Sports tourer market in Aus?

[Google Google] Whoops sorry; it's Tony Molina's dog.
(posted in November 2001)

 

Heh - I'd guess my "low powered 1000cc bike" arguement applies equally
there too, as it does with Harleys, some BMWs, and I suspect most of the
large Japanese cruisers...

big

 

No worries, there's room for comments under each photo, I'll rename them with
the best captions offered

 

~
It's just Honda technology-for-technology-sake.
Like the weirdo linked-brakes it's just smartarse aren't-we-clever stuff
that adds complexity without really giving you anything.
They shoulda' put the effort into their regulator/rectifiers instead!
Clem

 

I've got an R-bike but it's not my sole bike...
(I'd hate to be an R-sole like Smee!)
Clem

 

"**** off Terrier Bitch?"

(that new UnderDog logo is a bit much though)

-----sharks

 

[hears whooshing sound... looks up]
Clem

 

OI
No beer for you at PI

 

Why don't you get yourself a ZZR250 then ? Sounds like it would be a
good upgrade - it has about 50% more power than a CB250 and a lot better
handling.

By the way, in the nicest possible way, your prejudice about twins is
shutting you out of a segment of the market which would be entirely
suitable to your needs. 4's vibrate too, in fact they can vibrate worse
than twins.

Get yourself an SV650 it's an excellent next bike after a 250 - great
handling excellent engine heaps sold so parts easily available and
plenty to choose from. ZZR600 is a good bike but it's a generation older
and hence considerably heavier and lower tech

JL
--
Australian Financial Review 17 August 2004
"So far Howard's luck has survived a great deal: his move to dismiss
broken election pledges by distinguishing between "core" and "non-core"
promises; his retrospectively time-limited "never ever" pledge on the
goods and services tax; his vagueness about when he committed Australia
to war against Iraq; his shifting standards for ministerial conduct; his
demonising of asylum seekers as child killers; his tendency to blame
"advice" rather than to openly accept responsibility when things go wrong."
Will Howard's luck survive another election ? Do Australians not care
that their PM is a liar ?
http://www.johnhowardlies.com/

 

"I dunno, really. I was just standing there and this red and black and pink
thing popped out of my arse"

 

Don't overlook something as unobvious to the novice as the amount of force you
need to twist the throttle. Or the way the bars are mounted and angled.

I recently rode a Guzzi Quota (1000ie), two hours there and back, with a stop.
Both times I had slightly tingly hands, which I don't get on the GS even after a
full day of riding. And that despite the GS's engine being less smooth than the
Guzzi's, at the moment.

Similarly on the K, with its sewing-machine triple, the right-hand grip got
pretty buzzy at 5..7k RPMs until I slapped a bar-end weight on it (and on the
left for symmetry, even though that side didn't need it).

--
// Rik Steenwinkel '85 R80ST Skippy bike
// Enschede, Netherlands '91 R100GS/PD The Great Unwashed
// N 52.2158 E 6.88589 '90 K75C Kommutabike
// "Far away is only far away '81 MZ TS250/1+LSW Badkuip
// if you don't go there" '79 Honda XL250S TBD

 

Not only that, but just one in every five holders of motorcycle licences
actually owns a bike. The number of registered bikes is 1 per cent of
the total number of registered cars in Australia.

So, yep, cars are a necessity and bikes aren't (for most people).

 

Jejejejeje ...

I'll pay that one !

 

That might change when petrol hits $2 a litre

David

 

I doubt it. Milestone petrol prices (like $1/litre) are just psychological
barriers. In the past 15 years the price of petrol hasn't really gone up much
in real terms. When it costs $2 a litre people will just pay more for it,
like they do now that it is $1 per litre. Back in the 70s when the price of
petrol soared, people didn't sell their cars and buy motorcycles, they sold
their cars and bought cars which were more fuel efficient. I think fuel
efficiency in modern cars has probably outpaced the price of petrol anyway.

Nev..
'03 ZX12R

 

I didn't. I did the sums and realised that at 20c a litre (up from
14-15 I think) it was really still irrelevant and therefore went out
and bought a V8

I reckon that'd be a pretty good guess.

Cheers

 

How so? Will there be that much of a fuel cost saving due to riding a
15km/l litre-class sportsbike Vs a 15km/l 1600cc Toyota Corolla?

It isn't significantly cheaper for me to commute on my 20km/l GPX250
Vs my 5.5km/l Econovan, now that the Econovan runs on LPG[1].
Especially when you consider the higher consumables cost for a bike
(tyres/brake pads/chains/etc.)


BTH
[1] Approximately 5.5c/km for the bike Vs 7.5c/km for the truck.

 

SV650s is half-faired and a tasty number, but you don't like V-twins
(actually, take one for a test ride; it feels like a 250 to handle but goes
like a 650).

Triumph Sprint - an alternative to a viffer that's had good reviews

Yammie TDM 850 or 900 - half-faired but good all rounder; parallel twin but
little irritating vibration

 

In the mid-70's when it was mandated that fuel prices were quoted in
cents/litre instead of cents/gallon(imp), my local servo went from 47c/gal
to 13.5 c/litre (61.3c/gal for the arithmetically challenged)

 

It obviously wasn't BP. US owned distributor by any chance?

Nev..
'03 ZX12R