Honda Fury bike ($13K) stirs up a storm

Fort Wayne News Sentinal ^ | 2/4/09 | Matt Degen

[woollyone]

10-4

[Richard Kimball]

I can only guess that you haven't priced motorcycles a whole lot. This isn't a cheap bike, but it's by no means a top cost bike. I haven't read enough about it to evaluate cost/value ratio, but the Gold Wing starts out at 21K retail, and they won't let you polish the chrome on a Harley soft tail for less than 15K. You can grab a Sportster for 8-9K, but that's with an engine approximately half the size of this one. Get to the 1200 cc range and the Honda is priced very competitively.

I notice they've marketed it to a younger demographic than the Harley. While they retain the outlaw image, they've thrown in an undercurrent of Manga, which positions it slightly away from the Harley, "American Iron," and into the "cutting edge, Japanese ninja outlaw" genre. It's not aimed at the guys who have bought into the Harley mystique, but at younger riders who like the cruiser concept, but view Harleys as an "old guy's bike."

[Richard Kimball]

I liked the original Valkyries, the motorcycle equivalent of a 57 Buick with the biggest engine they made. After they restyled, not so much.

[fieldmarshaldj]

"I can only guess that you haven't priced motorcycles a whole lot."

No, sir, I haven't. That's why I was flabbergasted to read the price. You can get a decent small-sized car for that amount, and I can't see spending that kind of money for a little bike when you can get a car instead.

[zeugma]

‘I’ve owned one Kaw, five Hondas, prior to my HD.
Liked the first six, but REALLY like my HD.’

This is all that really matters. Ride safe.

Indeed. I've never understood the antipathy between riders of different brands of bikes. We're all out there dodging cages :-) It's all a matter of personal preference. I just thank God we have choices and can ride that which suits us best individually.

[Badeye]

‘We’re all out there dodging cages :-) ‘

Ain’t that the truth!

[zeugma]

No, sir, I haven't. That's why I was flabbergasted to read the price. You can get a decent small-sized car for that amount, and I can't see spending that kind of money for a little bike when you can get a car instead.

LOL. 

You're obviously not familiar with what happens when you buy a motorcycle these days. After the deal is signed, they tranquilize you, and tattoo the words "disposable income" on your forhead in invisible ink while you're out.

Of course, the "decent small-sized car" you'd get for the same amount of money wouldn't be nearly as much fun as a bike. I love mine. Changed my life for the better, it did.

[Richard Kimball]

Yeah, a motorcycle is really a luxury item, except for guys that buy a used POS for 800 bucks and have to ride rain or shine. It's always been like that. In 1969, when Jim Bronson was my hero, a Harley Sportster cost $1995. You could buy a new Volkswagen Beetle for $1795 or a Pinto for about the same.

I don't remember what the high end 1200 Super Glides and Police specials cost exactly, but they were around two to 2 1/2 times the price of a Sportster.

[Richard Kimball]

Indeed. I've never understood the antipathy between riders of different brands of bikes.

Same thing with pickup drivers, or at least it used to be. There were Ford guys and Chevy guys. Prior to the redesign of the nineties, a Dodge guy kept his head down. Sometimes I think pickup drivers are worse. You hardly ever see bumper stickers on bikes with Calvin peeing on the logo of a different brand of bike.

[Seruzawa]

$13K for an 800cc motorcyle/scooter/abomination. Typical Honda overpricing. This is what I’ve come to expect from the most boring and over rated car company that happens to sell motorcycles as a side line. Pathetic. Soichiro must be rolling in his grave at 12,000 rpm.

[Seruzawa]

You’re wasting your breath. These clowns who push that old “HDs are unreliable” crap expose themselves as liars or idiots.

[Richard Kimball]

It’s 1300 cc, not 800. In terms of raw specs, it stands up well against Harleys of the same category. Boring also means predictable, which is not necessarily a bad thing in consumer products. I’ve always had a little trouble with multi-million dollar ad agencies, the ultimate suits, doing an ad campaign as rad, outlaw outsiders, but a lot of people eat it up.

[woollyone]

going to start a new posting trend, like I did with robertpaulesen. He was a poster here who fought KABA issues with constant incessent leftist drivel. He stunk up EVERY KABA thread with statist garbage.

It was the “IBrp” post. Just to see if I could get in before he could vomit his carp (sic) and kill the intellegent discourse.

In the MC threads, it will be the “IBTHB” post.
“In Before The Harley Bashers”

It will illuminate who the real whiners are...
The HD owners bashing metrics,
or
the Metrics bashing HDs

With the IBrp, it caught on real quick
...we’ll see if it does here too.

ride safe!

[zeugma]

I don't remember what the high end 1200 Super Glides and Police specials cost exactly, but they were around two to 2 1/2 times the price of a Sportster.

Don't know how much the new ones are, but my local HD dealer has 3 2008 Police Specials for $14k right now. Each has about 7k on them.

[zeugma]

re: robertpaulesen

This troll seems to no longer exist. Shame. I'd like to have seen how it danced around the recent supreme Court decision.

[Seruzawa]

rp used to stink up the WOD threads too. Did he get banned?

[woollyone]

>>>Did he get banned?<<<

yep
thankfully

[woollyone]

He would have prpbably said something along the lines that rights were only meant for the priveldged white land owners or some such carp.

he was full of himself.

[PalmettoMason]

These clowns who push that old “HDs are unreliable” crap expose themselves as liars or idiots.

Agreed. It's just something to say that they think gives them some credibility to cover for their inferiority complex.

After church last night, a few of us hung around the clubhouse for a couple of beers. I brought up this thread, and how the Harley bashers started in so quick with the "broken down Harley" stories. One of the Brothers, an old 'Nam vet, compared it to all of the "I got spit on when I came home from Viet Nam" stories. He says that if everyone who claims to have gotten spit on actually did, the janitorial staff at the various airports on the west coast would still be operating squee-gees 24/7 trying to clean up the mess over thirty years later.

It was a pretty interesting conversation. He made the point that there seemed to be a whole lot more spitting going on than ass kicking for spitting, and that our people collectively ride thousands upon thousands of miles per year on just about every conceivable type of Big Twin Harley- Davidson, and no one can easily recall the last breakdown.

I'm with you. I call B.S.

[AFreeBird]

Their crotch rockets were good for profiling and riding bar to bar, but try making a long ride on one.

My friend who had a Honda V45 (45cid/750cc)Sabre with full fairing (sport touring type with lowers) would very much disagree with you. The Sabre actually had a fairly long wheelbase and was quite comfortable on long trips. I know because we rode together for 10 years all over the country, and switched bikes quite often. I was riding a Yamaha Seca 750. You also had on both bikes, what I would consider to be, a comfortable riding position.

Out of the hole I was quicker, but not much, but once that V4's torque kicked in, he smoked me. And top end, he had six gears, me only five.

Now, when I can get the scratch together; my next bike will be the following.