I'm old school and have stubborn Swedish blood in me It took me 25yrs. to accept the fact that Huskies were made in Italy!!! I won't live long enough to get over this ! Better motors or not, it killed the "Romance" for me and it was George Erl that convinced me to buy my 07 and I'm glad of it. The Beta lets you "build your own" and provides bigger tanks for their bikes, ( I may be wrong but I don't think you can get a bigger tank for the 449/511) and builds their motors in house. Time will tell how good the Kymcos are, they may even be better but I'm staying pissed off anyway, and I'll just keep dancing across the desert on my 610 until one of us simply dies....... Happy Trails.......
I beg pardon... What am I smoking??????????? How on earth did you convert the words I used in that sentence into something about George?????? Dude - you may want go back and read it again..........
I read it more than a couple times and I know. Also, I am not looking to debate with or jab you but YOU said:
I have a digital micrometer form harbor freight that works fantastic he he he IMHO EVERYTHING should be built in the USA, time to get back to it. someone give me a pile of $$$ to start a USA built motorcycle please.
I had a torc wrench that was just plane wrong so I got a 150$ one, and I would love to see that again! AMEN!
Besides a family passed down Triumph 200 Tiger Cub , I had nothing but Japanesse bikes. Sure I liked the Japanesse bikes, but always felt, and read (as a kid in the 80's), that the European bikes were better. Husqvarna being the crown jewel of the Euro bikes imo. I can relate with the others that aren't a fan of Husqvarna having Asian motors, no matter how solid they may be.
The engine in the 449/511 bikes is not a Kymco motor. It's a BMW motor - designed by BMW and made by Kymco, under BMW supervision.
I believe that the 449/511 engine was a cooperative effort of both BMW and Bombardier/Rotax so if dig deep enough you can almost see an American root.
Bombardier is Canada, right...close enough. Hey, are you guys going to start up your extra generators in HB?
Regardless- Anyone that hasn't ridden the new 449/511's should ride one for an hour or so before forming opinions about them. They are a pretty darn good bike and have a very nice smooth power delivery & are the easiest to ride in tight stuff of any of the big bikes I've personally ridden. They've been in service for close to 2 years now & there just hasn't been very many engine related mechanical issues come up so far - nothing like the older 450-510 big block engines. They sure aren't as vibey as the older engines. The only thing I think is a step back on them is that they are a bit harder to service the topend compared to the older bikes.
There is a very good chance of that but I can't really say to much about it in an open forum right now.
Whatever the details are and again... they may be better but Kymco just sounds lame "Kymco" like Costco. Looks dull in print and sounds dull and cheap to the ear... Ferrari... Husqvarna.... Triumph, Bugatti, even Harley, Matchless, BSA Goldstar...... Names that sound and look cool....... Kymco...Really???? Find a cooler name and I might calm down...... I'm sure the bikes are great but the motors should come from some place bitchen.... like Maui, then when you start winning races you can call it the "Wowie Maui" Then I would be happy......
