Honda pumped out a preview on their site touting the 2010 Honda Shadow RS.

Wish there were more to expand upon but there is not much released yet to repeat. No price listed yet, no specifications, but here's what we do know:

Available March 2010

• White or metallic silver
  
• 'Athletic riding position' which I read to mean that the pegs are about 12" further back than the rest of the Shadow line.
• Drum rear brake

Now for some speculating assumptions:

• EFI (as found in the 2010 Shadow Phantom)
• 750cc
• Will be mistaken for an HD Sporster by many.
• I suspect will get a list price between $6-7K

More info to come as it arrives.

Update:

Got ahold of an official Honda press release regarding the Shadow RS, MSRP is $7,799.

Opinion:

I ride and love my Honda, fine motorcycle. What concerns me about the Shadow RS is the price and what you get for your money. Being that the Shadow RS has a lot of the HD Sporster's look and style, lets use that for a comparison:

Harley-Davidson 883 Low

$6,999
Belt Drive
Rear Disc Brakes
Electronic Fuel Injection
Larger motor
Better trade-in value

Honda has a great reputation for quality and reliability, but they also feel a bit cheap on some of the details. Lots of plastic and chrome plated plastic. There is a wealth of after-market options for everything Harley-Davidson, not so much for the Shadow line of bikes. Sporster has had a long history in the product line and is a mature design with refinement. Etc, etc, etc.

All lead to my big question: "Why does it cost more than the competition and offer me less?"

Wish I could answer that… doesn't make sense. I think that if the price was at $5,999 it might sway more heads towards a Honda dealership. But for $800 more than the real McCoy they're copying, why not go with the McCoy's product?

The folks at Brammo is leading the commercial race to affordable and practical electric motorcycles. The Enertia has had lots of positive press, a great diary of their journey to DC to postalize their efforts, and even Jay Leno has taken possession and touting it on his website.

I'm pretty excited about this bit of news:

Price has dropped from $11,995 to $7,995.

If knocking $4K off the price wasn't good enough, there's a Federal tax incentive that will lower the price down another $800. To a total of $7,195, that's pretty damn good.

That nets you a bike that's priced the same as 750cc cruisers and lower end of the standard/street bike lineups from Japanese, European and American ICE manufacturers. Making the temptation to go electric that much more appealing.

It's always been my problem with current Hybrid cars, if you subtract the ecological factors, a Prius starts at $22,400. My new car was $12,000. You can buy a heck of a lot of gas for the difference of $10,400. With my car's MPG, if I used the $10,400 I saved and spent it solely on 89 Octane getting 25MPG, I could go over 110K miles!

Now I'm a practical dude, I commute less than 16 miles a day, I make short trips… electric vehicles make sense for my transportation needs. Now that the price is realistic for what you get, I could go for this.

No more valve clearance checks, oil changes, plugs or clutch. My lazy side is coaxing me to find a spare seven large in green.

Straight from the Ural site:

Came up with the idea of the Red October to commemorate either the 25th anniversary of the novel "The Hunt for the Red October" or the 92nd anniversary of the Red October Revolution (whichever comes first)

However serious or not so serious they are about the claim, here it is in all it's Cold War red glory. Ural is a Russian brand and there will be no mistaking that with the sickle and hammer on the back of the sidecar. I kinda like it.

A 750cc boxer motor with a 4-speed transmission, including reverse. The Ural's all share the same engine boasting a power output of 40HP. Recommended top speed is 70mph and thusly not recommended for interstate travel, but more than apropos to meander thru the winding backroads with the wife.

Aesthetically the Red October has a retro look, retro as timeless. Being that the overall mechanics and design haven't changed all that much in the past 50 years. Only minor but welcomed improvements such as a Bremodo caliper and disc brake. Reportedly has ample stopping power for the 700lb scoot and it's sidecar.

Some of the Ural models of the past offered two-wheel drive and a fidget-some differential that needed lots of adjusting to make the bike'n'hack track a straight line. The Red October is a single wheel drive which offers less maintenance but will require more body English to maneuver.

Priced at $12,999 it's not an inexpensive package, $3000 more than the Ural T of similar technical capabilities. Vanity and cool come at a price!

Now that the rain has subsided and the asphalt dried. The weather has shifted from wet to cold.

Riding in the blistering cold starts suck within the first yard of your driveway. My bulky Winter riding gear gets the job done but my hands tend to get numb when the mercury drops to single digits. The windchill (a term surely lost on those of you in Hawaii) ravages the warmth from your fingertips after a few miles in sub-freezing temps.

One remedy? Handguards, just like you might find on a dirtbike. Did some searching, there are a smattering of commercial ones to be had. Selection can be sparse for your model of scoot however.

Human ingeniuty to the rescue!

There's a step-by-step "Homemade Motorcycle Wind Deflectors" how-to over at instructables.com on just how to make some of your own.

Might just have to make some of my own this weekend. I could also go a totally ghetto route like this guy and use some discarded motor oil containers:

The bottom image is curtesy of Guzzi Doug, a local guy who shares his around-the-world motorcycle trips. Even circled the globe on a 1948 Indian Chief. Check out his past and present globe trotting here.