Post: #226

(08-01-2016 10:35 PM)philosophical_recovery Wrote:  I've been waffling back and forth on my motorcycle.

Do it. If you dont have your license go get it. After your first good ride you will wish you had a bike years ago.

Post: #227

I took the road test a few months ago, still haven't bought a bike yet but I've looked at five in the past week. Deciding between the V-Strom 650 and the F650GS Sertão.

I've wanted a motorcycle for about five years, but I guess I was so focused on school and work that I never found time to actually go out, learn, get the license, and buy a bike.

Two questions.

1. For long-distance travel including highways and areas that sometimes have poor/no pavement, which bike would you prefer: the V-Strom 650 or the Sertão?

2. Serious question: Those of you who have nutjob mothers....how do you manage their anxiety about bikes in a good-natured way? I don't really like my mom (who does?), but I would prefer her to be able to sleep at night.

Post: #228

The BMW has a much longer off-road heritage in that model line. Suzuki make cracking dirt bikes though. Both are good bikes, and can be configured with a bias towards off-road or on road depending upon your preferences. BMW's are renowned for their fuel economy. The Seratoa is the newer Chinese built 650, after the 798cc twin that was briefly used. Still using Rotax parts. For a first bike, the older fuel injected F650s are a good buy. The twin spark gives a tiny bit better fuel economy. The Dakar version might suit you. If you're mechanically minded then there is an incredible amount of knowledge and help on maintaining the F series over at the Chain Gang website (this was the first BMW bike to be chain rather than shaft driven) [/anorak]

I have an even older F650 with a carb. It's incredibly comfortable for long distance. If I were to swap it for anything it would be a newer Dakar model.

You can put your mum's mind at rest by telling her the truth- the BMW will struggle to do much more than 90MPH unless you are a bantamweight Honestly, they're about as safe as a first 'big' bike gets. Enough power for safe overtakes and fun in the twisties, but not superbike territory. A 600cc Fireblade will do double the BMW's top speed, at 180MPH+. That should put it in perspective.

Hope this helps. Shiny side up mate.

Post: #229

I don't have enough knowledge of BMW bikes other than having a huge hard-on for the SS1000rr to say much about them.

That said, I know people that ride the wheels off their V-Stroms. I have a bike that uses the exact same engine but lighter with full fairings. It gets up to 100 in a hurry, can beat most cars from a dead start, but can chill at highway in 6th with plenty of torque to accelerate without downshifting if I need to.

Chances are the Vstrom will have a lot lower cost of ownership, but it really depends on what you want. roberto's got some good points.

I'd buy a BMW motorcycle well before I'd buy a BMW car.

Seems like either bike is a solid choice.

Post: #230

Thanks for the advice guys. I'm going to look at a nearby Dakar on Monday...seems like people have a lot of respect for the Rotax engine, judging by what the seller said when I spoke to him. Also signed up for the chain gang forum.

I've heard a lot of great things about both bikes. Ultimately I guess the point is to get my hands on either one and ride it without delay.

Post: #231

Thought you guys might be interested in Triumphs new sporty bob's

They actually look really bad ass but I can't part ways with Harley.



http://www.cycleworld.com/2017-triumph-b...ook#page-3

Post: #232

VSTROM. Better range, fuel economy, V-twin and they've just released a new one.
Suzuki invented the 'beak' too!

Post: #233

^

V-strom doesn't get better fuel economy, and the range is basically the same. Taking it easy with hard bags and a riding weight of perhaps 240 pounds, I regularly got 60 mpg on my F650GS. Riding hard, I still got like 53-54 mpg. The V-strom is more of a 50 mpg bike, as far as I can tell. Honestly it's such a small difference though, you should just buy what you like.

I don't know what the advantage is supposed to be of a V-twin. The BMW is very smooth for a thumper, it has a great motor. V-strom perhaps has better low end power? The BMW doesn't have a crappy low end, but it picks up a lot over 3500-4000 RPM as I recall.

The F650GS with the stock muffler sounds like a sewing machine. I guess that's a mark against it. Mine already had an aftermarket muffler when I bought it. It's also very jerky in 1st going slow, so you have to learn to love the friction zone of your clutch. I imagine that's just a feature of one cylinder bikes.

Anyway I loved my F650GS and I'm pretty unhappy about losing it (it was stolen while in "secure" storage). If I had to own just one bike, that would be it, if I didn't want to ride with passengers much. It's underpowered for much two-up riding, in my opinion. Since I don't need to ride on rough roads anymore I'll probably buy a FZ6 to replace it as my main bike, but I want an F650GS in my stable too once I have the spare cash.

Post: #234

I didn't even know we had a motorcycle thread, shame on me. I own a 1989 MZ 251, it was handed down to me by my dad although he still rides it once in a blue moon. The one pictured is not the one I own, just the one that has the closest resemblance from pictures online. Mine is actually yellow/black

Post: #235

I'll just leave this here:

Post: #236

I enjoy the Baron's videos.

Anyone else like the Indian Scouts? I've been thinking about getting one. There's a dealership near me and I've been in and looked at them. Sweet.

   





Would probably want the two-up model

   









Anti-anti-Trump protester model

   



Let's not forget the pussy/motorcycle nexus, though. Girls respond so positively to finding out you have a bike. They get excited.

I had been talking to a girl I met on tinder for months. She lives well downstate so we had never met in person. When I mentioned I was going to the big bike rally in my town she pretty much invited herself up. I said come on if you want. She drove 6 hours and we met for the first time at my front door. Nice looking thickish blonde with huge tits. Loved to party. Perfect biker bitch type. She spent the weekend on my bike and my cock.

Post: #237

Against better judgement I went bike shopping. Sat down on a bunch of bikes, and gravitated towards liter bikes. I narrowed it down to a few models, figured out what I was willing to pay cash for, and rode a few. Even rode a 600 just to be sure that I didn't want one.

The ninja blew them out of the water.

Crazy stiff suspension, awesome power, awesome brakes. Still getting used to it all. Very responsive compared to my previous bikes, and very unforgiving. The brembos hit almost as hard as the torque when you hit the fun zone.

It's been exposing a lot of my riding flaws. My previous two bikes were disguising a lot of them because they had much softer suspensions. This one lets you feel everything, including the mistakes on corner entry.

Loving braided steel brake lines and ABS. The newer models have advanced ABS and when it activates it is much softer than ABS I have ridden before. I had gotten to the point where I was comfortable practicing front slide recovery regularly (when upright) on my last bike that didn't have it but I like the extra safety margin that good ABS gives.

There's a lot that I cannot describe. Never felt acceleration like that on full throttle or while braking. Blows me away.

Driving my car feel extra "meh" and I daydream of how I would enter corners while I'm waiting on traffic in it now.

Post: #238

Modern sportbiikes are ridicu-good. They've made 40 years' progress in the last ten. My 2004 Ducati Monster S4R (996 motor) was almost twice the bike that my first bike, a 1983 Honda Nighthawk 750, was. My 2013 Panigale 1199 ABS is MORE than twice the bike my Monster was. The latest generation is probably another 15% better yet.

It's a Golden Age of motorcycling. Enjoy it while you can.

Post: #239

(02-02-2017 01:11 AM)Hoser Wrote:  Enjoy it while you can.

This. Who knows how much longer until they put cuffs on free-roam vehicles. In Paris they banned cars older than 15 years from entering the city, newer vehicles have to pay a "ecology ticket" to get there. That's how it begins.

I started to ride very recently. Don't want to put my specifics here, paranoid a bit, but I choose to start on a 1000cc 150hp full fairing bike. Love it.

Post: #240

Had an almost 10 year old YZ 250F (2/3rd year with the aluminum frame) sitting in my garage, in really good shape.

A carb cleaned, emptied gas tank, and new oil/filter and that bad boy started right up.

Also check out Harley's new 107 motor is bitching with 8 valves

http://www.cycleworld.com/harley-davidso...win-engine

Post: #241

Jaihoo, unless you lack restraint, you're doing it right. A smaller bike is fine for your first six months, but after that, there's no reason to unnaturally "throttle" (heh) your desire for a full-blown fire-breathing monster. Frankly, there's nothing comparable in this life, except perhaps flying fighter jets, which isn't an option for most of us.

Live a little! Just remember to stay alive. Ride like everyone's trying to kill you, etc. And remember that you're not as skilled at high speeds as you think you are, and car-driving skills don't transfer to a bike. Grab a handful of brakes = grab a faceful of pavement, ABS or not.

Post: #242

I keep my head cool, ride solo most of the time, I really don't like riding in traffic, just take it up on my favorite road and ride it out. It's a very weird feeling to feel the ability of the bike, it's very intimidating, especially once you get it past mid revs, that's when I get a weeee scared and ease back down

Post: #243

Got some frame sliders in for my new ride so I just put them on. Went for a cold ass ride after loctiting them and hitting them with a torque wrench. I'm paranoid because they are shoulder bolts that go through the frame into the engine case and are points of connection between the two. Wanted to be sure that the vibes didn't hit them during the ride and they seemed solid.

Jaihoo, liter bikes are really tame if you're only hitting up local streets and the highway. I thought they'd be a lot scarier but they really aren't.

That is, until you hit the powerband and the front end gets happy light when you're doing 70 in first gear with the engine screaming. It doesn't let you forget that you're riding the equivalent of a race bred ferrari on the street that just wants to launch like a missile.

They're just totally unforgiving in everything having to do with cornering. If you're using most of your tire (I don't recommend worrying about chicken strips), but riding within margin, it's still easy to spin up the rear on a good corner exit. Same with dumping the front on a corner entry if you're doing it aggressively. It was a lot easier to practice that sort of thing on the 650 because the torque didn't hit like a solid wall. If that happened on a corner exit and you chop the throttle out of instinct then you're going to have a bad day.

Hell, I spun up the rear on shitty stock tires on my 300 in the rain and I'm glad I my throttle hand didn't budge and I just rode out the oversteer in a nice little sideways slide.

Not planning on doing that on the 1000cc unless I'm on the track. Would have to be hitting a country road with a good corner at lose your license speeds to experience it off the track. Unless I change the gearing.

Post: #244

I'll just leave this here...

   

WB

Post: #245

(02-02-2017 01:11 AM)Hoser Wrote:  Modern sportbiikes are ridicu-good. They've made 40 years' progress in the last ten. My 2004 Ducati Monster S4R (996 motor) was almost twice the bike that my first bike, a 1983 Honda Nighthawk 750, was. My 2013 Panigale 1199 ABS is MORE than twice the bike my Monster was. The latest generation is probably another 15% better yet.

It's a Golden Age of motorcycling. Enjoy it while you can.

bike novice here. what do you mean when you say twice the bike? power for the same engine size?

Post: #246

Better bike. You get good riding characteristics, build quality, power delivery and braking ofc...all for the same price as before, compared to cars - dirt cheap.

Post: #247

Hypno, by twice the bike I meant the whole package. More power, better brakes, better handling, more HP per liter, better fuel economy, and more importantly, just better sex.

1983 Honda to 2004 Ducati had all the engineering plusses, and was way sexier, styling-wise, but it's essentially just incremental increases in roughly the same bike.

A decade later, however, technology had drastically changed bikes. We now have ABS, traction contrl, anti-wheelie devices, quickshifters, adjust-on-the-fly suspensions and engine mapping, variable valve timing, quick-shifters, TFI displays that switch between daytime and nighttime modes using their own light sensors, anti-theft immobilization devices, the list goes on.

And those are just the gimmicks. The base technologies have also been improved awesomely in recent years. Better tire compounds, chain technology, valve springs (for those of you who have valve springs), ergonomics, weight distribution, and suspensions have made modern bikes much more enjoyable and reliable. Better fuel economy even makes them more affordable.

If only they had somehow become more able to take a hit from a 3000-lb car, it would be, basically, having our cake and eating it too.

Post: #248

(02-03-2017 10:26 PM)Hoser Wrote:  If only they had somehow become more able to take a hit from a 3000-lb car, it would be, basically, having our cake and eating it too.

There are these guys:





Haven't gotten one yet though.

A lot more spendy and fashionable if you're a fellow power ranger:

Post: #249

^ They are cool as fuck. £350 for the basic vest in the UK. I'm getting one. Maybe the jacket, then it's more integrated/less to put on.

Sweet as: http://www.airvest.co.uk/shop/item/3-hel...ng-jacket/

Great find mate.

Post: #250

(02-04-2017 03:50 AM)roberto Wrote:  ^ They are cool as fuck. £350 for the basic vest in the UK. I'm getting one. Maybe the jacket, then it's more integrated/less to put on.

Great link mate.

The Helite?

Do let us know how you like it.