Why are Practical Bikes Unpopular?

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ZooTech · #21 Unread post by **ZooTech** » Tue Apr 11, 2006 5:31 am

-Holiday wrote:but what about a newer nighthawk 750? I think they made them up until 2001?

Shaft driven, inline 4.

Chain driven.

-Holiday · #22 Unread post by **-Holiday** » Tue Apr 11, 2006 5:32 am

ZooTech wrote:
-Holiday wrote:but what about a newer nighthawk 750? I think they made them up until 2001?

Shaft driven, inline 4.
Chain driven.

oh

well thats just gay.

i assumed it was shaft driven just like the mid 80's nighthawks.

aflundi · #23 Unread post by **aflundi** » Tue Apr 11, 2006 5:37 am

they stopped making them, but what about a newer nighthawk 750? I think they made them up until 2001?

Shaft driven, inline 4. You can fit a decent amount of gear on them. Its no goldwing, but even my nighthawk 650 can hold something like 800 pounds all together.

theyre cheap too.

Nighthawk 750s were great. They haven't been shaft driven though since '86. I'm currently riding an '85. I'd prefer a twin over a four cylinder for easier maintenance and better gas mileage. While I like riding my 700s, it's more high=end performance than I need or ever use and way less low-end torque than I'd like and could use. it's also pretty hard to carry stuff on it. It's a decent naked standard, but I'm not sure it's really all that practical.

That brings up another thing. It'd be more useful I think, for a practical bike to have cams cut for low-end torque and sacrifice the high-revs. Practical bikes just don't live on the race track. To give performance, most bikes are designed for high revs, but from a practical standpoint that just eats gas and shortens the life of the engine.

jstark47 · #24 Unread post by **jstark47** » Tue Apr 11, 2006 5:39 am

-Holiday wrote:cross country trip and 29,000 miles on a Honda Reflex:

ohhh, my achin' back!! As owner (and occasional rider) of one of these critters, I can't see doing this. Maybe it works for a smaller person (I'm 6'1" 240lbs). They're fine for around town (and ambushing Harleys once in a while

) but not a distance bike IMO.

jstark47 · #25 Unread post by **jstark47** » Tue Apr 11, 2006 5:41 am

aflundi wrote:l
ook into a suzuki bergman (scooter) or a honda helix(scooter).

I rejected these because I haven't been able to find even one that lasted for very long -- and it doesn't look like to me they are low-total-cost-of-ownership.

Gotta disagree with you here. Don't know about the Zook, but the Honda scoots are hard to kill, they thrive on abuse and neglect!

aflundi · #26 Unread post by **aflundi** » Tue Apr 11, 2006 5:44 am

Is the Honda ST1300 more than you are looking to spend? If not they are pretty sweet.

What about BMW.Through some luggage on the 1150r and your good to go.Although they are pricey they are very reliable.

Nice bikes for sure, but WAY too expensive. I'm not looking for ways to loose my savings. With inflation as bad as it's been (I'm convinced it considerably worse than the government figures) and as bad as it's likely to get (much worse than anything we've seen yet), I'm looking for ways to econimize.

jstark47 · #27 Unread post by **jstark47** » Tue Apr 11, 2006 5:45 am

MASHBY wrote:
CNF2002 wrote:I like that!

Honda has no info on it on their site...any specs? price?
Go to the UK website http://www.honda.co.uk

Amen to that. It was very illuminating the first time I surfed the Honda UK site and saw all the bikes Honda makes and won't sell in the USA. I'm sure Honda has good reason. It's just a darned shame our market preferences have deprived us of some interesting choices.

MASHBY · #28 Unread post by **MASHBY** » Tue Apr 11, 2006 5:53 am

jstark47 wrote:Amen to that. It was very illuminating the first time I surfed the Honda UK site and saw all the bikes Honda makes and won't sell in the USA. I'm sure Honda has good reason. It's just a darned shame our market preferences have deprived us of some interesting choices.

Have a look at the other three

http://www.yamaha-motor.co.uk
http://www.kawasaki.co.uk
http://www.suzuki.co.uk

There is some good stuff that i doubt will ever come over here.Due to the fact this a big time cruiser market.

TechTMW · #29 Unread post by **TechTMW** » Tue Apr 11, 2006 6:06 am

sapaul wrote:Look for an 80's plus Moto Guzzi, by modern standards they are now ugly, but bullet proof, agricultural technology (two fuel taps, two coils ect) the things will run on one cylinder. Plenty of low down grunt for carrying stuff and cheap to maintain and run. Swap out the points and put in a cdi and they will run for ever.

+1 ... or even look into a Moto Guzzi California Stone Touring. It has everything you previously mentioned (Bags, shaft drive, hydraulic valve adjusters) and all for under 10k new...

http://www.motoguzzi-us.com/bikes/stone_tour/index.html

aflundi · #30 Unread post by **aflundi** » Tue Apr 11, 2006 6:35 am

Re: scooters:

Gotta disagree with you here. Don't know about the Zook, but the Honda scoots are hard to kill, they thrive on abuse and neglect!

I keep hearing people claim that but I've had a challenge out for about 6 months on the Usenet alt.scooters newgroup to come up with an example of one lasting more than 40 K miles. It's been unanswered to date. Perhaps a mega-scooter like a Burgman 650 or SilverWing could make it, but they cost a lot more and ought to last 100 K miles.

Of course there's also the question of whether scooters are really inexpensive to purchase and maintain even if they do last forever. I don't think they are.