INT650

[Ollie]

I have admired RE's twins and enjoyed your observations Gone. My air cooled retro twin is my R100 but if I replace it it'll likely be with a RE 650...... but only if they offer cast or spoke tubeless wheels.

Nice report Gone.

When it comes to the motor I am in the opposite camp. The 270 degree twin in my NC 750X (and my brothers 2016 T120 Bonnie) drives me nuts. Every time I ride it. Why take a perfectly good motor and purposely introduce an imbalance? I much prefered the 360 twin with balancer in my old 2003 T-100 Bonnie. In fact I would even prefer an unbalanced 360 twin like my old 650 Yamahas as compared to my 270.

Unfortunately for me, 270 twins are the " in thing" right now, like inline triples were a couple of years ago. Remember they were supposed to be torqey like a twin, but rev like an inline 4. Hot for a couple years, now no one even talks about them. Personally I hope the mfgs grow out of this 270 phase. Why have a paint shaker when you can have a blender? If I wanted a bike that " felt like a V Twin" , I'd buy a V Twin.

And to think people complained about the induced roughness in a CB 1100 motor lol

I don't believe a 270 introduces more "imbalance" per say, rather a different one which counter balancers can mostly offset. The "naturally unbalanced" but then counterbalanced 270 degree twin in my Tenere' 700 is smoother than my 180* "perfectly balanced" Airhead and it sounds so nice. 360* twins are basically like a big single and 180 degree parallel twins create a rocking vibration. Are there any modern twins now that are not counterbalanced, other than HD which utilizes rubber mounts to quell vibrations?