Posts Tagged ‘Harley Davidson Sportster’

ijustwant2ride.com

Hey guys, I am in a middle of a move and have not provided as much content lately.  Please stand by for a bit while I get back to normal… whatever that is!

Up Shift Entire Family to Race at the Amateur Championship – The entire Rau family is going to the AMA Amateur National Motocross Championship at Loretta Lynn’s motorcycle complex! This is the first time that a mom, dad, and son have pulled this type of hat trick.

Mom and dad (Tressa & Justin) qualified for the Senior (40+) and son (Jett) made the cut in the Mini-E Junior (4-6) class.

My Take – This is one of those, “Isn’t that cool!” items.  Congratulations to the Rau family and I hope they all make the podium for another amateur motocross racing first!   

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Up ShiftNew Harley Davidson Sportster – If you did not see this coming, I don’t know what to say to you.  The ever changing and tightening emission standards is slowing ending the air-cooled era of motorcycling. Lament if you wish, but the old engine just could not compete in this modern world.

The 50+ year old Sportster name continues at Harley Davidson with an all-new motorcycle. The new Sportster brings the Harley Revolution Max engine and 121 horses (from 1252cc) as a major upgrade to the name.   

To help tame that horsepower the new Sportster has lean-sensitve Antilock brakes, wheelie control, traction control and “Drag Torque Slip Control” to reduce rear wheel lockup during engine braking.

My Take – At first glance this new Sportster looks a like the FXDR from a few years ago.  A lot of styling points from that bike made it to the Sportster.  I do like the styling; I do like the performance upgrade, and I understand why Harley Davidson had to make the change to old bloodline.  I have not yet had an opportunity to ride this motorcycle, but I will make the time to do so.  At a $15,000 US starting point it seems to align with many of its competitors.

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Ride on, Ride Safe

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Cafe bike

Royal Enfield Continental GT

As I mentioned in an earlier post I have always liked Royal Enfield motorcycles.  I ran across a short, interest article on the DealerNews.com website that covers where Royal Enfield came from and where it is now.

Check it out HERE.

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According to several other websites Yamaha will be displaying a café styled motorcycle built from their Bolt platform. Yamaha is rolling out this concept bike to show off what owners can do via “garage modifications”.

I like the look of this bike, as much as I like the look at the Harley Sportster (imitation is flattery, right). I have seen many Sportster café bikes and they look cool as well. The big thing I get from this is that the café scene is going; maybe it will get as big as it did in the 40 years ago.

The bike is going to rolled out at the 2013 Tokyo Motor Show, maybe it will come to some US shows afterwards.

I have always had a desire for a Café Racer.  As a kid I want to get a Honda CB350 and convert it to a Café bike.  Never happened, but it has always been in the back of my head.  I have been tempted to convert the wife’s Harley Sportster into a Café Bike but she is not very keen on the idea.  But if she upgrades ………

Cafe bike

Royal Enfield Continental GT

A friend of mine sent me a link to the new Royal Enfield Continental GT.  This is a good looking modern Café bike.  According to the literature, its 535cc engine produces 30 horsepower, not sure if that will get you to “A Ton” (100MPH) but it would be fun to find out.

Looking about the internet for pricing, I think the bike may be a bit pricey.  I get the impression that it will be around $7000 dollars, about the cost of a Harley Davidson Sportster. But, you would not have to convert the GT as you would the Harley. But, I doubt the resell value is anywhere near comparable between the Royal Enfield and the Harley Davidson. But, which would be cooler to tool about on?  Both work for me.

Alas, I cannot justify another bike in the garage nor can I afford one (I do not start to work until Monday).  Turns out that there is a Royal Enfield Dealer near my home, Winchester MotoSports I might just ride over and check out what they have.  The Continental is not scheduled for release until late November but they may have other bikes in stock.