On the subject of modern current Honda models I have a vfr1200 not everyones favourite I know stonking engine But the panels and general finish on plating etc a and what seems like recycled plastics on infills etc is shocking for the cost I have a mate with a 2014 blade its the same Velcro and plastic scrivets Holding panels on to save production costs whilst charging 12 to 15k for them I think the people in charge of design have been drafted in from the car side to save money as said .

The fj motor goes back as far as the xs's/xj's from the 70's!!..that's what you call development!!!.good strong motors..

richyrd5 wrote:The fj motor goes back as far as the xs's/xj's from the 70's!!..that's what you call development!!!.good strong motors..

Yup, it's direct predecessor was the XS1100 and the FJ motor was a 16 valve development advance of that old lump. Mines done nearly 100K miles now. I find it nuts that Yamaha still build it without any substantial changes since '84..

I wish Honda still made a small / middleweight V4 engine in the 400 - 600 bracket.

yup ditto,,,from the vf back in the late 70"s/80"s there development is nothing like the other manufacturers..(maybe chocolate cams/bearings didnt help!)but air cooled yams/kwaks always been strong in devolpment and reliabilty..

Dave has it right - the 21st century Honda design ethos is about facilitating cheap production to maximise the margin and the whole look and feel of the bikes reflects this. The owner of my local dealership, a Honda salesman since the 1970s, says he no longer has any great enthusiasm for it, he`s inclined to take on somebody who has a good history in selling washing machines and walk away from it...

Yamaha MT10 to add to the `desirable current models` list..? Big powerful chunky beast with a crossplane crank so it sounds like an RC30, what`s not to like...?

Rick

Cannot agree more with the comments above, Honda stopped being engineering led years ago, and the dealership comments confirm it, unless the owner wants to invest a small fortune and turn it into a car dealership style setup, then they cut them, only 3 dealers left in Kent and one of them is the souless warehouse style setup. Thankfully the other 2 are still enthusiast owned and run, but for how long?

Simailar to Daves comments I have a daily commuter MY14 Blade, worst built of my last 5 Blades, already had several parts replaced due to corrosion and that was after 6 months from new, only the disastrous 2010 ABS was worse, no rust but a braking system that forgot when to stop.

I don't think its Honda specifically, most, if not all of the manufacturers are the same.

Combination of factors not good for bikers.

Japanese economny has been stagnent for years
world economy is going down the toilet
more people are growing up and starting with cars / wanting cars rather than bikes
complicated fuel injection / engine managment systems often require dealer equipment so less people messing with them.
insurance sucks
people incharge of finance have more say than engineers


if it were just Honda there would be a load of great stuff from other manufactureres.

if they didnt pump out the generic stuff to appeal to all-markets on a budget i bet they would bail out on the bike market all togheter.

with the economy the way it is less people are buying bikes too.

i wonder if modern manufacturing and design techniques have also put the clamp on some bikes.. much less "guestimate" prjoects being green-lighted and bailed out later as they run over-budget.

seems everyone wants something built to numbers and sale figures with as much profit as possible, but even if a load of new interesting bikes were made would they really sell in enough numbers to make a difference I wonder.

Whatever the factors I don't think we are likely to see another golden age of bikes again where the market was awash with dozens of models of everything in all shapes and sizes.

just the odd gem amongs the rubble.

I guess everyones just a bit frigghtned to rock the boat and try something crazy with the state of things.