motowebmaster

I saw this in Motorcylist Magazine. Here's the link to the site:

< ECOSSE | Moto works > - Links

The Prophet

Undoubtably a beautiful bike.... but...

At USD $220,685.00, an absolute gem to look at, but are you gonna take this down to the local Taco Bell for lunch with the Mrs.?

O.K., so I'm old.. cynical... maybe bitter.. perhaps jealous (not) but I have very little praise or pride for someone who gathers together the most expensive shopping list of parts and components imaginable, then assembles them into an absolutely unaffordable, impractical vehicle, be it a bike, a car, a truck, a boat or a plane.

This is the antithesis of Good Engineering and Design. Producing a product that has technical excellence, beauty, and high performance is one thing, developing it into something that is commercially viable, pragmatic and reliable is a whole different, much, much more challenging ballgame. This defines the difference between Engineering excellence, and "other".

Admit it, any of us could do the same as this, just hand us a blank check and walk away.

As an object of unattainable desire, I guess so. My chances of purchasing and owning this bike are about the same as getting a date with (insert hot hollywood starlet name here).

By the way, is it just me... or are a lot of these "custom" bikes starting to look exactly the same? Doesn't this one look almost exactly like the Norton 361SE? Could this be the new cookie cutter "chopper" era?

Now for something completely different...

Ride Safe!

Bob

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• A good traveler has no fixed plans, and is not intent on arriving. ~Lao Tzu
• Motorcyles are not my whole life, but they make my life whole. ` me

motowebmaster

I'll admit that it isn't realistic for me, but is it that different to see a cool custom sportscar being driven around?

If someone has the money to spend on such a bike, I say they should be comfortable riding it just as much as anyone else would ride their own machine. Sure, the financial risks are greater, but if you're gonna buy it and accept the responsibility, why not thrash it around like any other machine

The Prophet

I'll consider what you said next time I see an "Ecosse" cruise by...

Seriously; I think this kind of conspicuous overload is maybe acceptable and common in say Hollywood, but in the conservative Midwest for example, we would instinctively think "Show-off" or "What a Jerk", as opposed to any spec of admiration whatsoever.

Fact is, you rarely see any "luxury" style cars (example >$100,000 purchase price) around Chicago for example. I'm 57, and I've maybe seen one Ferrari, one Aston Martin, and one Rolls Royce 'round here in my entire life. We don't think highly of flash, or show-offs. Fact is; in Chicago, if a person is truly wealthy or powerful, folks will figure that out without an individual having to force-feed the issue.

"In your -face" consumption just isn't very impressive here in the "City of big shoulders", work ethic, conservative style environment.

Maybe in L.A., or New York maybe?

In the end, I'd rather see someone with more money than they need buy say a $30,000 bike, and spend the remaining $190,000 on a charitable cause, in todays world perhaps helping the homeless, or cancer treatment development.


Bob

Speedtrip

I love exotic cars and bikes though I will probably never own one I do like to look at them. Isn't that why we go to car and bike shows? As far as the people who own them I try not to make any judgments based on someones vehicle.

The Prophet

Speed,

I sincerely respect your perspective on this, and realise that we all are entitled to personal viewpoints and opinions, but...

Isn't vehicle customisation all about making a personal statement or expression? Builders speak of putting their "Heart and Soul" into a project.

Don't Auto / Bike / truck/airplane manufacturers spend millions and millions on "Image" making?

When someone makes a vehicle choice, what decisions are considered when choosing between say a Toyota Corolla, and a Lexus 750? Both seat 4 comfortably, and are capable of traveling from A to B?

Why does Harley Davidson make such a big effort to support the "Lifestyle" brand image? Why all the HD accessories? To personalize? Make a personal statement? Define the rider / owner? Why do folks get tattoos?

In Custom Bike Shows, the trophy's are awarded based upon Judges, who are viewing the various "statements" and "metal sculptures" submitted for judgement by the individual builders as personal motorcycling statements.

Granted, there are stereo-types, and there are obvious exceptions, but these stereo types are derived from... somewhere.

The brand of bike we choose, what color of bike we choose, the accessories we choose, the riding gear, styles, and colors we choose, and the level of modification or customisation we choose are all based upon personal expression, and personal taste. In that spirit, we are all opening ourselves up to "judgemental" perspectives.

Were it not a "personal expression" activity, we would all be driving the exact same type of vehicles, as Henry Ford philosophised with his wonderful Model T.

"Any color, as long as it's Black". The piublic thought otherwise, and the rest is history.

Seems to me that folks spend a veritable fortune overall in personalising their bikes and vehicles, and in doing so are expressing themselves openly, and inviting judgement, nay begging for it... good or bad!

In the end, sometimes it's a difference between what we need.. and what we covet.

But to your point, there are always those that see it (or not!) from a totally different perspective, and we need to understand (or ignore?) them as well.

Ride safe!

Bob

Speedtrip

I would assume that most people choose a bike based on the type of riding they intend to do, sport, dual sport, dirt, sport touring, cruising, commuting not on some kind of statement they are making to the world at large. Whenever I add accessories to a bike it is almost always to improve performance or to add a more functional part.

Image building is what add agencies do and companies want to have an image quality, style, thrift whatever but I know I don't buy a bike based on the commercial I just saw.

If you just want to get from point A to point B then a Corolla would be fine but if you want to go thru the woods to get there a Jeep might work better.

These one off customs are a different thing more akin to art in my opinion maybe instead of a painting for their wall they would rather have art they can take out for a ride once in a while. More power to em.

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-Shaun-

motowebmaster

For some folks, the buy-n-bolt approach is going to work best. If I were a cruiser-rider that would be the approach for me; my web application skills are top-notch but changing a battery represents the extend of my mechanical ability.

Then there may be a few who take it to the extreme, like this bike that appeared on my blog. It wouldn't survive a ride in North Arkansas, but several browsers liked it.

There aren't many, but some riders in this part of the woods absolutely do not care how they look and place only marginal attention on what kind of bike they are riding. As long as it has decent sound and goes fast, they will ride it until the dirt and grime is too repulsive to look at. This is usually the sportbike riders who gun through the hills, on late model bikes purchased at the lowest price possible.

I could go through additional examples, but the question is what represents an acceptable level or margin one should invest or excess into a motorcycle? Should there be any limit?

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Shawn
My Photos

The Prophet

Hmmmm, good question... good topic.

The obvious (and new wave PC) answer would be that riders can and will spend as much as they want on their bikes, and no one can tell them otherwise... "Don't tell ME what to do!".

But I get your drift...

I'd suggest it depends: If a rider intends to keep his particular ride forever - which some do - then invest away sez me. Common sense can be tossed out of the imaginary window, and let freedom ring! One caution though - and an arguable one- as the horsepower and torque go up... the long term reliability goes down. Maybe not on a equal / reverse linear scale, but you rarely see a super high performance, tweaked to the max bike last extremely long, or more pragmatically - as long as the same model in stock form. Bikes are built from new with balance, and compromise in mind. If you build up and strengthen this end, you'll need to balance the mod with the same at... the other end. Many (some?) forget about this fact, and you end up with a "double the power" bike, but with the stock crankcase components and brake system.

Other riders like to 'play the field', and purchase a new, or different bike on a regular basis. I've never seen an objective, well crafted scientific study done, but I'll opine that a person would get very close to zero return on any modifications done to a bike at resale or trade-in time, perhaps less. As well, folks purchasing second hand bikes are "looking for a deal" and therefore are not interested in paying more because of "much chrome" listed in the advertisement.

Me? I always buy new. In fact, the only second hand bike I've ever purchased were my first two clunkers, when I was in my late teens... and broke. In both cases, memory tells me that the P.O.'s had thrashed the heck out of them, and I was paying dearly for it in repairs.

Bizzare stuff that I search and find on the internet -and especially stuff you read from various Posters on these great (and fun!) Motorcycle Discussion Forums - tells me to be extremely cautious about buying a bike from a total stranger, or anonymously through a dealer, as who knows what incomprehensible "mods" may have been done to it, often to the severe detriment of the performance and reliability factor.

Think about all the airboxes that were "swiss-cheesed" before the general populace figured out what they were for.

How many otherwise fantastic sport bikes do you see where the owner has replaced the rear tire with a "super-wide" fat one because... it looks cool. (As the bike scallops through another slow corner).

In both cases, "mod's" as suggested and wholeheartedly supported by self ordained Internet "Expert's".

Back to Moto's question:

• Anything you want if you intend to keep it forever.
• Otherwise, spend wisely, as the chances of recouping those costs are slim, and none.
• Modify very wisely, selectively, and in balance.

Ride Safe!

Bob