Where are all the supermotos going?

[HamAce]

Originally Posted by Mikef5000

I've only seen 2 Supermotos on the street around here (city of 1.5 million with lots of bikes), so it doesn't surprise me much. I've always loved the idea, look, and feel behind the bikes, but I never considered buying one; just not practical.

I have just recently sold my Husky '07 450SMR (regrettably), in search of wider pastures, and dirt roads. But I have to say that it was the steepest learning curve, most exciting riding I have done. I would regularly smash Ducati's off the lights, with them laughing at me shaking their heads. I am a huge ambassador for the Super Motard. Pity Husky have done away with the 630..

[GODSPEED]

I'm right here. I just picked up this beauty about 2 months ago. 2003 625 SXC converted to supermoto. I forgot how much much I love the LC4's. Funny, this vibrates WAY less than my 640 adventures. I still have my 96 DR650 with dirt and supermoto setup. I put the supermoto set on my DR 2 years ago and have had my dirt setup on once since then. I recently did a 1500 mile, 4 day trip on my DR with the Supermoto setup and did about 150 miles of dirt with no issues. If I had to have one bike it would be a 650 class single.






My DR650 halfway through the Rattlesnake in SE Washington/NE Oregon.

From 9-2012 SE Washington/NE Oregon

On a side not check out the Michelin Pilot Road 3 for long life supermot tires. Great for the wet PNW.

[Rcrx21]

I prefer the term "Sport-tourer"

[calfinm]

Originally Posted by jesusgatos

Sold my SM wheels and bought a 19/17 setup too. Suits me a lot better.

Wow, I have a 530 that ive been struggling with exactly what its place in my life is since getting a wr250x (other than the obvious every time i ride it ear to ear grin )...i think you just solved it.. Great looking bike

[WARRIORPRINCEJJ]

I just went through the first five pages of Thumpers, and found nothing.

Despite that, I know I'm not the only one who noticed this.


Apparently, the DRZ-SM is back for 2013...


http://www.suzukicycles.com/Product%....aspx#Overview

[jesusgatos]

Yay, the same old DRZ...

[GSF1200S]

Having ridden a pretty powerful sport bike/sport-tourer (1200 Bandit), I can say that I find dual sports to be more practical and even more fun to ride. I will admit I have never really understood the supermoto thing, though I have given it thought since I tend to respect every motorcycle for the type of experience it offers.

When im on my bandit (cammed, header/exhaust, timing advance, jetted, 1 tooth down front sprocket), I have "power" through the throttle grip- sheer brutal acceleration and torque (Bandits have a lot of midrange) that allows me to pull out in the smallest of gaps, completely OWN any vehicle I see, and of course to FEEL that rush as the speedo climbs.. too fast. But then, it feels limiting to me as well. You can only use that power so much. You can only ride on the roads available. You can only push in a corner so much because you have to watch out for asshats pulling out in front of you, cats, deer, cops, oil on the street, dirt, gravel, etc. You are in a prison of sorts. With a dual sport, that "power" is that there is no road. That big 21" inch front (and accompanying knobbies) makes curbs, stairs, parking lots, ditches, yards, etc feel like part of the road- just made of different materials.

Where im going with this: if I had to guess why supermotos arent super popular, I would say its because they take on all the limitations of a streetbike (except they do have more suspension travel) where they are fairly limited to street (bar exceptional skill) while having few of the usable benefits of a streetbike- namely power (but also storage, comfort, etc). They dont have the power of a sportbike (most of us love power), the comfort of a crusier, or the go-anywhere of a dual sport. Supermoto on the track makes sense to me as there arent so many variables and I can see why it would be fun; loooots of lean angle, low weight, and the speeds are slow enough relative to some literbike that you can enjoy it without being so close to death.

Not trying to say any of you sumos are wrong (ride what makes you smile)- just explaining it from the perspective of a guy who loves all bikes but doesnt really find the supermoto gig appealing

[crash279]

Originally Posted by GSF1200S

Having ridden a pretty powerful sport bike/sport-tourer (1200 Bandit), I can say that I find dual sports to be more practical and even more fun to ride. I will admit I have never really understood the supermoto thing, though I have given it thought since I tend to respect every motorcycle for the type of experience it offers.

When im on my bandit (cammed, header/exhaust, timing advance, jetted, 1 tooth down front sprocket), I have "power" through the throttle grip- sheer brutal acceleration and torque (Bandits have a lot of midrange) that allows me to pull out in the smallest of gaps, completely OWN any vehicle I see, and of course to FEEL that rush as the speedo climbs.. too fast. But then, it feels limiting to me as well. You can only use that power so much. You can only ride on the roads available. You can only push in a corner so much because you have to watch out for asshats pulling out in front of you, cats, deer, cops, oil on the street, dirt, gravel, etc. You are in a prison of sorts. With a dual sport, that "power" is that there is no road. That big 21" inch front (and accompanying knobbies) makes curbs, stairs, parking lots, ditches, yards, etc feel like part of the road- just made of different materials.

Where im going with this: if I had to guess why supermotos arent super popular, I would say its because they take on all the limitations of a streetbike (except they do have more suspension travel) where they are fairly limited to street (bar exceptional skill) while having few of the usable benefits of a streetbike- namely power (but also storage, comfort, etc). They dont have the power of a sportbike (most of us love power), the comfort of a crusier, or the go-anywhere of a dual sport. Supermoto on the track makes sense to me as there arent so many variables and I can see why it would be fun; loooots of lean angle, low weight, and the speeds are slow enough relative to some literbike that you can enjoy it without being so close to death.

Not trying to say any of you sumos are wrong (ride what makes you smile)- just explaining it from the perspective of a guy who loves all bikes but doesnt really find the supermoto gig appealing

You have it waaaaaay wrong. We ride almost as much off-road as on-road. I have yet to see/meet a sportbike that can beat a supermoto stoplight to stoplight, and turn urban areas into a huge playground. Look up DFW supermoto on YouTube for some proof.

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk 2

[plutonic]

Originally Posted by GSF1200S

Where im going with this: if I had to guess why supermotos arent super popular, I would say its because they take on all the limitations of a streetbike (except they do have more suspension travel) where they are fairly limited to street (bar exceptional skill) while having few of the usable benefits of a streetbike- namely power (but also storage, comfort, etc). They dont have the power of a sportbike (most of us love power), the comfort of a crusier, or the go-anywhere of a dual sport. Supermoto on the track makes sense to me as there arent so many variables and I can see why it would be fun; loooots of lean angle, low weight, and the speeds are slow enough relative to some literbike that you can enjoy it without being so close to death.

Not trying to say any of you sumos are wrong (ride what makes you smile)- just explaining it from the perspective of a guy who loves all bikes but doesnt really find the supermoto gig appealing

Wow... I thought I will never see a good explanation of a phrase " the glass is half empty ".

[WARRIORPRINCEJJ]

Originally Posted by plutonic

Wow... I thought I will never see a good explanation of a phrase " the glass is half empty ".

.

[crash279]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LA_z4Xu_mhs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-pN1z74Ib4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zO1zdarPRJQ

[Steveman]

Originally Posted by ThereisnoSpoon

Not sure exactly and I don't have access to it right now to look. They said it was a tire for an aircraft landing wheel.





It worked pretty well, even in loose sand.

for my understanding this is a racing rain tire, most probably an older metz or michelin...
being an aircraft engineer I at least can say I never saw a plane where such a tire was fitted...

[Steveman]

Originally Posted by calfinm

Great looking bike

Meaning you really like this most probably perfect working, but ugliest headlight ever seen

[Sierra Thumper]

Originally Posted by GSF1200S

Having ridden a pretty powerful sport bike/sport-tourer (1200 Bandit), I can say that I find dual sports to be more practical and even more fun to ride. I will admit I have never really understood the supermoto thing, though I have given it thought since I tend to respect every motorcycle for the type of experience it offers.

When im on my bandit (cammed, header/exhaust, timing advance, jetted, 1 tooth down front sprocket), I have "power" through the throttle grip- sheer brutal acceleration and torque (Bandits have a lot of midrange) that allows me to pull out in the smallest of gaps, completely OWN any vehicle I see, and of course to FEEL that rush as the speedo climbs.. too fast. But then, it feels limiting to me as well. You can only use that power so much. You can only ride on the roads available. You can only push in a corner so much because you have to watch out for asshats pulling out in front of you, cats, deer, cops, oil on the street, dirt, gravel, etc. You are in a prison of sorts. With a dual sport, that "power" is that there is no road. That big 21" inch front (and accompanying knobbies) makes curbs, stairs, parking lots, ditches, yards, etc feel like part of the road- just made of different materials.

Where im going with this: if I had to guess why supermotos arent super popular, I would say its because they take on all the limitations of a streetbike (except they do have more suspension travel) where they are fairly limited to street (bar exceptional skill) while having few of the usable benefits of a streetbike- namely power (but also storage, comfort, etc). They dont have the power of a sportbike (most of us love power), the comfort of a crusier, or the go-anywhere of a dual sport. Supermoto on the track makes sense to me as there arent so many variables and I can see why it would be fun; loooots of lean angle, low weight, and the speeds are slow enough relative to some literbike that you can enjoy it without being so close to death.

Not trying to say any of you sumos are wrong (ride what makes you smile)- just explaining it from the perspective of a guy who loves all bikes but doesnt really find the supermoto gig appealing

I feel the same way....but I've never ridden a supermoto, so I'm going to reserve final judgement till I get a chance

[Gryphon12]

Make sure that you ride it off-road with 70/30 tires. Watch the videos - the dirt performance is awesome, as long as you're not trying difficult single-track.

The tire/suspensoin combination make the urban curbs, bumps and potholes disappear, just like on a DS, but with much better street manners. A true SM is but built on a racing MX/Enduro chassis - a DS with SM wheels and tires, adjusted suspension and rake/trail is simply a DS with a different set of compromises. Some like it, some don't but they rail almost anywhere they go!

Edit: I think that the reason that they didn't really catch on in the USA is that there hasn't been a consistent racing series here to promote the concept, or am I wrong? They started the racing series in Europe, right? and the trend went pretty quickly to the streets?