TOPIC:

Well, more or less stock.

I found this a fascinating treatise on the limits of motorcycle power and modern technology. It puts a lot in perspective.

www.revzilla.com/common-tread/2020-ducat...ead%20%7C%20Combined

Yes it is a very interesting video, and I am speaking from personal experience here back in 2002 I was out riding my 01 Busa with some buddies and one of them was on his Ducati Limited edition Ben Bostrom (I think 996) and he complained that I passed him so fast on the highway that he thought he had actually stopped and almost put his feet out to stop from falling over he asked what I had paid for my bike (Suzuki had a promotion on when I bought my bike of a free Cannon Sure shot 100 Digital camera) So my running joke was to tell people that I bought a camera for 17g and they threw in a free bike ( some guys at coffee shops seemed to believe that) anyway Ducati George then when on to say that he had paid 31g for his bike and wasn't impressed.

Fortnine just dropped another video in the same vein, comparing the CB360T with a modern CB300R, and whether or not either was worth what their cost was new. Fascinating video (and very well edited).

I think you could make an argument that neither is the optimum balance of cost, performance, and complexity. Complexity per-se is always bad. It means the average person can no longer do service themselves, or afford to have somebody do it for them. It means there are more things to go wrong, and when a crutch like ABS goes bad, he results could be deadly, and if you depend on such crutches, you no longer develop the skills that any motorcyclist should have.

I think that an excellent case could be made that the optimum mix of cost and complexity, and even most kinds of performance, was reached by 2000, or even earlier. As far as emission controls go, I think the cost/benefit ratio was may out of whack by the time they required bikes to have catalytic converters. There are not enough bikes on the road, and most riders don't put on anywhere near the number of miles per year that cars do, so the added cost and complexity is not justifiable.

I think fuel injection is great, especially when it becomes a commodity feature. A law requiring vehicle manufacturers to disclose complete specs and programming for their engine computers would go a long way toward commodification, where price goes WAY down, and the vehicles are still relatively easy to service. My 31-year-old 5.0 Mustang already had a computer with a Mass Air Flow sensor, and a learning computer that automatically tunes itself to allow modifications.

So what's the best year?

Easy to spot that Cypress Bowl road and parking lot.

Ha! I should have known that somebody from the North would respond. Thanks!