A fairly large motorcycle show is in progress at the Cleveland IX Center.  I went there yesterday afternoon when it first opened and enjoyed meeting lots of senior riders, many older than me and looking for new motorcycles.  I’ve been thinking of replacing my Guzzi with a newer bike that has ABS brakes and traction control so I wanted to see some of the new "middle weight" bikes with ABS etc.

Among the bikes I wanted to see were the new Royal Enfields, the 650 twins and that 400cc adventure touring bike.  The good news is they expect to sell the twins this summer at a price just under $6500.  The new twin engine looked good with nicely polished cases but I was disappointed in some of the chassis details like the chain guard and fenders which were plastic. I know, no big deal but somehow it didn’t seem right and it wasn’t the greatest looking plastic.  The rear shocks looked way too light for a 650 but since these were pre-production show bikes maybe the production ones will be better.

The new Yamaha FX-07 that is retro styled to resemble the old XS 650 is light weight but too tall for me with a seat height of 32 ½ inches.  I watched an older guy trying out the the seating on the new Versys 300 and he almost dropped it trying to get on.  There were lots of old guys in that crowd and one of the salesman said they love seeing the old guys there because they are the buyers.  Unfortunately the manufacturers don’t make many bikes for us.  Most seem too tall, too heavy or require a cramped up riding position.  Maybe it's not the bikes but our old worn out bodies that's the problem.  Anyway it was a fairly good show.

With the utmost respect to Ruttly, the stock Savage/LS650/S40, should work ok for most 50 to 80 year old riders. If you want to modify the seat height, do so. If you want longer rear shocks for comfort. you will raise the seat height and your stumpy legs may find it harder to swing over the seat. I recently watched a 90 year old rider mounting some Matchless/Norton/AJS thingy, he mounted ok, but had to have someone push it off the centre stand, once someone had kicked it over and got it running.

the only bike at the Vancouver show, not a cruiser, that didn't hurt my knees was a guzzi v7, and wonder of wonders, only 400 lbs!

The sharpest looking bike at that show was the new Kawaski Z900RS with the red and black paint scheme, beautiful bike.  Seat height is 31.5 and it weighs about 470 lbs.  If I were younger I would want one of those in a bad way.

engineer wrote on 01/28/18 at 09:53:26:


I can see wanting ABS. Possibly replace the Guzzi with another Guzzi like the V7 III which has the ABS and probably a better peg/handlebar setup than the Nevada. The V7 is just a little bit more heavy (20-30lbs) than the Savage and with an extra 20HP.
You could change your pads on the Nevada to a different material to make it so more force is required to lock them. Most riders are looking to make their brakes more sensitive not less.