| Author | Message | ||
     Froggy |
As a short person that did have a tall Uly, it sucked. I dropped it multiple times due to losing my footing. Doing something as simple as backing into a parking space can be disastrous if your only foot on the ground hits something slick. | ||
| Ljm |
I agree with Frank. If you want to appeal to a significant portion of the market, you need to have the option to have a shorter bike. Part of the significant portion of that market is women. Another segment is short guys. As much as the arguments that you don't put your feet down much, etc., lots of people won't buy if they don't feel comfortable. And I've slipped down when my foot slid out too, and it hurts like hell. | ||
| Jaimec |
Froggy: I never understood why people resist simply getting OFF the bike to move it into parking spaces. It's what my short-legged friends do, and it's what I do when the ground surface looks "questionable." | ||
| Ratbuell |
Agreed. Get off the bike, sidestand side. Stand down, but floating. Left hand on left grip. Right hand on seat. Roll the bike. Stand being down is your safety - tilt the bike towards you so it doesn't fall "away" from you, but not so far that you drag the stand. If you have to stop, simply let it come down on the stand. | ||
| Hughlysses |
I definitely understand the need for somewhat lower bikes for shorter people, and Buell clearly recognized that with their various "low/CG" models. OTOH I've never understood people that feel they HAVE to be able to get BOTH feet down FLAT or the motorcycle is too tall for them. | ||
| Classax |
Seat height is often dictated by engine configuration and or need for suspension travel. In addition Super Sports/bikes start running out of clearance and dragging hard parts when the fun begins if lowered. A standard street bike config like the the old CityX could benefit though. I still believe the place where they can distinguish themselves is the owner experience. A free local track day with purchase of a super sport machine and an urban rider course or video to help get riders comfortable with the machines and setting them up. You can do a lot with ride height and pre-load before resorting to lowering links and new suspension. | ||
| Froggy |
Ok get off the bike when parking, great. What do I do when riding? Again, dropped the Uly while riding because whatever I stepped on near the stop sign was slick, and down I went with the bike. Another time I dropped it making a tight left turn which required me to come to an almost stop, I schooched off the seat and had my left foot ready and skimming the pavement should I need to stop, but because I had so much weight off the seat, when I lost my footing I pulled the bike down almost on me. Yea I screwed up and should have handled that situation differently, live and learn, but it never would have happened on my other bikes. Not having solid footing on both sides is an issue in many low speed situations. Should I just walk the bike next time I am in stop and go traffic? My XT is great, it is right at the upper limit of what I can comfortably handle, the X was beyond reason in height, even with the low seats. | ||
| Bob_thompson |
"I never understood why people resist simply getting OFF the bike to move it into parking spaces. It's what my short-legged friends do, and it's what I do when the ground surface looks "questionable." With much respect, but not really profound Jamie, just plain common sense and something I've been doing since I road Schwinn bicycles at 10 Y.O. Another kind of humorous thing; when I road really high dirt bikes I usually had to look for a deadfall tree, stump or big rock to get aboard or use the push fast and jump aboard. Getting off was easy. Stop with the engine killed and let fall over slowly. YA! Now back to the regular program; Sugestions for New EBR | ||
| Jaimec |
At least we don't have to worry about EBR creating some of the hideous creations that've come out of their old parent company. One of my shorter-legged friends told me of his experience sitting on a Softail in a Harley showroom. He said he found it quite ironic that he FINALLY found a bike he could comfortably flatfoot, but he couldn't reach the footpegs or the shifter/brake pedal. This same friend comfortably rode a KTM 1190 Adventure model. *I* was on tip toes on that damned thing; I still don't know how he managed. His current motorcycle? A BMW R1200GS Adventure... | ||
| Midknyte |
> He said he found it quite ironic that he FINALLY found a bike he could comfortably flatfoot, but he couldn't reach the footpegs or the shifter/brake pedal. Irony knows no bounds | ||
| 2kx1 |
1. Keep developing the ET V2. 2. Add a fairing and handbags to the SX. 3.However big that motor can be made and stay reliable do it.More torque tork power hand of God ,whatever you want to call it. 4.Add abs. Go talk to Bosch, don't beat around the Bush. 5. This bike must outperform the Superduke and the Tuono 1100. This is what needs to be aimed at. 6.Go retro, I would love to see a modern RR1000 or 1200. 7.When you hear people say they don't want that much power tell them to switch it to rain mode. 8. Get to finalising the AX, everyone's been asking. 9.Now get started on a smaller bike. | ||
| Jaimec |
Only if it matches the rest of the paint scheme. | ||
| Ceejay |
yes, as fashion forward males just gotta have matching handbags…  just get back to building bikes darn it. A fairing and hard bags are nice, but if you don't have a company not many care. focus on getting it done for the your main folks, take care of them, and then branch out. | ||
| Henshao |
If you look at the actual bikes offered I think you'll see the difference between the 1190RX and 1190SX was minimal in the extreme. EBR simply didn't have the ability to produce bikes that were different from one another by more than a set of bars and fairings. So one has to be realistic with a hypothetical stable of bikes. What can be changed in the ET-V2 (the 1190 motor), cheaply, that will increase the maintenance interval and decrease the effort when that time comes? For reference, the 3 selling points of my M2 Cyclone: 1) One big carb, simplicity incarnate. No sensors or pumps or injectors 2) Belt drive. Can be hit or miss but when you hit, have a good 100k miles before you worry about it 3) Hydraulic lifters. Valve adjustments every 6300 miles? What's a valve adjustment? | ||
| Court |
I have to confess . . there are times I long for doing a reincarnation of the M2 and trying to hit that $9,000 price point. Those days may be gone . . . .but it was the age when if it had fuel, spark and compression it ran. I didn't have to worry about probity to a dealer and being stranded on the side of the highway could usually be remedied in a matter of minutes, by addressing one of those 3 elements, without the aid of a Cray Supercomputer. I need . . . and I attribute it to being in my sunset years . . . 170hp and all those electronics like a kick in the shins. | ||
| Jaimec |
What HE said!! One of the reasons I find the Yamaha YZF-R3 far more attractive than either the R6 or the R1. Also why, after all of these years, I'm still piling on the mileage on my K1200LT rather than trading it in for the K1600GTL. (Message edited by jaimec on November 26, 2015) | ||
| Reepicheep |
Mee three. I ride with KTM riders. Love the way they perform, but dang, I never want one as my "real bike". They are great bikes, and really are born ready to race, but that also means everything is as light as possible and run to 10/10ths of it's capacity. You pay for that over time. My KDX has *never* had an issue on a ride, even after tumbling down hills without me. We rarely have a 3 KTM ride without at least one KTM having some kind of "might have to head back to the trailhead" issue. And 2 of the 4 KTM's that have been around us had things like broken or crushed frame sections. So please don't make it perform better than a KTM. I don't even want a KTM to perform as well as a KTM. I'd rather it be a durable 7/10ths bike than it be a race ready 10/10ths bike that gets used up thrown away every 3 years. (Disclaimer: maybe the KTM street bikes are less high strung then the KTM dirt bikes, I've never had any experience with one). Anyway though, a new M2 with luggage mounts would be perfect. And a Zero dual sport is still tugging at me. | ||
| Ffbuell1 |
I've ridden and raced KTM 2 stokes for years and have found them to be nothing less than RELIABLE. excellent bikes. | ||
| Hybridmomentspass |
My suggestion for EBR - open and be a business again, continue making quality motorcycles. | ||
| Buelliedan |
"My suggestion for EBR - open and be a business again, continue making quality motorcycles." that is going to be the biggest challenge. I do not understand all of these folks talking about all these new bikes they want to see EBR make. If they can even come back and sell what they already have will be an accomplishment. | ||
| Court |
I agree. A new model is a 3-year undertaking that would require about $50,000,000.00 of fuel. The 1190, that the former company had, is now dated. The challenge is significant. Time marches. | ||
| Classax |
Correction the 2014 1190 is now dated, and not by much. For all their talk of 200hp plus only the 21krr is truly a walk away from you winner on topend, the new R1M is at best the 1190's equal in real performance. The difference is electronics and upgraded suspension. That could quite easily be fixed with an updated ECU, Sensor and Suspension components. As far as power we've reached the point where beyond about 160rwhp you need electronics to get it to the ground. All the electronics do is let you increase your topend punch which is increasingly becoming impossible to access. But yes time does march on. | ||
| Court |
The market for an $18,000 "race" bike .... Gathered from parts and pieces of a former company .... With no dealer network ..... The need to start from zero for marketing .... Customer service ... Parts .... Dealer network and an employee team is akin .... As I've stated ..... To climbing a greased mirror. I suspect at least part of the reason that all those firms everyone thinks would be so quick to jump on such a great deal .... Have never shown anything beyond casual interest .... Is they realize this. One of the "candidate bidders" .... That was vigorously entertained .... Even has a large unused factory nearby. We'll see. I'm hopeful. But, what was daunting in our 40's is tougher yet headed toward 70 with the Elves now scattered to the winds. The old EBR struggled for 4 years trying to break out the AX .... That shows how tough development is. We will know much more in the next 2 weeks. | ||
| Hybridmomentspass |
"If they can even come back ... will be an accomplishment." better | ||
| Reepicheep |
In fairness, all the KTM's I've followed drooling some fluid or dangling some part or with a cracked frame *were* 4 strokes. The 2 stroke didn't break until it was driven off a cliff, so I won't count that one. So maybe the problem was making a 4 stroke feel as nice as a 2 stroke (which KTM by and in large *did* do... just at a cost).. | ||
| Jon |
Hi, broken record here. I still say the path to business stability is to "re-Buell" Buell. The weird, rude, torquey air-cooled beast. OK, liquid cooled if you insist. Others are lapping up what Erik left on the cutting room floor. These bikes can be minimalistic and less costly to produce than the recent bikes. Re-Buell Buell. And if Buell does not re-Buell Buell, then what's the point? Was Buell all the while trying to graduate from the original to something everybody else already has? | ||
| Henshao |
I feel like WSBK showed that the 1190's can kick everyone's tail except those huge horsepower monsters on those horsepower tracks of WSBK. The horsepower lead of the incumbents may be insurmountable. | ||
| Ljm |
I can tell you one thing: if I was a potential bidder and I read these threads under this directory, I wouldn't bother. | ||
| 2kx1 |
I would think a potential bidder would be looking at what owners of other bikes were complaining about,or what they would want different. | ||
| Dave |
Vocal minority? DAve |
