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sigtrap posted:I'm in SE Washington, discovering some pretty awesome roads around here. That's a pretty drat nice birthday present. If you ever feel the need to stretch your bike's legs and hop the border into BC, let me know, and I'll help spot some good roads - and a beer or accomodation - for you.
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Sep 27, 2008 07:25
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In the light of a Enlightened Answer to my Stupid Question asked in the Stupid Questions thread, I set out to find a Kawasaki Zephyr or ER-5 or something else with 37kW of good-looking newb-able power. The ER-5 mentioned in the questions thread was marked as being in the same city as I am and looked great and had a great price. When I called the number, it also turned out to be a great scam, which I was kind of expecting to happen. And that was pretty much it for the local market. There was admittedly one Seca II somewhere in the forests (without the cheek rash I might add) but it was sporting what you might call a "self made slick" and generally looked rather unhappy. So, I moved on. The zephyrs and other ER-5s are out of my price range at this point and I need something with 37kw or more so a 125 is out of the question. I assure you that I am aware this is not what you would call a "beginner bike" and if I feel it is over my head, I may still look at those kawas next season when I have had a bit of time to accumulate wealth. And so, without further ado, I present to you what 2000 bux buys you in a small country.  Click here for the full 1200x1600 image.  Click here for the full 1600x1200 image.  Click here for the full 1600x1200 image. It is a '91 with 49000km on the clock. The fork needs adjusting or possibly a new bearing as there is a slight forward-to-back movement if you know to look for it, the oil level is at the minimum mark, some new bulbs are needed, the chain tension needs adjusting, both the center and the side rest need to be oiled. The friend who did the test drive for me said that if you twist it hard, the clutch slips a little but it is generally "quite lively". I don't intend to confirm his diagnosis of the clutch to be honest. I'll just try adjusting it and possibly changing the whole clutch setup over the winter. All that said, I was surprised how good it looks in spite of the 17 years on its shoulders and aside from the things mentioned it'll hopefully be mechanically sound. Duuk fucked around with this message at 11:47 on Sep 27, 2008 |
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Sep 27, 2008 11:44
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Duuk posted:
Awesome. I love the Mickey Mouse ears look of some side mirrors. Forget those little bar end mirrors, be proud of your bikes big ears people! On another note, 4 days of ownership, 200km and one thorough wash later...  Click here for the full 1920x1080 image.  Click here for the full 1920x1080 image. I LOVE the colour of the grey in the sun. Looks aside its an awesome bike and ive now become another SV fanboy here at SA.
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Sep 28, 2008 03:27
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Z3n posted:Sigtrap, happy birthday and congrats! Whadya think of it? I got it last Tuesday with ~50 miles on it and after today's ride it's got 740 miles  Lots of canyons around here.Simkin posted:That's a pretty drat nice birthday present. If you ever feel the need to stretch your bike's legs and hop the border into BC, let me know, and I'll help spot some good roads - and a beer or accomodation - for you.
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Sep 28, 2008 06:27
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sigtrap posted:I'm in SE Washington, discovering some pretty awesome roads around here. Where in SE WA? I'm from the Tri-Cities, although I'm in the other corner of the state for school now.
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Sep 28, 2008 06:30
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sigtrap posted:I've ridden a grand total of like 5 motorcycles ever, so i don't have much to compare against, but I love it. It's plenty quick, smooth for a twin, and I feel a ton more confident on it than I did on my old Yamaha. It has features on it I never would have gone out of my way to get (fuel meter / economy gauge, tire pressure sensors, heated grips) but I guess they may be nice to have. ABS? Those tire pressure sensors could save your rear end in the future. I've gotten lucky and never had a flat, but a friend of mine picked up a razorblade on his Concours 14 and the tire gauge warned him with enough time to get to the shoulder before it went completely to poo poo. And you have no idea how good heated grips are until you've ridden a bike through the cold at night, hunched over the tank with your hands shoved up against the engine to keep them warm, speeding up and slowing down so you can warm up your right hand.  I kicked myself about 40 times after installing my first set of heated grips for not doing it years ago. Maybe if you ever make it back down this way we can go for a ride sometime...I'd love to see one of those up close  And the single sided swingarm and rims are sweet. Never actually looked at them closely before...
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Sep 28, 2008 08:00
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I actually got around to taking some pics of my bikes a while back, so I have some to post. Here's my 2002 GPX250 (Ninja 250 for you Americans):  Click here for the full 1280x960 image. I've had this for nearly 2 years. It's been crashed once by myself and at least twice by previous owners (testament to how tough these bikes are). The slightly dodgy paint on the front fairing (and missing lower fairing) is the result of my crash a few months after getting my motorcycle license. I repaired, sanded, and rattlecanned the fairing on the cheap. The bike now has Racetech front fork internals (springs + cartridge emulators), a ZX600C rear shock, and Pirelli Sport Demons front and back - a combination which makes this little bike a barrel of laughs on twisty country roads. Here's my second bike, a 2001 GSXR600 (excuse the boxes and crap in the background):  Click here for the full 1280x960 image.  Click here for the full 1280x960 image. I've owned this for a couple of months now. Despite obtaining my unrestricted license, I hadn't planned on upgrading until early next year, but this came up for a ridiculously low price with a few goodies, including a new set of Pilot Powers, Remus slipon, K&N filter, frame sliders, and a -1 front sprocket plus speedohealer. I've added a radiator guard and an engine case slider (these GSXRs have an exposed engine case on the left hand side that gets ruined in crashes). So far this has been great. The reduced agility (compared to the 250) took some getting used to, but it's more stable in corners, stops far more easily, and accelerates at a face-peeling rate when it's up in the power band.
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Sep 28, 2008 12:04
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Z3n posted:speeding up and slowing down so you can warm up your right hand. 
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Sep 28, 2008 12:44
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Very nice bike sigtrap! The BMW dealer is just a few blocks away from me, I have been leaving puddles of drool next to the F800ST for some time. I don't think I can afford a new bike right now...but if I buy anything, it is that one. What options did you get? If you got the bags, are they good?
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Sep 28, 2008 12:51
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Clam dip posted:just got a monster 620 recently: How do you like it? There's a guy who lives near me that has an older M900 with pretty aggressive pipes on it. It's the most glorious thing I've ever heard in person. It sounds like the world is ending. If my business ever picks up, I think I'm going to look into one of the newer air cooled models, and that sound is one of the main reasons.
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Sep 28, 2008 17:15
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Rev. Dr. Moses P. Lester posted:i don't have to slow down cause my throttle doesn't spring shut BMW cruise control... 
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Sep 28, 2008 18:16
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Ola posted:What options did you get? If you got the bags, are they good? It's got pretty much everything, including ABS. I actually didn't order it - A guy optioned out two of them, one for him and one for his wife. Turns out she was too short to flat-foot the thing, even after they ordered the optional short seat, so they took it back with ~50 miles on it.
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Sep 28, 2008 20:00
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Angus posted:My 98 Kawasaki Balius (250cc inline four): Wow are these stateside? I love inline 4 bikes. And I want a small displacement one for a starter bike.
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Sep 28, 2008 21:58
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sigtrap posted:After 2+ years of financial misery (balooning mortgage payment caused by miscalculated taxes blah blah house sucking me dry, no money, nearly bankrupt, etc.) I finally and miraculously sold my house and regained my freedom. So I bought myself a birthday present Awesome, I want to know everything about it. How tall are you? I've been lusting after one of those for a while, but the one I sat on at the dealer had the lowering kit and it felt like it only came up to my knees at 6'3". How's the ride, loud, smooth, does it pull real hard? How's the windshield? Does that underseat gas tank really make the cg feel that much lower? Is everything easy to get to, maintenance-wise? Edit: Definitely bring it South as well, I'll put you up on the futon in San Diego if you let me ride it. 
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Sep 29, 2008 02:01
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hoho`win posted:Just bought my first bike today! 1981 Yamaha XS650 So after a week and 300 miles the bike wouldn't start this morning. It seems like I have an alternator problem, but I couldn't get it to kick over either. Any ideas?
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Sep 29, 2008 03:23
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You need to be more specific than "couldnt get it to kick over". By kick over do you mean that when you try to kick start it, the engine is locked solid? Do you mean that when you hit the starter nothing happens? Do you mean that when you hit the starter, the engine turns over, but will not start?
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Sep 29, 2008 03:25
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edit: gently caress, wrong thread. sorry.
Z3n fucked around with this message at 04:19 on Sep 29, 2008 |
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Sep 29, 2008 04:04
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FlyinDoc posted:I've had this for nearly 2 years. It's been crashed once by myself and at least twice by previous owners (testament to how tough these bikes are). The slightly dodgy paint on the front fairing (and missing lower fairing) is the result of my crash a few months after getting my motorcycle license.
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Sep 29, 2008 05:06
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Hot Buttered posted:How do you like it? There's a guy who lives near me that has an older M900 with pretty aggressive pipes on it. It's the most glorious thing I've ever heard in person. It sounds like the world is ending. If my business ever picks up, I think I'm going to look into one of the newer air cooled models, and that sound is one of the main reasons. I once owned a streetfightered SS900 that was equipped with custom stainless steel pipes that were nothing more than megaphone cones.....it made the most glorious car alarm testing racket ever. I rode over to a friends house and he said it sounded like a helicopter was landing in the street. Doomcatis and the sound of power...
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Sep 29, 2008 06:09
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Hot Buttered posted:How do you like it? There's a guy who lives near me that has an older M900 with pretty aggressive pipes on it. It's the most glorious thing I've ever heard in person. It sounds like the world is ending. If my business ever picks up, I think I'm going to look into one of the newer air cooled models, and that sound is one of the main reasons. I love it, and the sounds is infinitely glorious. One of the most consistent things I heard about the ducati was the "ducati sound" and let me say it does not disappoint. I haven't really been pushing it to its limits yet but its definitely a fun little ride, and the seat isn't that uncomfortable, but I haven't done 2 hour plus rides yet.
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Sep 29, 2008 07:49
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 'sme, turn 6 on Queensland Raceway. The Hayabusa isn't the best track bike by any definition, but in the baby groups I play in and that the National layout is like 4 drag strips with some first or second gear corners, it's great fun. The upgraded brakes definitely help reeling in the better 1000cc bike riders when chasing them down at over 300 kph Bit much to handle though on a track any tighter, so I'm selling my SV650S that has done a whole 2000 kilometres in over a year and building myself a track bike. Thinking of using a repairable write-off Triumph 675 or similar.
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Sep 29, 2008 08:31
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FlyinDoc posted:Here's my 2002 GPX250 (Ninja 250 for you Americans): I like the black, looks very spiffy I posted a couple of photos of my 2007 GPX a while ago when I first bought it, but got some good ones out on a ride to Noojee yesterday. One of the pillions was taking photos on the road so I'll hopefully be getting copies of those as well, should turn out well.  My bro's bike is the yellow Duke, I have never heard so much noise come out of a bike that wasn't a Harley. Sounds fantastic of course, but not so great if you want to be able to hear what your own bike is doing while riding behind it.  450km ride makes for a lot of dead bugs on my very shiny bike.  Seriously considering an upgrade in the next 6-12 months, it's a great little creature in general, but runs out of steam very quickly on hills. 1 1/2 weeks until I go for my probationary license test too  Can't wait to pull the L plate off.
huplescat fucked around with this message at 13:55 on Sep 29, 2008 |
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Sep 29, 2008 13:45
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Ziploc posted:Wow are these stateside? I love inline 4 bikes. And I want a small displacement one for a starter bike. I'm in Australia, no idea if they were sold in the States. They're not very common here though. They were only sold in dealerships for a few years, a lot of the other ones are Japanese imports. Do you get the ZX-2 in the States? It's the same engine as that. The CBR250RR and FZR250 also have very similar engines. (They're all fully faired sportbike designs.)
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Sep 30, 2008 01:25
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Phat_Albert posted:You need to be more specific than "couldnt get it to kick over". I turn the ignition on, a tried the electric start. Nothing happened. I noticed the headlight, taillight, and neutral light were incredibly dim, and the horn wouldn't work. I then tried several times to kick start the bike, it wasn't locked, but wouldn't start. I checked the battery and after charging it to 12v, the bike started fine. But while it was running the battery was near 11v. This is about all the info I have. Any advice, however general, would be greatly appreciated.
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Sep 30, 2008 01:35
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hoho`win posted:I turn the ignition on, a tried the electric start. Nothing happened. I noticed the headlight, taillight, and neutral light were incredibly dim, and the horn wouldn't work. I then tried several times to kick start the bike, it wasn't locked, but wouldn't start. I checked the battery and after charging it to 12v, the bike started fine. But while it was running the battery was near 11v. This is about all the info I have. Any advice, however general, would be greatly appreciated. Was it at 11v while idling? Rev it up to around 4k or so and you should be getting about 13-14v at the battery. If it's higher or lower than that, you have a problem.
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Sep 30, 2008 02:07
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Found some nice fast dirt and a couple of more challenging, rough bits out west near the you yangs on the weekend. huplescat posted:1 1/2 weeks until I go for my probationary license test too It's amazing how much the habits of people change around you (or perhaps it's just perception?) when the L comes off. For some reason 50% of people see an L as they should and give you space, be patient. The other half act like complete jerks and just ignore the thing (driving like a regular 'victorian' ). I've found far less of those without it. ESPECIALLY other motorcyclists. The number of times I've been 'buzzed' at high speed and VERY close by other motorcyclists on my learners is atrocious. Unfortunately they're the minority that spoil the experience for a whole lot of people (and subsequently give the mode of transport a bad name). Good luck on your test - it's a piece of cake!
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Sep 30, 2008 02:35
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huplescat posted:
Just rev it to the moon. I do that on mine (idential red one, but stateside) and it works fine, but I only weigh 132lbs. If you're so inclined, a few mods can make it a really quick bike on the track. Some stainless brake lines, new Pirellis, rearsets and remove the kickstand and center stand and it corners quite well. That's actually a lot of poo poo for a 250. So maybe you shouldn't do that but I plan to since I can't afford a new bike anyway and still want to go faster on the track. I've got everything 'cept the rearsets so far.
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Sep 30, 2008 03:13
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I had a 250 for 10k miles and for the money you spend to make it faster, just buy a better bike. I can't think of a reason to mod out a 250 unless it's specifically for a race series. That said, it's great for what it is and is the perfect first bike. I'm really glad my first bike was a Ninja 250. aventari fucked around with this message at 04:14 on Sep 30, 2008 |
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Sep 30, 2008 04:12
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the letter b posted:It's amazing how much the habits of people change around you (or perhaps it's just perception?) when the L comes off. Thanks I've mostly noticed that car drivers have a seriously lovely attitude towards the L plate. I get tailgated badly on the freeway when I'm in the left lane, even if I'm over the speed limit. Although that could just be that they hate bikes or are terminally retarded. Probably both.Other riders have been pretty cool so far, they looked out for me on the weekend which was nice. (nice photo too!) French Canadian posted:Just rev it to the moon. I do that on mine (idential red one, but stateside) and it works fine, but I only weigh 132lbs. If you're so inclined, a few mods can make it a really quick bike on the track. Some stainless brake lines, new Pirellis, rearsets and remove the kickstand and center stand and it corners quite well. Ta for the ideas, but I'll just upgrade I weigh around the same as you so it doesn't have to work too hard, but I'm nearly 6' tall too and sometimes feel like it's a little cramped. The suspension was bugging me a little as well, I know a larger bike will be much better setup for the riding I was doing.It already corners pretty ok despite that, the tyres could probably be a little better though.
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Sep 30, 2008 04:40
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aventari posted:I had a 250 for 10k miles and for the money you spend to make it faster, just buy a better bike. Agreed. 250s are scary in any track group but the C group because of the closing speeds. It can be bad on a SV when I'm passed by a literbike 2/3rds of the way down the front straight doing 110 and they're doing 150, but a 250 doing 85 as they come by at 150, it's loving absurd. I pass 250s on the straight like they're parked and the higher HP bikes do the same to me... Fine in the C group though. For B/A group riding, you need either a 600 or a 650, at the very least, and if you ride a 650, prepare to get smoked on the straights and held up in the corners until you learn to pass with absolutely no mercy. Fantastic starter bikes, good for getting your feet wet, poo poo for any real track riding but 250 class racing.
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Sep 30, 2008 04:42
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hoho`win posted:I turn the ignition on, a tried the electric start. Nothing happened. I noticed the headlight, taillight, and neutral light were incredibly dim, and the horn wouldn't work. I then tried several times to kick start the bike, it wasn't locked, but wouldn't start. I checked the battery and after charging it to 12v, the bike started fine. But while it was running the battery was near 11v. This is about all the info I have. Any advice, however general, would be greatly appreciated. Sounds exactly like mine when the charging system poo poo a brick, so you're probably right about it being an alternator problem. It won't start with kicking because the spark simply isn't strong enough. A multimeter and an hour of googling should provide a great troubleshooting procedure.
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Sep 30, 2008 09:28
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Angus posted:The only time those are found in the wild here are as grey imports from Oz/Japan - they were never sold new here. Any 250s/400s were (apart from older UJMs) generally just twins, none of that fancy I4 small displacement, 20,000rpm shenanigans that you guys got. 
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Sep 30, 2008 10:45
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French Canadian posted:but I only weigh 132lbs. huplescat posted:I weigh around the same as you huplescat posted:I'm nearly 6' tall too
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Sep 30, 2008 11:30
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Bob Sapp Please posted:Hey check out my bike I figured that since I posted my half disassembled bike, I should go ahead and post it fully operational, and minus an oil leak. Please note custom Coleman/bungee cord luggage system I installed.  
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Sep 30, 2008 15:19
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Oh how I wish I could make good and build this some day.
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Sep 30, 2008 16:54
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The perspective on that thing is really weirding me out.
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Sep 30, 2008 17:20
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Phat_Albert posted:The perspective on that thing is really weirding me out. There's more than that that is weirding me out...the artist obviously doesn't understand the functional parts of motorcycles, or there wouldn't be what looks like a remote reservior on the tail section that simply can't connect to the shock, there would be lights that would actually light up the road in front of you, not at your feet, the shift linkage would be connected to something, there would be a front sprocket, the rear engine mount wouldn't pass through the shock, etc. Also, the frame doesn't really...make sense, and there's a huge block of black where the radiator and front of the engine should be. What the hell?
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Sep 30, 2008 18:14
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eggyolk posted:Oh how I wish I could make good and build this some day. Hahaha that's hideous. Z3n posted:There's more than that that is weirding me out...the artist obviously doesn't understand the functional parts of motorcycles, or there wouldn't be what looks like a remote reservior on the tail section that simply can't connect to the shock, there would be lights that would actually light up the road in front of you, not at your feet, the shift linkage would be connected to something, there would be a front sprocket, the rear engine mount wouldn't pass through the shock, etc. Not to mention the huge swingarm despite the fact that there's a ton of space where actual bike components should be. Time to hit the dragstrip...of my imagination! edit: maybe it's not that big but man does it look wrong. Like it's upside down or something... Whoa. Wife Turds fucked around with this message at 18:25 on Sep 30, 2008 |
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Sep 30, 2008 18:22
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Whoa. Wife Turds posted:Hahaha that's hideous. Whoa, I just noticed the surrealist chain. 
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Sep 30, 2008 18:41
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Whoa. Wife Turds posted:Hahaha that's hideous. Looks like an extra curvy version of the honda 900rr swingarm.
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Sep 30, 2008 18:42
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