Design the ST.N sport tourer!

[baldheadeddork]

Just curious, why the preference for air cooled?  Having an ST3 it often hits over 102DegC in traffic if I go through a city.  At those moments I'm glad that it's water cooled with a fan in front of the radiator.

Lots of really good things I like about it, just a few that I'd change.

Mostly for simplicity and appearance. I've always been a big fan of the bikini fairings and they look really good with a trellis frame and an air cooled 90 degree Vee below. I'm becoming more of a minimalist as I get older, so I'd take a 90hp air cooled bike that weighed on the very low side of 400 pounds dry over a 150hp bike pulling around close to 600 lbs. This is why I've become such a huge fan of belt drives, too. (Any help getting "Simplify and add lightness" onto a license plate?)

About cooling: You do have to be a little more concerned with rear cylinder temperature on an air cooled vee, but its easy to avoid problems if you make the rear cylinder run just a little richer.

The advantage of liquid cooling has a lot more to do with the temperatures inside the engine than the cooling air outside. Liquid cooling has the potential for a huge performance increase because you can greatly reduce the temperature at critical points inside the combustion chamber. Eliminate those detonation sources and you can bump compression a full point or more and design the head with narrower bridges between the valves, which can improve flow efficiency.

Liquid cooling wicks heat away from the combustion chamber better than air, but in the scenario you describe there isn't much of an advantage to liquid cooling. At low speeds you're pumping coolant through your engine that is at least 80% hotter than the atmospheric air moving over the cooling fins.

Both an air cooled bike and a liquid cooled bike will be fine even in a place like Phoenix in July (speaking from experience) as long as you don't do something stupid like repeatedly racing the engine while you're only moving at three mph. Do that and you can overload the cooling ability of any engine, liquid or air.

[highside]

This thread demonstrates why there will never be a perfect sport touring motorcycle. What the people want is perfectly unreasonable, maybe impossible. They want a bike that is loaded with contradictory options, zero maintinence, high performance, low weight, and sold at a loss.

[Silver Penguin]

I'm sure there would be a market for an adjustable seat height that goes DOWN as well as upwards.  Many women, and shorter men are steered towards cruisers for this very reason.  

[dart1202]

The poll to start all trolls??  Twofinger

That was fun ...

[UFO]

This needs another bump.  I know there are a bunch who haven't taken the poll.

[ZED]

It's a good poll.  It definitely takes some time and thought.  Having had more time on the Ducati to compare with the I4 Z, I think I'll have to go back and change my answers.  

[number9]

This is a great poll - I just hope some industry insiders are READING IT  

I don't want a bike over #500 WET, ABS, VVT, V-TECH, linked brakes, fancy gizmo's that add to the weight & cost of the bike. Give me a light weight bike with simple valve train, long adjustments, plenty power, sportbike class suspension and brakes with removable hard luggage and long distance between the fuel stops.

I love my ST1100 for a long-distance sport-tourer - if you are covering several states for several days either on the slab or in the twisties you just can't beat it. However, the wooden brakes, soft suspension and excessive mass wear you down over time and don't lend to local sport-touring or get out and ride a few hours type of riding.

I love my FZ1 for it's light weight (compared to the ST), plenty power, fully adjustable suspension and great brakes. If there was only some way of combining the two bikes into one............

[bomber]

hadn't looked at this poll in a long far -- I hope industry insiders are NOT looking at it -- sheesh, they'd look at the results, throw up their hands and say, "no WAY we can sell more than 20 of anything to these people!"

interesting, the lack of variation in the percentages of the answers -- high of 2.2%, low of 0.2%

;-}

[cultureslayer]

hadn't looked at this poll in a long far -- I hope industry insiders are NOT looking at it -- sheesh, they'd look at the results, throw up their hands and say, "no WAY we can sell more than 20 of anything to these people!"

interesting, the lack of variation in the percentages of the answers -- high of 2.2%, low of 0.2%

;-}

You have to look at the answers for a specific option.  220 people want FI, 10 want carbs!

[Headmanbrewing]

I picked that I want carbs, just because I can actually work on and repair them.  FI, take it to the dealer so they can replace some major component.  Yes, FI is more efficient and doesn't require fiddling with to make them work right, but that's my reasoning.

[cultureslayer]

I picked that I want carbs, just because I can actually work on and repair them.  FI, take it to the dealer so they can replace some major component.  Yes, FI is more efficient and doesn't require fiddling with to make them work right, but that's my reasoning.

It's nice to be able to rejet instead of getting a PC and having it programmed, but at the same time I think that starting on the first try no matter how freaking cold it is can be really nice and worth it.

[veefer800canuck]

I see that the "ideal" ST.n bike ia a V-4 with a SSSA, 1000cc's.


The new VFR?????    











REALITY CHECK WARNING BELOW:
( this is me, not holding my breath -->   )

[Busy Little Whiner]

I see that the "ideal" ST.n bike ia a V-4 with a SSSA, 1000cc's.

Wow... V4s... didn't see that coming...

[chiltech500]

I want Goldwing-like chest and head protection for highway and air conditioning for hot humid days  

[nomagnashn]

Looks like most of my choices were the most popular.  

Very cool poll!

[ghostrider]

Please include a comfortable saddle, lower c.g., and lower ride height (those of us that are inseam challenged have a very hard time with top heavy, tall bikes), I have a current C-14 and love it except for the aforementioned problems.  I ride twisties and the super slab as well, and I go far too fast, so I could use a built in Radar Jammer!

[mlinkibikr]

Great idea Skipper - I think I designed a VFR 1200, with lots of ergo adjustability, fuel range, and relatively simple mechanics.

I'll take mine in Black by the way. And can I have a few "farkle" tie in points pre engineered in the wiring harness for my radar, nav, and music system?

Dave.

[Nodaclu]

Like a few others, I basically designed a Honda Deauville.  

If I'm a marketing guy though, I'm thinking that to sell it in the States, it would have to be re-badged as an ST700, always parked next to ST1300's, and marketed heavily to women.

I'm not saying its right, or even fair, but that's probably the only shot it would have of selling here....sadly.

The BMW F800ST also comes pretty close for me. I just hate overpaying for a badge/logo, and that thing seems to be having some serious teething problems for the money they're asking.

Not being an Aprilia guy, I only recently discovered the 850 Mana. Also not perfect with its chain drive and lack of fairing, but at least its in the ballpark.

[Fast Blue]

I would be all giddy if I could put a ZZR 1200 motor in a BMW- R bike

[zedoc]

You listed a lot of catagories. It's a little difficult to interpret the results.


You missed color. One of the reasdons that the Connie-14 is unacceptable to me is because of the bland, non-sporting Neutron Silver color that it is limited to.