Everyday I toil over what my next bike should be. When I say “everyday” I mean “everyday”! It’s a bit annoying how consumed I get optimizing my life in some future state of my life when I can afford to buy a new thing, in this case a motorcycle. I call this behavior premature optimization, or pre-optimizing. I engage in this behavior all the time.
All that being said, when it comes to motorcycles I am constantly torn between performance and practicality and between retro styling and modern components.
I want performance when I day dream, but I want practical performance in real life. I want a powerband that is usable and fun and keeps me close to legal speed limits.
I want like retro styling for its cool, laid back demeanor, but I value light weight, high performance, components more than I do retro styling. By example, suspension and brakes have come a long way since the 60’s. Why would I want to use basically the same technology that existed 50 years ago if the new technology is better at what it does (suspend or brake in this case) and lighter too?
Let’s bring in some bikes to ground these examples. Take the Triumph Thruxton.
photo courtesy of TriumphMotorcycles.com
I really like this bike. I like the looks. I like the seating position. But, it’s about 100lbs too heavy and has outdated suspension and brakes. It also has outdated wheels and frame. However, it has a very practical performance engine.
Now let’s take the Triumph Daytona 675R. One of my other favorite bikes.
photo courtesy of TriumphMotorcycles.com
This bike is super sexy and has every last bit of modern technology but it has a very unpractical seating position and a moderately unpractical engine everyday riding. It is wonderfully light and flickable, but too uncomfortable for mixed riding and possibly too fast for the street.
It seems that you are either stuck in the old (read cool looking, comfortable, heavy, and out-dated) or in the new (read light, fast, and unpractical).
There are some crossover bikes of interest to me.
The Triumph Street Triple R is one of them.
photo courtesy of TriumphMotorcycles.com
This has updated components and is relatively light. It still has an uncomfortable seating position (which could probably be fixed with a new seat and handlebars) and the engine is mostly practical for everyday mixed riding but not entirely. This is a contender for my everyday-mixed rider motorcycle.
Finally, there is the custom market which brings me to a bike that I saw when it was originally posted on BikeEXIF but recently saw again and loved the concept so much that it sparked this post. That bike is the T-Type by Mr. Martini.
photo courtesy of Roberto Brodolini via bikeexif.com
This is a bike I would love to ride. It is retro and modern. It has to weight at least 25lbs less then a stock Thruxton based solely on the wheels. It should have a very practically performing engine since it is a two cylinder Thruxton engine with a big bore kit. The main problem with such a bike has got to be price.
I know that I haven’t mentioned price yet in this post, but I imagine this T-Type bike is at least double to cost of any of the previous three. Not to mention it is one of a kind and would need to be shipped from Italy.
If price were no object, that T-Type looks awfully nice.
After all that, I think what it boils down to is … I don’t know what I want. Actually, I take that back. I do know what I want. I want a magical bike that can morph into any of these bikes at the push of a button. That’s what I want.
But for now, I will be sticking with my boring, but very capable 2006 Yamaha FZ1 (which consequently is most similar to the Triumph Street Triple R but bigger). It allows me to ride comfortably at most speeds, but is a bit heavy and high speed biased. Speaking of which, what’s up with these race inspired close-ratio gear boxes which are totally lost on a street bike? Ah well, that will have to be for another post.
Thanks for reading and happy riding.
I actually love my FZ1 (naked).
I’ve bought it very recently and the performance is wicked. I’l be doing some fine tuning to it (airbox mod, mapping and some other tweaks).
I think it’s a great bike. But is hasn’t got the great old-skool styling 🙁
I agree with you Joris.
I have done some mods (ECUnleashed, FCE, …) and will continue to do a few each year for as long as I have it.
Next on my list will happen in two days, which is going from a 45 tooth rear sprocket to a 48 tooth. I am hoping this will make it a bit more aggressive but not lose too much of my highway comfort.
Other mods I’m considering are Yamaha handlebar conversion, rear sets, new rear shock, new fork internals, Graves velocity stacks. All in due time.
Thanks for reading.
There is no struggle. Vintage is the only way. There is so much more to motorcycles than simply riding, and vintage is one of the easiest (and cheapest) ways to fully experience motorcycling. Find yourself a banged up old CB or XS or whatever from the 70s or 80s (something with proper wheel sizes: 16 or 18 rear and 19 front), figure out how to get it running, then teach yourself how to keep it doing so. Over time as parts break and/or fall off, replace them with what you prefer… Enter the world of custom vintage motorcycling. The biggest lesson to learn is not to be in a hurry. With anything. While fast is fun, you’ll never be as fast on a CB400 as you will on a VFR800. But that’s okay, because that little “girl’s bike” will turn you into a more manly man than you’ll ever be by being first to the pit stop. Because you can fix what goes wrong and still arrive, rather than call the tow truck. And don’t find that little gem and then immediately set out to build your BikeExif cover bike. Just ride it and let it teach you along the way. These machines are really about fun. I can’t even think about motorcycling without breaking into a smile, whether it’s a 20 mile loop or tearing into a top end rebuild. It’s education, it’s minimalism, it’s self-reliance. THAT is the essence of true motorcycling. The ride is not the only reward…
Speaking of CB400 and BikeExif: http://on.fb.me/19yNtex
I totally agree that the ride is not the only reward and that outright speed is also not my goal. I just road a dramatically underpowered Suzuki DR200SE and had a blast with ear to ear grins and laughs inside my full face helmet.
Where I have trouble aligning myself with the vintage school is in technological advancements in tires, suspension, brakes, and metallurgy. I’ve been trying to sell my FZ1 to downsize to a smaller displacement motorcycle. I don’t need or want the power that it provides.
Deciding on which bike to choose is proving most difficult as the roads I want to be riding are not the roads I actually ride. I spend a lot of time commuting on congested highways in and around Boston with potholes that would eat a scooter for lunch. I also spend a lot of time rushing along those same highways when I finally get beyond the traffic.
I’ll just come out and say it … I like fairings … or rather I like functional fairings that smooth out the air. I also like push button starts, having ridden a stubborn kick starting 1974 Triumph Trident everyday for two years, I enjoy not breaking into a sweat and also not smelling like exhaust.
If I primarily went on pleasure rides I might be more inclined to buy an old Honda CB350 twin (I’ve considered it) and wrench on that in my spare time, but most of the riding I get in these days is commuting to and from work, which has different requirements.
Thanks for reading and I know one of these days we’ll get to ride together.