Why are there no PWC/ Jet Skis with V-Twin Harley-Style Engines?

Paul at 320km/h my bugs die fast, and my visor is closed............

 

See, that's the difference, I wouldn't consider a visor, those are for sissies.

 

I would be pleased to invite you for a ride on my bike Paul! Just ten minutes on a German Autobahn on Sunday morning!
You will redefine the word Sissy.




After two hours of regenaration, of course................................

 

Just a couple comments.

First, bikes of the era you guys are talking about were horrible by any modern standard. They had engines, but they could neither turn nor stop. And the engines (especially two strokes) had torque curves that were wildly erratic. I think that the reputation motorcycles still have today as death traps stem mostly from the cafe racer mentality.

I have what I consider to be the first decently handling bike that still had nuts: A 1987 Yamaha FZX 700. I don't need to win races, but it's small and light and fast, and no surprises with handling or stopping. None of those gay-assed fairings either.

Second: In high school I drove an Opel GT. Stock, 4-speed. Par, I hope you did something with the steering and the weight distribution when you put the bigger mill in.

Third: Killing bugs on a bike is awesome, but at anything over 100 mph they hurt.

 

Now who´s a Sissy?
But look at my outfit, nothing hurts, and above 240 km/h they do´nt hit you anyway.

To the Yamaha, that was a fine bike, but the "MV Agusta 850 SS America Arthuro Magni Cento Valli" I had in the late 70ies was the first one which had it all. Engine, brakes and a perfect handling!

 

I don't have the armor, so I feel the bugs. And there is no fairing of any sort, I want to ride a bike, not sit inside a house. So there's no speed at which the bugs don't hit.

Don't be spreading that "sissy" word around. You have both a fairing AND the body armor. Who's afraid of bugs really?

I've never seen a copy of that bike that I know of. I'm not going to insist that the 87 fzx was the first decently handling fast bike, I was pretty young back then and my exposure to a variety of bikes is still pretty limited.

 

Hähä, ja the "coachwork is mainly for speed you know. I do´nt think I would like speeds above 200km/h on a naked bike. And the armor, well I paid my toll at just 40km/h, missing it once! 9 month in hospital 5 operations and a stiff leg told me what is bold and what is clever.

 

I don't know about that 87 Yamaho being the first. I had a cb750F Honda that was well mannered and damn fast. The KZ 900 was an easy bike to ride. Lots of good bikes in the 70's, they weren't like todays ninja rockets but were plenty good enough to get in and out of trouble.

 

Nice bike, Richard.
Not on the Autobahn, of course, but throw in some turns and this thing

.........Aprilia SXV 4.5.........
will seriously embarrass darn near all. It will not do 200 but I am convinced that, with all the topes, (tortugas, speed bumps) it is the ultimate Mexico City bike. Don't take this as an endorsement for commuting on the Periferico, Insurgentes, or other such two-wheel death traps. Come on down this winter and I'll show ya a nice route from D.F. to Cuernavaca or Guadalajara to Mazatlan.

 

The Opal was a drag car mostly, though I did enjoy driving on the street, taking folks money at the stop light races. It had a tube frame, Ford 9" rear with trailing links, tubular front suspension, firewall move back about 6" to accommodate the mill and you had to step over the cage in order to sit in it. The wrinkle wall slicks were a dead give away though.

Richard, you can easily have a 500 HP Boss Hoss. When was the last time you cranked on a grip that had 500 ponies in it? It's just not the same as a well mannered street bike, even a fast one.

 

On Sunday Paul! But to be honest, it was about 450hp only! But thats a question of turning the "steam" knob another turn. MAB Turbo Hayabusa the yellow one with the #1 on it. Owned and tuned by my friend Halil in Istanbul.
www.halilyasar.com
And this bike does´nt need a mobile crane at every second junction!

Mark
nice the Aprilia but not my world. (Autobahn is not my world either, cornering is biking for me, and after one hour near full throttle on a free German Autobahn you have to buy a new rear tyre!). These of road bikes are the perfect toy to learn handling a bike, to get familiar with the dynamics, but that was 40 years ago......

 

You may want to search around in this forum:

http://www.greenhulk.net/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=126

If anyone has tried stuffing a different engine in a PWC it will probably be posted there.

 

...and therein lies the argument. "... a well mannered street bike"

It's my opinion that a motorcycle needs to be able to perform all the required tasks that one would expect of a machine that carries human beings, and further, to perform them well for the price of the vehicle.

Acknowledged that one of these can pump out the horses. The question is, since it's supposed to be ridden, is all that power actually tractable in the wide range of needs of a thoroughly ridden motorcycle? Does the bike handle? What is the stopping distance? Can it be turned under full braking load? What is the ultimate lean angle? (when the suspension is compressed and the bike heeled until something starts to touch pavement) What kind of fuel consumption does it have in the real world?

While the Boss Hoss has a weight to power ratio of 2.39, the Ducati 1198S is hitting the mark at 2.19. The difference is all in the wet weight when it comes to actually using what the two bikes have to offer. There is an enormous inertia penalty going on with the BH machine that will seriously press the bike into failure mode if pushed hard for any reason. The same is not true for the Duc. Clearly, handling and responsiveness are not the forte of the BH.

Lastly... and I fully realize that this is purely subjective, but those things are just flat ugly in their aesthetic execution and it's made worse with those over the top graphics. The machine is in dire need of a trip to a well-respected industrial design studio. There, it could get the lines cleaned-up and the paint treatment done in something that enhances the overall look, rather than further clutter that which is already a hodge-podge visual affair. JMHO

This has been fun and I'm as guilty as the next for sidetracking things, but perhaps we can take it back to the topic?

 

Your not a biker are you chris?