Re: Wish List

[Bruno Valeri <bvaleri@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

- ----- Original Message -----
From: "andrew johnson" <sundiaL@xxxxxxx>
To: <oilheads@xxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Tuesday, February 10, 2004 4:53 PM
Subject: Re: Wish List


> Speaking of low-end torque and wish-lists... and "oil"-heads:
The
> Marine Diesel motorcycle is working out quite well, and ought
to
> reach civilian production by the end of this year.

Just an aside.
There are many build philosophies.
Some are [form follows function]. To my mind, the BMW airheads
were a good example of this.

Some are [form follows marketing]. Harley is a good example of
this.

And other orientations are less obvious. Some manufacturers
actually follow the [form follows function] quite a bit even
though they are not known for this specifically. Ie they engineer
solutions for a particular application without being encumbered
by artificial marketing restrictions. Japanese manufacturers come
to mind. They will develop an engine configuration to best meet
the need for an application and often start from a blank slate. I
suspect this is the spirit of [form follows function].

In Harley's case [form follows marketing], they did a splendid
job. Though I remember back in the early 80's when they needed
protection from import tariffs in order to survive.

Stepping back (after having added a couple of logs to the fire)

Bruno
Montreal, Canada
CBR 929
http://pages.infinit.net/mcrides

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