Motorcycles have come a long way from the basic bikes of decades past, when engines based on 1940s technology spewed oil at the slightest provocation and poor (or no) suspension systems tortured the hardiest of biker spines.

Now, motorcycle manufacturers, including tradition-oriented Harley-Davidson, are making bikes with such high-tech amenities as fuel injection, antilock braking systems and a host of electronic gizmos that automatically adjust brakes, fuel delivery and suspension to changing conditions on the road and in the environment.

Antilock brakes have been an option on some Hondas, Yamahas, BMWs and other motorcycles for a number of years. Many models now have electronically adjustable windshields.

Honda Gold Wings even have an air-bag option.

The new Kawasaki Concourse 14 has tire-pressure sensors and a system called variable valve timing that the bike maker touts as improving "volumetric efficiency." If that's too technically esoteric, Kawasaki says, it's enough to know that VVT allows the bike to provide more torque with a cleaner-running engine. (Bike makers sense the EPA lurking).

Victory has hollowed out the aluminum frame in its new Vision touring bike to use as an air box and moved the gas supply from the normal position in front of the rider's seat to two pods hidden on either side of the front fork. Both measures were taken to allow for a lower seat height.

Harley is showing off its new antilock braking system with emergency-stop demonstrations in the Rushmore Plaza Civic Center parking lot. It is also touting a new isolated drive system aimed at smoothing out vibrations and a new electronically-controlled throttle to better match its cruise control.

The motorcycle companies say the push for new technology is a response, in part, to government regulations - some expected and some already enacted - particularly on exhaust noise and emissions.

The tech push is also coming because of increased competition among the motorcycle companies and an increasingly saturated market in heavy cruising and touring bikes, some of the bike makers say.

The impetus for better technology is also coming from customers - those who already own motorcycles and others who the bike makers hope will start buying.

The futuristic-looking Victory Vision, for example, was designed after surveying touring-bike customers, who wanted more comfort, more progressive styling, a lower seat height and a farther forward foot position, said Ted Smokstad, a Victory district sales manager from Minnesota, where Victory has its corporate headquarters.

Smokstad is on hand at Rice Honda Suzuki Victory, where the Victory Vision and Victory Street are on display.

"We're trying to make it Lexus-like," he said of the Victory Vision.

Japanese bike customers have been demanding higher-technology bikes all along, according to Bill Hearne, managing partner of Outdoor Motor Sports in Spearfish, which sells Hondas and Yamahas.

Wade Rice, general manager of Rice Honda in Rapid City, said that very soon, all street motorcycles will have fuel injection, rather than carburetors.

Harley-Davidson is improving the technology in its bikes - but always within its classic parameters, according to John Baker, Harley's marketing director for touring bikes.

Keeping the Harley's "look, sound and feel" is the company mantra.

Baker was at Rushmore Plaza Civic Center this week for Harley's new-product show, where, as usual, it is unveiling its new models during the Sturgis motorcycle rally.

"Harley-Davidson is 51 percent form and 49 percent function," Baker said. "We develop technology to enable form to get the look that our customers want."

Harley has an eye on the competition as well as on coming emissions controls, such as those it must meet in Europe, Baker said.

It also has an eye to those future bikers it hopes to capture.

But all of Harley's design starts with its existing customers, Baker said.

Baker acknowledged that some of its traditional customers - the hard-core Harley guys who helped keep the company afloat during hard times - have been skeptical about new technology. "They like simplicity," Baker said.

However, he said: "We're very careful how we introduce technology. For example, we rolled out fuel injection over a decade."

This year, Harley is offering antilock braking systems as an option on its touring and V-Rod bikes.

Harley's ABS got a good review from Bill Sullivan, one of the hundreds of bikers taking the new 2008 Harley touring bikes for test rides at the civic center this week.

Sullivan, of Manchester, N.H., owns a 2005 Harley Electra-Glide Classic. He finished a test ride Monday on a 2008 Harley touring bike equipped with ABS and pronounced the braking "fantastic."

During the test ride, he came up to a stoplight that changed quickly. "On my bike, I'd have skidded to a stop," Sullivan said. "This stopped fine," he said about the ABS-equipped Harley.

Harley's ABS system is purposefully hidden, Baker said. Rather than a package visible on the wheel, the sensor is on a black ring slipped over the axle. The sending wire is behind the fork - visible but not noticeable.

That's the whole idea, Baker said.

Customers want technical improvements, but they still want motorcycles that look good.

"Rolling art is what we produce," Baker said. "When we develop a technology to deliver what that customer wants, it's all done under the umbrella of look, sound and feel."

Contact Steve Miller at 394-8417 or steve.miller@rapidcityjournal.com