[Guaire]

I read that RE is succeeding because they are making bikes that people want. Sounds about right.
Here's a photo of a bike with a great little motor and a chassis built for a Ricky Racer who gets to pretend he's in the super bike finals.
Wouldn't it be nice if the Japanese factories would make bikes that are not accessories for youngster racing fantasies?!

[GlennF]

They do  ... just a few random examples ...

Honda Monkey
W800
Z900RS
a few others

but retro Jap Bikes like the revamped CB1100S as often as not fail to sell

[Richard230]

I read that RE is succeeding because they are making bikes that people want. Sounds about right.
Here's a photo of a bike with a great little motor and a chassis built for a Ricky Racer who gets to pretend he's in the super bike finals.
Wouldn't it be nice if the Japanese factories would make bikes that are not accessories for youngster racing fantasies?!

Unlike BMW who makes bikes that they want to sell, but you might not want to buy. A prime example is their R18 models that the dealers can hardly give away and yet BMW still makes them and ships them to U.S dealers to languish in their showrooms for months if not years. 

[NVDucati]

Unlike BMW who makes bikes that they want to sell, but you might not want to buy. A prime example is their R18 models that the dealers can hardly give away and yet BMW still makes them and ships them to U.S dealers to languish in their showrooms for months if not years. 

HA! You nailed it. The dealer in Windsor asked me to put a couple of hundred more miles on one so it could be designated as a demo. I rode it North up the Coast Hwy and back. Easily the most weird motorcycle ever. The starting instructions were emphatic : Both feet planted on solid flat ground / both hands firmly gripping the handlebar ... It still almost threw me and itself straight onto the ground as it fired up.
AS I profiled my way up the iconic California coast... I couldn't stop myself from staring at those huge cylinders. I was like a kid at his first strip club .

[Karl Childers]

^^^^^

I feel bad for BMW, their first attempt at a cruiser bike was a failure, ugly as sin but at least ride-able. This one has more the look yet not quite hitting the mark in a number of ways. It will probably be their last attempt at that niche in the market place.

[Arschloch]

Considering the price you pay for doing anything these days, I would have made it even uglier and more expensive.

Regarding the Yamaha, you don't have to be a professional footballer to play football occasionally and be good at it, probably a better idea than watching it on TV anyway.

[StefArmstg]

One morning I saw about two dozen R18s sitting in a parking lot in Boulder Colorado.  I thought there's no way that many people owning that bike would get together for a ride.  I was right.  They were moto-journalists, about to take a demo ride to Estes Park.  Never saw what they had to say about them. 

[Karl Childers]

One morning I saw about two dozen R18s sitting in a parking lot in Boulder Colorado.  I thought there's no way that many people owning that bike would get together for a ride.  I was right.  They were moto-journalists, about to take a demo ride to Estes Park.  Never saw what they had to say about them.

Reminds me of a story. When BMW introduced their K bikes they provided a group of journalists with them for test rides and evaluation. After each ride the journalist put the bike on the side stand and went off for other business. When he came back for another ride the bike was on the center stand. Seems the same thing was noticed by the other magazine  testers, leave the bike on the side stand and come back and the bike was on it's center stand. Turns out BMW was having some problems early on with the rings and oil was getting by them when on the side stand and the bike would smoke on start up so the BMW mechanics and sales staff were putting them on the center stands so they wouldn't smoke for the journalist's demo rides. BMW did get the problem sorted later on.

[AzCal Retred]

Maybe the home-built aircraft folks will like the R18.   Wait a minute - I know - put TWO R18's back to back with a counter rotating planetary to take up the rotational disparity, then PTO shafts back to the transmission...a dry clutch in there somewhere...3.6 liters of mechanical perfection on the hoof.

Here's another flat engine you mightn't want to rev up at a stoplight if you had a weak ankle. The article reads like Bilgemaster might have been involved in wordsmithing it...
https://www.odd-bike.com/2012/12/amazonas-1600-beetle-powered-brazilian.html

[Richard230]

A last year a BMW/Royal Enfield dealer had an open house event advertising that the BMWNA truck would be there with a load of bikes offering test rides. My daughter and I rode to the shop in the hopes of test riding one of their new 750/850 models. When we arrived all we saw were.....   

Around lunch time one of the BMW salesmen walked around begging the attendees to test ride on of the R18 bikes.  I didn't see any takers. 

[AzCal Retred]

Udo Gietl was a BMW tuner par-excellence in the 1970's & 80's. He built some specialized engines with the cylinders canted upwards a few degrees, a la Moto Guzzi to gain cornering clearance. Maybe BMW just needs to rethink the "K" bikes; an 1,800cc "Brick" makes more sense. Or maybe an 1,800cc Honda-esq longitudinal V-4 instead of a flat 1,800cc twin. Maybe contra-rotating crankshafts? Money certainly appears to be no object.

https://www.cyclenews.com/2022/02/article/archives-column-udo-gietl/

[Arschloch]

Udo Gietl was a BMW tuner par-excellence in the 1970's & 80's. He built some specialized engines with the cylinders canted upwards a few degrees, a la Moto Guzzi to gain cornering clearance. Maybe BMW just needs to rethink the "K" bikes; an 1,800cc "Brick" makes more sense. Or maybe an 1,800cc Honda-esq longitudinal V-4 instead of a flat 1,800cc twin. Maybe contra-rotating crankshafts? Money certainly appears to be no object.

https://www.cyclenews.com/2022/02/article/archives-column-udo-gietl/

Thanks for the help Mr. super tuner, and how much did it cost the taxpayer in tax increase? ...another racing series everyon was hell bend to watch on TV.

[Richard230]

Thanks for the help Mr. super tuner, and how much did it cost the taxpayer in tax increase? ...another racing series everyon was hell bend to watch on TV.

Hell bent to watch on TV, but then never did.     (Because they were working on their Royal Enfield Bullet in the garage at the time.  )

[GlennF]

They could of course just toss in a Lycoming 540.  6 cylinder turbocharged and horizontally opposed, good for around 350 HP. Reliable AF up to around 25,000 feet so good in mountains. Touch heavy though.

[Arschloch]

Should do for couple of million miles...