Modern Motorcycles... and Technology

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My first motorcycle was something like this. It was a Suzuki 90cc two-stroke. I don't look back fondly wishing I had one like it.

The brakes were so bad, you were better off to drag your feet like Fred Flintstone to stop. The headlight was so poor, you'd be better off holding a flashlight in your teeth. And the horn??? What a joke. If you wanted to use it, you needed to make sure your rpms were up or nothing happened.

I don't know why Suzuki quit making this bike. ;)

Chris
 
Andrew Shadow said:
A technology question for the BMW GS crowd.
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Mine is an '08 and maybe doesn't apply, but I sometimes reset the wrong trip. The bike sometimes changes from my trip 1 preferred view right after starting it, and if I am trying to reset #1 too quickly, I sometimes reset #2. It's either that or somehow instead of a long single push to reset, there's an interruption in the long push so the display changes to #2 and then does the reset. I'm not sure which it is. Maybe both can happen, but on my Thanksgiving trip I was more careful and didn't screw it up.

So it was happening to me, too, and I don't think I'm stupid. A little slow maybe, but not stupid.
 
Why anyone would have an HSA on an auto is beyond me. Auto tranny is holding the bike as it is. And even if it rolls a bit backwards, just hold a demn brake. It won't stall nor roll back when start pulling up.
 
Daboo said:
When I went to sell my 2011 Honda NT700V, I was amazed. I only had 30,000 miles on a "sport-touring" motorcycle. One guy in California was interested in it...but only if it had less than 5000 miles on it. And otherwise, there wasn't much interest. Why is 30,000 miles high mileage? What part of the word "touring" do people not understand. I wasn't selling a garage queen, but a bike meant for traveling long miles in comfort.

Motorcycles aren't ready for the scrap yard at 5000 miles. Some like the ST1300, the FJR and the Kawasaki C14 have engines larger than some of the cars I've owned. We don't come close to wearing them out, even at 200,000 miles. It's only the rest of the bike that we need concern ourselves with.

I fully expect my BMW F900XR to be my last bike. If it is anything like the F800GT was, it'll run and run and run. The only reason I'd trade it in would be if I got brainwashed by the Marketing folks that I "needed" more. "More" is oftenimes less.

Chris
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I kind of figure that with "older" bikes meaning ones that are really old are for nostalgia, I look back at the rides I envied when they were new. Like the Triumphs, BSAs, Nortons as well as the Benellis, etc. etc. Wasn't that Triumph Trident simply beautiful. The BSA 650s always drew me in. Which when I have ridden later spur memories of swing arm twisting, forks twisting and frame twist as well as the tires being what they were then, god those solid pegs were interesting. Old has a different meaning for those days.
If old means anything with a 20 as the first numbers for the year, old holds different meaning for me, I have a whole bunch of memories that involve from cornering at speeds that use the whole tire. It separates my thoughts of what I think of as old. If the chicken stripes are now gone from the picture "old" doesn't mean slower anymore, so getting back on an "old bike" is like putting on a pair of broken in gloves that fit just right.
The only times the electronics interfere for me tell me I was ranging into conditions that are a bit to much for my abilities, which I have been beyond before and will probably go again. The rest of the time they are just along for the ride. Until !!!!!!
 
Well there is one bit of electronic interference that does irritate the bejesus out of me. I understand that bikes with traction control "should" have a yellow light on the dash to tell you if the system is on or off or if the system has failed to operate. What I don't get is if my rear tire is spinning, slipping or sliding why some nit of an engineer thinks I need a flashing light to inform me? Long before I see the light my butt has already informed me of what's happening.
 
kiltman said:
With all this technology being offered on bikes, why isn’t self cancelling turn signals a part of the mix? I had a 1985 Suzuki Madura that had that feature, it was simple…once you turned on the signal it would automatically turn off once it met one of two conditions, a) 30 second timer or b) the bike travelled 100’. I had a 1971 Triumph Bonneville that had a self cancelling turn signal, it functioned extremely well, with next to zero electronic tech involved! (Hand signal). ;)
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My 2000 VStar 650 has self canceling turn signals... I was shocked to discover that my new to me 2006 ST did not! With all the useful things like ABS & linked brakes, it is beyond me why Honda didn't include this simple feature. :oops:
 
JetRanger said:
My 2000 VStar 650 has self canceling turn signals... I was shocked to discover that my new to me 2006 ST did not! With all the useful things like ABS & linked brakes, it is beyond me why Honda didn't include this simple feature. :oops:
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Don't know how well they work, but they can be added -

www.tripleclampmoto.com

Smart Turn System - Self Cancelling Turn Signal Module for Motorcycles

The first self-cancelling turn signal module for motorcycles which senses when the bike has completed a turn and turns off your turn signals. What makes Smart Turn System really clever is that it recognizes all types of turns and maneuvers. Instruction Manual Installation is very simple and can...
www.tripleclampmoto.com www.tripleclampmoto.com

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Meancycles: Motorcycle Accessories

Meancycles.com is your one stop shop for all of your motorcycle accessory needs.
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I have red led chevrons on my mirrors that make it very easy to know when your turn signals are on.

If it is a feature that I really want and it exists, I buy it (and remember I have to buy 'it' four times).
I find that's a lot cheaper than buying a 'new' motorcycle and I get to keep riding the one(s) I really like. :biggrin:
For instance, all my ST1100s have fully electronic cruise control (MCCruise), TPMS (Hawkshead), heated grips (Heat Demons), auxiliary plugs (Marinco), heated gear socket (Powerlet), upgraded suspension (Racetech and Wilbers), custom seats (Russell), nice audio system (Various), GPS integrated into my headset and the list goes on. And all of that for far less than I would pay for a 'new' bike. ;)
 
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Donk said:
Well there is one bit of electronic interference that does irritate the bejesus out of me. I understand that bikes with traction control "should" have a yellow light on the dash to tell you if the system is on or off or if the system has failed to operate. What I don't get is if my rear tire is spinning, slipping or sliding why some nit of an engineer thinks I need a flashing light to inform me? Long before I see the light my butt has already informed me of what's happening.
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The light is telling you that the TC is activated and knows what's going on and the save is in progress :)
 
dduelin said:
On my Goldwing the Hill Start Assist works like this. At a stop (wheels completely stopped, in gear, side stand up) you squeeze the the front brake lever quickly to engage HSA. The HSA light illuminates and some rear brake is pressurized to hold the bike from rolling backwards or forwards. If you are already holding small pressure on the brake lever at the stop, you squeeze it little harder quickly to engage HSA. HSA only works for about 3 seconds and disengages - HSA light goes out and brake pressure is released. If you could not start and go ahead in that 3 seconds you can reengage it as before. To release it during the 3 seconds it disengages as soon as the throttle is opened. I have a DCT so disengage HSA to roll backwards at will during the 3 seconds you barely crack the throttle, not even enough to move, maybe 50 or 100 rpm, and HSA disengages.
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So it isn't automatically engaged, it requires input from the rider. It makes sense to me that on a motorcycle rider input is required to engage it and that it is only engaged for a very short amount of time. The only reference that I have is a few rental cars that I have driven that have this feature. On those vehicles it engaged automatically without any input from me. If I let up on the brakes on an incline the hill assist was already engaged or it would engage with the slightest backward motion. It seemed to stay engaged as long as those conditions existed and it released as soon as the accelerator was touched. That methodology works fine on a car. You can easily put a car in to reverse or neutral if you want or need to back up in a hurry and this will disengage the system to allow that. I was wondering what happens on a motorcycle if there is a sudden need to back up in a hurry and it is equipped with hill assist.
 
My Brother works for a car dealership so he is always driving new vehicles. He told me that the new cars can drive you crazy. There is always an alarm, a warning, a voice alarm, or a warning light of some kind going off during the course of what is often normal operation of the vehicle. He said that it can get quite irritating.
 
Andrew Shadow said:
That methodology works fine on a car.
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Ya think?! :sneaky:
The 2018 Volkswagen T6 panel van supposedly had such... with all the HVAC stuff and tools inside it weighted ~3.5 tons...
The problem: only a 50:50 chance of that the "hill assist" actually engaging... paired with the quite lame torque of that 1.9 tdi (thus an unprecedented tendency to simply turn off at takeoffs...) the days were always full of surprises... ;)
Paired with all the other tech flaws, I didn't trust that Van's "features" any further that I could have thrown it... :rolleyes:
 
ST1100Y said:
Ya think?! :sneaky:
The 2018 Volkswagen T6 panel van supposedly had such... with all the HVAC stuff and tools inside it weighted ~3.5 tons...
The problem: only a 50:50 chance of that the "hill assist" actually engaging... paired with the quite lame torque of that 1.9 tdi (thus an unprecedented tendency to simply turn off at takeoffs...) the days were always full of surprises... ;)
Paired with all the other tech flaws, I didn't trust that Van's "features" any further that I could have thrown it... :rolleyes:
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Context Martin.
It works fine within the context of the scenario that I described in that it does not interfere with the need to back up in a hurry if this is required. Whether it is a good, or even desirable, feature that works well under all other conditions unrelated to that particular scenario is a whole different story.
 
Andrew Shadow said:
My Brother works for a car dealership so he is always driving new vehicles. He told me that the new cars can drive you crazy. There is always an alarm, a warning, a voice alarm, or a warning light of some kind going off during the course of what is often normal operation of the vehicle. He said that it can get quite irritating.
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Hard to believe normal operation causes alarms, warnings, voice alarms, or warning lights for no reason or that a car like acting up like that wouldn't put off a prospective buyer.

Note that some things like object proximity warnings, lane departure warnings, closing distance warnings, exit warnings, etc. can be modified or turned off by the driver in Vehicle Settings.

Here pictured are some results from vehicle technology that I embrace. Our new Mazda hybrid compact SUV getting as good as or better fuel economy than a 2014 Prius with 195,000 miles. YM, of course, MV.

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Can't remember which of my vehicles it was, but I'm thinking my 2010 Ridgeline ..but I live in a very curvy area, and when driving on these roads it would flash up a screen that would show a cup of coffee and say "Do you need to take a rest?" lol

My new 2024 Camry flashes a screen that says " Check the rear seats" every time you turn it off. Yet it allowed me to back into my shed when I first got it, because unlike my wife's 2017 Highlander, it doesn't have any back up warning alarm that lets you know you're getting close to something.
 
One suspicion I have with the new technology is cars are now suspect of getting a virus in their computer. Also losing some of their memory,ran into that with a S10 pickup years ago. How many times have we had to turn off windows and restart it. Don't get me wrong I like some tech ,but not if my life depends on it.
 
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