i'm on vacation in rio de janeiro with my wife for our 20th anniversary...and i can't stop gawking at all these great little commuter bikes. almost all are 250cc air cooled singles. all with stock exhaust....things are everywhere. speaking of stock exhaust...
I knew we could count on you, Jig! Ummm... What's Santa looking at in this pic? Oh, and stay tuned on the little bike front... Lots of folks are asking this same question lately, and it looks like a few are coming to market (although not necessarily to a local dealership). -T
i think it's just the american ego that doesn't want to be seen on a little 250....that's a shame. these bikes would be my weapon of choice for in town commuting. the american policing (prohibiting lane splitting and sidewalk parking) may also be a large factor.
WAIT WAIT WAIT.... Are you telling me that your wife has put up w/ your sh*t for 20 years???? That lady is destined for saint hood. Oh, and thanks for allowing us to keep faith in you! Even if we all hate you because we are freezing..
I was wondering the same thing last year when we went on a cruise. I saw these small bikes all over every island we went to. I don know the small bike market is growing though. Honda has a new sporty 250 coming out to try to compete with the ninja 250 so I think we will see more in the future.
none of these are sportbike style....almost all are sport standards. like miniature radians, or miniature nighthawks...also a lot of dual sport bikes. i think every one i've seen is air-cooled, also.
ehhh...i've found you do things like take them to rio....they put up with damn near anything. edit: oh and someone tell senior big picture how to use the interwebs.
The babes are even better, and they got, but… Are those 2 strokes? (I mean the bikes). And, are they burning gas or alcohol? (Not you, the bikes). Great place to be single! (Not the bikes). Bill
Re: The babes are even better, and they got, but… they are all four stroke, assume burning gas. and my peripheral vision is getting a tremendous workout.
I asked about those bikes when I was in Sao Paulo last year. Those Hondas were made in Brazil. I think the only Honda bike not made in Japan. They are ultra cheap and ultra crappy I was told but there are so many of them that parts are cheap and readily available. I can't remember but the guy said they have made millions of them apparently. From what else he explained to me, I don't think US consumers would be very happy with the pourosity of the engine case and general cheapness (failure rate). Also sounded like production could be returning to the home land because of trade and import deals. You can probably get better info than we got from random guy on the street that spoke some english. I will say, there are some serious kamikazee pilots riding those things in Sao Paulo traffic. They get around pretty darn well but it looks pretty sketchy to me. Stay safe over there. If the cabby is going the wrong way- jump out! Bad stuff really does happen there. You seem to have documented some good things though.