Oh, no doubt Ford sells it as the premium engine as well. It certainly has the stat sheet to back it up. I’m surprised the price difference between the 5.0 and 3.5EB is only $600. For the average person, the 3.5EB seems like a no brainer for only $600 extra. I know 2 guys who have switched back to the 5.0 though. One…

I wonder how many 5.0s are shipped as part of general dealer inventory (i.e. what Ford decides the dealer should stock)? I bet Ford pushes the 3.5 EB because of the higher EPA test for the fleet requirements.

Where do you live? Somewhere west of the Mississippi? In Ohio, if you want to ride anything other than gravel paths in the National Forest, you want the plate to access the good shit, especially if you want to do one of the organized rides that gets you access to the good single track trails that haven’t been…

The Euro bikes are street legal in the States too. KTM has been selling street legal race bikes since 2007. Lots of casual dirtbikers here think the Euro bikes are really expensive, so they never pay attention to them. The hardcore guys know better ;)

Where do you ride? Organized dual sports on the east coast are 100 miles with gas at halfway. National Enduros are around 70 miles (my club is hosting our 3rd NEPG race this year). The Barsto to Vegas dual sport recommends 85 mile range https://www.usdualsports.com/listing/barstow-to-vegas-dual-sport/ You’ll be hard…

Oh yes, you definitely can smell the difference in brands of 2-stroke oil guys run. Klotz R50 has a very distinctive smell.

Everything I can find says the engines and final assembly are USA. Certainly you’ll find imported parts on the bike, but they’re as American as Harley or Ford or GM.

Why does Indian scare you? It’s part of Polaris, a pretty big company. If you’re looking at what they did to Victory, that was because Indian was doing well and it became redundant to have both brands.

I had the same experience when I had my Buell X-1 Lightning. Real bikers liked it, understood the DNA, and had nothing but love for it. The mid life crisis white collar suburban guy on his Sportster 883 is who would make comments about my “Jap bike” because they were to fuckin’ stupid to understand we had the same…

The V-Rod didn’t sell well. It was too expensive for the younger crowd who appreciated the modern engine and too modern for the crowd who could afford one.

Ehh, in the late 60's to early 70's when the UJM term was coined, motorcycles were far more common then they are today. Annual sales in that era were double to triple what they’ve been since then. A kid in high school with a part job could easily save up enough to by a new motorcycle.

You ever look up prices on non Turbo 996s? Very attainable. Considering his dream car hasn’t been made in 15+ years, I don’t think he’s talking about a new 911 either.

A healthy, normal ground hog runs when a human gets within 20 feet of it. They’re not assholes who enjoy blocking traffic like Canadian Geese. Tough as it may be to watch, the officer made the right decision.

I am not a fan of Dunlop dirtbike tires. They work great when brand new, but you will notice a significant drop off in just one enduro. No way you can get 3 races out of them like I just got out of the Shinko.

I spent a week in Seoul in the summer of ‘05. I had a blast and never had any incidents where I thought I was looked at side-eyed. There’s a difference between being noticed and being judged. I was noticed, but I didn’t feel judged.

You ever try Shinkos? I’m a dirt rider, so a bit different than street use, but I just ran my first Shinko and have been really impressed by it. A friend went with Shinkos on his Yamaha WR450 converted to sumo for street use and has been happy with them too.

I’m with ya. I’ve seen some pretty hard hits with the ground where the rider wearing a good helmet walked away without so much as a concussion, but if they hit an immovable object like a wall or post, it can end badly regardless of the helmet.

Or in Anheuser’s case, all they’ll need is refueling capabilities at their breweries. These trucks will be servicing regional routes from one of their many breweries sprinkled throughout the US https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anheuser-Busch#Brewery_operations Since I live pretty close to one, I’ll get to see these in…

That second paragraph is significant. Too many people on both sides of the pond forget that most American cities really grew and developed after the car was invented. That’s why we (USA) have suburban sprawl that you rarely see elsewhere.

When used on the street where they’re ridden well below peak RPM 98% of the time, they’ll do tens of thousand of miles w/o issue in a very similar manner to something like a Honda S2000.