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quote:You're not gripping the bike tight enough with your legs. vOv I dunno what to tell you, that was the advice I was given 2 years ago when I first brought it up and it didn't go away no matter how much I squeeze the tank. And no I don't need to go to the gym more then squeeze the tank harder. If you think tiny singles that top out at 25 mph in 1st gear are fun and good city machines, more power to you. I haven't ridden a ton of other bikes but I don't generally experience these issues when I've tried em.
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Nov 13, 2019 22:26
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I rode my wife's 3 year old 390 to work a while back. When I turned the key after I finished my day, nothing turned on. Took off the seat and checked the battery. Sure enough, 1 hour worth of sustained high rpm on the freeway shook the battery contacts loose. Got rid of both my 690 and her 390. Built quality is poo poo on both. Never getting another ktm on my life. In short, gently caress owning ktm's.
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Nov 13, 2019 23:04
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Wow I didn't expect you to be such a unit, please post pics of your riding the 125. Wrt springs: if you're ok with the 125 any of those bikes will be fine. It is definitely possible to respring a bike but at that level it isn't really worth it, it's basically always cheaper and easier to just get a bigger bike with stiffer springs. If I were you I'd go for the cb500 or z400 on the basis of ergonomics alone. Mirconium posted:vOv I dunno what to tell you, that was the advice I was given 2 years ago when I first brought it up and it didn't go away no matter how much I squeeze the tank. And no I don't need to go to the gym more then squeeze the tank harder. If you think tiny singles that top out at 25 mph in 1st gear are fun and good city machines, more power to you. I haven't ridden a ton of other bikes but I don't generally experience these issues when I've tried em. Weak skills detected. Have you ever considered shutting the throttle gradually the same way (I hope) you open it? Some bikes definitely chug more at certain gear/rpm combinations. If you want to go super slow use 2nd gear and the clutch to smooth it all out. Oh and my cbr125 would pop a tiny wheelie if you did a sufficiently brutal 1-2 shift so I'm not sure what the problem is. Slavvy fucked around with this message at 23:42 on Nov 13, 2019 |
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Nov 13, 2019 23:39
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My significant other has a rebel 500 abs and got it as her first bike. It’s a fun bike, but I think the seating position/ergonomics offer a lot to be desired. If someone was really looking for a cruiser I think it’d be a great choice compared to any of the smaller Harleys or other small metric cruisers. The stock seat sucks, and it’s a little cramped feeling at 5’8”. The engine is great though, if not a little boring in typical Honda fashion. It could use a 6th gear. Tank is just over 2 gallons, and I’d hesitate to take it more than 120 miles without running it empty. Sounds like a lot of negatives, but it runs like a Honda, and hasn’t had any issues. The F/X/R versions of the same bike would be a much more versatile bike that isn’t too much for a beginner rider, and would be just fine on all sorts of roads and highways.
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Nov 14, 2019 00:04
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Slavvy posted:
Yeah, I freely concede that it's probably some kinda skill/throttle control issue, all I'm claiming is it's definitely not squeezing the tank. Closing the throttle REEEAALY slowly ameliorates the issue, but it's been months of me trying to learn how to do that smoothly but at a reasonable rate, and I'm having trouble. (I'm sorta thinking of getting one of those cammed throttle cable thingies. People hate on em because 'git gud' but this feels like one of those situations where a little more technology can be the right answer)
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Nov 14, 2019 00:41
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Thank you slavvy for reminding me why I don't want another KTM, just as I was considering 525's. The Grom is wonderful and amazing on the back of the Ody. Don't even notice it's there.  Nice on fire roads but of course terrible traction on gravel with street tires and stock suspension.  But I'm thinking of selling it at a loss and getting something else sub-300lbs. I liked my wr250x, but maybe a WR250R this time? XT225 or TW200 would be my first choice, but neither of those have a stator upgrade to allow for heated gear, and they would be slower than my Grom. Of course, the other risk is another dualsport would threaten my DR650 and make me feel like selling it, which is a terrible thing.
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Nov 14, 2019 01:11
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Slavvy, in an ALMOST non-troll way, could I ask your opinion on (any gen) Superduke 1290's? I motorcycle commute every day and my favourite bikes have been my B-King (totalled) and a big bore DR650 sumo. Currently on a street fighter R1 with 80k kms, and I miss torque and brapping  .How stupid would it be to buy an SDR as a daily, knowing all work would be done by a mechanic (that groans any time I bring in a bike)?
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Nov 14, 2019 01:12
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Angryboot posted:I rode my wife's 3 year old 390 to work a while back. When I turned the key after I finished my day, nothing turned on. Took off the seat and checked the battery. Sure enough, 1 hour worth of sustained high rpm on the freeway shook the battery contacts loose. you sold a 690 because you don't know how to tighten a battery contact nut?
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Nov 14, 2019 01:55
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That's all you got out of that post?
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Nov 14, 2019 02:06
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Razzled knows a lot about the post.
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Nov 14, 2019 02:42
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Isolationist posted:Slavvy, in an ALMOST non-troll way, could I ask your opinion on (any gen) Superduke 1290's? I motorcycle commute every day and my favourite bikes have been my B-King (totalled) and a big bore DR650 sumo. Currently on a street fighter R1 with 80k kms, and I miss torque and brapping Never worked on one  The older v-twin is precisely twice as complicated as the singles eg external oil tank with it's own mesh drain (you'll never believe where they put it!) in exchange for, in my estimation, debatable performance gains, an unpleasant engine character and not a lot of endurance. But that's from the era where they were kind of small-time, so individual bikes have lots of variation and there are definitely good ones out there, even on this gay dead forum. I imagine the 1290 is much much better in every way and there are also SD owners ITT. pun pundit posted:Razzled knows a lot about the post. 
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Nov 14, 2019 02:48
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So what you're saying, Slavvy, is that actually, it's about ethics in bike journalism?
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Nov 14, 2019 02:58
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pun pundit posted:Razzled knows a lot about the post.  Didn't z3n daily on a 1290 SD before?
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Nov 14, 2019 03:43
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ktms are cool and good if you're a smart guy with money
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Nov 14, 2019 03:46
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Razzled posted:ktms are cool and good if you're a smart guy with money Well poo poo.
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Nov 14, 2019 04:09
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Slavvy posted:Wow I didn't expect you to be such a unit, please post pics of your riding the 125. Haha, sure, I'll see if I can get a pic. Aye, fair enough. I hope I can get a test ride on a Z400 and the MT-03 then decide.
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Nov 14, 2019 12:18
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Razzled posted:ktms are cool and good if you're a smart guy with money  Angryboot posted:
I daily my 1290 SAR and the only issue I ever had with it was a plugged fuel filter ~10k mi ago. the LC8 is a very good engine
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Nov 14, 2019 15:29
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Angryboot posted:
Yeah and I'm the dumbshit that has it now. it's great except for the expanded gas tank not aligned with the frame bolt holes anymore.
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Nov 14, 2019 15:47
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Slavvy posted:Oil change on a duke 690: Ehhh, on mine I just left the muffler in place and got used to the near-constant smell of burning oil given the change intervals. Not the most confidence inspiring smell, perhaps, but you'll be RELIEVED to know that when the engine blew it was for a completely different reason. (Roller rocker disintegration and needle bearings everywhere whoop whoop ready to race).
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Nov 14, 2019 23:47
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prukinski posted:Ehhh, on mine I just left the muffler in place and got used to the near-constant smell of burning oil given the change intervals. Not the most confidence inspiring smell, perhaps, but you'll be RELIEVED to know that when the engine blew it was for a completely different reason. (Roller rocker disintegration and needle bearings everywhere whoop whoop ready to race). I've seen three of these happen on 690's and all had less than 40kkm on the clock, whether that's because of lack of adherence to service regimen or just abuse IDK. The older RFS and lc4 bikes do it too. The updated part traps the needle rollers so they can't escape when they explode  E: while we're here, why this is 'worth' it: All these engines are SOHC. One cam is more compact, gives less internal drag and other negative effects than two at very high revs (for a big ol thumper), but can't operate 4 valves with conventional bucket tappets, so they use rocker arms. This has the added bonus of 'magnifying' the cam profile by the rocker ratio, so the cam can be even smaller and lighter. Problem is, the cam profiles needed for high rpm performance result in really steep opening and closing 'ramps' on the cam lobe that sliding rockers can't cope with. So you put little needle-bearinged wheels on the ends of the rocker arms to ride the ramps. Problem solved! But now the valve clearances at the other end of the rocker ratio have a magnified influence on the bearings; if the gaps get too small or too big the rollers are annihilated. RFS and old LC4 motors solved this by making you do the valve clearances every second oil change, which was fine because they chose simple screw adjusters that are really easy to access via little inspection covers, themselves exposed by just talking the fuel tank off. You can do it while the oil drains. The newer motors, for some dark purpose, have switched to shim-adjusted clearances; naturally, the shims are a weird size. I'm not sure what benefit this is meant to have. It means you now have to remove the rocker arms and their associated shafts to change the clearances. This necessitates a cam cover like a dohc engine instead of little window covers. Four bolts and a reusable rubber gasket, problem solved! Then the engine goes in a bike, and removing the cover becomes an exercise in spatial visualisation and RSI. Installing the cover becomes an exercise in genital torture. The reusable rubber gasket laughs in your face as you fruitlessly try to keep it fitted to the valve cover while maneuvering the whole thing through an orange trellis surgery gash, in order to defy gravity and get it to line up with the (diagonal, for compactness!) head mating surface without falling into the head cavity and forcing you to start again. Oh gently caress Lars, this thing needs a PCV and PAIR valves for emissions! Just bung em on top of the valve cover, who needs that extra inch of clearance anyway? Valve interval remains every 2 oil changes. Isolationist posted:My 04 R1 has had two stators explode and fire magnetic shrapnel through the engine twice in 10,000 kms - that's after being hit with a potentially fatal throttle position sensor issue that had a recall (what's that, randomly dropping from 13,000 rpm to 00,500 rpm is dangerous?!). That gen really are kinda dogs sometimes :/ VvvvvvvvvvvV Slavvy fucked around with this message at 06:55 on Nov 15, 2019 |
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Nov 15, 2019 05:46
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My 04 R1 has had two stators explode and fire magnetic shrapnel through the engine twice in 10,000 kms - that's after being hit with a potentially fatal throttle position sensor issue that had a recall (what's that, randomly dropping from 13,000 rpm to 00,500 rpm is dangerous?!). Sounds like I'd feel at home with a big KTM, might even be an improvement in reliability!
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Nov 15, 2019 06:11
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GriszledMelkaba posted:Yeah and I'm the dumbshit that has it now. it's great except for the expanded gas tank not aligned with the frame bolt holes anymore. You'd think either the euro brands or Acerbis, who they all OEM their plastic tanks from, would by now have realized that their tanks swell when exposed to ethanol.
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Nov 17, 2019 21:36
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Razzled posted:ktms are cool and good if you're a smart guy with money and stubborn. Tanks swelling is a hassle. as is the original airbox. work on the bike with nearly empty tanks, it's easy to do. There's no lc4 rocker bullshit on the lc8s either, no point in saving 2 grams when it's heavier than some celestial bodies. If you can't fix poo poo or realize something is going to take a poo poo soon, don't buy a ktm or anything used for that matter. I run what is basically a first year run 950 lolventure with nearly 75 thousand on the odo. Parts prices? lolll. This old rear end bike has been cheaper to run across 25k+ miles and 2 years than the drz that preceded it. (Price oem stators for both, the drz ate two genuine stators, ktm ate one) Yup the drysump is a fat pain in the rear end, its capacity is mislabeled on the frame too which is *awesome* to discover. Pulling the screen for it will soak the rectifier and its wiring if you're not prepared with something for it to drain onto. There's a good half dozen errors in the manuals and owners documents. Overfill it? it pukes oil because the pcv system starts working incorrectly. I don't gently caress with the oil screens except for services with valve checks. I did the same thing for the drz (of which one screen is internal and you can't get at it). Oil changes take 15 mins with a piece of cardboard bent into a trough. Frankly if it's eating itself it won't matter if the screens were cleared at the last oil change. It's from ktms' bankruptcy era so the basic hardware is good however all the subsystems are fat garbage. The dealer fix to equalize the tanks was to drill holes in the fuckers and put a hose between the two instead of y'know, actually addressing the evap problem, or redesigning the fuel caps. That dealer fix is now old enough the rubber parts dry rot or age out causing fuel leaks. The fuel pump is poo poo, the evap system is poo poo, the pcv system is poo poo, the kickstand is poo poo. The racebikes had oil coolers whereas the production models do not. Lane splitting around Berkeley can get the oil to temperatures north of 120C. Put an oil cooler on it, dropped oil temps 10-15C. I built a pcv system using parts from a soviet-era XR650L that cures the dumb factory bullshit of oil ingestion with high rpm running. the 3 loving hours to get to the carbs or the oil pressure sender that likes to poo poo? Yeah fixed that too. 12 fasteners to remove a glovebox, reduced to two while retaining the part securely as original. 4 minutes to rejet now if it's ever needed. 4 issues that stopped rides for a short while, a fuel pump courtesy of the po left me sitting in death valley, bypassed it, topped the tanks off and rode to Parhump that way.(lol carbs) A stator failure caused some no starts but didn't melt the engine down like the drz did. Figured out it would charge above 5 grand, so left it a gear down on the trip home. Third is the inlet o-rings to the carbs cracking and leaking. Ones acquired through ~ebay~ lasted about 8 months, probably were nitrile. Replaced with viton. Fourth is from a silicone hose running from the suction pump to the oil tank. The early ones were just single wall hose. A month or so ago the one on mine ruptured. I knew about the hose and shoulda replaced it at the last valve check but I didn't cause Hanz put the loving oetiker clamp in the most gently caress-you kinda place. So I got to do it anyway with the added bonus of everything covered in oil. Its still the best bike out of the 9 that I've owned, and I'll continue to keep it around. So yeah. If you don't like mechanical puzzles, challenges, tinkering, or creating solutions for someone else's drunken decisions, buy a Honda. I assure you, it'll be numb but it'll always be ready to ride.
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Nov 18, 2019 20:00
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cursedshitbox posted:
Shitbike syndrome.txt
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Nov 18, 2019 21:42
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Slavvy posted:The newer motors, for some dark purpose, have switched to shim-adjusted clearances; naturally, the shims are a weird size. I'm not sure what benefit this is meant to have. It means you now have to remove the rocker arms and their associated shafts to change the clearances. This necessitates a cam cover like a dohc engine instead of little window covers. I've done a few valve clearances on screw-types which I found very straightforward, and only 1 on a shim-under-bucket motor which I found to be tedious and frustrating. What's the advantage to the shim-under-bucket design? Isolationist posted:(what's that, randomly dropping from 13,000 rpm to 00,500 rpm is dangerous?!) Not great, not terrible.
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Nov 18, 2019 22:03
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Gorson posted:I've done a few valve clearances on screw-types which I found very straightforward, and only 1 on a shim-under-bucket motor which I found to be tedious and frustrating. What's the advantage to the shim-under-bucket design? Buckets have fallen out of popularity in high end sportbikes, however, in favor of finger followers (fireblade was the last holdout, but the new model finally switched), which are sort of tiny half-rockers that make it possible to run very aggressive cam profiles much like KTM's sohc+roller design does, and suffer less internal losses. Incidentally the s1000rr kicked all this development off, the absolutely stonking mid-range on those is entirely because of the cam profile finger followers allow, the Japanese brands closed the gap by switching designs in the most recent generation of bikes. Why you would put shims on a traditional rocker arm ala KTM is baffling and makes no sense to me, the only possible reason I can think of is the marketing-driven need for less brutal looking service schedules in the brochure. In theory shims don't really wear, so the gaps move very slowly, while screw types will be constantly hammering the tip of the adjuster shorter. Presumably the gaps still creep because theory isn't practice, not every dealer bothers checking clearances at the first interval and that's why they all explode their rockers around 30kkm. Slavvy fucked around with this message at 22:26 on Nov 18, 2019 |
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Nov 18, 2019 22:22
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Slavvy posted:Shitbike syndrome.txt This is the new clutchpuck:Ulysses saga of our forum.
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Nov 18, 2019 23:55
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Gorson posted:
The bike would randomly (without making any change on the throttle) drop from 14k rpm to 500 rpm, or anywhere in between (during riding). Absolutely terrible, one of the most dangerous product design failures I've seen on a bike (and definitely the scariest recall I've ever been hit with). Imagine you're rolling on throttle during a corner, then over the space of one second the bike drops varies between 14k/1k/7k rpm, surging and bucking wildly.
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Nov 19, 2019 01:51
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Isolationist posted:The bike would randomly (without making any change on the throttle) drop from 14k rpm to 500 rpm, or anywhere in between (during riding). Absolutely terrible, one of the most dangerous product design failures I've seen on a bike (and definitely the scariest recall I've ever been hit with). Imagine you're rolling on throttle during a corner, then over the space of one second the bike drops varies between 14k/1k/7k rpm, surging and bucking wildly. It's a reference to trendy tv, it means it's really terrible
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Nov 19, 2019 02:20
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Is there a :chernobyl: yet?
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Nov 19, 2019 02:27
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cursedshitbox posted:and stubborn. Did you eat stators on the dizzer due to bolts backing out or because the electrical bits died
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Nov 19, 2019 06:19
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Slavvy posted:Shitbike syndrome.txt Seriously, that's some Volkswagen owner level Stockholm syndrome poo poo! Italian bike owners reading that thinking "I thought my bike was supposed to be the maintenance nightmare?"
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Nov 19, 2019 15:58
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No honest man needs more than a trusty Suzuki farm bike.
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Nov 19, 2019 16:13
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Razzled posted:Did you eat stators on the dizzer due to bolts backing out or because the electrical bits died electrical failure. fh020a rectifier was used. Ran the same model rectifier on the fzr400 and the 950 without issue. Coydog posted:No honest man needs more than a trusty Suzuki farm bike. had two. The dr swallowed a valve right at 30k, drz while fun, needed constant effort. Had a klr once, killed that too which did the world a service. Finger Prince posted:Seriously, that's some Volkswagen owner level Stockholm syndrome poo poo! Look at my avatar then look into your heart. 58 cars owned over the last 15 years, 11 of which were land rovers, 1 jag, 6 vws, 4 mercedes, and a yugo.
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Nov 19, 2019 17:28
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Yugos fucken rule though. Fond memories of my father getting excited when we saw one in a junkyard, shoving his fist through a rust hole by the rear pillar and proclaiming 'the rust isn't even too bad, this is a good one!' and I had to drag him away from the madness.Finger Prince posted:Seriously, that's some Volkswagen owner level Stockholm syndrome poo poo! Ducatis are relatively speaking cool and good, MV and Aprilia pretty flimsy, guzzis are shockingly bad and IMO the only Italian bike genuinely worse than the average KTM.
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Nov 19, 2019 18:45
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Slavvy posted:Yugos fucken rule though. Fond memories of my father getting excited when we saw one in a junkyard, shoving his fist through a rust hole by the rear pillar and proclaiming 'the rust isn't even too bad, this is a good one!' and I had to drag him away from the madness. And yet consumer reports couldn't find a single issue with a KTM for their reliability rating. 
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Nov 19, 2019 19:46
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Slavvy posted:Ducatis are relatively speaking cool and good Provided you can do your own belt services or don't mind dropping a grand or so every few thousand miles; I'm also on fuel level sender #5 or 6, I've lost count TBH
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Nov 19, 2019 20:13
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builds character posted:And yet consumer reports couldn't find a single issue with a KTM for their reliability rating. So consumer reports tests a single example and uses that to rate the product? Someone should teach them about statistics.
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Nov 19, 2019 20:40
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Slavvy posted:Yugos fucken rule though. Fond memories of my father getting excited when we saw one in a junkyard, shoving his fist through a rust hole by the rear pillar and proclaiming 'the rust isn't even too bad, this is a good one!' and I had to drag him away from the madness. i lol'd rotax aprilia is superior to anything honda has ever and will ever put out
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Nov 19, 2019 20:55
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Razzled posted:i lol'd I've somehow avoided ever touching a rotax twin, but the v4's don't impress me at all. Like don't get me wrong they're great to ride, but the build quality is the same as a zip 50 and the designs tend to be poorly thought through. Jazzzzz posted:Provided you can do your own belt services or don't mind dropping a grand or so every few thousand miles; I'm also on fuel level sender #5 or 6, I've lost count TBH Belt replacement on most Ducatis takes about half an hour. Yeah the dealers are criminals and the belt pricing is retarded for a totally normal pair of $40 timing belts, but the actual procedure is exactly the type of non-issue people on the internet like to  about.Likewise desmo clearances: often a painful oval office to do but not complicated or mysterious if you have half a brain. Related to earlier posts: ducati's response to people complaining desmo valve intervals were too frequent was to just make the gap spec bigger so they'd take longer to close up. But this has the drawback of making the bikes very rough and noisy down low, so then Ducatis being garbage at low revs just became the Duc canon for like twenty years 
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Nov 19, 2019 21:10
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