.

Anyway, I like to think that I can understand and appreciate a point of view that is not my own, and respectfully disagree with it while acknowledging the right of another person to hold that point of view. (<- long, clunky sentence, ain't it?) I can wholeheartedly agree with all of your opinions...and yet...I still don't want a Japanese cruiser or a Honda I4 chopper. I just don't. They don't float my boat.

There, that could be the catch phrase for me..."They don't float my boat." it's my boat...my boat. Mine! ARrgh!

[Johnj]

Doug looks pretty happy with his Hondamatic.