Sportbikes – Whats our problem?

It's considered that America generally lacks the sort of swooping, curving roads that make European oriented bikes what they are, and the road racing culture that goes with the great closed road events (7 miles of flat out straight in the NW200 as an example, mixed in with bumpy hedge and wall lined Irish roads).

I have to remark with regret and an apologetic tone that Harley Davidson is ridiculed in much of Europe for it's clinging to a vintage design; it was not always so, HD and Indian, as examples used 4 valves per cylinder in their early years. Bizarrely, not even the tuning specialists for HD seem to offer a 4 valve head conversion, which would transform them (tell me if I'm wrong). Where are the 6 speed close ratio gearboxes? The equivalents of the small manufacturers of high quality frames?

It isn't that America/HD lacks technical ability, I think, but rather there is a complacency about not needing any further development. This may be correct for those who want the Vintage Experience (no, not knocking, just putting it in context) but it doesn't serve the American customer who wants a sporting bike, one that can hit near 200mph with standard parts, and only does 155 because the manufacturers RESTRICT them, and offers the ability to storm a mountain or hill road with grace and precision.

America needs a businessman like John Bloor, who had no heritage with bikes. He was/is a property developer who saw clearly a market for a prestige named motorcycle made to modern standards, without any heritage apart from the Triumph name being attached.

I say it repeatedly; I am waiting for HD to introduce a fuel infected sidevalve. They have springers and a fake rigid rear end, it's the next logical step, and they can manage emissions now much better than when they had crapuration.