The Victory has promise, their own engine and a parent company with a proven track record.
Kawasaki's Drifter is still the best "Indian" ever made. Hendee would have liked it. bean counters and greed killed the Springfield Indian after Hendee died.
Besides in magazines, I have never seen a EH, haven't seen a dealership either..not unusual in Hawaii I guess, but I used to spend one month a year riding around on the mainland..and never saw one.
I am not a cruiser guy, so I don't mourn the loss of EH or Indian as much as I do Norton or Vincent.
James Franklin
2411 Pine Summit DR. E
Jacksonville, Florida 32211
808-225-0994 (cell)
From: john gary simpson <eustisgary@...>
Reply-To: W650riders@...
To: W650riders@...
Subject: RE: [W650riders] Re: 95, 295, 495 Highways, all.... nwc
Date: Sun, 15 Jul 2007 17:59:52 -0700 (PDT)
Unfortunately the state taxpayers spent the money on the building. The Hanlons did a LOT of promoting, and signed up many dealerships, but they stayed with their plan to have an in-house engine instead of using a Harley=clone engine. That delayed the product by nearly three years. When they finally put it into production, it was basically untested and unrefined, Every buyer was a beta tester! The good part is that fixes for the problems have been developed by the X community and the community support structure is fantastic. After bottoming out, used X prices are heading back up. Onceset up properly (about $2000), the X is one heck of a cruising motorcycle. Mine beat all comers at Phil Peterson's Miami Harley Davidson Anniversary Dyno Shootout, including the lone Hayabusa that came to embarass the American motorcycles.
CMC/Indian imrpoved dramatically, but never got past being just another Harley clone with skirted fenders. It simply wasn't an Indian.
But had Excelsior hit the market three years sooner with a 1200 Sporty motor, there may have been enough sales to build a following and a war chest by the time they finished developing that magnificent little engine that they had designed by those Engish racing guys!
James Franklin <jimw650@...> wrote:
But now that we have brought EH into it, never read a test where the
journalists liked it, and what I did read about the company is, they spent
way too much on an extravagant office building and perks for the brothers
who started it, and should have spent more money on promotion and
establishing dealerships.
For the CMC Indian, for their last two years, they had a new CEO and build
quality was way up..but they burned a lot of bridges with their initial
bikes, mostly CDI and other component problems..but the bike was more of an
assembled than a manufactured bike.
James Franklin
2411 Pine Summit DR. E
Jacksonville, Florida 32211
808-225-0994 (cell)
From: "James Franklin" <jimw650@...>
Reply-To: W650riders@...
To: W650riders@...
Subject: RE: [W650riders] Re: 95, 295, 495 Highways, all.... nwc
Date: Sun, 15 Jul 2007 14:31:23 -1000
Actually, that quote attributed to me, was not from me, don't know where it
came from, but was probably a reply to what I had written earlier about the
CMC
James Franklin
2411 Pine Summit DR. E
Jacksonville, Florida 32211
808-225-0994 (cell)
From: "john gary simpson" <eustisgary@...>
Reply-To: W650riders@...
To: W650riders@...
Subject: [W650riders] Re: 95, 295, 495 Highways, all.... nwc
Date: Sun, 15 Jul 2007 21:42:43 -0000
Excelsior-Henderson bit the dust when the dotcoms took off. They
needed money to ramp up production, and most of their investors
pulled out and started putting their money in dotcoms instead. Too
bad. My 11 second EH was one of the most satisfying bikes I ever
owned!--- In W650riders@..., "James Franklin"
<jimw650@...> wrote:
The Excelsior/Henderson people screwed that up even though they
had huge
backing money. Indian (California Motorcycle Company version, not
the
Springfield company original) sold really poor quality motorcycles
in the
beginning, some of it was bad suppliers...the bike was a
composite, and some
of it of course, was trying to build too many, too soon. In their
last
couple of years the product was better quality, but the bike had a
limited
market, and those really interested probably bought the original
bikes and
got burned.
James Franklin
P.O. Box 289
Waimanalo, HI 96795-0289
USA
808-225-0994 (cell)
----Original Message Follows----
From: "kevin_cooklin" <kcooklin@...>
Reply-To: W650riders@...
To: W650riders@...
Subject: [W650riders] Re: 95, 295, 495 Highways, all.... nwc
Date: Fri, 15 Sep 2006 02:00:38 -0000
Hey, Den--
If I remember our goodly Gene had a GB? They are not cheap
anymore.
Distant memories
tell me my own papa (I'm not Italian but am using this for
literary effect
only) bought one,
then lost it in a poker game. The dog. He could have waited for
me to take
it for a spin.
But it's a gorgeous bike. To. Be. Sure.
Ninja. I probably just need to hop on one sometime and go crazy.
In all
honesty, I've had
this anti-crotch-rocket mentality all my life, and I don't know
why.
There's no reason for
it. I graduated from high school in 1980. There's absolutely no
sense to
it. So I need to
overcome the prejudice and give it a go. Come on out and let me
take yours
for a spin. I
still would sell off my house for a 750 Norton Roadster, though.
It be in
the blood.
Don't completely rule out the new Norton, although all bets are
most likely
on failure.
Huge undertaking, and underfunding is always the killer. [The
attempt to
bring back the
Indian is an architypal model on the subject, and they had BIG
funding].
Still, I like a guy
or gal who is so passionate about what he does that he/she f____s
up the
funding, doesn't
get it right, and yet..... had to do it. Artists, creative folk,
so rarely
get the accounting, but
they get everything else. Let's hope he gets through it.
Did you sell the W because you were tired of it or because you
wanted to
gain a couple of
other cool bikes?
kev
--- In W650riders@..., "Dennis J. Guggemos"
<djguggms@>
wrote:
Kev
The GB is buckets of fun, and a sure conversation starter just
like the
W. The Ninja isn't
a 114hp 600 four, just a lowly 65 hp twin. Tops out around 130 I
hear but
I'll never find
out for myself. It does get to the ton in a hurry though. It has a
pretty
fair power band,
kind of like a super W, useable low end, comes on the cam about 6k
and pulls
like a m-f-
r. Red line at 11k but max power at around 8800. They cheaped out
on the
suspension,
the only adjustment is rear spring preload. The forks are just
beefier W
forks. However
that frame is super stiff, the racers love it.
Sold the W to a guy that walked into the local dealer where I
had left
word. Seems like a
nice kid, said that's they way he would have wanted to fix it up
so I saved
him a lot of
trouble. He does a lot of 2-up with his gf and they like it.
They're not
really near here so
not likely I'll see it again.
I read a bike tabloid a month or so ago that told of the demise
of the
Norton. I suppose
if they can find another bunch of money it could still be a go. I
don't
trust everything I read
on their website now as the $ meltdown happened months ago but the
website
didn't say
anything about it.
Dennis
----- Original Message -----
From: kevin_cooklin
To: W650riders@...
Sent: Thursday, September 14, 2006 5:29 AM
Subject: [W650riders] Re: 95, 295, 495 Highways, all....
Dennis--
Wow, two other bikes.... and sold your W. Hey, the GB500 has
to be a
blast, as does the
Ninja. I'm pretty sure I'd kill myself with a Ninja. Of
course, now
that you've sold the W,
you must resign your office! Kidding, of course. Did you sell
the W to
a pal, or on Ebay,
or.... just curious.
Did the new Norton just call it quits recently? I was
checking them as
recently as a
month
ago; at that time they indicated they'd quit their factory
and were in
search for another.
They were also seeking more money, of course. But they had
not formally
thrown in
the
towel. What a shame. But heck, that new Ducati Sport Classic,
the GT,
sure looks nice.
Haven't seen one for real yet.
Yes, need to get out there more on the bike. It's already
feeling like
fall here in PA.
Best,
kev
Recent Activity
a.. 16New Members
b.. 1New Files
Visit Your Group
SPONSORED LINKS
a.. Kawasaki motorcycles
b.. Kawasaki vulcan
c.. Kawasaki motorcycle accessory
d.. Kawasaki motorcycle exhaust
e.. Kawasaki motorcycle part
Yahoo! News
Space News
Get the latest
space related news
Y! Toolbar
Get it Free!
easy 1-click access
to your groups.
Yahoo! Groups
Start a group
in 3 easy steps.
Connect with others.
.
__________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________
---------------------------------
Shape Yahoo! in your own image. Join our Network Research Panel today!
_________________________________________________________________
Need a brain boost? Recharge with a stimulating game. Play now!
