Topic: What Motorcycle Have You Been Obsessing About Today?

[Triple Bob]

Honda Monkey back in Canada for 2022!

But it's sooo expensive!!

I want to buy 2...one for me and one for friend to goof around on!

Standard ABS so it's really just a $1,200 premium over the Grom to get a mostly metal construction motorcycle instead of plastic.

I'd love to get that or the Grom in the next couple of years.

$5,299 plus all fees. So definitely expensive but no different than a Vespa or something similar. Presumably re-sale will be strong as well.

My wife says she wants to get one.  Because cute.    If it gets her on two motorized wheels, it's worth twice the price to me.

It's cute until an F150 blows past you with a 60kph speed differential.

Fear mongering much?

Weird response, but anyway.  All I meant was that being on a small motorcycle / road bike can be very intimidating on the roads. Even 60kph ones where everyone regularly drives at 80kph. As a European (used to smaller cars and no pick ups) coming here and getting breezed past by large trucks a few cm away constantly, I ended up selling my road bike, just too much speed/size differential to feel safe.

YMMV

[Jaeger]

Honda Monkey back in Canada for 2022!

But it's sooo expensive!!

I want to buy 2...one for me and one for friend to goof around on!

Standard ABS so it's really just a $1,200 premium over the Grom to get a mostly metal construction motorcycle instead of plastic.

I'd love to get that or the Grom in the next couple of years.

$5,299 plus all fees. So definitely expensive but no different than a Vespa or something similar. Presumably re-sale will be strong as well.

My wife says she wants to get one.  Because cute.    If it gets her on two motorized wheels, it's worth twice the price to me.

It's cute until an F150 blows past you with a 60kph speed differential.

Fear mongering much?

Weird response, but anyway.  All I meant was that being on a small motorcycle / road bike can be very intimidating on the roads. Even 60kph ones where everyone regularly drives at 80kph. As a European (used to smaller cars and no pick ups) coming here and getting breezed past by large trucks a few cm away constantly, I ended up selling my road bike, just too much speed/size differential to feel safe.

YMMV

I agree, sitting on this bike your head would probably wont even peak above a F150's hood.

Seat height - Honda Monkey - 30.6 in.  Seat height - Honda CB650R - 31.9 in.  Slightly leaned-forward position on the CB versus bolt upright on the Monkey - it's pretty much a wash.

[ktm525]

Complete waste of a trip down to Baja. Baja deserves a real bike. Been there twice and a 450/500 dirt bike is the bike for full enjoyment. Entertaining to watch? yes. PAddling around on a monkey? Not so much.

Nonsense.

There's no such thing as a wasted trip when you go someplace fun with a buddy merely because you didn't on "bike x".

Well I haven't done it - or anything remotely close to it - but it sure looked like fun to me.  Was it a bit of a stunt?  Sure.  But stunts are fun.  I've seen a few other vids of guys taking Monkeys and CT125s on tracks a lot more challenging than your average gravel road or green lane.  Quite remarkable what these little bikes can manage.  Would a proper dirt bike be more capable?  Undoubtedly.  So what?  I'll stop asking rhetorical questions and answering them now. 

Baja is amazing but it can be dangerous and a tourist like myself wants to minimize that. One there are random trophy trucks (and now insanely powered side by sides) blasting around pre running the various races that happen. Motorcyclists get hit with tragic results. Tooling around in a wash paddling at slow speed on a trail bike seems fun until a trophy truck flies into the wash at 100 MPH and barely realizes they just ran you over.  The second problem was showing them riding at night...in Mexico. Yeah that is not a good idea. 

[rrocket]

Weird response, but anyway.  All I meant was that being on a small motorcycle / road bike can be very intimidating on the roads. Even 60kph ones where everyone regularly drives at 80kph. As a European (used to smaller cars and no pick ups) coming here and getting breezed past by large trucks a few cm away constantly, I ended up selling my road bike, just too much speed/size differential to feel safe.

YMMV

Oh, you were talking about a bicycle.

[ktm525]

Makes sense. I can't think of anything more dangerous than riding a bike along the shoulder of a highway.

[dirtyjeffer]

Makes sense. I can't think of anything more dangerous than riding a bike along the shoulder of a highway.

yea, riding a bike on the road is dangerous regardless of where you are...especially when you get POS like this (the driver of the car who left):

https://globalnews.ca/news/6420786/man-charged-tristan-roby-hit-and-run-london/

guy hits 17 year old kid and doesn't even stop and call in for help...took them 6 months to catch him...meanwhile, Tristan's life is forever changed:

https://lfpress.com/news/local-news/london-teens-hit-and-run-ordeal-turning-toward-home

[Arthur Dent]

Riding a bicycle on a mountain highway or whatever is appealing in concept but other drivers = nope. Here in Alberta they close some mountains routes for a several hours a couple time of year on non-peak routes to cars to accommodate bicycles. That I would (and am in Waterton soon) do.

[Triple Bob]

Weird response, but anyway.  All I meant was that being on a small motorcycle / road bike can be very intimidating on the roads. Even 60kph ones where everyone regularly drives at 80kph. As a European (used to smaller cars and no pick ups) coming here and getting breezed past by large trucks a few cm away constantly, I ended up selling my road bike, just too much speed/size differential to feel safe.

YMMV

Oh, you were talking about a bicycle.

Makes sense. I can't think of anything more dangerous than riding a bike along the shoulder of a highway.

Thing is, there are many 60kph roads, equivalent to a 40mph road in the UK, and I wouldn't really call them highways as such, I obviously don't mean motorways. But every road out of a town is generally faster than 50kph, and whether on a bicycle or a small motorbike, I still think dealing with trucks is a PITA. In the UK, vehicles tend to give cyclists a bit more room. Even with wider roads here, they get very close.

[dkaz]

How’d we go from Groms to pedal bikes? 8 HP can do 95 km/h which is quite a bit faster than 1 human power.

[Triple Bob]

How’d we go from Groms to pedal bikes? 8 HP can do 95 km/h which is quite a bit faster than 1 human power.

Calm down dear, it was just my observation of riding on faster roads. Move along.

[dkaz]

How’d we go from Groms to pedal bikes? 8 HP can do 95 km/h which is quite a bit faster than 1 human power.

Calm down dear, it was just my observation of riding on faster roads. Move along.

Oh I'm perfectly fine. Please stay safe on your faster 60 km/h roads. 

[BWII]

2021 Sportster S - Hmmm...didn't think I would, but I kinda like it now seeing it actually moving around with people on it.

[ktm525]

It would look 1/2 as good with the middle aged overweight rider who actually purchases these things.   

[Gurgie]

It would look 1/2 as good with the middle aged overweight rider who actually purchases these things.   

Sent from my SM-G970W using Tapatalk

[BWII]

Yeah, she does look nice...but I doubt it's aimed at middle aged riders...
So what you're saying is, I should be looking at something like this instead... 


And I shouldn't look at a Sportster  (never would've - they have always seems like baby bikes - too small and useless for anything - the new one though seems like it might actually be a pretty cool bike)

[Triple Bob]

Yeah, she does look nice...but I doubt it's aimed at middle aged riders...

How many other people have $20K+ for a toy?

[dirtyjeffer]

looks like HD has done some shuffling of their line-up...what we knew as a "Sportster" before, has been slid into the "Cruiser" category and they no longer carry the Sportster name...they are simply known as the Iron 883, Iron 1200 and Forty-Eight now...this "Sportster S" is basically what the Brox was going to be...it shares very little with Sportsters before it, other than the name.

[Gurgie]

looks like HD has done some shuffling of their line-up...what we knew as a "Sportster" before, has been slid into the "Cruiser" category and they no longer carry the Sportster name...they are simply known as the Iron 883, Iron 1200 and Forty-Eight now...this "Sportster S" is basically what the Brox was going to be...it shares very little with Sportsters before it, other than the name.

This Sportster S is almost an evolution of the old V-rod lineup... similar sporting attributes and powertrain.

[PJungnitsch]

Sounds like a great engine but a cramped frame, another reason they put a girl on it for the photo.

And only 1.5 inches of suspension travel in the rear

[dirtyjeffer]

looks like HD has done some shuffling of their line-up...what we knew as a "Sportster" before, has been slid into the "Cruiser" category and they no longer carry the Sportster name...they are simply known as the Iron 883, Iron 1200 and Forty-Eight now...this "Sportster S" is basically what the Brox was going to be...it shares very little with Sportsters before it, other than the name.

This Sportster S is almost an evolution of the old V-rod lineup... similar sporting attributes and powertrain.

yes and no...the V-rod was a big bike...the FXDR was kind of a replacement for that, but seems to be gone as the 2020 model:

https://www.harley-davidson.com/ca/en/motorcycles/2020/fxdr-114.html

while it had that muscle cruiser look and the big engine (Milwaukee 114), it lacked the unique water cooled engine the V-Rod had so it was kind of a Softail version of it.

this new Sportster S appears to use that nice 1250cc liquid cooled engine, but they stuffed it into a "Sportster" shape (likely size too)...the new one is about $5k cheaper than the FXDR was, so at $18k is more affordable than the FXDR was (which likely had limited appeal)...i can see the Sportster S being more appealing to someone wanting one of these kind of bikes, as the smaller size is likely better suited to this type of a "Sport Standard" bike...also gone from the traditional "Sportster" bikes is the rear dual spring suspension in place of an adaptive ride system (seems to be a softail hidden style)...this engine makes 121 HP and 94 TQ, which are substantial increases over previous versions (Iron 1200, for example.