Symmetry

[Buffalohead_imp]

If I am going to have three wheels, I much prefer the traditional look of a sidecar. At least they have a history behind them.

I never felt that way with side cars, just front or rear wheels....

I never felt that way with side cars, just front or rear wheels....
That's what trikes are for. But, when I see a guy (or woman) with a sidecar, I think, "There's a guy who likes sidecars". When I see a guy on a trike, I think, "There's a guy who needs a trike". From what I've discovered, it's a very common view.

[Capo]

I prefer the curvaceous four header pipes , reminiscent of the CB400f, weaving their way into one silencer. The Deluxe is beautiful, too, but I've not for one moment lusted after it. I also prefer the stacked exhaust of the Ducati Monster, and the early Triumph Thunderbird Sport, but I thinking has a lot to do with the twisting headers on multi- cylinder bikes.

I do like symmetrical breasts, however.

[flynrider]

An obvious example where asymmetry = ugly. A German WWII era BV141. It wasn't enough to have oddball fuselage sections, they had to make the tail cockeyed as well. Truly one of the ugliest planes I've ever seen.

[the Ferret]

That IS ugly! Did it fly?

[Buffalohead_imp]

An airplane with a sidecar....who'd have thought?!

[the Ferret]

An airplane with a sidecar....who'd have thought?!

[Capo]

Is that plane real or a Rube Goldberg movie piece?

[flynrider]

That IS ugly! Did it fly?

It did. It was actually a pretty good performer as a recon platform. They only made about 30 of them.

[calamarichris_imp]

Have to give those Nazis credit; I'd be laughing too hard to shoot at it, and once I got done laughing, I'd have no idea where to aim. And then the pity factor would kick in... there's no playground honor in beating up on the lopsided wheelchair kid.

Kudos, Nazis. It's not too hard to figure out where to shoot a symmetric aircraft to bring it down.
Asymmetrie uber alles...

[Red Mist_imp]

Good grief. Five pages? It must not be riding season in most of the country.

That's the Luftwaffe to y'all, BTW. Krauts, maybe. But those guys were way, way ahead of the rest of us for a while. Some brilliant engineering and let us not forget they were first with operational jets and rocketry. Good thing they did not figure out The Bomb in time for complete world domination.

My Hawk GT would qualify as intentionally anti-symmetrical with its exhaust on the right side and the single sided swingarm on the left. Back in '88 I thought it was one of the coolest bikes I had ever laid eyes on. I might be in need of counseling.

In all honesty, I can very much understand the desire for visual symmetry and the sense of calm it brings. Ironically, the rear view of the bike is the one that highlights best the most non-symmetrical things about any bike: the offset required on the drive system side.

Your Hawk GT is a high-performance motorcycle.

I'd also add that the CB1100 isn't really about performance and the Deluxe model embraces that fact by adding a dual exhaust and the visual symmetry that comes along with it. In real world use, I'm guessing that any difference in performance will be negligible.

I think the most notable thing about the new design is how many more "what year is it?" conversations it will start. Honda really hit the bullseye on the retro front with this one.


Sent from my iPhone using [url=http://tapatalk.com/m?id=1]Tapatalk

Went through that a few times today. Two bicycle cops were on the sidewalk as I waited for a light to change. "What year is that?"

Got to the motorcycle accessory store...an older guy asked, "What year is that?"

What a fun bike to ride.
The Luftwaffe had a whole slew of airplanes we'd call ugly; they were throwing all kinds of stuff at the wall to see what would stick, which is how you do it when you want to get ahead of everyone else. The aircraft pictured could be considered one of them but there are lots of others. They also had the best aircraft of the War and the first operational helicopter; it was a very good thing most of their pilots and aircraft were either dead or disabled by late 1944. The late model Fw 190's with methanol/water injection and twin cannons were blazing fast, handled like a dream, and lethal as hell. Few were made. Also late model Bf 109 and the Ta 152 series were stunning airplanes.

That said, the P-51D Mustang was the most effective fighter to come out of that era, all things considered.