My new toy

[pdoege]

I'll raise you a 1975 Moto Guzzi.

Oh the Humanity!

Peter

Oh contraire but it does make a difference. To own a pre 85 Harley ironhead or earlier (non-evo engine) is to truly understand bike maintenance.

Some pits are deeper than others!

 

[Tractor Tom]

I'll raise you a 1975 Moto Guzzi.

Oh the Humanity!

Peter

No need Peter! Did I mention what I sold to buy the Goldwing? A 1996 Ural Deco Classic, built in Russia from the plans for a 1940's BMW....

It was one of the prettiest bikes I've ever owned with a Navy Blue and Cream two tone paint job and a very cool steel sidecar. However, the original owner never touched it in the two years that he owned it, so I 'purchased' some defered maintenance along with the rig. By the time I sold it, I figured that I had spent 2.5 hours doing maintenance for every hour that I rode the darn thing.

It was a real hoot to ride, when it was running well, but I was forced to fill the sidecar trunk with tools to keep the thing on the road for any period of time.

That's one of the reasons I went to a Honda next. Very little maintenance needed on a Goldwing....

 

[pdoege]

The Urals had that neato retro action going. Didn't the Russkies grab a BMW plant and take it home with them after WWII?

I hear you on the maintenance. The Guzzi is hard to keep on the road, and if I store it I wind up paying out the wazzoo to get her back up to snuff.

Almost worth it when I hit the twisties at full chat though. Nothing like the sound of an Italian twin screaming in the twilight. Sigh.

I've been looking at late model BMWs. Fuel injection to keep the motor in line and ABS to save my butt. My front wheel braking isn't what it used to be. I like the shafties too...

Hard to beat that Honda build quality. My uncle and aunt are diehard Harley fans. I don't know how they can do it. Different strokes and all that.

Have a great day,
Peter

No need Peter! Did I mention what I sold to buy the Goldwing? A 1996 Ural Deco Classic, built in Russia from the plans for a 1940's BMW....

 

[Tractor Tom]

The Urals had that neato retro action going. Didn't the Russkies grab a BMW plant and take it home with them after WWII?

I hear you on the maintenance. The Guzzi is hard to keep on the road, and if I store it I wind up paying out the wazzoo to get her back up to snuff.

Almost worth it when I hit the twisties at full chat though. Nothing like the sound of an Italian twin screaming in the twilight. Sigh.

I've been looking at late model BMWs. Fuel injection to keep the motor in line and ABS to save my butt. My front wheel braking isn't what it used to be. I like the shafties too...

Hard to beat that Honda build quality. My uncle and aunt are diehard Harley fans. I don't know how they can do it. Different strokes and all that.

Have a great day,
Peter

The Russians were "given" a BMW plant at the end of WWII and took all the tools, tooling and plans back to Mother Russia and began building the bikes at two plants in different parts of the country. The interesting thing is, BMW continued to improve and evolve the design in Germany after the war, where the Russians did NOT. So the Urals were not as "refined" as the BMW's. The newer ones, currently being imported are much improved over the one I had, with a new 750cc boxer twin, better carbs, ignition and charging systems, plus some new models that are really kind of neat. Quite inexpensive as modern motorcycles go, with a "solo" (non sidecar) rig going for around $6k now. There is a dealer in Kingsbury, Indiana who sells a lot of them.

Too bad about the relatives with the Harleys....you can pick your friends, but you can't pick family....

 

[adder70]

I would look also at R&D costs. They are still a significant portion of the cost of a vehicle (except maybe any Harley from the last 25 years ) and most foreign companies use almost no US development work. Of course, not many US companies stick with US development. Look at Harley (Porsche heads - Germany) and Ford (much is done via Cosworth in England/UK), the two prominently mentioned US manufacturers in this thread.

One has to ask why there isn't more development being done here. Could it be that all of the line workers have unions and the top level managers want to screw SOMEone (CEO - cheating everyone officer, CFO - cheating facilitation officer) and the only remaining people are the engineers? Pretty soon engineering will be the lowest paying job in the US. (Oh wait, 2nd lowest behind teaching) Of course it could be that US workers are lazy and the unions protect the lazy line workers and the engy's (lazy and hard workers)are just screwed to make up for it.

 

[cstreu1026]

Quite a lot of R&D for Ford is also done by Roush. How do you think he pays for all those NASCAR teams? Cosworth has been doing less and less R&D work for Ford over the last few years. I beleive most of their work involves Fords smaller platforms like what the Focus is built on and also the old Contour which I beleive is still sold as the Mondeo in Europe. Cosworth was split up in 1998 with part of the company going to VW/Audi and the rest going to Ford. Cosworth is responsible for some of the work on Ford's premium name plates suck as Aston Martin for which Cosworth builds V12 engines for the DB7.

 

[oversea]

actually, I think roush was beginning to lose his edge and teamed up with Yates. The ironic part, is since they teamed up, they already lost two engines. It will be interesting to see what happens with the new heads they've developed. From what I understand a nascar sbf will gain approx. 40HP per head.

 

[adder70]

That's part of the reason I got it, I'm a Civil, and with the bike lot right there on N-S Dr. and Stadium I'd have to sleep in Weil to have a shorter commute

Actually the pic was taken outside of the seller's house back home in St. Augustine, it's a log home in case you can't tell. Oh, and the Nighthawk was one of 5 bikes they have, A '03 Goldwing, a Valk, '99 Sprinter and 1100 Shadow.

Ben

Yeah, I was MechE and I had an office in the MEAL bldg. It was great on big football weekends. My coworker and I would just sit in the office and talk while everyone else fought the traffic to get home! We had a fridge in there too, which was great, since I could chill my jacket before riding home in the Florida summer heat! I heard they made a lot of changes, and I had thought they removed that bike lot. Glad to hear that it's still there.

My Uncle who lived in Gainesville, died last spring, and his kids are still figuring out what to do with his 4 motorcycles, 2 trucks and car! Oh, and let's not forget the 2 tractors and the trailer for them! They actually have a key rack (multiple rows!)to keep track of all the keys! Between his and their vehicles, the 12 key rack isn't even big enough any more! :jawsdown:

They have an '01 Venture, an '02 VTX (1800), an (about) '99 V-Star 1100, and an '86 Gold Wing with sidecar. I tried that thing (the Wing) over the weekend, and I will never drive a sidecar rig without ballast in the car! It just sucks to take any turn regardless of ballast, and with no ballast, even a small bump will send the sidcecar 2 feet in the air! That is a weird feeling!

 

[bjpell]

Yeah I hear ya, I owned a red 91 nighthawk 750 for a few years and then up graded to the 99 R6 in 2000. I loved my nighthawk for riding two-up and the long hikes to the beach. A great bike. Watch out for the stock tires, get a pair of Michelin M1's, they are way better then the dunlop’s in rain and over all traction. Keep the shiny side up!

 

[cobaltbabe]

And I don't care what anyone says about harley's, yamaha's, what ever. I will take the Jawa, or jap over them any day. Granted they are racing bikes but the power is overwhelming. Something about having to hold on for dear life when it is standing still that just brings a tear to a girls eyes!!