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Aesthetics
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June 16, 2009 at 1:44 pm #3014ranetteParticipant
In another thread SafetyFirst writes that “looks aren’t everything” and Elias responded, and I paraphrase, “well, but they are pretty important.”
I like to think of myself as a practical guy, looks shouldn’t be everything, but then again I’d have probably joined a monastery(the world needs a few Jewish monks) rather than marry someone I couldn’t look at lustfully and I would have walked rather than take my family’s suggestion and make my first car a K Car. http://cache.jalopnik.com/assets/resources/2008/03/84_Reliant_Frt_RH_494.jpg.
The first time I saw a photo of a Ducati GT1000 I knew that is the bike I needed to have. I took boatloads of grief for my choice on this board, feel free to find the buried thread, but I went with my heart and haven’t regretted my choice for a moment; I love the Ducati probably as much as I could love any thing. It’s not strictly based on looks anymore, I’ve grown to love the bike in so many ways, but I have to admit the fact that looking at her still makes my heart go pitter patter is important to me. So, much as looks shouldn’t count, at least in my case they usually do.
I hate to generalize along gender lines, but it’s kind of accepted that many women will agonize over the choice of fabric for their couch for months and spend hours deciding on the perfect pair of heels. However, that’s nothing compared to reading some motorcycle discussion boards. Guys who I bet couldn’t tell you what color shirt they have on without a quick glance down, will tell you how they agonized over their choice of clutch cover, length of their rear fender, or even the color of their aftermarket fuel caps. They then look for the approval of their peers, most of whom fawn over their fellow owner’s choices, but every now and then somebody gets a little catty. In short I don’t think I’ve ever met a bunch of males as obsessed with aesthetics as motorcycle owners. Is everyone here in that same club? Anyone take the practical view that functionality should triumph over looks even when it comes to motorcycles?
As much as I still think my bike is gorgeous, if money and logistics were no object, I’d have had one of these babies on a boat from Europe the moment I laid eyes on it. http://static.blogo.it/motoblog/moto-guzzi-griso-8v-special-edition-my-2009/big_guzzi_griso_8v_se_my_09_04.jpg I guess some things will never change.
June 16, 2009 at 2:09 pm #19790Clay DowlingParticipantFirst, the bike has to function well. I don’t want to deal with an unreliable machine.
After that, given that bikes are a more ego driven purchase than a practical one, I’d say looks are pretty important. But just like with clothes, what one person finds as their ideal look others will think is hopelessly dull, and others will think it’s pass-me-the-eye-bleach hideous.
June 16, 2009 at 4:29 pm #19800briderdtParticipantAs much as I really prefer a faired bike, I gotta admit I like the looks of the Griso and the Wakans. But when it comes to my “next” bike, if I decide to go bigger, it’ll most likely be a Buell 1125R. Why? It’s all driven by aesthetics — I like the look of the fairing, how it directs air past the hands, and I like the look of the undercarriage exhaust (the huge side-can look just doesn’t do much for me, much as my bike has one). Performance? I haven’t a clue.
June 16, 2009 at 11:04 pm #19811EliasParticipant“Guys who I bet couldn’t tell you what color shirt they have on without a quick glance down, will tell you how they agonized over their choice of clutch cover, length of their rear fender, or even the color of their aftermarket fuel caps.” -ranette
“After that, given that bikes are a more ego driven purchase than a practical one, I’d say looks are pretty important.” -Clay
spot on, guys, couldn’t have said it better myself. Of course looks vary depending on who is looking at it, but to the owner of a bike, I think it’s safe to say that looks are damn near close to the top of the list of “Why I Am Buying This Bike, Instead Of That Bike.”
On the other hand, you asked about people who chose practicality over aesthetics. I would like to point out that I have made major vehicle purchases majorly based on aesthetics, that turned out to be COMPLETELY impractical. First I had a souped up and dropped riceburner (that was fun as hell to drive) and then a racing sport ATV that had about 3″ of clearance. Super incredibly clean and sexy machines, compliments everywhere, extremely fast, super fun to drive on flats, but overall: very impractical. Sold the ricer and got a pickup truck. In the process of selling the quad right now, and I’m going to replace it with a sport utility quad that has 4×4, reverse and a foot of clearance. From those two huge financial commitments, I learned two things:
– I will never buy a vehicle that I think is ugly
– Practicality is just as important as aesthetics.So from now on, I’m finding the happy medium.
June 16, 2009 at 11:34 pm #19814MunchParticipantmy list of importance:
1) price
2) reliability
3) usefullness
4) looks
Personally if I come from a looooong line of tinkers that have worked a slant towards the “all show no go types”Granted my tinkering gene is a little lacking as I really don’t get into chopping and hacking and such …..much. However for me, since I don’t pull 6 figures a year I need to make sure I get my moneys worth out of what I want. Once I whittle down the list the looks THEN become primary. 3 and 4 can be mixed at times…depends on how fugly the first 2 get me in the range of.June 16, 2009 at 11:41 pm #19815SafetyFirstParticipantYou guys probably already know where I stand.
For me, it was budget, mostly.
I love my EX250F. It’s sporty enough for me (and apparently middle-aged men in sports cars who seem to think I want to race) but within the budget. I’d rather have it than any standard bike or cruiser, regardless of cost. Chrome ain’t my thing, and neither are Lazy-Boy’s on two wheels. Not ruinin’ anyones buzz, but that’s just not my thing.
Although I love the looks of any 600cc sportsbike or even the 08+ Ninja 250, riding was more important than looks. No need to go outside my means just to ride.
June 17, 2009 at 12:13 am #19818ranetteParticipantOf course budget comes into play for just about all of us. That’s why I haven’t upgraded my pipes to make her sound as pretty as she looks. I guess in my original post I should have said to take cost out of the equation.
If I were to look at Munch’s list of 4, which I would whittle down to 3, my priorities would be:
1)Looks
2)Reliability
3)UsefullnessAlong with all of the other reasons I shouldn’t have chosen the bike I did, the nearest Ducati dealer is a 3 1/2 hour drive from me. When it comes to motorcycles my practical side just seems to be a few furlongs behind my emotional side. Reliability hasn’t been Ducati’s strong point, though in the last 5 years they’ve addressed some of those issues. That being said my particular model has two well known issues that I learned about after I made my purchase and both have cropped up on my bike necessitating two long trips. Would knowing about those issues have swayed me from buying the Ducati? Absolutely not. A positive aspect of having your dealer so far away is that a trip there is great excuse to ride for an entire day.(How’s that for rationalizing an emotional purchase). For me I guess it comes down to this, for my particular situation, my car is useful and my scooter is useful, but my motorcycle is all about fun, and like I mentioned previously, she still makes my heart go pitter patter.
June 17, 2009 at 1:41 am #19819gsmurfetteParticipantI’m not your typical lady, I HATE any kind of shopping unless it involves motors or rotors. That being said, I take a more practical approach than my husband. He wants a nice looking bike that is to his standards. I would like to have a nice looking bike, but I will sacrifice looks for the longevity of the engine, how I feel on it, the MPG, how much maintenance req’d, etc. I lucked out with both our bikes.
The first, the guy selling it lost his job, and had to get it off his hands (09 Ninja 250r), and the second (07 YZF 600r) has a clean title, but it was stolen and seized by the cops after the guy laid it down in the pursuit. It’s purely cosmetic other than the missing ignition (on order). We hot wired it today, but the battery was too dead, so charged it up, and waiting for hubby to get home because I don’t have enough hands (or not skilled enough?) to hot wire it and press the starter button. The fairing is all scratched, the slip-on exhaust is ground up a little, the crank case cover broke (on order, doesn’t effect the starter though). My hubby is happy we got it, and paid about 2-3 grand less than a running one with more miles. It’s only going to take about 200 to get it running and another 300 to make it look new (we do our own work). Hubby said he’s not worried about the cosmetics right now, just wants to get it where we can ride together.
So I guess for us, price and functionality come first and looks towards the bottom of the list.PS-I think it adds a bit of character to the YZF….she’s got a story..lol
June 17, 2009 at 7:54 am #19837BenParticipantI think it depends on a lot of things, especially what you want to do with the bike. If you want something as a daily commuter then you should pick a bike that is really reliable. However if you are going for beauty you can’t help but look at some of the italian models out there. Hell I still lust after the Ducati 996’s and 998’s, but I probably won’t get one for a long time because of cost and maintenance issues (mainly the former).
That all being said, I LOVE my zx6r, I still think it is one of the best looking bikes for the price. I also LOVED my GS500 when I had it, a great looking bike that performed well. The only bike I wasn’t a big fan of was my mid 90’s Honda f2 ratbike, mainly because that thing was a death trap (the front end was from a 84 kawasaki with that shitty anti-dive setup. Talk about bottoming out with even light press of the brakes).
Looks are important, but I can find beauty in just about everything. Probably one reason why my taste in women is so varied hah!
Ben
June 18, 2009 at 7:12 pm #19909bigguybbrParticipantForm and function go hand in hand. I think thats why ducati is so damn sexy. It works and thats what makes it beautiful.
If I make a comment about my taste in women it would only be digging a hole for my gf to bury me in, so I’ll let that dog lie, wait I said dog, crap! I’m in trouble now.
June 18, 2009 at 7:23 pm #19912bigguybbrParticipantFriendly huh? Should have thought about that one before hand…
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