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Fischer: Any thoughts?

4K views 23 replies 14 participants last post by  Gr8racer 
#1 ·
Check this link:

www.fischer1.com

Any thoughts?

Mine are, as an American, this is pretty sad.

I mean, I applaud the guy for doing this. He obviously has a passion for motorcycles and that's a great thing. We need people like tihs.

But the other side of this is, this is damn near pathetic. A Hyosung engine? Come on. It would be the same if it was a Suzuki engine though.

We are Americans. We can make the fastest airplanes in the world, send people to the moon, etc. But this is the best we can do for sporting motorcycles?

It also is kinda sad that it takes some guy in Portland, who has the same passion for motorcycles, to build a MotoGP bike with his own money.

I would buy an American bike if it was the right one. I just can't bring myself to buy a Buell. I think the idea is cool, but a *&^%^&* Harley engine? Come on!

Then again, these days, image rules and the image for sporting engines breaks down something like this:

Japanese make 4 cylinder bikes
British make 3 cylinder bikes
Italians make 90 degree water cooled V-Twins
Germans make opposed air cooled Twins
Americans make boat anchors (aka 45 degree air cooled V-Twins)

And then you have the oddities mixed in, like the Benelli, Aprilia, Moto Guzzi, MV, RC-51, BMW 4 cylinder bikes, etc.

And that's about it.

Maybe someone should build a nice Single? Heh.
 
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#3 ·
Yeah, I was interested in these when they showed the first prototypes, and I've been on their email list for years, waiting for updates.
I have to say, I am dissapointed in the engine, but at least the price is lower than expected (unless you start to add options), but the part that gets me is how badly he bashes Buell, and claims that the Fischer is the first American sportbike, and then plops in a Korean engine. I wouldn't own any Buells to date, but I think they're on the right track (I'd like to see the V-Rod's engine in a Buell chassis!).
Also, the Fischer is ugly, and looks cheap and 'kit-bike' to me.
But, we'll see hoe it rides (after all, the chassis is based on the H-D Superbike, and we all know how well that worked :barfalot: !)
 
#4 ·
That's actually a good thing.

The chassis of the Harley superbike was not the problem. The problem was the team and horsepower output. This is what I gather from reading lots of interviews with former riders (I was pretty interested in the project).

I think politics killed that bike in the end. We all know they could have slapped a Buell logo on it and sold it to the public and it probably would have sold pretty well. But Buell didn't design it, so he wouldn't have liked that, and Harley probably doesn't really want to be in the sportbike business, at least not with a Harley logo on it.

The Fischer is cheap, but what do you expect from a bike with carburetors? Holy cow. NOBODY has carbs anymore. Not with newly designed bikes, anyway.
 
#6 ·
The Ohlins in the back is nice, especially for 8kUSD. But 77 hp from a 650cc twin? I'm sorry, but for the same price you can get a 600cc japanese I4 that pushes 30 more ponies.
The styling is "ok". It certainly doesn't ignite anything deep in the soul like an MV/916 (but what does?).
It feels like a novelty. I think I'll wait for the KTM superbike.
 
#7 ·
True : it's seems to have all the show with none of the Go!!!!!
 
#11 ·
fazer6 said:
From what I hear though, this guy hasn't been able to get it together to actually ship bikes.

Although if Harley is involved now, I suppose that means things are getting more serious.

This might be something I could get behind, if he can pull it off. Problem is it's bound to be very pricey.

If Fischer could get a decent engine, even if it pushed it over $10k, I might consider it.
 
#12 ·
I think that for that kind of price, it may appeal to a bunch of young people in California (the only state it is sold at this time). The korean engine is a carbon-copy of the Suzuki SV and it is supposed to be decent. The body design is a mix of Benelli-Bimota-Triumph styling.

We will not know the veredict until they have sold a few, though.
 
#13 ·
We (the USA) will NEVER make a real sportbike unless its made by Polaris or someone with current manufacturing abilities. The reason being that WE HAVE NO MANUFACTURING LEFT and too many EPA, OSHA, crash test rules that the rest of the world does not have to follow! Its too hard for the "little guy" to get in the game anymore.
 
#14 ·
you are correct about no more manufacturing...and that's not only in automotive. we have become a consumer nation. it will remain that way until big corporations only interested in their own bottom line become seperated from government. [end of mini rant]

also...i don't think there is an american company interested enough in motorcycles other than harley. well outside of the boss hoss and that mega chrysler bike. :jsm:
 
#15 ·
oh, and as for the fischer...hey, i'll give the guy/company credit for trying. they have a looong way to go to catch up. triumph made decent 600ss with the TT600, but it got trounced up against the big4. they JUST now seem to have found their niche with the 675. who knows where this company may go in years to come, provided they have the funding.
 
#16 ·
style_one said:
oh, and as for the fischer...hey, i'll give the guy/company credit for trying. they have a looong way to go to catch up. triumph made decent 600ss with the TT600, but it got trounced up against the big4. they JUST now seem to have found their niche with the 675. who knows where this company may go in years to come, provided they have the funding.
What Triumph did with the 675 though was truly brilliant.

They had their sights squarely set on the big 4 as far as performance.

BUT, if they didn't hit the mark, this isn't necessarily a bad thing. They can make a good handling bike, and they achieved this. The triple will have "character". If it doesn't beat the big 4, so what, people will still buy it. But it did, and now it will probably be wildly successful for people who want something slightly different.

Triumph failed with the 4 cylinder bikes to match performance. Apparently nobody wants a 4 cylinder Triumph that doesn't match performance of the big 4. I kind of liked them. I rode the TT600 and I thought the press was overly harsh on it. It was a nice bike.

Fischer, however, is threatening to completely miss the mark I think. A carbureted Korean knock off of a Japanese 650cc v-twin engine in a bike that is being touted as an "American" motorcycle is kind of stretching the limits of credibility with me.

Even a standard Rotax engine would have made more sense to me:

http://www.rotax.com/en/Engine/2004/Motorcycle/Engine.Models.htm

Might be hard to convince anyone to ride a single, but the v-twin would be cool. There's worse things than saying "but it has an Aprilia engine".
 
#17 ·
i agree. the rotax is a proven durable platform. but i'm sure co$t would have played a factor here. i also agree that they may miss the mark. but hopefully theres some funding there that would give them a chance to keep on trying. i mean even though the TT600 got good reviews for handling, for the majority of people who want 600SS's, it could not compete. some bought it just to be different. some because the price was right after triumphs rebates and stuff. but it took what like 6 years or more for them to get to the 675? maybe fischer can be around long enough to make a hit. right now though, whith what i see, they can probably fahggetaboutit.
 
#19 ·
I read somewhere that the Highland engine in that bike wasn't up to "street" duty. Kind of odd because Highland sells that engine in a supermoto bike.

Usually v-twin engines are pretty heavy.

I'm all for a nice light bike like that. If they put a few small projector beam headlights it would look a lot better too.
 
#20 ·
Based on the price, it seems like Fischer was aiming for a low cost mass market bike - which is great. The only problem is, the Fischer looks cheap compared to its concept.

Fischer should have wowed the public by releasing the supercharged version first and then when people took notice, released the n/a version.
 
#22 ·
Sorry. I lost my train of thought when posting my last comments. Looks like Fischer is making an affordable bike but the build quality looks cheap - not a good thing for a new builder, especially when the Japanese bikes are improving their refinement.

Fischer may have done better to launch the supercharged version and add a higher level of quality. I'd expect that since it would be supercharged, it would have a power advantage over other 600s and probably put it in the level as some non-superbike 1000s. Charge $10,000 or $11,000 (with the options he listed) a pop and he'd have additional profits and gain a reputation over other 600s. Then, after he's penetrated the market, introduce the lower spec n/a bike at it's current price point. Fischer isn't going to be a mass produced bike (at least initially) so he should have relied on the exclusive factor to help sell his bike. But to be exclusive, you need to add some quality or it would be just like a kit bike.

Sadly, I don't think the Fischer will appeal very much to the super sport or super bike crowd. It will probably pulls sales from first time motorcyclist considering the Ninja 650, Hyosung, or maybe the SV650 - which is not a bad thing if that's the market you want to go after BUT I think it would give Fischer the reputation as a budget bike and he'd have to fight that if he wanted to move into the superbike or supersport market.
 
#24 ·
Funny, I was a Buell rider in the early days of Buell....owned 3 different models. At the time many of the parts/fasteners looked like they were from the Ace Hardware bin or ordered from JC Whitney....
It has taken a long time (and a lot of Harley-infused cash) for Buell to get where they are now and maybe this Fischer bike will end up doing the same with another manufacturer.
 
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