Modern Motorcycles: Have We Traded Soul for Screens and Tech?

And the first sort of group I wanna talk about is really this digital separation from the road.

So if you think of it, when you're getting out onto a modern bike, you miss a little bit of the tactile feedback that we're used to.

We've got a ride-by-wire throttle, and while this has some benefits to it, the downside is it almost smooths out a lot of the engine character that might have been there beforehand.

And as a result, things that you would have had a little bit of feedback into is missing.

Since you no longer have that sort of cam in place with the cable that you would have in a normal throttle, you lack a little bit of that feedback of, hey, the pressure starts to feel a little bit more.

It's basically linear today, at least the feedback in your wrist.

And so you miss a little bit of that tactile feedback.

I'd say actually the same thing happens with electronic suspension.

When you were riding and you had the bike was hitting a bump or you felt the imperfections in the road, What happens is you know what's happening.

You know that you need to adjust because you know the surface is not as smooth or has as much traction as it would otherwise.

But the electronic suspension is almost numbing this feeling coming back to you.

It's smoothed it out so completely much that you no longer have the feel.

Now, one can argue that it gives better performance.

It's going to give you more traction.

but you do miss that tactile feedback.

And that is something that riders will sometimes say is holding them back a little bit.

It's something that they're feeling is missing from that experience.

Another area would be really when you think of your skills versus the algorithms.

We have inertial measurement units, they could be six axis units, and these are controlling lean angle traction, cornering ABS.

It's a technological powerhouse and amazing stuff that you can happen But do the algorithms save you from mistakes or do they rob you from the rewards of gaining new skills that can make your riding even more meaningful? If you never learn that, hey, if you hit the throttle way too much, the rear end is going to slide out on you and this is that edge of where you need to be to keep it from doing so on this traction, in this gear, on this bike, in these temperatures, etc., Well, if the computer's doing it all for you, you never learn.

The bike is kind of doing it for you.

And this is something that does hold back some riders.

And I want to hit on a little bit of something that happens even in modern cars.

And this has been a gripe of... people who were driving enthusiasts.

A lot of modern sports cars have electric steering.