The smallest, cheapest Harley is like 12000 USD and almost 1000cc. The latest CEO said he was going to learn to ride a bike, but ran into an issue: The only beginner bikes Harley makes are for the asian market. Small, non or barely-highway capable motorcycles being overpriced isn't exclusively a Harley problem, anywhere else in the world you can buy *something *new that will go at about 60 mph for about 1000 USD. It might take 14 seconds to get there, but it's fine for learning or getting around town. Entry level bikes or scooters in the US start at like 4000 dollars new.
But the problem of scummy dealerships telling novices they should start on the biggest sportsbike is even worse at the other dealerships, since Harleys just get shinier and more bloated as they get pricier, not so much faster.
wtf motorcyclists and bicyclists are allies in the war against cars. Every car driver who switches to a bicycle, motorcycle, or public transit improves all of our experiences.
Every bicyclist who switches to a car makes things worse for anyone riding a bicycle, motorcycle, or public transit.
The driver had an entire lane open, he had absolutely no reason to get so close to the bicyclists.
But I've been nudged by cars on my motorbike, in one case hard enough to damage my rightside peg and never went down, why did the bicyclist fall like that?
Someone not paying attention screenshotting a quote of a quote is not AI being good enough to evade detection, it's someone not bothering to check if it's AI.
Used car market is kinda insane right now, even worse for trucks.
It's bad enough it's affecting bikes, but you can still get reliable used bikes for 2-5K.
Ultimately the used car market depends on people paying 50K for cars, the more people buy less reliable/cheaper or used cars, the more expensive it gets.
Motorcycles occupy a weird place culturally in America. Here in Vietnam, they're as mundane and scary as cars in the US. I uploaded an entirely unremarkable drive across town from last night, maybe seeing everyone from grandmas to children on bikes will help break that perception.
Motorbikes, I got my new commuter-style bicycle in the US for 600 USD in 2019, the same bike goes for 700 USD now. But you can't use a bicycle to commute in most of the US.
Motorcycle prices in the US are weird, new big bikes are similar to what the rest of the world pays, but small bikes, they only import the most expensive trims.
I got my used cb150 verza here in vietnam for 700, new they go for 1400 plus ~600 for import and other fees. They sell a bike with the same engine for 4-5000 USD in the US.
The effect of this is that young people and people who just need a bike to get around town either have to pay 3x more than they would over here for the same thing, or more likely, they buy a 20 year old liter bike for the same price, or simply never realize there's an alternative to cars.
As Kestrel said, motorcycles aren't that much harder to learn, though I started on a semi-automatic Honda Wave.
What they said about why they're more expensive isn't quite accurate; a new Honda Wave is 800-1200 USD out the door here in Vietnam. The Honda Grom has the same engine in America, a little bit nicer trim. It costs 4000, plus dealer fees. The scooter isn't more expensive to manufacture in America, they just know since nobody else is selling an 800 dollar scooter, by increasing prices, they can force anybody who wants a basic scooter to pay 5x more.
That said, scooters and smaller motorbikes are dead simple to work on. Scooters are a little more complicated since the CVT usually has its own oil system you have to change periodically, but still very easy to work on.
As far as utility goes, a light-weight motorcycle with a rack will carry anything a scooter will and can weigh just as little. I can fit 2 medium suitcases in the side-racks of my bike (they fold outwards), and a large one on top, or just tie as many grocery bags as I like to the rear rack, plus I can hang a couple sandwiches from 1 mirror and a couple coffees from the other when I want to go have lunch in a nice place.
Maintaining 65+ on a highway literally requires me to pin the throttle and sit in an aerodynamic tuck, if you want the capability to go long distances on highways without doing that, you probably want more than 12 HP. But it's a moot point in America because for the same price as a new 13 hp vespa or Honda ADV160 or more-than-only-technically-highway-capable Yamaha xmax, you can get a much more capable machine.
Be super careful about unknown name amazon scooters and bikes. Often they have lawnmower engines and pretty much the worst suspension you can imagine.
If you're thinking about looking for a used bike, make a thread in a motorcycle comm, I'm sure some lemmings would be happy to look at the deals in your area and make some recommendations.
Here's my current bike, it's carried me across SEA twice:
Honestly they just need to make car parking a real constraint in sim city games. That would do more to show people what a blight cars are than anything else.
Rotating villain. He allows them to tell their constituents "we want what you want, we just don't have the power because of thay one guy, but if you vote just a little harder, we won't pull the football away this time", while telling their donors "we ain't giving them shit lmao".
