USA/Japan - motorcycle - 942cc.
Beneath a Youtube video extolling the new Yamaha Bolt, someone had posted these words: "harley's are sluggish vribrating mess, and that's why they sell so much. Because it's a men's ride, a beast that needs to be controlled and learnt, like a crazy horse that you can never trust. And thats why my harley will never be a boring ride like a Bolt." Now I like backhanded compliments but there's a tipping point where it becomes an endorsement for the competition: this is one such case. The poor author of that prose has probably been stuck with making payments on his HD for the last few years and every time he's curbside wrenching on his "vribrating mess", or shells out several hundred dollars for service at the dealership, he shares similar monosyllabic grunts of approval with other owners to reset his waning enthusiasm. I really can't figure out how the fan-base of a product can turn it's ample flaws into such a virtue, and I'm not sure I can think of another example in modern history, but it is the Harley phenomena. Anyway, I too succumbed to the fantasy (or did), I was one of them. For 11 years I waxed lyrical about my beloved porkster until one long hot afternoon spent baking alone in the roadside sun with the mandatory sack of tools I had learned to carry strewn around me, keloid burn-brands milestoning my hands from previous tinkerings, sweat pouring off my brow, salt-stinging my eyes and impeding my vision....then when I spotted a turkey buzzard circling overhead awaiting my demise, I suddenly flipped! I just couldn't deceive myself anymore. I know any negative words against the Almighty HD is akin to blasphemy and I would never dare to be so vocal around all those real men who ride them, but gaddangit there's alot to be said for something that just works. Despite the accusations, the Bolt is absolutely not pretending to be an HD, if it was who in hell would buy it?! Its primary appeal is that engineering is all Japanese. Its styling is that of a custom bobber (albeit the term originally referred to homemade cut-downs, but from ALL makes of motorcycle) which the stock & standard HD Sportster is not. (However, HD are now releasing more aesthetically pleasing designs so even they seem to understand what hipsters are pining for.) But anyone who's built an actual bobber will know to sometimes spell it b-o-o-b-e-r: endless aftermarket modifications drastically compromise operability of anything mechanical. So when Yamaha stand up and say "we have a new bike for you that really resembles a cool chop-job, however, you won't have any of the issues normally associated with WI cruisers and yet it has all the power of a bored-out custom..." Add air-cooled v-twin pots, belt drive and standard Japanese reliability and I can't see a reason NOT to buy it.
