I believe this illustrates one of the great strengths of the, "endeavor", lets call it, of motorcycling, and that is the sometimes intense personal emotional involvement of brand.
If you read brand specific sites, you see it; HD, Royal Enfield, it's there, Indian, Ducati, Honda, (I once read, on a Gold Wing site, a post by an owner who was PO'd about something, and said he would trade the thing, but he couldn't stand the thought of either a BMW or riding "obsolete technology"), Triumph, talk about people who like "proper motorbikes", I know the purists are gonna literally despise the new 1600CC Thunderbird next year, Kawasaki, (sites dedicated to the old style Concours (Connies) treat those thing like religious relics, and, oh boy, the Vincent owner's sites.
Richard Harris' song "1952 Vincent Black Lightling" which I think is the best motorcycle song ever, has a line, which he will sing live as;
"Now Nortons and Indians and Greeve's and Harleys won't do,
They don't have a soul like a Vincent '52."
Anyone who has a dream machine or brand is convinced that it is THE brand, and that's probably the way it should be. Passion about what we have, or like, or do, is one of the great attributes of being human. It's one of the things has always inspired humans to move forward.
And nothing will ever be able to convince anyone that anything other than their brand is the best, whatever that brand might be. We all know that no brand is better than every other brand in every possible way. (I guess we all know that, although I asked, with total innocence and lack of subtrefuge, a HD salesman for comments on the changes to the engine mounting system on the touring bikes, and she told me "Harley engines are mounted exactly like they need to be for Harleys". When I then couldn't resist asking her, "since HD uses two systems, either solid mount counterbalanced engine, or non counterbalanced rubber mount engine, which do you prefer?", she just walked away.)
As far as Honda not being able to make a HD, well, no brand can really make another, and as far as simply making a look alike, the auto industry has been copycatting each other for decades.
If an individual's definition of any brand is "this is THE real deal", they will always view any other brand as being something other than genuine. So which brand is the REAL, real deal? Whichever one somebody thinks it is, and that's all that will ever matter to that person.
I like to ride my Bullet on backroads, where it's really most at home, and lots of time take the very long way to and from work, and sometimes get on the slab for a bit, and if I get a UCE, I'll like its capabilities probably even more. Of course, being a unit construction engine doesn't make the UCE nontraditional, because even though I'm not an Enfield expert, I believe I'm correct that RE made unit construction engines a long time ago.
I also enjoy riding my HD, I love the sound, love the appearance, nobody else makes a single throw crank 45 degree v engine, which is, of course, the reason they sound that way, anybody COULD do that, but there are very sound engineering reasons NOT to, and I like that it's a U. S. company that's managed to survive a long time.
I do admit that quite a few HD folks over the decades have offered me guff about riding a Honda, but really, riding what you feel good on no matter what brand, is the essence of being a bit of a rebel, isn't it?
I had a long ago ancestor back on the Emerald Isle who was one of seven people who drew up a Declaration of Independence of Ireland from England. Apparently this was a common activity in those days. He and his six co-conspirators were summarily rounded up by the Crown and hanged for treason. This seems to have also been a common activity.
Wouldn't want to be hanged for my brand loyalty philosophy, but I don't mind saying to someone "if your idea of the ways things are doesn't agree with mine, then I guess we'll just have to agree to disagree."
I also like my GL a lot, and even though it doesn't have the sound of a HD air cooled twin, the HD doesn't have the sound of a Honda flat six, either.
If you have an opportunity to ride an 1800, do so, run it to just south of the soft rev limiter in four gears of the five, and realize that when you grab full throttle in 1st that it hits redline almost literally before you can get ready to shift. I recommend it, cause there is nothing like that particular song and dance. It may be a tourer, but its also a an extremely soulful bike. A different song than a v-twin, but a stirring one, still. Just as a long stroke single is a unique song, too.
I really don't think Japanese engineers are worrying about the fact that they can't make a HD, they just realize that even though they can't convert most HD aficionados, or match HD "mystique", they can certainly beat it in engineering, as can other companies. Harley doesn't build a " traditional" V twin engine that is the equal of the Yamaha Raider's, or the Suzi M109. We can't count the VRod, cause as good as it is, and it's top drawer, a lot of the HD faithful can't stand them, and haven't forgiven the Motor Company for building what they call a "Japanese Clone".
Of course, a lot of HD oldtimers couldn't stand the EVO when it came out; "hear no EVO, see no EVO, ride no EVO, then some of those folks got to love the EVO, and hated when the EVO went away, and the twinc arrived, so traditions do change.
I wish I could see my way clear to buy restored, or had the time to restore, one of the old original CB750 Hondas. In my opinion it is possibly the most influential motorcycle in history, at least arguably that.
Oh, well, enough, I guess. I'm gonna go work on putting my old bat wing fairing that once was on a HD police bike, with modern LED lights now installed, onto my RE, to which I've added ATV handlebar risers, and a quick release plug for my battery tender and tourmaster electric jacket. She's getting to be just what I want her to be, and that's the most traditional thing any bike can be, true to its owner.
One thing for sure, everybody ride safe.
Topic: Royal Enfield Price HIKES (yikes!) (Read 28658 times)