See alot of that on Aus roads too Sinbad... It is quite funny. Even funnier when said colour coded package arrives for an open track day and 16 year olds on 250cc's are lapping them...
My first bike was a SV650 Naked. My girlfriend currently has the Kawasaki 650 R (although here it's called differently).
Both bikes are 650 cc twin cylinders, so I thought their performances would be quite matched. But... they're not. At all. Seriously, compared to my SV650 (which was a 2000 model, by the way) the Kawasaki is really boring to ride. Like it doesn't have any torque. I'm not an expert when it comes to engines, but I'm guessing the difference lies in the fact that the SV is a V-twin whereas the Kawasaki is a parallell twin. Trust me, you want the SV Great bike overall, lots of low end torque while the Kawasaki seems to have hardly any. If you can, do a test ride with both models and judge for yourself.
As for the Duc... eh, I don't have any experience with those so I'm not gonna comment. Personally I don't think I would ever buy a Ducati. They all seem pretty expensive while they usually don't really have a lot of power
Don't think there's any Harley left in there, I don't think there ever was. It looks like a full custom motorcycle, there are loads of people building them, and lots of engines available, not just Harley engines.
I don't know who built this one, but I'm sure JJ does.
Yes, it's a walz hardcore bike. Now look at the bikes on that site, and tell me you can't find a few which look very harley-like (there are some where you can even see it was a stock one someday).
Those bikes (walz hardcore) can be found in all kind of harley stores/shops. People who want a harley buy them. They are based on harleys (sure, some have custom frames, but still). And to me (and to many other people), they are harleys.
It's a different story if you build a custom bike from scratch. If it has nothing to do with a harley to begin with. But in this case, it was once a harley, and therefor, somehow, still is.
Was it? I see several Harley based bikes, a Buell one too, but they also build their own frames and do not use Harley Davidson engines in them. The one JJ posted is one of their own customs.
He started his business when he was still quite young. And it was "all harley" since the beginning (you can read that on his personal website (there's a link on the other site)). He became well known and so did his custom frames. But i thought the engines are still (modified) harley engines.
But even if i'm wrong, and they are in fact not only harley engines, if i see one of his bikes, i instantly think of a harley.
I looked for the bike in the picture, it's one of their kits and uses a RevTech engine. http://www.customchrome.com/dc ... .asp?revtech_engines.html
They're built as aftermarket upgrades for Harley Davidson bikes, but I don't think they're built by Harley Davidson or derived from Harley Davidson engines, though I stand to be corrected.
I know what you mean about the Harley name. It's like Hoover with vacuum cleaners.
Thanks for the advice, obsolum. I like naked bikes better anyway.
There is a Ducati store in Beverly Hills where my old man still works. I discovered that for some reason he is keen on buying me a 696 (better get a few frame sliders with that one)... I guess I can't complain? Well, we'll see what happens.
well. yeah. you WILL fall off. but it is not the same thing. car / bike i mean. hell, i enjoy car driving (i did get LFS to become even better at it, didn't i?) a lot but i enjoy MTB even more!
do not get a used bike. there are already numerous risks on a bike, a learner should not have the added bonus of worrying for his ride! in a car... ok suppose the entire frame cuts in half because the previous owner managed to sell a completely compromised car... so what? you will coast till you bump somewhere. big deal. on a bike? you're ****ing dead if so much as a brakeline fails. or anything small.
if you look at squids you can be excused to think that throttle on bikes are on-off, but, trust me, they have quite sofistamacationed throttal controels.
you will fall off. you can't control this. you can only control when you will fall and under what circumstances. if you are very reserved on public roads, drive well within the limits that allow you to avoid anything, yadda yadda yadda, you will still crash (i'm a bucket of sunshine, you gotta admit ) but at least you will not have lasting injuries.
it's just a different activity man :/ you can't say 'bikes are more exciting'. i have to say that it is very difficult for me to say so, because i do find bikes way more exciting, but: when you push the limits on either vehicle it's the same thrill... different limits and different reasons for them, but what matters it is that you control a machine to the best of your abilities and see how you can make it go even faster. or 'better' (smoother, more economical, whatever you are trying to achieve)
it is not necessary to do either. you can even see some (one? yamaha rider?) motogp riders that they keep their knees locked on their bikes at all times.
my father, the old fart, on his 250cc cruiser will give you a run for your money
i somehow think you are exaggerating. http://www.motorcycle-usa.com/Photos/43645600torque.jpg . see the r6? even that one has torque from 3.5 up to 16K. the way you are saying 'anything resembling power' implies that you constantly have to drop down 2-3 gears and choke the throttle every time you drop below 10K. it has power alright. at 10K it has even more power. at 12K it launches.
considering that, yes, i've ridden one and i've seen quite a few people riding them in the streets i have to (sorry) say that you probably weren't driving it as you should i don't mean 'fast'. maybe not as comfy as something else, but certainly not 'awful'.
Don't buy a used bike because they're dangerous? I've never heard such nonsense really. If you cannot look at a bike, its service history, and in a 10 or 15 minute inspection period determine what needs replacing and how well it has been looked after, then you're probably the type of person that will not properly maintain a new bike anyway, so you'll need to pay someone to lubricate and adjust your chain I expect. If that's the case then no, don't buy a used bike unless your mechanic deems it okay.
Most people take good care of their bikes, but if you're capable of looking after one yourself, you're capable of checking if one is safe.
I don't really agree with what you say about falling off either. It's like how people say "get a wreck for your first bike, you WILL drop it". Maybe because they dropped it themselves, who knows, but it's wrong. It's like saying "get a wreck for your first car, you WILL crash it". If you're sensible, and aware of limitations of both rider and bike, and in control, then you're no more likely to have an accident than if you're behind the wheel of a car imho. Only the consequences vary. (Being harder to see is a limitation of the vehicle before you say). I think the people that truly are CERTAIN to crash, are the ones that are basically not in control of themselves or their machine. It might boil down to lack of self control instead of lack of skill, but it's probably one or the other. Maybe it's also the people that believe those that tell them they WILL crash. It must be lovely to ride with that in your head.
I've been riding nearly 2 years and the best part of 10,000 miles (not as many as I would like) without so much as a near miss, and trust me when I say I do not hang about. I'm far from complacent, I'm well aware of the dangers. If I crash it will not be because it was a statistical certainty, it will be because I messed up somehow, misjudgment, false assumption about another motorist, something like that.
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SS600s are a hoot on the right road. Wonderful suspension, and you have to ride them hard to get the best out of them, but they're fun. Not for everybody, though. Newer models really are tiny.
Great bike overall, lots of low end torque while the Kawasaki seems to have hardly any. If you can, do a test ride with both models and judge for yourself.
