- This topic has 9 replies, 5 voices, and was last updated 14 years ago by BlueTiger.
Hi
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April 4, 2010 at 9:58 am #3838BlueTigerParticipant
Hi there, I’m currently in the process of getting a bike and this website looks really useful.
I’m from England so I don’t know how different things are compared to in the US (which I’m guessing the majority of the users are from), but it seems like this is a helpful community here.
Anyway, see you around.April 4, 2010 at 11:41 pm #25404Jeff in KentuckyParticipantEngland makes a new rider start out with 30 horsepower or less, which is one reason why the 1999 to 2007 Honda Shadow VLX came with 29.6 horsepower. They rusted badly in the rainy weather in England, so were not sold there for very long, but this engine lives on as a 700cc sport tourer with a smoother crankshaft. Feel free to ask questions or add comments.
April 5, 2010 at 8:32 am #25425BlueTigerParticipantWe’re also limited to 125cc. I reckon 250cc would be better.
I’ve just realised that a lot of the bikes that they have in the US they don’t have in the UK (and vice versa).April 5, 2010 at 10:18 am #25428Jeff in KentuckyParticipantI recently saw a new Honda 150cc scooter at a dealership, and there is a good chance it will not sell well. Too many Americans start out with motorcycles way too big and too fast. Most of the racers in Europe start out on little minibikes for the pavement, then 125s and 250s before moving to the faster bikes. Rossi also raced gocarts as a kid. Here, no 125cc street bikes that shift are sold, very few people race 250s on pavement, and the 250s are often considered a girl’s bike or a poor man’s bike- even the 883cc Harley Sportster is often considered a woman’s bike- you see a husband riding a 1200cc plus Harley and his wife riding a Harley Sportster, often as her first bike, which is probably a good way to make her decide to sell it and get back on the back of her husband’s bike, because it is too heavy to be best for a beginner.
Pavement racing in the US usually starts at the SV650 level, but most racers start out on 125cc then 250cc then 450cc dirt bikes, often before they are 16 years old, before they can get a license for the street.
This site is trying to prevent the injuries and deaths from a new rider starting on a 600cc or bigger sportbike, designed for an expert rider but legal here for a completely new rider who barely knows how to ride a bicycle to buy, if they can pay the insurance premiums.
April 5, 2010 at 5:36 pm #25430CBBaronParticipantActually I do know of a 125cc street bike in the US and a couple 200cc. The Kawasaki Eliminator is a 125cc cruiser style motorcycle. The DR200se and TW200 are 200cc dual sports. However I think that is about it for sub 250cc street legal motorcycles.
I think this a great site for US beginner motorcyclists who have people telling them a HD Sportster 883 and CBR600RR are beginner bikes. And license requirements in the US don’t help matter when you can take a written test and pay $25 for a temp license and legally go ride a Hayabusa.
I look forward to your reports about how things are different on the other side of the pond.
Craig
April 5, 2010 at 5:40 pm #25431CBBaronParticipantScooters are doing fairly well in the US recently. Mostly because scooter riders are not concerned about the look or top speed, but looking for efficient and function. Small scooters are fuel efficient, inexpensive, have nice storage space and are very easy to ride. Plus in may areas with limited or expensive parking and traffic congestion they can be much quicker through the streets and easier to park.
Craig
April 5, 2010 at 10:01 pm #25434JackTradeParticipant…once used on a bunch of bikes, some of them pretty powerful?
It kills me that such a cool name is now only available on an entry-level bike. No offense to it, of course…it’s cool for what it is, but a name like that surely belongs on some look-at-it-wrong-and-it’ll-kill-ya monster.
April 5, 2010 at 10:41 pm #25435WeaponZeroParticipantIn the mid ’80s, Honda came out with a power cruiser (the original “muscle bike”) called the Magna that was built on a sportbike engine; the VF750/VF700 Interceptor engine.
Kawasaki answered Honda by coming out with the Eliminator line, which was a line of cruisers based on the Ninja four cylinder engines. Though the other sizes were only built for a couple of years, the 600 version, which was built on the original ZX600R (1984-spec) Ninja engine, was built all the way up until the mid-late 90s and was a pretty hot seller for a while. Kawasaki dropped the ball though when Honda redesigned the Magna 750 (its main competitor) in 1994, making it better than ever, and Kawasaki refused to similarly update the Eliminator 600.
Though the Eliminator line of power cruisers never quite met with the same success as Honda’s Magna and Yamaha’s V-Max, they were highly successful in their own right.
To call their new 125cc trainer bike the Eliminator considering the heritage behind the Eliminator name in their lineup is wrong on soooooo many levels.
April 5, 2010 at 10:55 pm #25436Jeff in KentuckyParticipantFrom a longer Wikipedia article:
The Kawasaki Eliminator was introduced in 1985 and only produced for 2 years (1985 and 1986). The ZL900 evolved from the legendary Kawasaki Z1. The ZL900 was designed to evoke images of the wildly successful Z1 drag bikes, with a bobbed rear fender, short travel fork, large rear tire, fat chromed mufflers, a small fuel tank and low straight handlebars, and at the time of its original release was the fastest accelerating (from zero to 50 m.p.h.) production motorcycle, and also sported the widest rear tire of any production motorcycle.
The ZL900 engine was a transplanted and slightly modified version of the liquid-cooled Inline 4 introduced in the 1984 Kawasaki ZX900 Ninja. Kawasaki used smaller 32 mm carburetors (the ZX900 used 34 mm), different timing and camshafts with less duration. This gave the engine a dramatically different personality, trading the Ninja’s high-end surge for low-end grunt and a meaty mid-range that was more suitable for a cruiser.
The pursuit of drag-bike style resulted in some functional compromises. First, riders of the Eliminator complained about a lack of cornering clearance, although it took corners better than its competitors the Honda Magna V65, the Suzuki Madura and the Yamaha V-Max. At 25-35 mpg on a 2.9 gallon tank, even conservative riders were forced to find a filling station after 100 miles or less.
The ZL1000 was an evolution of the ZL900, sporting a larger engine shared with the ZG1000 Concours and 34 mm carburetors. The styling of the ZL1000 was much more conservative than that of the 900, with a longer rear fender and a much larger fuel tank. This motorcycle was only available for 1 year, 1987, and shares the same strong following as the ZL900.
The ZL750 was sold from 1986-1989 as a mild-mannered version of its big brothers.
The ZL600 had the same type of transplant as its bigger siblings: a slightly modified engine from the Kawasaki Ninja 600. The ZL600 was sold as late as 1996.
The ZL400 ceased production in 1994. Unlike larger models, some versions of the ZL400 had a chain instead of shaft drive.
The EL250 had a production run from 1988 to 1997.
The VN250 started production in 1998.
The EL175 is sold in India by Bajaj Auto.
The Kawasaki Eliminator 125 has the distinction of being the smallest production motorcycle (not including scooters) currently being sold in the United States.
April 6, 2010 at 8:22 am #25448BlueTigerParticipantI think I’d have a scooter if I was going on rides through parts of Italy (it suits the country!) but in England I’m looking for more of a racing style bike.
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