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Message started by Dave on 12/08/13 at 03:04:48

Title: History of the Motorcycle.....long video
Post by Dave on 12/08/13 at 03:04:48

Last night I found a Modern Marvels episode about the history of the motorcyle. It lasts 1.5 hours and is worthwhile....I learned a lot of things:

1) My computer chair is not all that comfortable.
2) I don't have $ 185,000 to buy a Sport Bike with a jet engine.
3) The Harley's and Indian's of the 40's look really comfortable, and resemble Serowbot's handlebar and seat arrangement.
4) I learned why the bike makers prospered, some died....and some came back.
5) The Honda Cub and Supercub have the record for the most bike sales of any motorycle in history.

I didn't watch the whole thing in one sitting......but it is a worthwhile show that does a good job of exlaining a lot of things. It should have had some more on sport bikes and road racing, hill climbing, trials, speedway, enduros - but then I guess it would have been a 4 hour show!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OXXxCagm-yc

Title: Re: History of the Motorcycle.....long video
Post by Serowbot on 12/08/13 at 08:55:13

My evening is planned... Pass the popcorn... :)...

Title: Re: History of the Motorcycle.....long video
Post by Steve H on 12/08/13 at 10:15:08

Pretty good. A little more overview than details. I was sort of expecting it to be a little more in depth but that would have made it longer.

Title: Re: History of the Motorcycle.....long video
Post by Paladin. on 12/08/13 at 11:31:23

I lost it at "Boy's Toys." Quick peeks to fast forward and I see it is about racing and toys. Back around 1915 15-20% of all motor vehicles were motorcycles. By 1925 motorcycles dropped to less than 1% of motor vehicles. In early '60's Honda started building/selling toy motorcycles, the number of motorcycles increased to about 5% of all motor vehicles. Late '80's they started pushing sport bikes and the deaths jumped.

But that "history" is about the toys, not that small minority the used motorcycles for mere cheap transportation.

Title: Re: History of the Motorcycle.....long video
Post by old_rider on 12/08/13 at 11:39:35

LOL, made the wife mad >:( >:( >:(.... I couldn't stop watching it... ::) ::) :P

Title: Re: History of the Motorcycle.....long video
Post by Dave on 12/08/13 at 15:57:24

2B2820362D202136440 wrote:

LOL, made the wife mad >:( >:( >:(.... I couldn't stop watching it... ::) ::) :P

I didn't post this to cause problems with the wife! I watched the first hour of it after she went to bed last night.....and the rest this morning before she got up.

Title: Re: History of the Motorcycle.....long video
Post by pgambr on 12/08/13 at 17:58:37

Some good stuff, thanks for posting. ;)

Title: Re: History of the Motorcycle.....long video
Post by jcstokes on 12/08/13 at 23:37:44

Not sure whether I quite agree with some of Paladins comments about "the small minority who use motorcycles as cheap transportation". The motorcycle provided this for many years in many countries throughout the world, and continues to do so. For example, in England for much of the first half of the twentieth century car registration was based on one English pound for every RAC/NACC rated horsepower, a very significant sum in those days. Motorcycles were exempt from this taxation, as far as I'm aware and therefore were the only way many Englishmen could motorise. This also accounted for the popularity of the side car in England. In New Zealand from 1945 to 1984 new cars were expensive and prior to 1980 difficult to buy. Motorcycles weren't and I brought my first one for those reasons. After 1984 the government changed the rules and allowed the import of second hand cars from Japan. The steering wheel was on the right side, motorcycle sales collapsed and remained collapsed until about the mid 'nineties when baby boomers began buying them as toys.
Asia and many developing countries have significant populations that simply can't afford cars, but can afford anything from 50cc Honda step throughs to about 250cc bikes. These people are buying transport not toys and you only have to look at some of the posts on this forum to confirm this. India apparently uses motorcycle registrations as a measure of it's prosperity.

Title: Re: History of the Motorcycle.....long video
Post by ZAR on 12/10/13 at 17:59:02

A very well thought out and presented post JC. I have to agree that the USA is a totally different animal when the subject of motorcycle ownership is discussed. A very very small few of the US population depends on bikes for their main mode of transportation.

Of course much of that is due to the sheer size of our country and the insane distance many of us travel to work. I myself travel about 40 miles one way to my job and in weather like we have right now ,15-20*F in the mornings and 5-6" of snow on the ground, I sure don't want to ride 40 miles to work in the dark! Many of my neighbors travel twice that distance! I would guess people in the rest of the world may travel less than 5 miles to work.