Visian
look out!!!
The R80 weighed 462#'s and made 50HP. How's it feel to want?
R80 G/SPD+ … 410lbs wet, R100 sleeper motor… I have no want!
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The R80 weighed 462#'s and made 50HP. How's it feel to want?
The R80 weighed 462#'s and made 50HP. How's it feel to want?
They have soul. They feel different, sound different, look different and contribute to my happiness! Low center of gravity, mine have been solid performers. Stay ahead of the maintenance.
I have never had my ass on any bike that had less soul. It was like riding a refrigerator.
In my own 58 years of riding, after 700k miles and 40 different motorcycles, I’m still not sure what “soul” in a bike is. They are machines, tools to get you there and back.
I understand what you are saying. If you have done that many miles, then perhaps a motorcycle is just transportation for you. But for me (to quote a Rush song), the point of a journey is not to arrive. I don't want a bike that gets me to a destination. I want a bike that IS the destination. Sitting on that seat, feeling the engine twist the bike underneath me when I rev it. Feeling the heat from the cylinders rising up. Smelling the gunk that's roasting on the headers after hitting them. The clunk of the transmission. The feel of the dry clutch. The sound of the boxer engine. It's not a machine to me. It's my friend. My buddy. My companion. It needs me and I need it. I care for it and feed it, and it puts a smile on my face and makes my heart rate go up.
No...it's not about getting me there and back. It's about enjoying the miles between here and there.
I too sold a V-Strom for reasons very similar to what you described. It was "TOO perfect" of a bike... just bland and boring to ride.
I enjoy the weirdness of the boxer acceleration much more, even though I don't really consider it "as good" as the V-Strom (new parallel twin V-Strom excluded).
In many ways, I think the r80 line hit the “sweet spot” for a general use motorcycle. Big enough for the occasional cross-county tour, but light enough for routine in-town use. Fairly reliable and easy to maintain, if they had only been improved with a better charging system, FI, abs brakes, and a more robust transmission input shaft they might still sell well today......
There's Guzzi's V7 and V85TT line. They're not quite as light as an R80 was but they include all the updates / improvements mentioned, plus some more.
I fall into this camp. BMW boxers have a soul, personality, quirkiness, whatever you want to call it. I rode my Suzuki V-Strom for 8 years and never really bonded with that bike. It was absolutely perfect. Never had a single issue. Started and ran flawlessly. So what's the problem? That's just it...there were no quirks, no oddness, no individuality, no personality. The bike just went where you pointed it. It was such a dead reliable, quiet, smooth, unengaging motorcycle...I almost quit riding figuring that maybe I just wasn't into motorcycles anymore. Then I visited my local BMW dealer and took a test ride on a R NineT and a used Triumph. OH! THIS is why I love riding. Both bikes were fun. They had life in them. That convinced me to trade the V-Strom on my R1200R.
I understand what you are saying. If you have done that many miles, then perhaps a motorcycle is just transportation for you. But for me (to quote a Rush song), the point of a journey is not to arrive. I don't want a bike that gets me to a destination. I want a bike that IS the destination. Sitting on that seat, feeling the engine twist the bike underneath me when I rev it. Feeling the heat from the cylinders rising up. Smelling the gunk that's roasting on the headers after hitting them. The clunk of the transmission. The feel of the dry clutch. The sound of the boxer engine. It's not a machine to me. It's my friend. My buddy. My companion. It needs me and I need it. I care for it and feed it, and it puts a smile on my face and makes my heart rate go up.
No...it's not about getting me there and back. It's about enjoying the miles between here and there.
To me, the best bikes are those that kind of “disappear” under me
That's close to what I look for in a bike. With previous bikes in my 54 years of riding I sat on them. With the GSA it feels like sitting in the bike, almost as if it becomes part of me, seeming to respond to my thoughts like any other part of my body. It might not be "soul," but we've certainly bonded.
So what's character to you?
Yup 'character' is totally subjective. It's part of why I own no Japanese bikes-none of them stir any emotion in me with the sole exception being the TW200.
Character is a subjective term at best.