New folks to Hbg might not know me and what a proponent of Hbg I am, especially with my TM moniker. Most everyone knows that Hbg has had a roller coaster ride with ownership, quality, and distributors.
I embraced the original 1989 Hbgs (a bike the rewrote the rules), buying a 92 when they got a foothold in the USA, and along with others, I suffered thru some of the problems of the later '90s models and and pre-2004 models, only to see Hbg clearly have a superior bike (although unrightfully lacking respece) in the 2004 to 2008 models.
I have been setting back watching the 2009 reviews come out and must say, I am amazed at the satisfaction. Back when Hbg released the original bikes in 1989, they were great, but small, so the competition took note, but wasn't too worried. The 2009 Hbg models have to make the competition feel like they got kicked in the junk, and they can't guard themselves. Thomas, Roland, and the gang (there is new blood that also embraces thinking outside the box) have staged another coup. Now let's just hope that the factory WEC team can realized success on the new bikes, since their performance on the 2009 prototypes was a notch below their performance on the older bikes
(no dig intended here, the old bikes were detailed to the Nth degree, whereas they were doing constant R&D on the 2009 prototypes and learning every race).
Go Loke.
I embraced the original 1989 Hbgs (a bike the rewrote the rules), buying a 92 when they got a foothold in the USA, and along with others, I suffered thru some of the problems of the later '90s models and and pre-2004 models, only to see Hbg clearly have a superior bike (although unrightfully lacking respece) in the 2004 to 2008 models.
I have been setting back watching the 2009 reviews come out and must say, I am amazed at the satisfaction. Back when Hbg released the original bikes in 1989, they were great, but small, so the competition took note, but wasn't too worried. The 2009 Hbg models have to make the competition feel like they got kicked in the junk, and they can't guard themselves. Thomas, Roland, and the gang (there is new blood that also embraces thinking outside the box) have staged another coup. Now let's just hope that the factory WEC team can realized success on the new bikes, since their performance on the 2009 prototypes was a notch below their performance on the older bikes
(no dig intended here, the old bikes were detailed to the Nth degree, whereas they were doing constant R&D on the 2009 prototypes and learning every race).
Go Loke.
