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Will There Ever be a Viable American Non-Cruiser Motorcycle
Now that EBR is on the canvas (though perhaps not completely counted out yet), what's left as our best hope for a non-cruiser bike?
I have owned just about every type of non-cruiser motorcycle there is over the years - parallel twins, v-twins and inline 4's all in simple, short wheelbase, standard or sport configurations - the kind of bike that you can get out on a windy road and just have fun.
And since the mid-seventies, I've had the seemingly simple desire to see a US company make that kind of bike.
At this point, Buell (under Harley) seems the high-water mark, but they clearly don't exist anymore. So will we ever see it, and if so, who will it be? I've assembled a list of potential candidates. Am I missing any? Will any of these pan out?
Cleveland Cyclewerks:
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With our old friend Bruce Belfer taking over production, this is a particularly interesting one for me. I like the simplicity, light-weight. It even has a kick-starter - which stirs something in me and reminds me of the early bikes I owned and had an emotional attachment to.
The idea that it's not a true American bike, but cheap Chinese junk pretending to be American could hurt it, but I think Bruce B. may be able to fight that image.
47 Moto:
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I don't actually know much about this one, but I've seen some mention of it recently. It has unique modern styling that I like. I believe the price is a little high, but will it be within a range people will be willing to pay for something so unique. As with CCW, it may be a matter of image. Can they market it as a true American bike?
Motus:
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I've frankly never been fully on-board with Motus, because, for my tastes, it's too big, too expensive and sort of ugly. I would probably never buy one, but they survived up to this point, and might just be the one to do it. While it's not a cruiser, it may share some elements with cruisers and maybe that's the key to surviving.
Indian:
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Indian may not belong on this list, because unlike other brands I'm listing, they haven't expressed any real, official intention to build a non-cruiser bike, but I'm hoping their new 750 flat-tracker makes it to production in something very close to the track bike. That could very well be wishful thinking on my part.
Zero:
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In some ways, Zero may be using their unique formula to not only be the first real non-cruiser, but be a true bike of the future. At this moment, I think electrics are still overpriced, overweight and under-powered compared to their ICE counterparts. But are they unique enough that customers with disposable income are willing to pay the extra price until they can meet... and eventually exceed the performance of traditional bikes?
I have to admit that I'm intrigued by the idea of a bike that has no oil to change, chain to lube, spark plugs to change or gasoline to drain for winter.
Imagine having this bike in the garage when a warm day comes around in January. Just unplug it, hop on and go. No filling a gas tank that you drained (or worrying that ice or gunk from an undrained tank combined with a weak battery and high-viscosity cold oil will have you trying to crank it over and just getting sickly sounding "wa-wa-wa" sounds).
When I was younger, working on the bike used to be half the fun, but honestly, at my age, the idea of a bike that's as low-maintenance as the Zero seems it should be is quite intriguing.
So what do you think? Which of these American bikes are most interesting to you (and am I missing any)? Which of these are most likely to still be around 5-10 years from now?
