"as the Elan is the greatest sportscar every made "
As long as you can keep replacing all the parts that break. Chapman may have been a genius when it came to designing for performance , but he was sadly lacking in the durability/reliability department.;-)
John dun in Boise
As far as the comparison of a Chrysler Town and County and a Mazda Miata vs a 25 lb touring bike and a 19 lb Teledyne wonder:
1) Yes it is true that the weight differential of the touring bike vs the race bike is small when you consider the real weight difference might be 185 lbs for the touring bike (unloaded) vs 179 lbs for the race bike (160 lb rider and added weight of bike). The same difference for the Miata is 2,400 lbs (2,200 car, 40 lbs for one tank of fuel and 160 lbs for rider) vs the Mini van at 3,200 lbs. The touring bike is less than 4% weight penalty over the race bike and the Mini van takes a 50% weight penalty over the Miata. The Miata handles and drives like night and day over a Mini van while the fine lightweight touring bike is different in the subtleties only.
2) A Miata is 2,200 lbs naked, but yearns to become a Lotus Elan Sprint (designed by Colin Chapman). The Elan had the same engine and horsepower configuration, and the same unequal length control arms as the Miata with the independent rear end drive. The problem is that the Miata weighs 2,200 but the Elan is only 1,700. Those 500 lbs make all the difference as the Elan is the greatest sportscar every made while the Miata is only a very good sportscar.
3) A touring bike suffers more by the added wheel weight, stable handling, and upright riding position then by the added two ounces for drop out eyelets.
Garth Libre in Surfside Fl. who owns both a race prepped Miata and a race bike with no eyelets.