Are high performance bikes next?

“The quantitative argument for a stick shift is not even a conversation at this point, in terms of the numbers,” Canton said. McLaren has never offered a stick shift in any of its cars since debuting the first road version in 2010. “It’s just so much faster, it’s not even close. It’s more fuel efficient, and it produces fewer emissions.”

It's just not McLaren, all high end brands too!

So, will our ultra high performance bikes do the same? Auto manufacturers say they need on board systems to control transmissions for optimum performance.

 

I hope not...haven't owned an automatic since I was 14. All this crap, lane exit warnings, blind spot warnings, automatic braking, back up alarm, parking assist, back up camera, bluetooth connected to phone...wtf happened to knowing how to actually drive?

 

Probably, its a matter of time.

 

There's an app for that.

 

So are DCT Hondas faster than standards? Never tried one.

 

Maybe, who knows, I hope not, that's one of the fun parts of riding a bike.. But looking how Honda now has an option, DCT, who knows where all this smart tech will go.. What ever happened to keep it simple?

 

If anyone gets it itll be the harley guys first. Just imagine all those guys scared of having a standard transmission that could then get a harley because its an automatic.

 

Got the quick shifter on mine, makes shifting fun.

 

Both Honda and MotoGuzzi have had auto trannies. On bikes just one more thing when it fails will leave riders stranded or having to take the bike in to get it serviced.

 

Same thing as everything else. It goes back to an uneducated population in a nanny state with a federal government that thinks they need to do everything including wipe our ass for us as exorbitant costs. One of these days, people are going to have no more money to tax. Where can I get someone to brush my teeth for me? A car that parks itself automatically? Really? Anyone that really needs that should in no way be driving. Over and out.

 

Way to drag politics into a conversation that had absolutely nothing to do with politics dude. Well done.

 

Thank you for your consideration and participation in the politics.

 

Bikes have quick shift up and auto blip down. Not an automatic, but still very fun. The auto blip down is great for coming hot into a corner on the brakes. I've ridden both the Ducati and BMW hyper sport bikes with it. Good times!

Oh and bewbs...

 

I guess I didn't get the point across in the original post. The article I got that from explained that ALL the high end super cars are so powerful and so sophisticated electronically, that they can get better performance, tighter integration when the onboard computer control the automatic transmissions. Note the onboard cameras of NASCAR and Indy cars all use paddle shifters. They are like the modern jet fighters where the on board computers can make corrections 100 times faster than a human. It may seem that these supercars are less fun to drive because they aren't sticks. If the computers can shift faster, better and smoother in a 600-900 hp car, that leaves more time for the driver to focus on handling that power. It's not a question of governmental controls, but one of being competitive in the market place. None of the mfg's get requests for sticks and more. Classic sports cars and bikes are a lot more fun as sticks. I grew up in an Austin Healy, had an MG TF, couple of Jags, and a little Italian car with a HP Ford 289, all sticks. I was asking if you guys though that today's 200+ HP bikes would might eventually go the same route.
Keith Code said it best:

 

I feel this is an apples and oranges comparison.

The supercars market is a different thing that has big reasons in clientele and in the machinery, to skip offering a manual and use something that can both better exploit the hardware, and better protect the hardware (especially in cases where all wheel drive or torque vectoring is concerned.) For example, plenty of manual cars are still made all around the world.

A sport bike is fast like a supercar, but mechanically speaking is probably closer to an economy car; the packaging tends to favor a manual way to select gears even though there are some automatic systems on the market. As we can see in motorcycle racing, there is no automatic solution that outpaces manual gear shifting anyway.

Also this has nothing to do with 'nanny state', and that invocation is infantile.

 

If guess is a possibility. With the quick shift/auto blip, you really only use the clutch to start moving. When you're hard on the gas and banging gears up and down, you're allowed more focus on the turn/breaking etc. I love shifting my current 5th gen, but I do want a new bike, simply because of the electronics and rider aids. Not because I don't know how to ride, but because I do and I see the logic in them. More focus on the road/turn/track etc. I like analog, but I also like digital, because it frees me up. Honesty though, if you are going to have quick shift up, then have auto blip down. Ducati did that with the 1299, but not the 899 and the 959. With the price of these bikes, it just seems like they were being cheap leaving it out.
Also, after driving BMW cars with the paddle shift, when you are performance driving, there is no way possible a person can shift that smoothly. In turns, braking etc, it all works together to create a sort of synergy that really raised it to the next level.

 

I like the term "Rider Aids", manufacturers always improving and trying to out do each other. "Drivers Aids" are good too, like crash avoidance, lane checking. Self parking and autonomous cars are a bit much. Instead of "self driving" they should call it an "Advanced Cruise Control" where humans can over ride, then automatically go back to electronic control, and not like cruise control where you have to fumble around with controls to restore it, (more driver distraction).

 

Look at how many buttons and dials are on an F1 car steering wheel. If a driver gets distracted operating a system of four basic buttons...on, set, cancel, resume, then that explains a lot.

 

Walmart has universal fit fake FI steering wheels with lots of buttons. The same company I understand from my inside sources, will be producing fake farkles that look like the real thing to strap on any bike. One piece Velcro attached SAT phones with holder, Styrofoam luggage, GPS lookalikes with a dozen overlays simulating exotic places, LED rope lights attached with suction cups ect. Many popular items to stand oot on your ride at bike nights. Look for these and more near Christmas.

 

None of my bikes have any of that stuff on them. My car does. To be able to downshift that slushbox is like nirvana. The shifter is a console type too and I feel Just like __________. even at the 2X5 centavo. This is a fill in the blank thing. Insert any famous fast guy of choice. Save it but do not re-post. Others are very fickle aboot fast guys kind of like they actually know them.

One that is really cool that didn't quite work oot was the preselecting semi-auto tranny on the 1937 Cord. An even earlier version that was sort of automatic was the tranny in the Model T Fords.

I sure hope when all this stuff finally comes oot on all bikes they include a reverse on the auto trannys figuring that by that time regular size bikes will all weigh aboot 800lbs and have four wheels.