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Fifty years ago, when the Volkswagen Beetle was the first economical car to make a mark on U.S. sales charts, Road & Track's publisher John R. Bond came back from a cross-country trip with the astute observation that the people buying VWs didn't need them, while those who did need to save money on gas wouldn't have a Beetle under threat of death.
In 1973, when the first gas crisis gave us lines for the pump and doubled the price, the median income for the Honda Civic buyer was half again higher than the U.S. average, i.e. once more, people buying economy cars were the very people who didn't need to save money.
So? So here we are in the era of three-buck-a-gallon gasoline and we're pissing mad about how much we spend on fuel and how oh how can the economy survive…but I'm doing 150 miles a day and I see maybe 20 motorcycles in the midst of thousands of cars, literally, including Ferraris and Lambos and Bentleys, and more Land Rovers than I can count. Darn things might as well be SoCal Chevrolets. I saw one—I counted, one—classic econofreak, a guy in the old open helmet on a Honda step-through with the requisite milk crate and an auxiliary gas tank mounted on the rack.
Are there commutes on scoots?
Yes. They are grown men for the most part, on bigger bikes, some Harleys, some baggers and some sports. They are really good riders, splitting lanes and even using the double yellow lines between the HOV lane and the fast lane.
Reporting as someone who's been commuting on a bike for 30 years, I dunno how anyone who can ride a motorcycle cannot ride to work—never mind the typical 12 mpg, the infuriating delays, the lame drivers, etc. I couldn't stand it.
But I'm one of the few. In '73 I think it was, Yamaha commissioned a survey that said 85 percent of the public would not ride a motorcycle to work no matter what the price of gas. As Ring Lardner's character said, you could look it up.
Doesn't mean we can't do a little persuading, though. So, gathered in the Cycle World garage we have The Econobikes, eight entry-level/commuter machines cheap to own and cheap to operate. Everything from scooters to a sporter. We picked $4000 as the cutoff purchase point, though as you'll see later we fudged a little in a couple of cases.
How to ascertain the all-important mile-per-gallon numbers? Back when I was a full-timer at CW I was the official fuel-mileage man. I came up with The Loop. Starting in Newport Beach, it's out to 405 South for 25 miles, exit at San Juan Capistrano, then 25 miles across to the Pacific Coast Highway and back to the office. I estimate 40 percent Interstate, 10 percent city stop-and-go and 50 percent two-lane roads, streets and highways. By my count, there are seven stoplights down, 79 lights coming up the coast, through SJC, Dana Point, Laguna, Corona del Mar and Newport Beach. That means getting stopped by half the signals, and running down then up again through the gears 40 or so times each circuit.
I do the loop twice on each bike for a total of almost exactly 100 miles, topping up at the Union 76 station just down the street, then crunching the numbers. Trustworthy numbers I'll add here—no extended coastdowns for red lights, no engine off at stops, no babying away from the line. This is real-world riding.
Okay, then, the bikes in order of my rides:
Cards on the table, I'm not much of a cruiser guy, so the Honda Rebel, as cute a little ¾-scale chopperette as you'll find, is not something I'd usually choose to be seen on. The standard-style Nighthawk 250 (same engine) would be more like it, but Honda says it gets outsold 10 to 1 by the Rebel so what do I know? An indictment of our culture, in my opinion.
Here we have Honda's impeccable engineering, with a quiet inline-Twin and all the modern features (okay, no radiator but that's not always an advance) mixed/cursed with stepped seat, high and wide bars, forward controls, all the accoutrements of the 20-year-old cruiser fad.
This is a shame. The Rebel will walk away from traffic, will cruise at 70 indicated with plenty of buzz but no apparent damage or risk or loosened parts. It fires right up, runs cool in traffic, has good brakes, should be low-maintenance and the fill-up showed 78.3 mpg. Wow!
But the overdone bars force a posture that hurts my neck, and the seat is too close to the controls for me, an average-size guy. In sum, excellent mechanicals and astonishing economy that for me don't quite overcome the goofy styling, but if you're under 5-foot-7 and like the mini-Low Rider looks, God bless and have at it.
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