Character

[Cormanus]

I'm a bit interested in what constitutes character in a motorcycle.

The Ferret has described it as follows:


Do you agree that character is a euphemism for unreliability? Or is it something more? For example, Moto Guzzi and Ducati are often called character bikes. Is it because they don't copy the design of more traditional British, American and Japanese bikes? Is it that they are Italian and there's a particular view of Italian design and build?

Is it that they are things many aspire to but can't have and so they mask their envy with a certain disparagement?

I've no idea, really, but I'm interested in what you might think.

[PowerDubs_imp]

I've owned cars with character. I've owned bikes with character.

To me- it is usually a combination of a good sound and a little spunk in throttle response.

Give me a throaty intake noise, a little voice on the back end and a little hit of accel if I give it the beans.



Example- here is my Vw R32 from a decade ago- sit and listen to the entire video and tell me it didn't have character. Trust me it is worth the time to anybody who claims to like motorized videos.

Please forgive me that I filmed it with a 2004 cell phone zip tied to my rear windshield wiper.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L-HVLMUFuSg
And if that isn't enough- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hBJIQfKJWpk

Yea I know it isn't a bike, but I've never filmed a bike.

My '83 IT250 and my '89 FZR600 both had character- neither were stock.

Well- nothing I've ever owned stays stock..

[the Ferret]

I've often wondered what constitutes character myself Cormanus, but in talking with guys who say their bikes have character, they are usually the bikes that exhibit the tendencies of those I described above.

Honda's are known to be oil tight, smooth, and reliable with a strong dealer network, as famed mc writer Peter Egan once said he" has never had a Honda that failed to bring him home". Yet Honda's are said to have no character.

His Norton had character, yet it left him and his wife stranded on a west coast trip and had to be freighted home while he took a greyhound back home to Wisconsin.

Guys on Harley's like to say their bikes have character, yet they vibrate and leak oil (at least they used to), and sometimes break down on the side of the road. Used to be they were downright cantankerous, Hard to start, Bad brakes. Stiff clutches. Character I am told.

Moto Guzzi's are said to have character, but they are not the most reliable mills out there (until you get them sorted I often hear.. personally I like to buy my bikes pre-sorted). You gas them and they twist to the side. They don't look Japanese. I read in that other thread Frulk said of his Moto Guzzi

"The Guzzi is a 2013 bought new and now has 7006 babied miles on it. My dealer folded up shop about a year ago. The rear running lights don't work (but brakes/license plate and blinkers do). It's slowly leaking some type of oil around the rear drum. I've checked all the fluids and can't trace it down. After I get back from Europe in Sept I plan to ship it to Harper's Moto Guzzi in Missouri for an overhaul and to have a number of issues addressed i.e. new tires/front fork cartridges installed/ routine maint/oil sump installed etc. After that it will only see the road on Sat/Sundays on short jaunts over the mt's and to coffee shops"

If my "un-babied" CB had had those issues at 7000 miles and needed to be shipped someplace for an overhaul just so I could ride it on short jaunts on Sat/Sun I wouldn't consider my bike having character, I'd consider it having a "For Sale" sign on it and I'd be looking for another model of motorcycle (no offense Frulk)

My son's Ducati, another brand that supposedly has character, was bought brand new, babied and yet had electrical problems, persistent oil leaks and the transmission locked up causing multiple trailer trips to the nearest Ducati dealer 2 hours away (our Cincinnati dealer folded tent and left after 2 years). Rare? He sent me a link one time from the Monster forum. 5 of the first 6 threads were complaints that their Ducati's suddenly quit running. I'm not joking. I personally know 3 people who have owned Ducatis, 2 of them relatives, all 3 have had issues enough that 2 of them got traded in on another brand of motorcycles ( a KTM and a Triumph) Character I guess.

I don't know.. the character thing confuses me, I don't confess to understand it, but listening to people who have bikes that supposedly have character, that's how I came up with my description above.

[Guth_imp]

"Character" is hard to define in this case, being such a subjective element.

I'd put it this way:
If someone assembled a group of street bikes (4 bikes, 8 bikes, how ever many bikes, it doesn't really matter) and you were given your choice to ride any one of them for an hour, you'd probably choose the one that had the most character (as defined by you).

Now say you were to pick from the same group of bikes a single one to ride for an entire day, then for a week, or a month or a year. My guess is that as the period of time increases the appeal of character begins to fade a bit as things like comfort and reliability take on greater importance.




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[Retsel_imp]

I don't know. But to me any character in a motorcycle is given by the people that ride them. A motorcycle, to me, has no character when it comes off the factory floor. It is the owner of the inanimate object, be it motorcycle, auto, aircraft, boat or whatever that gives it character. With the single exception of Christine. That was one mean Plymouth Fury with attitude and loads of "character"! So, to me an old bike with lots of miles and multiple owners, each making their own modifications and adding to the character, has much more " character" than any new one off the assembly line.

This is my favorite definition of "character".


The aggregate of features and traits that form the individual nature of some person or thing.

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[the Ferret]

Interesting definition.

By that measure my ST 1300 is loaded with character. The paint on the tank is scratched and chafed from years of tank bag use. The saddlebag lids on both sides of the bike have dozens of shoe sole marks from me getting on and off with my stubby legs unable to clear everything. There are dead bugs everywhere, many of them that will never come off, and tiny specks of white paint where I rode thru where a village road crew was cross walk striping on a trip to the U.P. and the paint overspray got me. I added a reflective miniature Starwars X wing fighter to the front because I couldn't get the paint overspray off and the white specs on the black body looked like a deep space solar system. Made sense on a bike that I nicknamed STarship for it's ability to transport me cross country at warp speed...and the inevitable wear that comes from being ridden nearly 90,000 miles.Lol

And here I thought it was just a very well used Honda with no character lol

[Retsel_imp]

Like you, your CB is loaded with plenty of "character"!

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[Aussieflyer]

Hhmmm ... 'Character', that's a handy word to describe the collection of attributes about objects or living beings. I'd say that every bike has character because, like beauty, it's in the eye of the beholder. Our CB has 'character', it's a bit plush, smooth, slightly chubby, overweight, and very dependable. Some may say it's boring but I prefer that 'type' of character to something that is rough, too loud, lethargic, smelly and unreliable. The incredibly boring BMWK100RT i owned for just three months had character, i just didn't like it, however my much less refined VTR1000 and I became very good friends for quite some time. So to me it's the 'type' of character that matters, that's what keeps me coming back for more long after the honeymoon period is over.

[Nortoon_imp]

Character to me would be rather elastic depending on the use of the motorcycle, and your stage of life.

The ones I remember most fondly were my BSA Lightnings. The first I converted to a café racer in the late 60s. The second I restored in the late 70s. The strong but lumpy motor and beautiful exhaust sound were the characteristics that set it apart from other motorcycles that I owned. The 1966 was my first big bike, the 1971 was rescued from being a quasi-chopper.

A 1971 Yamaha 350 R5. I installed a set of clubman handlebars on it upside down and rode it as a café racer. That was the only mod I had to make to that bike as it was light, nimble, quick, and handled extremely well. Its 103 MPH top speed qualified as a true café racer.

A 1972 Kawasaki H2 Mach IV, a jet of a motorcycle that was the hooligan bike of its era. After selling our British motorcycles, two buddies and I had to learn how to ride a motorcycle quickly and smoothly. This was truly a bike that could earn its reputation as the widow maker if handled improperly. But what a hoot to ride.

Our 1982 Goldwing Aspencade, the Cadillac of motorcycles according to my wife. We travelled thousands of miles through Canada and America on it over a 9 year period. A beautiful motorcycle that was quiet, comfortable, and reliable. Penny actually fell asleep on it one day as we were riding.

[Wisedrum]

I'm more interested in good than in bad characteristics of a motorbike, which were described in this thread before. I gain the impression, that one often mixes up some attributes like not being reliable or coming up with some mechanic malefunction like oil leaking are the things, that form the character of a bike, because they are so apparent.

Some will find my 2 motorbikes boring as I read sometimes in test reports or descriptions of motorbikes after their testrides. Boring, because they don't pull like mad, don't rumble or being loud enough. What attractes me, and I consider these to be good characteristics, they don't be aggresive and have good torque, that pulls nicely and steadily over a wide rev range. They look good to me and feel good whenever I ride them. This is a very personal assessment. Other riders will come to a totally different conclusion.

The character of a bike, if it ever has some by itself, depends deeply in what a rider wants to see in it and what he tries to experience with it. Characters form each other through the time they spend together. But some relationships never come to life, because they lacking the initial attraction, which may offer some deep insight looks and can change your point of view in the time after your first meeting, if you had given it a chance.

Wisedrum