Bring back kick starters, drum brakes and reserve fuel tank valves.

quote:

Originally posted by ridewv:
Not too long after I bought it as I was approaching some cars on an interstate I notice my speed had dropped from set 78 to around 70 and it started braking as I was starting to shift to the passing lane so I'm now giving throttle to override it. Meanwhile the car I had passed earlier at 78 was coming up in the passing lane probably wondering why I'm driving so erratically. Once I pass and move back over I start fiddling with the various buttons and "wonder wheel" trying to find the screen with cruise control to uncheck the box for following control while also looking up to stay on the road. I thought this is too dangerous so I just shut cruise off completely.

It all sounds just so infuriating. I saw it incoming 15 years ago. The IMU’s, all the nannies, and all the electronic sophistication that is completely unnecessary. I had bought a new sportbike and I tend to replace most of the stock equipment for aftermarket so in other words I was broke buying mods. Ohlins, Brembos, OZ Leo Vinci, etc. But I made the decision to buy my sport tourer at the exact same time and it needed plenty of aftermarket parts as well. I’d rather have some redundancy built in to avoid this mess. I was broke for a number of years setting both bikes up with parts, etc, then paying them off. Just knew this right here would be the eventuality. All that sophistication comes with a cost in terms of purchase price, insurance, repair, and pretty alarming for long term ownership. All the sensors, additional wiring loom, just stupid as fuck. Even MotoGP has figured out for the 2027 ruleset, to get rid of many overly complicated things. No more ride height devices, front or rear. No holeshot devices. Minimal aero.

The really infuriating thing about them trying to sell bikes to Gen Z, dude, make the settings stick. If I change something IDGAF if I power the bike off, keep the settings. No motorcyclist should be doom scrolling through the menu. Take 30 minutes upon purchase to set everything how you want it and the end. Even if you have to put a new battery in it, settings should save to the ECM/ECU. Physical controls. Motorcyclists needs eyes up, on the road, as phone driving is so dangerous you can’t afford to miss a single beat. When I ride, until I can commute rural, it’s more dangerous riding now than it has ever been. None of the nannies mean a got damn thing in these riding conditions. And no nannies can replace track day instruction and experience. And newsflash manus..Gen Z don’t buy bikes and they never will. Cater and make the motorcycles to your existing clientele. Gen Z can’t be bothered to do much of anything physical. Their MO is standing or sitting doom scrolling on their fucking phone.

quote:

Originally posted by RichardC:

Bring back kick starters, drum brakes and reserve fuel tank valves.

Everything you asked for.

I bought this, new, in 1960, from Butler & Smith (the importer at the time). They had a retail store in NYC. I was waffling, trying to decide which model to buy (R50, R60, R69). The owner of the business advised that the R60 was optimized for sidecars, and if I was not going to "hot-rod" it I didn't need the R69. He steered me toward the lowest cost model, the R50.

I loved that motorcycle!

I've owned about a dozen bikes in the past fifteen years. I currently own a 2018 HD FLHXS and a 2003 HD FXDX.

I've come to the conclusion that I dislike most tech on bikes for the type of riding that I do.

I think my perfect garage consists of a BMW R100GS (Airhead) and the 2003 FXDX. I can fix just about everything on them myself.

I'm currently looking for the right R100GS (I had one before and foolishly sold it) and will likely move the FLHXS on in the next year.

quote:

Originally posted by ridewv:
I recognize most of the problems I have with the bike are not shared by many or most owners. If I commuted or often rode in lot's of slower traffic that I wanted to follow behind I'd probably appreciate following cruise, but I almost never ride in those conditions. But FFS let us press a button or touch the display to reset the trip odometer, power heated grips, seat, cruise modes, traction control, etc, instead of having to scroll through fucking menus.

Do you like having brakes linked F to B and B to F with proportioning controlled by the computer? What ride mode do you generally use?

Just about every bike Ive owned had linked brakes and they work great for my style of riding. 99.9% of the time Im in dynamic mode because I prefer the throttle response over the other modes. The great thing about adaptive cruise is you can set it at any speed you want and if traffic slows in front of you the bike slows down and when traffic clears the bike automatically speeds back up. I normally ride rural back roads but to get to those rural back roads I have to ride on more congested roads and that's where in my opinion adaptive cruise really makes a positive difference over standard CC. I find navigating the different menus pretty user friendly but Ive been using the TFT display on my 2018 1200GS so Im use to it.

Once you set everything there's really no need to scroll through the menu's while you're riding, in fact, some functions are only accessible while at a stop for safety reasons.

quote:

Originally posted by Prefontaine:

If I change something IDGAF if I power the bike off, keep the settings. No motorcyclist should be doom scrolling through the menu. Take 30 minutes upon purchase to set everything how you want it and the end. Even if you have to put a new battery in it, settings should save to the ECM/ECU.

Exactly! Let me set my bike up how I want don't make me have to go back in the menu to restore my settings every time I start the motorcycle.

quote:

Originally posted by KevH:
I've owned about a dozen bikes in the past fifteen years. I currently own a 2018 HD FLHXS and a 2003 HD FXDX.

I've come to the conclusion that I dislike most tech on bikes for the type of riding that I do.

I think my perfect garage consists of a BMW R100GS (Airhead) and the 2003 FXDX. I can fix just about everything on them myself.

I'm currently looking for the right R100GS (I had one before and foolishly sold it) and will likely move the FLHXS on in the next year.

If you want a modern airhead look at Guzzi's V85TT. Shaft drive, air cooled, 2v, ease to work on, and about the same power as an R100. They come with just enough tech; LED lighting, cruise, ABS and a few ride modes. It reminds me of my 1991 R100GS and if I were to keep only one motorcycle it'd probably be my V85TT.

You can, of course, forego the doodads:



I’m reading up on the Triumph Tiger Explorer 1200 and you can apparently save all your settings. The next time you start it up, you press a button, and it reinstates your settings.

Lots of interesting things on the side of the road in Northern Michigan:

This message has been edited. Last edited by: trapper189,

quote:

Originally posted by trapper189:

Lots of interesting things on the side of the road in Northern Michigan:

Nice! Blurry, but looks kinda like my bike, and about what I paid for it. That wasn't close to Traverse City like a month ago, was it?

I did discover a nice little bit of "tech" that I appreciate about my bike today. My wife is out of town for two weeks with my daughter and I'm home alone with the two youngest boys. She usually does all the grocery shopping, and stocked us up pretty well before she left, but I needed to restock on a few things today, and of course I wanted to also ride the bike. I wasn't sure if I could get everything into the boxes on the bike, so I put on a backpack and rode to Aldi.

Well, those plastic boxes have this neat feature where you can expand them by rotating a handle on the inside. I got all of this in there with room left over, and didn't have to put anything on my back. Didn't even crack any eggs or crush the chips!



Bike in "fat" mode:

That's a 2013 Triumph Tiger Explorer 1200 with 10,650 miles. It's on the other side of the state on US23.

It's funny you said blurry because I noticed a few weeks ago my dashcam video wasn't as good as it used to be. This was from my test drive after I took it apart and tried to refocus the lens. On the same trip, a Nissan GTR went by and I was thinking, "Wow, never seen a car like that up here" and then 6 Dodge Vipers in a row went by. Apparently, there's a car show in St. Ignace and these folks took the scenic route. After diner, I'm installing the new 4k dashcam. It'll get a good test tomorrow when take my daughter to the airport in Flint.

That sounds like a pretty good deal on that bike....just sayin' .