New VFR possible by 2023: A long wait

[TimC]

15 hours ago, Calculon said:

As an owner now driving my second electric car I can in fact saying that I’m never going back to gasoline powered car.  Having said that I love gasoline powered motorcycles and the VFR in particular. Since there is a lot of wishing going on in this thread and if I could get my way I would love to have a V4 powered Honda in a touring roadster like the BMW R1200R. I would be happy with the current power plant too but certainly wouldn’t mind an updated design. 

 

The fact that Ducati is putting its V4 into more motorcycles proves it can be done.  I wish more companies would follow Ducati's lead.

 

As for BMW's boxer roadster, my R nineT Pure has the older air/oil-cooled version of the R1200R engine, and it's terrific.  In a bike which would replace my VFR, I had to have an engine with character, and this one does.  My boxer has a little more horsepower, definitely more torque, and more vibrations, but overall I really have to say this engine doesn't perform that much differently from my old 6th gen VFR.  I dig it.  (BTW, the newer liquid-cooled boxers have about 20 more hp and are smoother.)  That being said, I'd gladly have a modern sport-tourer with a 1000+ cc V4, as long as it was very reliable.

[Skids]

6 hours ago, sigint said:

 

Man, isn't that sad...  I'm going to miss the sound a VFR makes going through the gears.  Hopefully it will still be legal for us to ride in 2030, and we're not limited by mileage.

Used petrol-driven bikes and cars will be available for years to come, they can't outlaw them or most of us wouldn't have a car or bike, but petrol is going to get more expensive and at some point you guys in the US are going to have to pay market rates for your gas like the rest of us have to. At that point they will become a bit of a luxury.

 

We owned (leased) an electric car for 3 years  and it was brilliant and I can see that once they have the range and sufficient charging points publicly available then I would have no issues in getting another one.

 

And I can't wait to test ride an electric bike either so at least I can decide for myself whether they're good or not.

[TimC]

10 hours ago, Skids said:

And I can't wait to test ride an electric bike either so at least I can decide for myself whether they're good or not.

The challenge with electric bikes is range.  Tough to do 300+ mile days and tours on a bike with limited range and which must be recharged nightly (during a tour, not daily riding).  I can see folks having an electric bike for daily riding, commuting and quick blasts, and keeping a traditional gas-powered bike for long days and trips.

[Skids]

45 minutes ago, TimC said:

The challenge with electric bikes is range.  Tough to do 300+ mile days and tours on a bike with limited range and which must be recharged nightly (during a tour, not daily riding).  I can see folks having an electric bike for daily riding, commuting and quick blasts, and keeping a traditional gas-powered bike for long days and trips.

I know where yr coming from, but with rapid chargers able to recharge cars in 20 mins, the smaller capacity of bikes would take minutes. I don't know what the current range of electric bikes is but it is only going to improve. There will be an issue when touring on bikes....routine stops at charging points will become a driving factor but maybe no more so than routine stops for petrol???

 

And the trade off is clean air and 100% torque from the get go. We had a Nissan Leaf and the acceleration for such a heavy car was really surprising so on a bike, it could be really fun. Let's face it, currently most of use the torque more than the power!

[Dutchy]

Back in 2018 I rode a Zero a couple of times. I started as a self-employed consultant which means I can reclaim VAT, claim investment and "do green stuff" tax breaks and book depreciation against revenue. Which would mean a nett cost to me of say 40% of total purchase price.

 

 

 

 

Decided against one as the range (doing motorway miles) would ne 100 miles at best (I like riding at speed...)

Own compamy didnot take off so good thing I didnot buy one, as you must keep it on your books for 5 years....

 

[Cogswell]

19 hours ago, sigint said:

 

Man, isn't that sad...  I'm going to miss the sound a VFR makes going through the gears.  Hopefully it will still be legal for us to ride in 2030, and we're not limited by mileage.

 

As I mentioned previously, get out and ride it as much as you can while can because it won't be long and you won't.  The future has no soul, no character, only government mandates. 

[TimC]

6 hours ago, Skids said:

I know where yr coming from, but with rapid chargers able to recharge cars in 20 mins, the smaller capacity of bikes would take minutes. I don't know what the current range of electric bikes is but it is only going to improve. There will be an issue when touring on bikes....routine stops at charging points will become a driving factor but maybe no more so than routine stops for petrol???

 

I did a quick internet search before I posted earlier, and the best range right now seems to be around 230 miles.  So much of a range seems to be dependent upon a few factors though - speed, weight (packed vs. empty), accessory usage, etc. - so I'm guessing that's under ideal conditions and conservative riding.  Regardless, I agree with you about an electric bike taking a fraction of the time to recharge vs. an electric car.  But finding a charging station could be a challenge.  If they used Tesla's connectors, that's a good start.  But if it's proprietary, it could be a real problem.

 

Speaking of range, the tank range on my new bike is not great.  It's a 4.5-gallon tank, and the low fuel reserve light (there is no gas gauge) usually starts blinking around 120 miles, telling me I have less than a gallon left.  It's a far cry from my old VFR's tank range.  There is no centerstand, so I can't prop the bike up to really fill the tank.  I don't usually want to ride more than 60-90 minutes at a time anyway, but that low a tank range is still a pain in my opinion.

[Calculon]

22 hours ago, TimC said:

 

Regardless, I agree with you about an electric bike taking a fraction of the time to recharge vs. an electric car.  But finding a charging station could be a challenge.  If they used Tesla's connectors, that's a good start.  But if it's proprietary, it could be a real problem.

Not sure about that. I was just over at Zero’s site and they state it takes eighty minutes to charge to 95% and you can travel at 55mph for about 100 miles. My Electric car (Kona Electric) will charge to eighty percent in about 50 minutes on a level 3 charger and will do about 230 miles at 55mph. A Tesla Model 3 on a supercharger should get to eighty percent battery in under 30 minutes.  What I couldn’t figure out from the Zero is if it’s limited to a level 2 charger or EVSE. 
 

if anyone is curious EV manufacturers rarely report charge time to 100% as the software that manages the “fill up” slows the charge down as it reaches maximum capacity so they will not damage the battery.