Total Motorcycle Community Forums

BobMielke wrote:When's the last time you had to use a kickstarter on a bike? Do you miss drum brakes? Progress in engineering allows us to enjoy the ride more. Automatic transmission is certainly not new to motorcycles. My first bike was a 1980 Hondamatic 400. No clutch. Honda also produced a 750 Hondamatic. Do you drive a stick shift or automatic car/truck? My point is that you still have a choice so there's no need to flame choice if is doesn't meet your needs.

I like the kick starter...My CB360 has one. Keeps the battery from running down. Kick starting is easier than push starting (Except maybe on a Harley )

Drum Brakes: Don't miss them in the front, ALL my vehicles have em in the rear. BUT, I still control the brakes with a lever. Drum, Disk, Magic, as long as I work it and not the vehicle, I am happy.

Automatic is O.K. I like to shift. I want to control the power to the driving wheels as much as possible. I don't care if a computer does it better. I don't want better, I want to do it myself.

Not flaming choice. Just seeing that the logical end to this is we don't do any driving, we become just Passengers. I like to drive, not be driven. If you like taking a cab or a bus, more power to you. "Take Greyhound, and leave the driving to us!" I like to drive myself!

I don't have a motorcycle to meet my needs. I have it to meet my wants. I want to drive and control it. Your mileage may vary!

To me, and I respect your right to differ, a motorcycle is an escape from an automatic world that requires minimum input from a human. I have to keep it balanced, shift it, it requires much more input and skill than a car. I don't flame, only lament the slow death of humans being able to control their own machinery.

CajunBass wrote: I know a lot of people don't consider "scooters" to be motorcycles. That's ok with me. I'll wave to them anyway.

I didn't want anyone to think I was talking about the folks here on this forum. I've never encountered any "snobs" here. The flack I've gotten has come from a couple of guys I work with, and I admit that it's mostly "tongue in cheek." (Why didn't you get a REAL bike? What is that? A girl's bike?)

So I changed the word "you" to "them" in the above sentence and added the smiley. I figure if you're on two wheels, I'll wave. If you don't wave back, I figure you're busy and didn't see me.

/wave to Cajun and anyone else on two wheels.

Oh, and no matter what you ride your friends will give you a hard time, to small, wrong color, wrong style, shoulda got the other brand, I can go faster etc etc etc. They wouldn't be friends otherwise

Sevulturus wrote: Oh, and no matter what you ride your friends will give you a hard time, to small, wrong color, wrong style, shoulda got the other brand, I can go faster etc etc etc. They wouldn't be friends otherwise

Oh that I know quite well. I've got a bass boat, and I shoot handguns.