Buell Pulls Plug On Dirt Bike Plans
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What?
They must be mad. Do they think all the manufacturers are going to design all new lines of 300cc bikes?
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3,874 Posts
The manufacturers want to keep "50" at the end of the displacement for, get this, marketing reasons. It's looking like the new displacement for MX is going to be 350cc. At least, acording to Steve Whitelock.
I say bring back the open class. Anything goes. Let those who ride decide. Then make the tracks tight, technical and rediculously ignorant. Big fun.
I say bring back the open class. Anything goes. Let those who ride decide. Then make the tracks tight, technical and rediculously ignorant. Big fun.
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7,113 Posts
+1. I'd love to see the same thing on a road course series too!
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17,448 Posts
Yeah but...
.. once again I ask, "Are the manufacturers expected to design and build all new lines of bikes at the demands of racing associations instead of customers?" The customers are obviously not demanding 350s any more since no one is selling any. Who made the FIM/AMA king?
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5,447 Posts
Yeah, whata bunch of wimps...
Sheesh, maybe competition bikes will be limited to 150cc 4 strokes, with 11 horsepower, run on slick-tracks.
As someone who's owned an open class dirt bike SINCE 1973, this doesn't bode well for the sport.
Saw that too, in my searchings for the proposed 2009 rule. Looks like they're gonna bore out 250's to get the required 350 cee cee bike. The wimpopotamuses are saying the new 450's are too fast, and too hard to ride, oh boo hoo! One FIM/AMA twit said something akin to "Just like when we discovered the CR & KX500's were too dangerous, we're discovering the same thing with the 450's."
Sheesh, maybe competition bikes will be limited to 150cc 4 strokes, with 11 horsepower, run on slick-tracks.
As someone who's owned an open class dirt bike SINCE 1973, this doesn't bode well for the sport.
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17,448 Posts
You're kidding me!
LOL! When did the Nannystaterfascists take over motorcycle racing? How did people ever survive the 60's and 70's racing on Triumph650TTs and XLCHs?
I'm waiting to see how well the lower ends survive on these bored out 250s.
MX racing is *gasp* DANGEROUS?
LOL! When did the Nannystaterfascists take over motorcycle racing? How did people ever survive the 60's and 70's racing on Triumph650TTs and XLCHs?
I'm waiting to see how well the lower ends survive on these bored out 250s.
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5,447 Posts
Exploding 4 strokes, at a track near you, soon.
Heaven forbid we have a true 500cc two stroke that lasts for years and years, puts out fantastic power, everywhere in the powerband, and goes like stink. I purchased a CR500R in 1987 (the best year if you ask me) and it never wore out. Or sure, I put a few clutches in it, and a few rings, only one .60 over bore, but it lasted 4 ever, and was fast. The lower end was stock, with the exception of one set of crank seals.
This is just like when Chrysler got rid of the slant 6. Was it beacuse the slant 6 never broke down, and MOPAR wasn't selling any parts for 'em? Nah, couldn't be...
Ha, that's a good one. The motorcycle industry foisted works-type 4 strokes on the dirt riding public, under the guise of "getting rid of those dirty two strokes"...and we end up with complex, over stressed motorcycle engines with the lifespan of about 30 hours, before a TOTAL rebuild is needed, costing around three thousand bucks.
Heaven forbid we have a true 500cc two stroke that lasts for years and years, puts out fantastic power, everywhere in the powerband, and goes like stink. I purchased a CR500R in 1987 (the best year if you ask me) and it never wore out. Or sure, I put a few clutches in it, and a few rings, only one .60 over bore, but it lasted 4 ever, and was fast. The lower end was stock, with the exception of one set of crank seals.
This is just like when Chrysler got rid of the slant 6. Was it beacuse the slant 6 never broke down, and MOPAR wasn't selling any parts for 'em? Nah, couldn't be...
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11,481 Posts
Emissions. Same reason the LA/Magnum's are gone now, too. The only reason they kept the Jeep 4.0L inline-6 was because AMC had already completed most of the work toward injecting it by the time they bought 'em out.
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5,447 Posts
The '51 Nash Ambassador
I thought Jeep got rid of it last year, and opted for the Mercedes sourced 3.7 liter V6?
That's when the OHV 4.1 liter inline six came out btw. Fantastic motor.
I thought Jeep got rid of it last year, and opted for the Mercedes sourced 3.7 liter V6?
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5,447 Posts
Yes, was thinking about it...
..the sidecar option sounds good, but I'd have to get one with hand-shift, and a linked system for the brakes, that operates both from the front brake lever.
You know...the Chang Jiang has a hand-shifter on the right side, and a sidecar...maybe someday. Now just to hypnotize the wife into allowing it...don't want to pi$$ her off any more than she already is...
Thanks, it does indeed suck. Every day is a new adventure in living. What kind of Buell problems did you encounter?
..the sidecar option sounds good, but I'd have to get one with hand-shift, and a linked system for the brakes, that operates both from the front brake lever.
You know...the Chang Jiang has a hand-shifter on the right side, and a sidecar...maybe someday. Now just to hypnotize the wife into allowing it...don't want to pi$$ her off any more than she already is...
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11,481 Posts
They may have - I know they used the inline in the Grand Cherokee through at least '02 or '03 - dunno how long after that.
And yep - that motor was every bit as good as the "Leaning Tower of Power". It's the restrictive head that was the Achilles Heel on the Slant, apparently developing a new, less-smoggy one would have broken Chrysler or something........ (actually, it probably WOULD have in the late '80s)
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5,447 Posts
My '64 300 Dodge..
Sixes are way cooler than V8's to hot rod.
They producted the last slant six powered vehicle around 1983, put 'em the D100 pick-up, with three on the tree. They were dogs.
..that used the same body style as the Candy Matic of that year, had a 255 cu.in. slant six that used big rectangular intake ports, with equally as large square ehaust ports, stock from the factory. I stuck an Offy manifold on it, with a 390 Holley, and Clifford headers (six into two), along with a Mallory dual-point distributor, and the thing hauled ass. Had a Offy finned valve cover too. Loved to use the "full service" lane at the gas station, to have the oil checked, just to hear the attendant say "wow" when he opened the hood.
Sixes are way cooler than V8's to hot rod.
They producted the last slant six powered vehicle around 1983, put 'em the D100 pick-up, with three on the tree. They were dogs.
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3,874 Posts
Don't blame it on the industry MS! We (the riding public) demanded them. Remember 1997, when Doug Henry was campaigning the works Yamaha? People wanted THAT BIKE!
I, too mourn the death of the open-class two-stroke. I'm looking for a reasonable CR500, and I'll keep it until I can no longer ride. I know the bike will easily last that long.
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1,302 Posts
What is a side car operator?
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3,874 Posts
Sidecar: Havana Sidecar
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17,448 Posts
We used to drink those...
.... in Singapore! Except we didn't bother with the chilled glass, or the ice, or the lemon juice.... or actually the Triple Sec either.
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4,369 Posts
What type of gut rot rum where you stuck with?
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Just how many types of rum do you think are available in a former British Crown Colony? The mind boggles.
There was one bar where the owner had a 100pound note in a frame. You could have the note if you could drink two of his layered Rainbow Mai Tais within 15 minutes, get up, walk to the bathroom and return without passing out. That bill had been there a loooong time.
His rainbow Mai Tais were tall drinks with several layers of rum of various potencies, 151 rum being the bottom layer. There was usually someone laying on the floor.
There was one bar where the owner had a 100pound note in a frame. You could have the note if you could drink two of his layered Rainbow Mai Tais within 15 minutes, get up, walk to the bathroom and return without passing out. That bill had been there a loooong time.
His rainbow Mai Tais were tall drinks with several layers of rum of various potencies, 151 rum being the bottom layer. There was usually someone laying on the floor.
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