Umm......don't know what to say.

[LilNinja77]

This was posted over on the Ninja 250 forum, and thought I'd share it. I'm Shotgun23 on that forum, so you can see my opinion of it at the bottom of the page

http://forums.ninja250.org/viewtopic.ph ... highlight=

All I can say is wow......it's definitely, umm, yeah. It's not even original though, read through some of the posts and you'll see that BMW (and some other various scooter makers) had a scooter almost a decade ago that sported the same, umm, style. I'd like to point to some of my favorites from his site:
A---his reasoning for not wearing a full-face helmet.........it's not like they, oh I don't know, protect your head in a crash or anything. Also, his claim that full-face helmets smushed his cheeks, and impaired his hearing and vision. If you wear a helmet that actually fits you properly, those problems don't exist.

B---his claim that "40 mpg is nice"......HAHAHA, must be sad to get small-car efficiency on a bike. My mothers Honda Fit averages high 30's consistantly, even with me throwing it through the twisties with the AC on full blast (they are very fun little cars when equipped with the manual transmission); and only cost a few thousand more than a new zx-10 does. My Ninja 250 averages between 50-65 mpg (depending on how I ride and if I'm carrying luggage), and that's the lowest mpg I'll accept on a bike. I'd love to be getting the mpg of a GZ250!

C---he claims he originally designed it to keep the rain off his face. Guess what else will do that.......a full-face helmet, and I'm positive even an expensive helmet would only cost a fraction of what that.....thing.... cost him to make.

D---his statement saying how nice it would be if there were less automobiles on the road. By definition a motorcycle IS an automobile (a machine/vehicle designed to carry a person/people that powers/moves itself rather than by the power of another vehicle and/or animal), and his point was that it would be nice to have less 4 wheeled (or enclosed) automobiles (cars) and more motorcycles; but in reality his goal of having more motorcycles would actually increase the amount of automobiles. It's just semantics, I know, but I found it amusing.

Anyway, just thought others might find it humorous, enjoy!
Ride safe

[jonathan180iq]

Did you post the ninja site, not too long ago, about maintainance day? I think I read through that section and noticed your Fit.

Good read.

[jonathan180iq]

The guy who wrote the selling points at the bottom is a moron and is probably hurting sales of his product becasue of it.

That being said, I've thought about this type of thing for motorcycles before and I don't see why it's such a bad idea. You're more aerodynamic, possibly more visible, and the appeal of the design is really in the eye of the beholder. It's obvious that care was put into making steamlined and aerodynamic while also fitting the dimensions of the bike. It's certainly much smoother than a rider's body and the flow over it should be more even than a sport windshield. Also, as mentioned, BMW has a collapseable windshiled on one of their city scooters.

You know what.....? To be completely honest....

I like it.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
EDITED:

I read over it again. My only concern is what happens during a crash. I'd hate to get trapped inside a skidding motorcycle bubble. At least with gear on you can slide away from the damage...sometimes....

I don't know... maybe I'm on the fence but I certainly don't hate it.

[LilNinja77]

My post you're referring to was entitled "Hooray for maintenance day!" and was about the removal and cleaning of my Ninja 250's swingarm and shock-linkage, shimming the cush-drive and the addition of my new Avon tires I had just bought. Yes the Honda Fit was visible (partially) in one of the photos.

I agree that the idea behind the canopy is interesting, shall we say "neat"; the application and logic behind that particular website was really what I was making fun of.....since the guy advertising it seemed to be quite, how to be nice about this.......not smart. I could definitely see enjoying a canopy-scooter if I was living in "the big city" or somewhere similar. Actually one would be kinda neat here in Blacksburg, but that's beside the point. I'm just as happy with pedal power (as you obviously understand) for now, assuming my knees don't start acting up too much. Hell, around town I'm fine with just using the ol' shoe-leather express if the weather's nice.
Ride safe

[jonathan180iq]

If you start cramping up in your knees try spinning (dropping down a gear and increasing your rpms a bit). You don't want to spin so fast that you start bouncing in the saddle, but it'll ease some of the stress on the joint.

Looks like we're on the same page with the actual product. Like I said, that guy is hurting his own sales. That is, of course, unless his prospective buyers are a bunch of rice cake wannabe's. In that case, he'll probably get a lot of attention.

[LilNinja77]

Oh, the problem with my knee isn't too bad while cycling, they just get stiff sometimes and decide to randomly suck. The chunk that was removed from my left knee last year left a nice little hollow spot just to the side of my knee cap, and since the rest of my knee had swollen and slightly displaced as a result of it, now my knee never really feels like it's fitting properly anymore. It's far worse while walking/hiking/running than when cycling; the impact from contacting the ground is what's really bad. Just going through the movement while cycling actually helps out with keeping the knee limber, it was one of the best things while doing physical therapy.
Ride safe

[jonathan180iq]

Peace