When your motorcycle becomes a "vehicle"

[PrivatePilot]

Forum Sponsor

*shrug* it's not just a size/weight thing, it's a displacement thing.

My V-Rod was only 1,130cc, about 120 hp, 70ish ft lbs of torque, but the minute you let out the clutch it wants to go. Compared to a smaller, lighter bike, when you're riding a V-Rod in the city, you're just constantly pulling in the reigns. For short trip stuff, smaller bikes are way more fun.

I don't see how this would matter to me in the least.

I've ridden big bikes, I've ridden small bikes. None of the variables between big and small would affect any of the decisions specific to what we've covered- I'd still dress the same, ride the same, and they'd both get me from A to B. I see only downsides in a smaller bike in the fact that they have way less storage for whatever you want/need to lug around during that "around town" stuff.

 

[adri]

I don't see how this would matter to me in the least.

I've ridden big bikes, I've ridden small bikes. None of the variables between big and small would affect any of the decisions specific to what we've covered- I'd still dress the same, ride the same, and they'd both get me from A to B. I see only downsides in a smaller bike in the fact that they have way less storage for whatever you want/need to lug around during that "around town" stuff.

It isn't about what you're wearing. You/we were talking about convenience. There's more to convenience than just what you feel that you need to put on to be happy.

Ease of handling is convenience.

Ease of being able to fit in small spaces between vehicles is convenience.

Ease of taking off and coming to a sudden stop in traffic on a lighter vehicle is convenience.

Ease of riding vs not having to pull back the reigns on a big motor that wants to take off is convenience.

Ease of being able to park to the side of the front door of the building because your bike takes up no more space than the ebike already parked there, is convenience.

For your every day, inner city errands, whether you ride them in full gear or in a speedo, small bikes are often very, very convenient, and often much more than big ones. My half dozen motorcycles include liter bikes, and little bikes, and when it comes to small trips to do quick errands, I almost always take the little bikes. They're just so much more convenient.

 

[PrivatePilot]

Well, to each their own, as they say.

I’d still take the beast as it’s going to be more comfortable for the ride around the corner for milk and a loaf of bread that inevitably turns into a ride to Sudbury for fish and chips.

 

[MCT]

For your every day, inner city errands, whether you ride them in full gear or in a speedo, small bikes are often very, very convenient, and often much more than big ones.

That they are. When I drove the Trans Labrador Highway with its 1100 kilometers of gravel, I left the BMW R1150 GS Adventure at home and took my Kawasaki KLR 650. Good thing too because where ever the grader went by to smooth out long sections of potholed gravel road, it was like riding on marbles (it didn't matter if you had slicks or knobby tires) and a smaller lighter bike was easier to control. Same for zipping around in the city or in tight traffic.

Forum Sponsor