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My bike is an 86 VN750. As I look around at other (newer) bikes, I always wonder why these features went away. Anybody want to offer an opinion?
The tachometer: Seriously. That delivers useful information. You're heading into a curve, and sure you can FEEL how much torque you might have, but by looking at the tach you actually KNOW where in the power band you are. I look at newer bikes and damn few have tachometers. Why have bike designers decided, "Meh... they don't really need that"?
Gauges IN your field of vision: Seems like newer bikes have all decided that the tank-mounted speedometer is the way to go. I admit, it does give a cleaner look to the bike. However, who decided that every time you wanted to check to see if you were under the speed limit (oh, hello, officer...) you need to basically look down at your crotch. Okay, so maybe not quite that far, but it's easily a 45 degree angle. This means that for that period of time, you're not watching the road at all. Older bikes like the VN750s had the gauges up over the handlebars. Glance down about 20 degrees and the road is still in your peripheral vision.
Pipes on either side of the bike: I dig a nice set of double-barrel Vance & Hines as much as the next guy, but when "both pipes same side" is the ONLY option, it's kind of boring. Plus, there's a certain symmetry to the "one pipe per side" setup. I know that a lot of baggers have this as a standard setup, but how about mixing it up? Why did everyone decide that one side is the only way to go?
Anyway, let's hear your opinion on these, and any other features you'd like to see modern bikes bring back.
Jay
The tachometer: Seriously. That delivers useful information. You're heading into a curve, and sure you can FEEL how much torque you might have, but by looking at the tach you actually KNOW where in the power band you are. I look at newer bikes and damn few have tachometers. Why have bike designers decided, "Meh... they don't really need that"?
Gauges IN your field of vision: Seems like newer bikes have all decided that the tank-mounted speedometer is the way to go. I admit, it does give a cleaner look to the bike. However, who decided that every time you wanted to check to see if you were under the speed limit (oh, hello, officer...) you need to basically look down at your crotch. Okay, so maybe not quite that far, but it's easily a 45 degree angle. This means that for that period of time, you're not watching the road at all. Older bikes like the VN750s had the gauges up over the handlebars. Glance down about 20 degrees and the road is still in your peripheral vision.
Pipes on either side of the bike: I dig a nice set of double-barrel Vance & Hines as much as the next guy, but when "both pipes same side" is the ONLY option, it's kind of boring. Plus, there's a certain symmetry to the "one pipe per side" setup. I know that a lot of baggers have this as a standard setup, but how about mixing it up? Why did everyone decide that one side is the only way to go?
Anyway, let's hear your opinion on these, and any other features you'd like to see modern bikes bring back.
Jay
