New Indian Not Ready As Soon As Projected

December 7th, 2007

I subscribe to the MotorcycleUSA email newsletter and was just glancing at an issue from May of this year (2007). They had an article about the latest resurrection of the Indian marque, saying that you should “expect to see the Indian Chief rolling down a roadway near you late in the Fall of 2007.”

Well, I haven’t. So I decided to do a reality check and see what’s happening with Indian.

For starters, they have a pretty nice website:
http://www.indianmotorcycle.com/

But you can’t ride a website. What about the bikes?

The answer to the obvious question, “When will the new bike go on sale?”, is posted on their FAQ page, and here’s the answer.

As soon as they’re worthy to carry the Indian name and logo down the road and not a moment before. We expect the 2009 Chief to be introduced in time to be stuffed into some very, very large 2008 Christmas stockings, if not sooner.

The other obvious question is how the project is progressing. Here’s what they say:

Fabulous. We’re currently testing prototypes of the 2009 Chief, building our flagship dealership just outside Charlotte, North Carolina, franchising Indian dealers throughout the country and partnering with some of the most respected, creative leather and fashion designers in the world to create a premium line of official Indian riding gear and apparel.

So who knows. There has been so much money spent on trying to resurrect this brand. Will these guys succeed where so many others have failed? I don’t have a clue. But I’ll be curious to see, won’t you.

Oh, and by the way, if you want to become an Indian dealer this is your chance. Just go to the website to learn how. Opportunities like this don’t come along often. The only question is, is this a good opportunity or a bad one?

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Check Out the New Concours 14

November 30th, 2007

After 21 years Kawasaki has totally redesigned the Concours, a bike near and dear to me because I ride one. You’ve probably heard about it–it’s been in all the moto mags. All the reviews have been strongly positive, and the one thing absolutely everyone is saying is that this thing has serious power.

Now Rider magazine has published a shoot-out between four big sport tourers, the Connie, BMW K1200GT, Honda ST1300, and Yamaha FJR1300A. A side-by-side comparison strikes me as the best way to judge something like this. The bottom line is, they unanimously prefer the Honda, with the Connie coming in third. When I bought my Connie I was also interested in the ST but the price differential was too big to swallow. The ST is still more expensive than the new Connie but the difference is enough smaller that, doing it again today, I’d probably pay a little more for the ST.

Here are a few notes about the Concours 14:
Base price is about $13,000, compared to the $8,000 I paid for my 1999 in 1999.
Fuel capacity is 5.8 gallons, compared with the 7.5 gallons in my ’99.
Gas mileage is 36 mpg. I get about 45 mpg on the ’99.
Displacement is 1,352 cc vs. 996 cc on the ’99.

Plus it has all kinds of cool extras that the older models don’t have. So there is good and bad. One thing for sure, it still looks like a Concours. Here’s a shot of a ’99 model like mine and another of the Concours 14:

1999 Kawasaki Concours

2008 Concours 14

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Hot Dang! Concours Owners Group Coming to Colorado

November 23rd, 2007

Oh boy, I’m excited about this one. I own a Kawasaki Concours and I just learned that the Concours Owners Group is holding their annual rally here in Colorado. It’s going to be in Frisco the week of June 2-6. I may have to rejoin the organization.

I joined COG as soon as I bought my Connie in 1999 and went for a few rides but at that point I had other buddies to ride with so I didn’t renew my membership. Now the guy who seems to have been the linch-pin in our group has moved over to the western slope and while we still go for our summer trips, the rest of us don’t get together as much to ride. I had been thinking for awhile of rejoining COG in order to find some new riding buddies.

So anyway, this rally looks like something you really have to make a commitment to. Most rallies take place over the weekend but this one is Monday to Friday. That could be the one thing that stops me from going. I’m a contractor, working on an hourly basis, and when I’m not working I’m not making money. But to be in one place with a couple thousand other folks on Connies is pretty tempting. Plus, they may be offering demo rides on the new Concours 14, the first makeover for this bike in about 18 years. All the moto-mags are calling it one of the best touring bikes you’ll find.

Don’t know at this point what I’ll do but I’m pretty buzzed!

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Dang, I’ve Got Some Riding To Do

October 26th, 2007

Having goals is a good thing to do to ensure that you actually achieve what you set out to achieve. I’ve read various articles about how people who graduated college with goals set for themselves are found, 10 years later, to have achieved much more than grads who did not have goals. The idea is to check back in and see how you’re progressing toward your goals, and then presumably focus more on doing what it will take to get there.

I set a goal for myself here back in January for the number of miles I want to ride this year. Checking in just now I see that I’m not doing bad but I have a ways to go. The good thing is that I wanted to ride my Kawasaki Concours at least 2,500 miles this year and, in fact, I have already ridden it 2,808 miles. I also wanted to limit my car driving to no more than 12,000, and it looks like I’m close to that, hitting just under 11,000 miles so far. I’ll probably go over that a little, especially if we spend Christmas at my brother’s place in Carlsbad, which means driving my car there.

Where I’m really lacking is on my Honda CB750 Custom. I wanted to ride it 2,000 miles this year but so far I’ve only put 350 miles on it. Ouch! I would have to ride it to work pretty nearly every remaining work day this year to reach that number. I don’t think the weather will allow me to do that. But OK, that’s the point of setting goals and checking in periodically. I know now what I have to do. I may not get there but I know the Honda will get the call a lot more than the Kawi in the next couple months. And I guess I’ll ride to work more often. It’s a dirty job but . . .

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The Black Hills Are Not Just For The Rally

September 29th, 2007

For any of you who have been to the Sturgis rally, or have dreamed of going, I’m going to let you in on a secret: The riding in the Black Hills is fabulous, and it’s a lot better without the rally. Sure, everyone ought to go to the rally at least once. It’s an incredible experience and you’ll never see so many motorcycles concentrated in one area anywhere else. But if you’ve gone, and you’ve taken some rides through the Black Hills, you know that it’s a constant stream of bikes in both directions wherever you go. That’s pretty mind-blowing, sort of like a Jew going to Israel and being in the majority for the first time in their life, but do you really like riding in all that traffic?

It’s September 29 and we just got back from the Black Hills. The difference couldn’t be greater. It’s now the off season, so all accommodations are marked down from their high-season norms. We won’t even mention the prices during the rally. It’s now off season, so the roads are practically deserted. It’s just the locals, a few tourists, and actually a good number of bikes. It seems there are a least some bikers who have figured this out. You get to cruise on nearly empty highways, through gorgeous fall foliage, in weather that can only be described as glorious.

We’ll definitely be going back. You should go, too. The fall colors were just past their peak so probably the very best time would be early to mid September. This was one of the best vacations I’ve ever had.

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Sen. Gordon Not Planning Adult Helmet Bill

August 7th, 2007

I mentioned before that I emailed Sen. Ken Gordon to ask about a news report where an ABATE rep said they expect to see a new helmet bill next legislative session. Now I have the response. Ken Gordon said:

The answer is no. I am not planning to do that and I have talked to the people that were involved with this year’s bill and they aren’t either. The rumor is probably the paranoid rumination of someone who imagines something that they don’t like and then assumes that it will happen.

That’s good. Thanks Ken for not getting carried away.

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