Where are all the Rice Burner bikes nowadays? (1 Viewer)

[Wes]

It seems any more 90% of all motorcycles I see out on the road around here are Harley's. I personally do not care for Harley's and would much rather ride a good Japanese bike. I currently do not own a bike right now and was just wondering where all the Honda, Yamaha etc bikes are nowadays?

Wes

 

[David Preston]

All over the place in Ga. I would like to have a Suzuki myself but if I have a wreck on it I can't work. But that would give me more time to enjoy my HT. I don't think I will get one but sure would be fun.

 

[Josh Lowe]

All the Japanese sportbikes in the world are passing by my window from 8PM-1AM Thursday through Sunday.

 

[Philip Hamm]

Look closely, many of those "Harleys" may say "Yahama", "Kawasaki", "Honda" or "Suzuki" on the tank. All the Japanese manufacturers are making very good Harley knock-offs.

What's happening is that Harley has become very popular with very well off baby boomers who yearn to either recapture their youth or show off their "rebel" image by riding. In order to be an "individual" you have to buy the same motorcycle as every other aging baby boomer out there. The proper tool for this is a Harley-Davidson or if you're not quite as well off or not as "brand-aware" maybe a Kawasaki or Honda. A generation ago these people may have bought a Cadillac or Mercedes. Today it's a Harley.

The reason that you see so many of them around is that the whole point of this "biker" crowd is not riding but posing and partying. These are the folks who trailer their motorcycles thousands of miles to Daytona and Sturgis, and engage in the local charity ride that ends up at a bar so they can "party down" like "real bikers".

Most of the "rice burners" are owned by the genuine bikers who are out riding. (though the young and dumb street-stunt crowd certainly can be seen)

 

[Jay H]

I eat rice, I ride a bike (or multiple ones), does that make my bicycle a rice-burner?

Jay

 

[Clinton McClure]

Only if you wear a t-shirt reading "Mugen".

 

[Dave Poehlman]

I'm sure the 100th anniversary of the Harley has increased the hype a bit.

You are hard pressed to find a non-Harley here in Milwaukee... unless it's a crotch rocket... and even then they're mostly Buell bikes.

Any Harley riders coming up for the 100th party in August?

Why is it if I drive a car without a muffler I get a ticket.. but if I ride a Harley, the cops look the other way?

 

[Eric Kahn]

I am coming to Milwaukee for the 100th, my brother lives up in Westbend so I am staying there

People have discovered that "cruisers" are much more comfortable to ride than "sportbikes" I do not see how anyone over about 5'1" could possibly be comfortable hunched over on a crotchrocket.

since the rules of superbike have been changed, crotchrockets are literaly streetlegal race bikes with detuned motors

Yes I will be hauling my 1980 tourglide to Milwaukee on a trailer, basically because my bad back prevents me from riding so far

I am a Person who rides motorcycles for fun, not a biker, the bike may be more than capable of going across the country but I am physicaly done in about 2 hours of riding

About the muffler thing, I also do not like loud pipes, I am putting stock mufflers on the used harley I bought because the pipes on it are too loud

the other reason I have heard about bikes not getting tickets for loud pipes is that alot of police officers also own harleys that seem to have loud pipes so they ignore others that have them, I wish they would write tickets for it

 

[Max Leung]

I thought all the sportbike riders killed themselves, because they don't have the skillz to handle them? As the veteran bikers get older (the ones that didn't kill themselves on the crotchrockets), they switch to Harleys because their reflexes are shot. Harleys handle worse than cars right? Which is just as well!

 

[Matt Stryker]

You must not have been to Atlanta recently...The BP station right across from Georgia Tech usually has around 100 or so sportbikes every weekend night, and many more racing on the interstate below.

 

[Philip_G]

As the veteran bikers get older (the ones that didn't kill themselves on the crotchrockets), they switch to Harleys because their reflexes are shot. Harleys handle worse than cars right? Which is just as well!

I've seen old men (70+) on the track on milles, duks, and one old guy on an XX that would eat you or I for lunch any day

 

[Max Leung]

Cool! So it IS possible to live past the age of 30 riding a donorcycle.

 

[Philip_G]

Yeah, I know quite a few riders in their 30's, 40's and up on sportbikes. Many of them rode in their younger years and gave it up, then returned. Check out the aprilia boards, BMW, and triumph boards, you'll find almost exclusively older riders.
You'll also note these brands sometimes have lower insurance rates, connection? hrmmm maybe

 

[Jack Briggs]

Honda still commands close to a fifty-percent share of the entire motorcycle market, followed (in order) by Yamaha, Suzuki, and Kawasaki.

Harley-Davidson comes in fifth for total U.S. market share, but, worldwide, I think it trails BMW.

As Philip noted, the market-driven V-Twin cruisers from the Japanese manufacturers very closely resemble the rolling archaisms from H-D (Kawasaki's Vulcans possess the closest styling), so you may be seeing Japanese bikes and thinking they are the coughing, sputtering V-Twins of U.S. vintage.

 

[Philip_G]

Japanese bikes and thinking they are the coughing, sputtering V-Twins of U.S. vintage.

I have to say, the yammie warrior is a mean cruiser.. for a cruiser.

 

[Philip Hamm]

About the muffler thing, I also do not like loud pipes, I am putting stock mufflers on the used harley I bought because the pipes on it are too loud

I totally agree, I absolutely despise loud pipes. All they do is make the non-motorcycling public think that all motorcyclists are assholes. Since there's so much flagrantly false misinformation and FUD about motorcycles already (see Max's above posts) that's the last thing that we need.

Despite my first post, I'm very much aware that there are still a lot of real riders who love and ride Harleys. Some of them are actually comfortable (like the Dyna Super-Glide, my personal favorite Harley, and many of the FLHs) and they certainly are pretty to look at.

 

[Todd Hochard]

People have discovered that "cruisers" are much more comfortable to ride than "sportbikes" I do not see how anyone over about 5'1" could possibly be comfortable hunched over on a crotchrocket.

I was about to post a long retort, but Phil nailed it. I've also toured on both, and I MUCH prefer the sport-stance to the cruiser stance. Cruisers are hell on my back, and I'm 6'1"/175/athletic build.

Todd

 

[Shane Bos]

Every thursday night at chapter's there are a bunch od crotchrockets that get together and stand around in the parking lot. I wish I had a bike so I could look cool standing around in a parking lot.

 

[Josh Lowe]

Is the V-Rod as uncomfortable as other harleys?

 

[Jack Briggs]

Never ridden one, but its looks suggest to me that it might be similar to the ergos of a Yamaha V-Max. Harley's one "modern" motorcycle, and it took help from Porsche to design that engine.

Yeah, Phil, it really has been that long. From what you say, it sounds like H-D is pumping more money into its marketing department than its R&D unit! (So what else is new!)