Gizmodo 
Enter your username and password.
Tip your editors:
Editorial Director:
Brian Lam | | Twitter
Editor:
Jason Chen
| AIM | Twitter
Features Editor:
Wilson Rothman
| Twitter
Senior Contributing Editors:
Jesus Diaz
| AIM | Twitter
Mark Wilson, Reviews
| AIM | Twitter
Contributing Editors:
Matt Buchanan
| AIM | Twitter
Adam Frucci
| Twitter
Sean Fallon
| Twitter
Jack Loftus
| Twitter
John Herrman
| Twitter
Dan Nosowitz
Chris Mascari
Danny Allen
| Twitter
Rosa Golijan
| Twitter
Chris Jacob
Columnist:
Brendan I. Koerner
Interns:
Don Nguyen
Kyle VanHemert
Comment Account Questions:
Original material is licensed under a Creative Commons License permitting non-commercial sharing with attribution.
09/16/09
Full Disclosue: I have poor impulse control
09/16/09
09/16/09
09/16/09
Learning to shift is part of the learning process; it keeps the novice rider in check. Those wanting to just jump on a bike and blast into traffic have this obstacle of a gearbox and have to use a bit of hand-eye-foot coordination to use it.
09/17/09
Third, look at the dramatic increase in sales of motor scooters, particularly higher powered models, which are in fact "auto".
Sorry, but I think there's a market out there, just as there was a market for that new-fangled automatic transmission in cars, which in turn lowered the barrier to entry and allowed a lot more people to drive.
09/17/09
Basic motorcycles now are more powerful than ever. All but the most powerful auto or CVT scooters have far less power than the least powerful motorcycles. Years ago, 350 to 400CC motorcycles were common, now, except for a handful of bikes, displacement for a "beginner" bike is at LEAST 500CC. A burgman only puts out ~35 HP, that is HALF of what most beginner motorcycles put out. The new DN-01 comes to mind when thinking of a big, expensive, heavy, powerful automatic motorcycle - and the thought of fleets of these scares the begeezus out of me.
Honestly, in my state, we have a education course for riding, for "free" (it is paid for with motorcycle registration, permit and license renewal fees) - as such, it is IMPOSSIBLY hard to get a license outside of this test. A proliferation of cheap powerful automatic motorcycles would offset that nice balance - can't wait til my insurance bill reflects that.
Learning to drive a manual transmission on a bike is part of the cost of admission.
09/17/09
09/17/09
However, the control of the engine range at speed of a gasoline burner is the main benefit. I have an automatic bike in my garage actually, a sandcast CB750 with a 1978 CB750A engine and transmission. The transmission is more than a side-effect, other than control of gearing range (I am smarter than any auto I've driver, and can shift faster), complexity and maintenence along with cost are other issues.
09/17/09
On the EV side of things, I love getting off the mark at a stoplight way, way faster than conventional vehicles. Not only do you have the super-high torque at low revs, but no shifting delay. Mine is a pedal assist bike with a front hub motor. I kind of enjoy the looks I get when I go from 0 to 25MPH on what looks like a regular bicycle while the cars are still warming up. :-)
09/17/09
09/17/09
@Lizard_King: Just bragging. :-)