Tpoppa

Manufacturers like Kaw and Yam certainly have some exciting designs, but their execution (of what they decide to biuld) isn't always as good as Honda. The FZ09, for example, looks really good on paper and is at a nice price point, but it has fueling issues and poor suspension (suspension isn't quite in the same league as 1st gen SV650 or even their own FZ07). Honda is still a really good choice it you want a fantastic chassis, reliability, and great resale value even if their designs aren't the most exciting.

One more thing I will say about Honda...even though their sportbikes don't jump off the spec sheets, Honda engineering is still 2nd to none in the motorcycle industry. The pieces they design are top notch and they still make and incredible chassis.

Drag race a motorcycle? It's cheaper (in theory).

Honda's focus is elsewhere http://www.motorcyclistonline.com/blogs/wth-honda-megaphone/?image=1 Today the company makes everything from lawn mowers to jet planes, but Honda started as a motorcycle company, and founder Soichiro Honda was, first and foremost, a motorcycle enthusiast. The bespectacled Mr. Honda, so reserved in regular life, loved nothing more than blowing minds with outrageous machines like the screaming six-cylinder RC166 racer from the ’60s, the mass-production tour de force CB750, or futuristic V-4 Interceptors that revolutionized sportbikes in the mid-’80s. Honda’s motorcycles were always thrilling, but none was finer than the 1992 NR750. With its jewel-like, 32-valve, oval-piston V-4, titanium connecting rods, side-mounted radiators, carbon-fiber bodywork, upside-down fork, and other assorted exotica, the $50K price seemed reasonable. At a time when BMW was still a buttoned-down touring-bike maker and Ducati had only recently adopted liquid cooling, Honda was the ultimate arbiter of motorcycle technology. If you were a performance enthusiast, you were a Honda enthusiast too. <img class="full-width" typeof="foaf:Image" alt="" src="http://www.motorcyclistonline.com/sites/motorcyclistonline.com/files/styles/medium_1x_/public/images/2014/07/homepage_mcy0814_mega_nr750.jpg?itok=W2p1ia7N" /> Fast-forward two decades and the Honda narrative couldn’t be more changed. Performance seems like an afterthought. The core CBRs have soldiered on with little more than minor changes for more than six seasons. With the exception of beginner-oriented bikes like the CBR250R and various CB500s—and the adorable Grom!—Honda can’t be called the clear market leader in any category, not even touring. <img class="float-right" typeof="foaf:Image" alt="" src="http://www.motorcyclistonline.com/sites/motorcyclistonline.com/files/styles/medium_1x_/public/images/2014/07/nm4_mcy0814_uts_honnm4-07.jpg?itok=g7hnLIIx" /> This isn’t for lack of trying. Honda is spending cubic dollars developing new product—it’s just that these new designs are all but unrecognizable to conventional motorcycle enthusiasts like us. Honda’s NM4 (NM for “new motorcycle,” in contrast to the NR’s “new racer” designation) is a perfect example, a Strangelovian scooter-motorcycle hybrid with an automatic transmission and a friggin’ backrest! This on the heels of the future-bagger CTX700 and CTX1300—more bizarro big-wheeled scooters—and the über-commuter NC700X, Honda’s current impression of an “adventure” bike. Tune in, Tokyo… Where’s the brave company that introduced us to mass centralization with the awesome 1992 CBR900RR? The Honda that ruled WSBK racing with ultra-trick homologation specials like the RC30 and RC45 then beat Ducati at its own game with the mega-twin RC51? Not to mention unforgettable cult bikes like the CB400F Super Sport, CB-1, Hawk GT, Transalp, GB500, and many, many more? In the shout-logic of America’s favorite Oprah-endorsed pop-psychologist, Dr. Phil, “It’s not about you!” Honda simply isn’t building bikes for us anymore. Faced with ever-increasing pressure regarding emissions, economy, and resource scarcity, Honda is shifting focus from performance to practicality. At the same time it’s shifting focus from Western markets to predominantly Asian markets where two-thirds of the world’s population—and the bulk of future consumer demand—is centered. Raised on scooters and riding in congested urban environs that look nothing like where we ride, the machines are evolving to suit their tastes, not ours. <img class="full-width" typeof="foaf:Image" alt="" src="http://www.motorcyclistonline.com/sites/motorcyclistonline.com/files/styles/medium_1x_/public/images/2014/07/slider-lead_mcy0814_mega_mrhonda2.jpg?itok=xgrg0fMy" /> I imagine a group of young Honda designers in a hostess club down some darkened Tokyo alley, swigging sake, high-fiving each other, shouting, “We nailed it!” There’s probably a 17-year-old manga enthusiast in Jakarta or Singapore downloading an NM4 background image on his smartphone right now. Meanwhile, we sit here wondering why the CBR1000RR still doesn’t have traction control and why the 600 makes less horsepower than it did in 2007. WTH, Honda? It’s not a pleasant thought, the idea of being phased out, left behind, retired into irrelevance while one of our most-loved manufacturers moves on to more lucrative spaces. Hopefully, this isn’t permanent. Hopefully, these brave new experiments in transportation will capture a new cohort of two-wheeled enthusiasts and cut a new path from scooters to NM4s to premium sportbikes, tourers, and cruisers. Hopefully, the long-rumored, road-going version of the RC213V MotoGP racer will finally appear as a “halo” product to draw new buyers to CB500s—or maybe the supercharged four-cylinder concept leaked in this month’s Up To Speed section (page 10) will surface and make us forget the NM4 for good. We’re not ready to give up on Honda yet.

I think Honda sportbikes are still near the top for their STREET manners. But if I were picking a platform for a race team I would look elsewhere.

Quite the scientific approach to an economic indicator.

Something tells me you take yourself a little too fucking seriously.

Been drinking beer for years...never knew it had notes.

Cost of ownership and valve intervals are to the point where I would own one. It never made sense for me to own a motorcycle with a 6k interval. No way I am having a bike down for scheduled maintenance 2 or 3 times a season.

A VTEC full of fuel is about 540-550lbs. Ride a VFR1200 if you want linear power and gobs of it. The 1200 weighs in around 590lbs.

Conspiracy theory is a cottage industry.

another good one

I like the tech and electronic gadgets that are making their way onto 2 wheels. The one that I wouldn't want (yet) is electronic suspension. BMW, Aprilia, Ducati, Yamaha, etc have some neat systems, I just don't trust that they will perform for years & years without some kind of calibration or manual fixing. It seems like it would be an expensive part to service & I don't trust dealers to diagnose suspension issues anyway. I could be wrong, but I'll let electronic suspension develop for a few more years before I consider it.

^^ I would have used the term "recreation," but I get your meaning.

Specialized bikes are the ones that dominate sales in the US by an extremely large margin. All rounders are big in Europe and other parts of the world.

Don't make me challenge Jinu to a scrabble death match. I assume I'm really good at it even though I've never played.

I think its ugly, but I think all the adventure type bikes are ugly.

My old college roommate always wanted to be on antibiotics. He went so far as to buy medical text books to figure out what symptoms he could say he had to get prescribed a certain a/b.

I think preppers have a lot in common with germophobes. Both are trying to protest against some percieved looming danger. There are common sense levels of each, like handwashing before eating. But both can become compulsive behaviors. If you own 50 bottles of hand sanitizer, you may lack the perspective to realize that you've drifted a bit off center. My fan has been shitlesss since 1972.

My planning takes into account the extremely likely scenario that the fan remains shitless.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_dates_predicted_for_apocalyptic_events

I don't think break in proceedures are as important as they used to be. Modern motor manufacturing processes create extremely consistent products. I can't remember the last time I heard of a problem being caused by improper break in.

Honda no longer considers the US market a priority for motorcycles. We get bikes designed for the rest of the world rather than US specific models.