Author Topic: What would you like to see as accessories on the new twins?  (Read 22709 times)

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Narada

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Reply #30 on: December 10, 2017, 09:24:14 pm
Maybe they don't want to confuse the Hipsters?  :o

My guess is that it is for lower production costs / higher profit margin.  ::)

I would definately pay the extra cost to have one, both for looks and practicality.  8)
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Richard230

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Reply #31 on: December 10, 2017, 10:10:02 pm
My daughter has a kick starter on her 1981 BMW R65LS and we have never used it to start the bike.  (I tried several times and couldn't get the bike to start. It just kicks it over too slow.)  However, the kick starter is useful for turning over the engine when setting the valve lash, instead of having to remove the front engine cover and rotate the engine using the nut on the end of the crankshaft.
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elysianforest

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Reply #32 on: December 10, 2017, 10:17:50 pm
They could've allowed for a kickstarter in the engine casting and then charged a pretty penny as an optional upgrade. Had they done that they would avoid any perceptional issues of it needing a kicker because of a crappy starter, and they could make a bit more profit on us not-hipsters.   8)


Blairio

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Reply #33 on: December 11, 2017, 03:00:16 am
At least you will be able to bump-start it.  There's no bump-starting an electric motorbike...... I think.


Rattlebattle

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Reply #34 on: December 11, 2017, 01:29:00 pm
Nothing to bump on an electric bike....If RE were to provide a kickstart on the Twin I hope it’s a better design than on the UCE, which in my view doesn’t look great and also feels flimsy. It should have s folding pedal, not fold at the shaft like an old Jap
two-stroke. I suspect that apart from Hipsters it’ll be old blokes who buy the 650. These days who wants to be bothered with kick starting an engine? Not me, though they’re useful for servicing.
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Richard230

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Reply #35 on: December 11, 2017, 02:21:01 pm
At least you will be able to bump-start it.  There's no bump-starting an electric motorbike...... I think.

What is worse is that electric motorcycles are really hard to push when they run out of power.  Mine did once some years ago and I tried pushing it up the hill leading to my garage and I just couldn't do it. The drag of that electric motor (when off) felt like it added 200 pounds to the weight of the bike.  However, I discovered that if I allowed the batteries to recover for a minute, I could get them to push the bike about 100 feet at a time up the hill before they died again, so I was finally able to get home, bit by bit, without suffering a heart attack. 

Instead of a kick starter, perhaps bicycle pedals would be the best solution for an electric motorcycle, as was used during the early 1900's for "LPA", light pedal assistance - which had a reputation of giving some of their riders actual heart attacks when trying to assist the motorbikes up a steep hill.    :o
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Blairio

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Reply #36 on: December 12, 2017, 03:47:01 am
Nothing to bump on an electric bike....If RE were to provide a kickstart on the Twin I hope it’s a better design than on the UCE, which in my view doesn’t look great and also feels flimsy. It should have s folding pedal, not fold at the shaft like an old Jap
two-stroke. I suspect that apart from Hipsters it’ll be old blokes who buy the 650. These days who wants to be bothered with kick starting an engine? Not me, though they’re useful for servicing.

I guess a kickstart might get you going again if your battery was flat, but if that were the case with these bikes the fuel injection wouldn't pressurise. Therefore why introduce the complexity of a kickstart (and the weight) for no good reason?


Blairio

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Reply #37 on: December 12, 2017, 03:57:21 am

Instead of a kick starter, perhaps bicycle pedals would be the best solution for an electric motorcycle, as was used during the early 1900's for "LPA", light pedal assistance - which had a reputation of giving some of their riders actual heart attacks when trying to assist the motorbikes up a steep hill.    :o

In the 1970's 50cc mopeds were required by law to be pedal-able, even the sporty ones that could top 50mph! Actually, that's what I would like for Christmas: not a 650cc Enfield but a perfectly restored Yamaha FS1E..... or maybe  Suzuki AP50, or (the daddy of them all) a Fantic GT Super 6.


Richard230

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Reply #38 on: December 12, 2017, 02:09:40 pm
In the 1970's 50cc mopeds were required by law to be pedal-able, even the sporty ones that could top 50mph! Actually, that's what I would like for Christmas: not a 650cc Enfield but a perfectly restored Yamaha FS1E..... or maybe  Suzuki AP50, or (the daddy of them all) a Fantic GT Super 6.

And as I recall on some of those hot mo-peds you had to be careful which pedal was down as you went around a corner. You didn't want a pedal to be down on the inside of the corner.  :o
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mevocgt

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Reply #39 on: December 12, 2017, 08:52:34 pm
I totally want a kickstarter. I am really sad that it doesn't seem to be on offer for these bikes.

I know I'm a relative newb here so my opinion is possibly not generally held in very high regard, but I've just got to say that RE, and their modus operandi, is the main reason I am back on a bike after nearly 20 years of relative avoidance due to a crash that really wasn't much fun. If I was looking for an 80hp bike I'd be looking at a brand that does that - not Royal Enfield.  I feel like part of the fun of RE is that you have a chance to actually get to know the bike: I can meaningfully upgrade it, I can take a few hours out of a weekend and decoke the head if I haven't jetted the carb properly, etc. I don't actually have a lot of interest in a motorcycle that I can't make better or fix on my own. I enjoy taking my RE to its limit rather it taking me to my own. I like that these scoots get comparatively decent fuel economy which I can trade in for more horses if I chose to. I get to make choices about a bike that reminds me of the bikes my father loved and the reason I became interested in the first place. Does that all make me a hipster wuss? Maybe so... but I'm having too much fun with my motorcycle to care.

Speaking of hipsters - they really seem to get a good deal of vitriol around here and other places, which is admittedly perhaps well deserved. What I never seem to see much mention of though is that nearly ubiquitous (at least around here) middle ager getting out of his Escalade every first Sunday to don his $1300 set of leathers and ride to the local "roadhouse" on a shiny and pristine $20k Softail. Why do these guys get more respect? Personally, I think that whatever gets you actually riding and having a good time is just fine by me.
Hay....I resemble that remark.....only without the $1300 leaders.......or the $20,000 HD......oh ya, I don't usually stop at the "roadhouse".

Usually too busy riding......


SSdriver

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Reply #40 on: December 13, 2017, 01:33:59 am
In the 1970's 50cc mopeds were required by law to be pedal-able, even the sporty ones that could top 50mph! Actually, that's what I would like for Christmas: not a 650cc Enfield but a perfectly restored Yamaha FS1E..... or maybe  Suzuki AP50, or (the daddy of them all) a Fantic GT Super 6.

Since we're off topic anyway....These are two I had in the early 60's. Sears and Roebuck specials. The Moped would top out at about 30 and the Scoot managed 45.
Wish I still had em!

As far as the kick start on the 650...I think it would only be good for looks.
Cheers...Jim
« Last Edit: December 13, 2017, 03:54:36 pm by SSdriver »
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Richard230

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Reply #41 on: December 13, 2017, 02:34:30 pm
Since we're off topic anyway....These are two I had in the early 60's. Sears and Roebuck specials. The Moped would top out at about 30 and the Scoot managed 45.
Wish I still em!

As far as the kick start on the 650...I think it would only be good for looks.
Cheers...Jim

The Sears Roebuck catalog, which arrived at my parents' doorstep twice a year, was my introduction to motorcycles and scooters during the 1950's. Every time a new catalog would arrive, I would first check out the ladies' underwear section and then it was off to the motorcycle/scooter section to see what had changed since the last catalog (usually not much).  Eventually, the ads helped to convince me to buy a 1962 Vespa 125 scooter and a couple of years later, my cousins gave me a (really) clapped-out 1958 Allstate (Puch) 125cc motorcycle for free (since they couldn't sell it), which had a oval rear wheel, the cooling fan removed, the muffler insides removed and various other issues too horrible to mention.  But it did get me down the road, bouncing up and down, for a year before I finally gave up and did something unspeakable to the bike - which I can no longer recall.  ::)  After that, I bought a 1963 Yamaha YD3 touring smoke-bomb.  ::)
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mattsz

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Reply #42 on: December 13, 2017, 09:36:34 pm
Richard, you should've gone for the Scrambler - think of all the errors in judgement you could have avoided!


Richard230

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Reply #43 on: December 13, 2017, 10:16:02 pm
Richard, you should've gone for the Scrambler - think of all the errors in judgement you could have avoided!

I know a fellow (even older than me) who used to race the Allstate Puch Scrambler.  He said it was very competitive, but was only sold for one year before it was withdrawn from the Sears lineup and no longer imported into the U.S. He didn't know why this was, but my guess is that getting after-sales support for a race bike from Puch was more than Sears wanted to deal with. 
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ace.cafe

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Reply #44 on: December 14, 2017, 12:28:39 am
Umm,... a real dealer network and full parts support for the older models.
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