Those are acquisitive Yuppie-trained Hey Look How Much *I* Spent! for a Muffler kinda guys n'gals. Learning the subtleties about riding is not high on that list. (There are always exceptions, though)

Bet: on the Sunday Morning ride from Stinson Beach --> Point Reyes, these Fashionables will trickle in.. while the riders are on 2nd cup of whatever. The early-arrivals may be on everything from BSA 650s to Norton Dominator 99s - which cost in the hundreds. New. A while back. (Well a few ZX-11 thru 13s on brute HP and some other pukka racers; but these don't need any 'better' mufflers!)

Nobody ever went broke, pricing stuff for the gullible and fashion-conscious Too high.. well, almost nobody. There are no US 'motorcycle' mags I've seen in past several years; just hype like above. It sells. Maybe in UK (?) are some vestiges of The Motor Cycle from days of yore. I hope so.

Still, there will always be a few authentic riders about; it's just too exhilarating - to surrender to the tawdry masses.


Ashton

My cohorts also "made stuff out of Mg alloys" and such, seeking performance not show (though craftsmanship counted). So maybe these are just the evolved group: with unlimited funds for the kind of materials we had to scrounge.

Kinda hard to imagine just how many parts in the marques mentioned er need replacing though? Guess it's the eternal customize gene run amok. When yer down to shaving grams off.. that's the symptom.

OT more: guy I bought my car from, had a near-new Kawa ZX-13 in garage. Now this is a blunt-force ~165 HP! instrument as compared with the above mentioned. More a Gran Turismo for roads which have long since.. been rendered unuseable, for the traffic. A stock machine capable of >180 (honest) MPH! Watched him drive away on it towards SF - back to work; (I had his car!)

Hey, I can sell your guy a Beryllium brake plate - now That's rilly Light, At. No. = 4 - for about $1K. How many he want? Never mind that namby-pamby carbon-fibre plastic stuff... Oh wait! - don't need brake-plates any more - it's all discs. Never mind :(



Ashton Cycle Parts for the Celestial Budget AG