MotorCycling Achievement in Design: Touring
Don Williams
02/01/2007
Photograph by Kevin Wing
The 1965 Harley-Davidson Electra Glide virtually invented the touring bike
concept. Over 40 years later, H-D is still breathing new life into the touring
cruiser theory. The Screamin’ Eagle Ultra Classic Electra Glide, from
Harley-Davidson’s famed Custom Vehicle Operations, combines the bling of custom
paint and leather with the muscle of the new Twin Cam 110 powerplant and
matching 6-speed transmission. This grouping of design cues sets a new standard
for V-twin touring.
Harley-Davidson CVO Electra Glide. Photograph by Kevin Wing.
A technical tour de force since its inception, the latest
Honda
Gold Wing includes a safety device we typically associate with
automobiles—an air bag. Positioned in front of the rider, it
is
triggered by an
ECU that analyzes signals from four
fork-mounted crash
sensors. When an impact
to the front of the
motorcycle is detected, the
bag inflates almost
instantaneously. We salute this potentially
life-saving
advance in safety
design.
Honda Gold Wing
Be it a pure sport bike or a one-off custom chopper, motorcycles have
one thing tying them together—a clutch lever and a gear shifter. The
Yamaha
FJR1300AE sport tourer is attempting to break that bond.
Replacing those
manually operated items on the AE is an electronic gear
selector operated with
your left thumb or left foot, and an automatic
clutch that works in concert
with this novel design. Those comfortable
with the traditional manual
clutch/shifting may shrug at this
development, but it is a feature that may gain
favor with riders who
would like some assistance in the shifting endeavor.
Dunlop Motorcycle Tires will offer a series of high-quality, collector’s edition Legends posters, with the net proceeds benefiting injured riders through the Clayton Memorial Foundation. ::MORE::
