Originally Posted By: SlipperyPete
Since it is also a constant with Japanese and Euro sportbikes, sport touring bikes and naked bikes, which aren't competing with HD in any way, shape, or form, I doubt that has anything to do with it either. Yamaha probably isn't concerned with losing R1 sales to HD cruisers. I suspect the reasons laid out earlier in the thread are accurate, because certainly, whoever Ducati, BMW, or Triumph buy speedos from could make them accurate. Every example I have owned or ridden was a 6 speed, weren't buzzy except very high in the RPM range, and nobody who buys them is concerned with fuel economy.
It does seem the speedo on my 2014 Speed Triple is the most accurate of anything else I have owned or ridden. Just judging from the flow of traffic I'd say it is probably within 2 or 3 MPH, but I haven't yet had radar confirmation of that. I know for certain my Tiger 1050 was off 9%.
I dont disgree in the sense there are two different classes of bikes people own in here and we are debating about speedo error and why.
We have the sport bike and sport touring guys saying big deal that the speedo is off. Well, that is ok if your ok with it. But there is absolutely no reason for it other then to for what ever reason ...
But the one place I guess you guys will never understand. I am from the cruiser side, seems like no one else in here is can say that, we are talking apple and oranges.
I owned 3 different "cruiser" style bikes in the last 7 years. The first two were metric cruisers from Japan.
I am WAY MORE qualified then others in here about "buzzy" without the 6th gear on traditional V-Twin style cruisers from Japan. So qualified I took it upon myself to fix the Vstar 1300 buzzy feeling by replacing the front belt pulley with one, one tooth larger.
Worked so well, that OTHERs in the forum have followed what I am done, to get rid of the buzzy feeling, interested too that with the buzzy feeling gone, the speedo is within normal automobile legal error of 3% instead of the 9% that it was. ( I believe that 3% is correct for the USA after a quick search, someone else can check)
You say Japan is not in competition with Harley. But lets not forget, Japan came after Harley with a vengeance and completely failed, fell on its face. It started early 1970 (most of you werent born yet. *L* With the Honda Cruiser types bikes.
Anyway, fast forward today. IN the last decade Japan has almost abandoned/withdrawn from the cruiser market. It truly fell flat on its face. Go back 10 to 15 years, research and look at the cruiser offerings from that time, from Japan, Yami strats, Kawi's, Suzuki's.
Fast forward to 14, 15, 16 ... research what is available, I bet less then half the offerings.
They just could not compete, plastics, cost cutting LACK of 6th gear, yet bikes like the Yami Stratoliners were not that much cheaper then the much more loaded Harleys.
SO the part that irked me most, that others have no idea about because they havent owned them, was the speedo error of 9%, making you think you were going fast when you were on a cruiser from Japan. The VTWIN bikes DO GET buzzy at GPS speeds of 75 to 80 MPH and thats ok if your someone who doesnt cruise at those speeds or rarely, but when you do almost every time your on the bike, eh.
There was one model from Japan that had the 6th. Kawasaki 1700. Liquid cooling too. I seriously looked into the Nomad. But in the last couple years they cut that lineup in half and now really only one version left.
Anyway, last post, bottom line, Japan did fail to take over the cruiser market in the USA, they did try to take it over from Harley, they did expend HUGE amounts of money trying over the last 3 to 4 decades and failed.
They do own the sport bike market now? I assume they do and honestly that maybe the place to be. IN our throwaway society, many of their sport bikes are like BIC lighters, use them, throw them away and NOTHING wrong with that if that is what sells, I wouldnt mind having one as a second bike, heck who knows, maybe one will be my next bike but if it is, it maybe BMW of Triumph, then again, lack of dealers here might mean, Japan.
Our society is throwaway, we dont or choose not to take trips like we used to, my thoughts are cruisers are made for couples, exploring, cruising and traveling interstate is where they shine, but sport bike and many cruisers now, travel around town and on weekends only, and then they take the SUV on trips. *L*
Bottomline, if you look at the cruiser bikes I owned over the last 7 years below, the 2 metrics from Japan that I OWNED had nothing to lose and EVERYTHING to gain by telling me I was going 8 (EIGHT) MPH faster then I was when on the highway. Because at those speeds if the speedo did not lie to me by the 8 MPH the engine was buzzy as it was and more so if you used a GPS.
Once this error was discovered by me, on each bike, I found in the forums the mods people were making to correct it. (It REALLYs easy to find in the forums, for the non believers of my posts, thing about me, I dont [censored], anything can be confirmed)
Anyway by Suzuki and Yamaha lying to me, having me THINK I was going 75 MPH when in fact I was going darn close to 68. So you pop a GPS on, do a true 75, speedo reads 82! Trust me, that little vtwin was buzzy, did it matter? NO, but did it sound like a little Asian Car with a tiny engine? Yes.
Its fact, documented and can be verifed by anyone going in those forums of people who truly do cruise on the interstate.
