Add motorcycle review

1 files changed, 26 insertions, 0 deletions

diff --git a/html/blog/2025-08-04+Motorcycles_New_and_Old+motorcycles+rant.tmpl.html b/html/blog/2025-08-04+Motorcycles_New_and_Old+motorcycles+rant.tmpl.html
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1271eeb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/html/blog/2025-08-04+Motorcycles_New_and_Old+motorcycles+rant.tmpl.html
@@ -0,0 +1,26 @@
+{{ define "article" }}

+<article>

+  <h2>{{ .Title }}</h2>

+  <p>I've spent a long time hating on parallel twin motorcycles for unfounded reasons. I think the over-exposure to Harley-Davidsons and singles pushed me to want a higher reving, smoother inline four. After riding my uncle's 1975 Norton Commando 850 and 2023 RS 660, though, I can confidently say two things: Twins are cool and 100HP+ street bikes should require extra certification to ride in the US. This will be a bit of a review of each bike and a reflection on the state of the motorcycle industry.</p>

+  <p>I listen a lot to the Cycle World podcast, and it's informed me of the sorry state of reliability prior to the Japanese arrival. This Commando 850 would be a contemporary of my XS 650, and without doubt, the Commando exemplifies everything I've heard about British motorcycles of the time period.</p>

+  <figure>

+    <img src="/static/media/Commando850/bike_1000.jpg" alt="A red 1975 Norton Commando 850 motorcycle with headlight on parked on suburban driveway." width="1000" height="750" />

+    <figcaption>My uncle's 1975 Norton Commando 850.</figcaption>

+  </figure>

+  <p>It's easy to get caught up in hyperbole, and I thought maybe that's what was happening with some of these retrospectives. But no. Hard starting, carb priming, soupy gear shift lever, and a tachometer with the precision of a jackhammer. That said, all of the flaws come through as character for those seeking an experience greater than that of a transportation device. But those quirks don't sell to the masses, and it's for the better we've moved on. After sitting for only a week, the Commando took well over twenty kicks before it even considered running, spitting in protest in the meantime. On the other hand, fresh after a rebuild, the XS started on the first kick.</p>

+  <figure>

+    <img src="/static/media/Commando850/controls_1000.jpg" alt="Controls area of the 1975 Norton. Small tachometer and speedometer pods, key area, four unmarked indicator lights, and standard thumb controls." width="1000" height="563" />

+    <figcaption>Control set and unmarked indicators.</figcaption>

+  </figure>

+  <p>It's hard to beat the smiles-per-gallon of the Commando, though. The bike keeps you on your toes in an amusing, cartoony sort of way and is one of the nicest sounding bikes I've heard. The exhaust note just feels precision, which is funny given the rest of the bike. But that's about the best way to describe it. It's like the bike was engineered perfectly and then walked back two steps to leave you scratching your head.</p>

+  <p>I hopped on the RS 660 immediately after the Commando, and the fifty years of progress shouted loudly. Lightweight is key for performance bikes. That along with mass-manufacturing requirements has lead to the extensive use of plastic. It doesn't feel cheap, but it doesn't feel expensive either. Immediately after starting the bike, it became blatantly obvious that the standard LCD display is a cancer in the bike industry. In nighttime riding, it's blinding, and if there were a way to change the brightness I couldn't find it due to the absolutely unintuitive handlebar navigation buttons. I never thought I'd say this, but I'd rather it be a touchscreen. At least I would have a chance at understanding which menu I'm affecting.</p>

+  <figure>

+    <img src="/static/media/RS660/bike_1000.jpg" alt="2023 Aprilia RS 660 next to a race-prepped KTM RC 390 in a two-car garage." width="1000" height="750" />

+    <figcaption>2023 Aprilia RS 660.</figcaption>

+  </figure>

+  <p>Finally pulling away, throttle delay was extremely noticeable. I was in the least aggressive performance setting, so maybe it's mapped differently on the sport modes, but I bet not due to modern emissions requirements. Even in "commuter mode," the modern high compression, fuel-injected engine was not a slouch. It's always jaw dropping to see how much HP/L we get out of modern engineering and materials compared to the past. And that's where I get to the problem. 80% throttle in 2nd gear gets you to license revoking speeds around town in the blink of an eye. I don't see that as an issue. What is an issue is that anybody with the money to pass a base DOT test and buy the bike can interact on the road. I'm not guilt-free in this situation, but I have had introductory level track instruction on an RC 390 and have been riding for almost half of my life, working up from mopeds to dirt bikes to now a base Sportster under varied weather conditions. So while I'm not a track day junky with lots of training, I know enough to stay safe on the street, and have helped enough people start out to know that if they or I bought something like this too soon, we'd be in a hospital or a morgue.</p>

+  <p>To be clear, this is an issue with cars as well. What's really happening here is that I'm waking up to the fact that we should have a culture that fosters driver/rider training and makes it accessible and not niche. If requiring a different license level or certification is what's needed, so be it. I can here the keyboards of the US internet trolls typing "you can't comprehend these levels of freedom," but to them I say that's not freedom, it's suicide. The fact you can hop into any high performance anything with a class D license is also absurd. At least a class M test requires demonstration of obstacle avoidance and hard acceleration and braking skills. The class D test in rural Wisconsin has us drive around a quiet town, do some parking maneuvers, and bam, access to any oversized and overpowered battering r... oh sorry, I meant SUV. Yes, yes, it's a reflection of our poor public transit system. Well, we should be changing that. No that doesn't mean we need to build rail everywhere, though we do have tracks that aren't in use!</p>

+  <p> I'm well off on a tangent now, this was supposed to be about two motorcycles. What I've taken away from all of this, is that I have no desire to own a modern motorcycle for performance reasons. Daily livability and character/charm/style will be my deciding factors on that front. On the flip side, I had feelings that owning classic bikes would be enjoyable, and the Commando has let me know I was completely correct. My future lies in old bikes and projects, not current model year performance machines. But who am I kidding, I guess I've always known that.</p>

+  <p><b>Created:</b> {{ .Date }}</p>

+</article>

+{{ end }}