I just noticed Mid-South Motoplex has got a zero mileage 2007 Honda 919 listed over on their site for $6,999.00 which is $1,500.00 off the original. That's a good deal and I guess they really want to get that baby out of there. It's a shame that bikes like this tend to sit on the dealership floors for so long. This isn't the first 919 I've seen that sat on the floor a long time. As a matter of fact, I've seen plenty of Honda 599's, Suzuki SV1000's, and other standard / naked bikes collecting dust at the dealer over the years. The funny thing is, I talk to a lot of other riders and most say they love naked (or half-faired) standard bikes. How is it then that no one has been buying these, really?

Personally, my last three out of four bike purchases where "standards" or close to it. My '81 GS550e, a 2001 ZR-7s, and my current 2006 SV650s are all standards and they were/are all terribly fun to ride. I do realize that with the clip-on's the SV blurs the line a bit between sportbike and standard but I digress. I think it's a shame we don't get more standard bikes over here, but if they're not selling, we're not going to see them

Even Yamaha's excellent FZ-6 now wears lower plastics and has had an "R" bestowed upon it which will undoubtedly bump up sales. I'm not knocking the new Fizzer, I understand it's a great bike, but where's the exposed exhaust headers, the center stand,  and the one piece seat? This is no standard bike anymore, just a sportbike with handlebars!

I guess in order to sell a new bike here in the USA you've either got to wrap it in plastic or dip it in chrome. Sounds like a bit of a rant I suppose, but here's some examples of what we're missing in the US.

The Honda CBF600SA                                         The Yamaha XJR1300 (nice!!)

    
The Yamaha MT-01 ( damn! )                                     The Suzuki Bandit 650

These are just a few examples of why I'm on a bit of a tear here. These are some pretty awesome machines, particularly the Yammy's. The smaller Honda and Suzuki are a bit less agressive (to say the least) but would make fantastic middleweight all-rounders for new and seasoned riders alike.

It's not the manufacturers' fault that they don't sell here so I can't really blast them for their decisions. The blame falls on us, the consumer, so all I can say is "What's wrong with you people! Standard bikes rock!" hmmm... did that work?.. eh, probably not. Felt good to get it off my chest though. I'm gonna go ride my ( almost ) standard SV now.

Keep the shiny side up everybody,

-Brandon