Motorcycle Journalists Ruin the Motorcycle?!

200427_wakayama_02.jpg Columns

All genres have becoming maniac-oriented

It's been less than a month since I wrote in my previous column, "MV Agusta CEO Interview: Nowadays High-performance Motorcycles are Dangerous for Beginners", about the harmful effects of the motorcycle becoming maniac-oriented, and I think the same thing can be said for all genres.

[Related Column]
MV Agusta CEO Interview, Nowadays High-performance Motorcycles are Dangerous for Beginners (Japanese)

Recently, I have been forced to stay at home to prevent the spread of coronavirus infection, and I have more opportunities to watch old movies and TV dramas at home. And I didn't expect that I could enjoy watching them comfortably. From that perspective, I've noticed that the contents of the recent ones become complex trying to build up a very complicated result that made me feel exhausted after I finished watching them. The same may be true for music.

I could say that you have been aiming for everything that maniacs and journalists receive.

We should be aware that journalists are a special kind of people.

I remembered something about this.

I am with Dave Bean, who was a test rider for YAMAHA Europe. He was 10 years older than me and he taught me a lot of things when I was at YAMAHA and later I met him again as a journalist. He invited me to the bar and suddenly asked, "Are you writing your test ride story from the customer's (user's) perspective or a journalist's perspective?".

I replied, "Of course, from the customer perspective". He said that European journalists disregard customers when they look at the motorcycle from their perspective, the Italians are still good, but the Germans are much more prone to it.

It was nearly 25 years ago when I was actively participating in a test ride event overseas. Unfortunately, Bean passed away shortly thereafter, but I've been keeping his words in my heart while I'm staying active. Anyway, I started working with European journalists and becoming aware of what he said.

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For instance, this happened 15 years ago at the BIMOTA DB5 test ride event. The BIMOTA DB5 was equipped with a DUCATI air-cooled two-valve unit, but at the time of the question and answer, some Germans questioned, "Why didn't you use the liquid-cooled 4-valve?" It is clear that the BIMOTA DB5 emphasized daily use, but he seems to have been the absolute pursuit of performance was the first principle. If he was young and inexperienced, I could understand why he asked that question, but since he was an older man with sense, the question struck me as unexpected at the time.

Also, when I talked with a German journalist about HONDA NC700, he pointed out the lack of power in the high rev range. He didn't understand that the NC700 is a motorcycle that we ride on at torques below 4000rpm.

Germany was the world's number one market for sports bikes in the 90s, but the market declined in the 00s. The high-performance orientation probably prevented young people from entering the motorcycle world.

Journalists are likely to have more opportunities to ride a motorcycle than the average rider, so many journalists have high skills. I wrote this column with a reminder that we should not be biased toward the kind of vehicles that only journalists can enjoy.

See HONDA Moto Index Page
See Accessories for HONDA NC700S

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