| Author | Message | ||
     Gohot |
It seems that this last year in biking has seen a lot of change. With the demise of Buell behind us a few months, some of the HD persuasion have been completely turned off. Not just American Bikes, but of course European and Asian bikes. For a while choppers were 'it' then it was Bullet bikes, then standards, then tourers and sport tourers, and briefly dual-sports. Where do you think that bike design will take us in the next decade? I cant help but think that the best styles came out of the mid two thousands, from say 03 through 06-07. The current crop of designers works seem a bit leaning towards frumpy. With such a fragile economy and the capitol to design new bikes in short supply, too short to gamble much, what direction will it take? And add to that, a vast amount of 'disposable' income that has vanished, or is unreachable, what will designers bring us? What ingenuity will evolve. The newest rage being the BMW road racer for example, this year 1000cc's, big HP bullet bike with fairly decent pricing. What will high end $ manufacturers do, Ducati, MV, Aprillia, all the luxury priced stuff? It no doubt will be an interesting future for motorcyclists waiting on the day bikes surpass cars in numbers and use. | ||
| 46champ |
An interesting thought, the Japanese manufactures havn't come up with anything original in years. The new wave of Chinese bikes that is suppose to show up any day won't be original the Chinese do nothing original just cheep. The Europeans might do something original and real expensive. That leaves H-D to...O forget it. | ||
| Lemonchili_x1 |
"Bullet" bikes? Not a term I'm used too. As in "as fast as", ie GSXR Thou, or is it some weird custom trend I've never heard of?  | ||
| Tom_b |
Bullet bike" is an old term used before the term "crotch rocket" came into play in the US. Just haven't heard it used in a long time. I prefer the term "replica racer". My opinion about the near future of motorcycling is nothing new is coming until the some major things happen to the economy. Until then we will just see things like the dn-12. With the demise of buell the only company bright enough or daring enough to try something new and affordable is gone. BMW new liter bikes are a big yawn Same thing japan has been doing for years. (Message edited by tom_b on February 12, 2010) | ||
| Elsinore74 |
I think the future of biking looks good in the long run (mostly because I believe we'll see something street legal from Erik Buell in that future). Motorcycling has seen similar boom-and-bust cycles before. I remember seeing plenty of "showroom wallflower" models during the mid-eighties (wish I could have afforded that RZ350 at Clinton Cycles in 1986...) It'll be interesting to see what the next ten years will bring. The term "bullet" bikes isn't as tiresome (to me at least) as the term "crotch rocket," but close. +1 on simply referring to them as "replica racers." (Message edited by Elsinore74 on February 12, 2010) | ||
| Firebolt020283 |
I hate the term "crotch rocket" it sounds like it should be the name of a woman's play thing. I get pissed off when people call a bike that. | ||
| Metalrabbit |
V-Tech on a Hog is likely | ||
| Xb12xmike |
Hopefully some all-wheel drive motorcycles : gas - diesel - electric or hybrid | ||
| Poppinsexz |
I prefer Sport Bike | ||
| Elsinore74 |
I use the term sport bike most often too, but it could be argued that streetfighter/naked/UJM-types in many cases are sport bikes. Replica racers kind of sums up the full-bodywork sport bikes. (Anything but crotch rockets; term of choice used by some cruiser riders and almost all non-motorcyclists.) | ||
| Cityxslicker |
more dirt. but y'all knew I was leaning that way | ||
| Liquorwhere |
Motorcycles or I should say scooters got a boost from high gas prices in some places, I don't think that the return of the chopper craze will happen anytime soon, that fad was short lived, expensive and was so extreme the bikes went from custom bikes that were ridable to complete show bikes that were only aestetic. I think that the multi-purpose bike is still going to be the one that is the future of biking. The BMW GS or Ulysses style bike but probably much easier to ride, similar to say a VStrom 650. The size was fine, the riding of it was easy but it had no power, I think you will see in increase in power to small dual or multipurpose bikes. Small economies tend to take away the specializations of a product and find a way to have many uses thus maximizing the cost per use scenario. If DMG is any indication of racing, the US racing will get much slower, smaller crowds until they can find a way to get their "bike of tomorrow" and market it that way. Racing used to be the leading edge of motorsports, I think that the cost of it and the lack luster product moved it to an area of a lagging edge in the US at least. Dirt racing, stunting on dirt or street bikes and a multi-purpose tourer with plenty of power, something like that Ducati Multistrada with a lower price tag and I think a huge reduction in the import cruiser market are in the future. | ||
| Ratbuell |
Well, god forbid the American public starts seeing motorcycles for what they are - perfectly viable, daily, reliable, affordable transportation. Can you imagine if the buying public finally figured out how much money they could save in the monthly budget if they rode something that got 50+ (hell - even *40* +) mpg?? Ahh....I can dream, I suppose. | ||
| Koz5150 |
The fact that Best Buy will be selling Electric bikes, Isle of Man has an electric catagory, and almost every motorcycle rag has written at least 5 articles on electric bikes. i wold say that is a pretty good bet.. Look here and see how many Electric bike articles they have published http://www.gizmag.com/motorcycles/ | ||
| Ft_bstrd |
Hyper scooters. Automatic transmissions. 3-4 wheel configurations. Enclosed or semi-enclosed. Dirt/Dual Sport options. I see a bridge between the banality of Smart Cars and the impracticality of motorcycle daily use for a large segment of the population. I have to wear a suit and tie for work. There is no way a motorcycle makes sense for daily use. Give me an enclosed motorcycle based 3 or 4 wheel option, and suddenly I'm a motorcycle daily commuter. I would LOVE an enclosed version of the Can-Am Spyder! | ||
| Glitch |
I would LOVE an enclosed version of the Can-Am Spyder! It's called a T-Rex.  | ||
| Ulynut |
I have a theory that with the bad economy, the infrastructure will be in worse shape in years to come. We're gonna need some pretty stout bikes to deal with all those pot holes. I see more bikes with big honkin suspensions and rugged tires. I'm keeping mine. | ||
| Oddball |
Aren't those T-rex's like 40-50K? Neat alternative to a car but excessively priced. | ||
| Court |
How cool would that enclosed CanAm be? . . I was sorry the C-1 never caught on. I saw one in London once and thought how cool it'd be in NYC. | ||
| Swampy |
Where is motorcycling going? Who the hell knows? If anyone figures it out in a "Big" trend sort of way they will be a millionaire. It is just like any industry, find the leading edge, think outside the box, find out what people need/want and you should be good to go. Due to the coming apocolypse think "Road Warrior" on a small scale. With the economic downturn, a sturdy economical bike, for us pheasant class workers. Something we can afford on our Michigan Bridge Card Obamacycle (Message edited by swampy on February 12, 2010) | ||
| Cityxslicker |
coming apocolypse... The Marine Corps diesel bike is the one to get, it will run on damn near anything. Hard cases for the ammo, and off to the badlands for recon and hunting. | ||
| Mr_grumpy |
Not sure about the US market, but here in Europe with all the speed cameras, both fixed & mobile, the trend seems to going back to naked or café racer style bikes. Fun at (more or less) legal speeds. I think it's one of the reasons Buell did so well in Europe, we have the roads to get the best out of good handling bikes & riding at much over 100mph will lose you your licence & may even get your bike confiscated in extreme cases. There will always be a market for the R1s & Gixxers & Blades etc, but more & more people use them as track-day bikes or for weekends at the Nurburgring & suchlike. The chrome & concho's market will keep fairly stable I reckon, as those that have that sort of disposable income don't seem to be feeling the pinch as much as the rest of us. I think the sport/touring/adventure market will grow too as more people will want a bike they can ride comfortably at a reasonable speed all day, & then go scratching on when they get to their destination. Of course I could be totally wrong. (& frequently am) | ||
| Baybueller |
I commute 100 mi. a day and have run the numbers. With tire wear, oil changes and misc. costs it is no cheaper to ride my Buell than drive my 14mpg truck. It is however much more enjoyable and the lane sharing option in Ca. saves time. | ||
| Spiderman |
Cafe/street fighters! Always has and will be for me!   Heck it is the best, you can take a old cb750 for 100 bucks, spend less than 5k and have a bitchin bike! | ||
| Hex |
Ohh Spiddy, I want a TriTon sooooo bad. I road one once, with no seat, just bare frame, around a couple of blocks.... That bike actually had a nickle norton featherbead frame with a pre-unit Triumph engine. I had a Norton Atlas rolling chassis once, but sold it to a friend. Now I have the pre-unit Triumph... Someday, oh yes, she will be mine! | ||
| Firebolt020283 |
I would think with the bad economy that the small cc dual and single cylinder bikes would be the way to go. Bikes like the blast, ninja 250, sv 650, ninja 650, and hyosung bikes should be flying of the show room floors as they are good handling bikes that are really good on gas. | ||
| Danger_dave |
So where's biking going...? Riding. (Trust me - I'mzzza a professional) | ||
| Ourdee |
Rat bikes are coming back. JMO | ||
| Teeps |
Baybueller Posted on Friday, February 12, 2010 I commute 100 mi. a day and have run the numbers. With tire wear, oil changes and misc. costs it is no cheaper to ride my Buell than drive my 14mpg truck. It is however much more enjoyable and the lane sharing option in Ca. saves time. Thank you for saying that. Even back "in the day" (late '60s~'70s for me), motorcycles were no cheaper to commute on, for all the reasons you mention. | ||
| Ourdee |
It was cheaper when I was riding $300.00 bikes. When the tires wore out, I'd get another bike and it usually came with fresh oil. My insurance has always been 1/5th of what I pay on the cages. And half that again when I drove a Jag. at 21. | ||
| Firebolt020283 |
you still have to change oil and tires on the car/truck so how is it not cheaper for the bike? Bike takes less oil=cheaper. Bike burns less gas=cheaper. Insurance on bike is cheaper. you only have to buy 2 tires not 4 which = cheaper (provided you don't buy good tires for you bike and crap tires for car.) so were do they cost the same? | ||
| Ezblast |
Tire life? | ||
| Firebolt020283 |
sport touring tires instead of getting all out sport/race compounds. |
