Bring back the day glo!

 

The older bikes definitely have more character in my opinion.

This age of diminutive sized bikes and rider electronics almost ruins it for me.

 

Traction control and other "rider aids" take so much out of the whole motorcycle experience for me that I can't really adequately explain it. When I got my Z06 I discovered it had traction control and I was bummed until I learned I could dis-arm it. I can honestly say I have not ever used it other than to see how it worked when I first bought the car. I feel the same way about it on bikes; if you need it then you probably shouldn't be riding the beast you're on. Yes, I'm a caveman when it comes to that stuff, but I watch races to see who the better rider is and not to see who has the best electronics package on their bike.

 

Too many electronics on the newer bikes. I liked watching the superbike racers drift around corners. That's always more entertaining

 

All the new electronic rider aids are about going faster more safely. I don't think I want to go much faster, so I don't think I need them. But I might have a different opinion if one of those features saved my ass in a particular situation. You can't just be a Luddite pining for the "good ole days" because they are gone, and they ain't coming back. The world changes every day and if you don't change with it, you get left in the dust.

 

I get what you're saying but the numbers just don't support the whole electronics=safety theory.

The US motorcycle fatalities are steadily rising over the past decade.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_motorcycle_deaths_in_U.S._by_year
***note: according to the wiki page, the dip in fatalities in 2009 may have been due to the recession and less recreational vehicle use. If you remember, motorcycle sales were also down during that period.


At the end of the day, (and in my opinion) electronics should be able to be turned off completely and riders should have to learn throttle control. Electronics are no substitute for true skill.

 

i like older bikes(and cars for that matter) because i can work on them at home with a basic repair manual. other than having tires put on rims. I can count on one hand how many times i've taken a car or bike i owned. to let someone else repair it. i've had friends come and help me fix something but i've always repaired my own vehicles.

 

+1 turbo

 

I remember back in the early/mid 1990s people were blasting ABS-equipped cars; some people even went as far as saying that a computer could never be as good as the human foot/brain. Well today pretty much every car comes with ABS as a standard feature. I have traction control in my Mazda 6 and it's useful on ice and in rainy conditions.

I think they are great for street bikes but all electronic aids should be outlawed for racing. Kinda off-topic but kinda related as well, but I remember seeing a youtube video with Lewis Hamilton drives Senna's McLaren MP4/4 and he said he had so much respect for the guys then because they had no help. He absolutely loved driving it. "One of the best days of my life", he said.

Racing should be about riding skill and the machine. For the street, those aids may save a few lives of those who ride stupidly and that's ok.

 

For me, it's the character and style of the older bikes. The new ones just look like some pre-teen's idea for a Transformer toy. I guess I have to finally admit I'm an old curmudgeon, and set in my ways...

 

This.

When you could tell a bike by the paint job.

 

In the 90s you could at least tell the bikes apart. The Ninjas, Gixxers, CBRs and YZFs all had there own look.
Now a days you see a group,of bikes and it s hard to tell them apart....they are all small, narrow and pointy!!!

Love the old bikes.....

 

New bikes= cookie cutter

Old skool= classic lines & character

Agree 100%! I like the older style bigger tail sections. They've skint so much material off the new bikes that they almost look like the goofy bikes where guys strip off all the body work (can't remember the name of the style??).

 

I'm fine with whatever bikes float a person's boat. I didn't get into bikes til the 2000's so I never had the flavor of bikes built before then. I'm just an average rider so I prefer to have some help "running" in the background to save my bacon. I'll never get to pro level or maybe even Int level, so I'll never achieve the ability to ride a bike to the limits of knowing what the bike is doing at any given moment. It would be nice to have the capability to shut off all rider aids if they so desire instead of trying to sell two versions of the same bike - 1 ABS and 1 Non-ABS. Let me make the decision on whether I want it off or not. That way, IF (and it's a big "if") I ever got THAT good, I could shut it off. Sure, My 14 can shut off TC, but will I ever? naw, probably not. I just might, tho, just to see what it's like. TC has already saved my bacon a time or two on the cold (wet/snow/rain) roads. I'm not complaining. I'm beginning to like the looks of the older bikes more and more, without changing my thoughts on new rides. I'd still like to own a cafe racer and a ZX10R (as a track whore - I can dream can't I?)


to each his own I guess...

 

One thing for certain though, the new bikes will spank the bejusus out of the old bikes. No arguing that. Biggest thing I miss is the hot pink leathers with purple and yellow tiger stripes. I know one of you older farts still has one in the closet somewhere. Come on.....take a pic.

 

The side exhausts I really miss. A classic Oval muffler attached to an exposed mid pipe. Made out of Titanium. I also miss the fairings actually having some coverage around the side of the bike.

Whats really surprising to me is knowing when that bike came out it was the top dog. From that point, fast forward a few years and the bar has been raised SO much higher. The progress. The progress that is made in 10 years is almost unbelievable. Such a short time but a long time as well.

 

I just feel these new bikes look like they've been styled by the same glue-sniffing, weird alien drawing, Comic-Con bunch! No offence to anyone..

eg. ZX-14 = Dr. Jumba Jookiba (google it...kids teach you a lot! LOL)
The new R1 = That giant cockroach from Men in Black

Kawasakirob :dblthumb2:
Nothing looks better (again..IMHO) than a nice muffler WITH a SS or Titanium end cap (not that carbon snout) hanging off the side!

 

Nothing looks better (again..IMHO) than a nice muffler WITH a SS or Titanium end cap (not that carbon snout) hanging off the side!

A matching one hanging off the other side? :biggrin:

 

New bikes= cookie cutter

Old skool= classic lines & character

 

I've never owned a fuel injected bike but not smelling like exhaust/gas every time I ride might be nice. I assume the newer bikes burn much cleaner? Old bike style with modern powerplants & engineering could be a good combo imo. Maybe it'll be like clothing where everything (style wise) turns full circle eventually.

 

I love the old bikes.
Brings back memories.
I went to my buddies shop and I wanted to ride all the old bikes.
Especially the kawi 500 which I used to have.
There's something about going back in time and appreciating the bikes.
Was there electronic assist? Heck no. And they also didn't have the technology or hp of today's bikes.
Now go to the future and 200 hp and 200 mph bikes
I'll take all the electronic assist this ol man can get to ride and be safe.

 

Old bikes all look the same to me. They look... old.

That said, everything is relative. Compared to the bikes this topic was created to glorify, mine is "new". It's fuel injected and weighs 2lbs more dry than one with literally half it's displacement in the heyday of your sainted ZX7s.

Now that Steve has dropped in to show you whippersnappers what's what, mine looks like something out of a scifi. But compared to anything on today's showroom floor, mine is considered a dinosaur. I suppose if it's a them versus us thing you're doing in here, there's a whole lot more than one them in the game- because I could look at anything three years newer than mine with the same attitude. Sure, they all look like insects to me, but I can't tell anything from the 90's apart either. I guess that makes the beginning of the first decade of the 00's the "golden age of motorcycles" for me. Which is my way of saying we're all looking through rosy colored glasses here, and we're all only right in our own eyes.

 

This guy's wasted and upset.

 

 

That's a Rickman Metisse (French for "Bitch") with a 650 Triumph Twin for power.

If you catch the B-movie Drive-In special named "Angels from Hell" you'll see a scene in which Bud Ekins (dressed as a straight college boy type) leaves a bunch of chopper-riding idiots in the dust on this very motorcycle.

 

This bike was owned by Bud Egan?? who trained Steve Mcqueen on the Matchless bike for the movie the Great Escape

 

Now here's some old motorcycles, seen yesterday at Dale Walksler's Wheels through Time Museum in Maggie Valley, N. C.

The mysterious Traub, found bricked up in a wall in a Chicago apartment building in 1967 and sold to Bud Ekins while he was doing stunt work on the movie "The Blues Brothers" and later acquired by Dale.

 

A 1929 Henderson 4, the bike Dale was riding when I first met him over 20 years ago. he had ridden it down to DuQuoin from his former H-D dealership in Mt. Vernon to display at The Magic Mile.

 

A 1940 Crocker, the bike I would choose if I could have any machine in Walksler's collection. Not only is it worth upwards of a million bucks, it was years ahead of it's time and made contemporary Harleys and Indians look crude and unsophisticated.

These are what I call "old bikes" and if you say you miss the "good ole days" this is what you are really talking about.

 

Wow
Bud Ekins. I destroyed that name.
Anyway that Matchless bike has the title signed by Bud Ekins.

 

I was neither wasted nor upset.

 

Please bear with me, especially the younger guys.

I'd give my right arm to own any of these 4 rides.

Could any of these bikes hold a candle to a Liter bike now? NO!

IMHO-Do these bikes have "Soul?" Absolutely.......