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Also if you're in heavy or gusty wind and you have zip-open flaps on your jacket, zip those fuckers up. They're meant to catch wind from head-on to keep you cool but they'll happily catch crosswinds as well, increasing the feeling of how pushed-around you're getting. Technically this can fall under Slavvy's "make yourself smaller" because you're reducing your sail area. I had a real distressing time getting battered by crosswinds coming down out of the mountains at the end of a long trip, until I realized that, and it made the winds easier to deal with. Phy fucked around with this message at 04:57 on May 8, 2022 |
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May 8, 2022 04:53
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With my intention being to sell the bike next year, it’s real tempting to put the same tire on so I don’t have to replace the front, too. Or I can darkside it and give Slavvy an aneurism. edit: Ordered the suggested Michelin tire, which means I've got to replace the front as soon as I'm able so they are the same style and keeps me from betting against myself and how long I'll be keeping the bike. My plan is to probably trade it in next year, but if for some reason I can't or decide not to, I'd just be kicking the lovely tires problem down the road. Geekboy fucked around with this message at 19:06 on May 8, 2022 |
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May 8, 2022 06:47
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Coincidentally, it was windy as all hell today on my way into work. drat near got shoved over a lane a couple times until I remembered to tuck in. So uh, thanks for the timely advice ya'll.
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May 8, 2022 23:17
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did a 150 km ride the other week and hit some decent rain on a two lane mountain highway and just had to remember the tires are gonna do their job, but not having ridden at 100 kph+ in the rain for a while its kinda spooky at first on the same stretch of rainy road i saw a guy on a big BMW, let him go by and followed his lines, but ehhhh he was impatient to get around cars and tried a pass on the right and ended up having to swerve as the car goes into the slow lane and then he has to get back into the left lane to pass i saw the whole thing like i knew the car was gonna move over and he gonna try the pass in the wrong lane into the rear of the car, luckily that didnt happen any ways it was a good ride numberoneposter fucked around with this message at 11:34 on May 14, 2022 |
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May 14, 2022 11:31
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I try to never let the dumb poo poo I see other riders do make me overconfident, but it's a nice feeling knowing they almost died doing a thing you wouldn't have tried in the first place. I had the new back tire mounted, but haven't put the wheel back on the bike yet (busy week), but now I think I'm going to order the front tire while they're still on sale so I can do that 100 miles or so on two new tires instead of breaking in the back and then the front. Just pull off the band-aid. Should I bother taking the gently worn dual sport front tire home to try to sell it? Or should I just let them recycle it for a few bucks and not worry about it?
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May 14, 2022 18:31
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I decided to adjust the rear suspension preload on my Rebel today. I knew it'd feel different but I wasn't prepared for how different putting on some extra preload felt. I immediately noticed I felt a little taller in the saddle, and as I hit some local backroads, I felt like I had more control. I was able to hit curves more smoothly and at higher speeds, and felt more confident doing so. I was also definitely bottoming out before, because I noticed a lot less unpleasantness when I hit potholes or bad patches of asphalt. Perhaps best of all, after 45 or so miles of riding, my butt didn't hurt as much. This kicks rear end and I should've done it sooner.
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May 15, 2022 00:21
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What up my Ninja! 
numberoneposter fucked around with this message at 03:53 on May 15, 2022 |
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May 15, 2022 03:49
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unimportantguy posted:I decided to adjust the rear suspension preload on my Rebel today. I knew it'd feel different but I wasn't prepared for how different putting on some extra preload felt. I immediately noticed I felt a little taller in the saddle, and as I hit some local backroads, I felt like I had more control. I was able to hit curves more smoothly and at higher speeds, and felt more confident doing so. I was also definitely bottoming out before, because I noticed a lot less unpleasantness when I hit potholes or bad patches of asphalt. Perhaps best of all, after 45 or so miles of riding, my butt didn't hurt as much. This kicks rear end and I should've done it sooner. I need to do this on my MT03, I know I’m too meaty for the stock setting.
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May 15, 2022 05:58
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numberoneposter posted:What up my Ninja! Layer Dan?
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May 15, 2022 08:07
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Russian Bear posted:I need to do this on my MT03, I know I’m too meaty for the stock setting. Myself, I weigh around 250lbs and I understand that the Rebel's stock settings are for something more like a 150lb rider. Maybe I should even try the next click up (currently at setting 3).
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May 15, 2022 08:24
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knox_harrington posted:Layer Dan? I was riding too fast and shoulder checked my left to change lanes and all of a sudden I saw a yellow turn to a red and tried to stop but instead of doing anything useful I grabbed all the front brake and washed out in an instant. A month into owning the bike I sent it sliding sideways through an intersection. I actually wasn't going super fast but low siding at any speed is an event. All my poo poo in my backpack was all over the road. My Zebra pen got run over by bus. The bike was scuffed up but fine, the slider did its job until it snapped and then the fairing took the rest of it. Had to replace the mirror. Unfortunately for my body I slapped my left knee against the pavement and I had an effusion on the knee for about a month. Not fun but an Xray an MRI and confirmed that it was just water on the knee. Still super painful and not a lot of fun. Any ways lol riding slower when sightlines are limited and progressive braking and would have prevented all that nonsense.
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May 15, 2022 09:21
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Got the new bits a couple of weeks ago and slapped them on. Measuring the old chain vs the new one for the same amount of links the old one was an inch longer and wayyyyy too flexible side to side. This chain was reasonably spendy but it seems to be really nice quality, same with the rear sprocket. Pics because they were requested when I first asked about chains/wear.   
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May 16, 2022 16:04
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Michelin Commanders installed and mounted back on the bike (front and rear). Planning a leisurely ride somewhere today to break them in after I wipe them down with an old towel or something. Anything I should know about breaking in new tires beyond “take it easy for a bit, dummy?”
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May 21, 2022 17:35
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In my experience, you don’t need to do anything special. Yeah, you shouldn’t fly out of the garage and throw the bike onto its side, but you shouldn’t do that regardless. That said, yeah just take it easy until you get the feel for the new tires and you’ll be fine. Edit: I guess one thing is you’re on a bike with a decent amount of torque and cruiser tires are probably much harder, so I’ll defer to whatever Slavvy may have to say on the matter! Toe Rag fucked around with this message at 18:44 on May 21, 2022 |
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May 21, 2022 18:28
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Literally don't need to do anything, the new tyre thing is massively overstated and largely a wives tale at this point. A heavy cruiser with relatively small tyres will not cause any difficulty. 'Breaking in' tires is not a thing that exists in this world anymore, literally one big turn left and one big turn right and you're done, your can 'scrub them in' in a cul-de-sac if you want to. Just jump on and ride. Not entirely sure what wiping them with a towel is meant to do though. If they're sweaty, you should probably return them as you've likely purchased glazed icing donuts instead of tyres, an easy mistake to make what with the similar shape and all. Olympic Mathlete posted:Got the new bits a couple of weeks ago and slapped them on. Measuring the old chain vs the new one for the same amount of links the old one was an inch longer and wayyyyy too flexible side to side. This chain was reasonably spendy but it seems to be really nice quality, same with the rear sprocket. This is the China bike right? Amazingly hosed for the milage, just look at those teeth lol
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May 21, 2022 20:11
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It’s a thing people said to do on the internet. I don’t know what a dry towel will do that walking it out of the driveway on semi-rough cement wouldn’t do. I was admittedly using a cheapo tire gauge, but did I really just have to take, like, 20 psi out of the rear tire? Would they really have overinflated it that much? The good news is that I found everything necessary to fill the tire back up a little. I hadn’t used those bits on the air compressor in a while, so had to hunt them down. Easier next time.
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May 21, 2022 21:02
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probably overfilled to seat the bead and forgot to deflate it. I’ve done the same thing a few times lol
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May 21, 2022 21:26
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Geekboy posted:It’s a thing people said to do on the internet. I don’t know what a dry towel will do that walking it out of the driveway on semi-rough cement wouldn’t do. People on the internet say lots of things but outside this forum it's mostly just dick beating wives tales nonsense. Normally when you fit a tyre you inflate to like 60psi to seat it, if you're lazy (you work at the dealer) and stupid (you're the guy fitting tires at the dealer) you'll just slam them on the customer's bike without pause, if you think about the pressures at all you rationalize it as the owner will set them themselves anyway. You've just shown why it always pays to double check.
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May 21, 2022 21:48
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Thanks as always for the advice, beloved poster. Glad your spill the other day was a minor one. I don’t know if it’s my imagination or not, but I swear the bike is handling and just generally traveling better. I haven’t ridden the Roadster in 2 weeks because of having it jacked up to change the tires, so I recognize it could just be me being so happy to be out on it again.
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May 21, 2022 22:52
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Yeah nah changing from blocky 50/50's to tires that actually work with your bike is a big enough difference that even learner brain can feel it, I'd bea little alarmed if you said nothing had changed.
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May 22, 2022 00:34
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I'm going to get some new levers in since the stock ones are kinda floaty but otherwise done loving with this for now. Really digging the tiny little motogadget turn signals 
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May 22, 2022 23:14
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Wangsbig posted:done loving with this for now] Give it some time
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May 23, 2022 00:48
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Slavvy posted:Give it some time my heart and wallet are open to suggestion
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May 23, 2022 01:57
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Wangsbig posted:my heart and wallet are open to suggestion The insinuation here is the bike will suggest all on its own.
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May 23, 2022 02:38
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Slavvy posted:This is the China bike right? Amazingly hosed for the milage, just look at those teeth lol Yeah. After watching a video where street 'factories' pressed the sprockets out of scrap metal I'm not surprised. Just goes to show how much damage a poor quality chain can do when it stretches. It had done ~5000 miles and I wasn't expecting these bits to get quite that far.
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May 23, 2022 14:46
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I found a guy selling an immaculate 2020 MT-03 that's a mirror image of my old bike. I was worried I was going to spend too much on too much bike, but things might work out after all. That being said, anything in particular I should look out for other than forks, fluids, frame, and a clean start from a cold engine?
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May 23, 2022 18:28
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Price up tyres and a chain cause learners generally aren't aware of these things existing so they will likely be hosed.
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May 23, 2022 18:47
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I'd be really impressed if they hosed tires and chain on a 2020 bike. But if you go for tires, my local RideNow got me Rosso 3s for $300 installed and I highly recommend if you like a tippy tire.
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May 24, 2022 00:33
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Russian Bear posted:I'd be really impressed if they hosed tires and chain on a 2020 bike. 2020 was two years ago. How far can you travel without ever lubing your chain or inflating your tyres in two years? Pretty far unfortunately.
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May 24, 2022 00:58
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Slavvy posted:2020 was two years ago. Yeah what's the mileage on the MT-03? My 2020 Ninja 400 had only around 2k miles when I got it last year, so no one had enough time or miles in it to neglect it too much yet. Although I changed the oil and did all the basic stuff right off because who knows if the first service had actually happened.
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May 24, 2022 01:41
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370 miles. My ability to find MT-03s with less than 400 on the clock is unmatched. Ninja edit: The dude sent me his contact info and I scoped his Facebook page. He's older and has a lot of pics of him on his Road Glide. Fingers crossed he's kept up with this one as well as his main ride. Spiggy fucked around with this message at 02:07 on May 24, 2022 |
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May 24, 2022 02:02
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Slavvy posted:Give it some time Local man screams at primary source of income.
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May 24, 2022 02:45
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Spiggy posted:370 miles. My ability to find MT-03s with less than 400 on the clock is unmatched. Nice! That’s exactly how I got mine 500 miles on the clock.
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May 24, 2022 05:10
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Coydog posted:Local man screams at primary source of income. If 390's were my primary source of income the doctors would not have been able to resuscitate me, I'd have fought for death.
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May 24, 2022 05:14
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As I use my current bike to figure out what my next bike should be (NC750X ticks a lot of boxes for me, but the new Nightster is pretty great and is maybe some risers away from fitting me fantastically - and I’ll probably change my mind 500 more times), I’m debating what I can and should change to make it better for me in the shortish term. I’ve come to hate this fender extension aesthetically. Other than double checking local laws to see if I need a reflector on the back, is there any reason I shouldn’t take this off? Am I going to have mud up my back every time it rains if I do or something? I don’t think so, but y’all know better than I do.  I also despise my “tall boy” seat. A custom seat is gonna run me a good $500 and it’s real tempting to just wait it out at that price, but a different seat is probably my number one desire for this bike. edit: I continue to be surprised that the new tires look so much better. Geekboy fucked around with this message at 00:40 on May 25, 2022 |
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May 25, 2022 00:38
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Slavvy posted:If 390's were my primary source of income the doctors would not have been able to resuscitate me, I'd have fought for death. When slavvy passes, I can totally see him coming back to haunt the KTM engineers, like one of the ghosts from A Muppet's Christmas Carole. Except the chains are timing chains and the lockboxes are 390 crankcases. "We're Slavvy and Slavvy! WOOoOoOooooo...." 
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May 25, 2022 00:46
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Geekboy posted:As I use my current bike to figure out what my next bike should be (NC750X ticks a lot of boxes for me, but the new Nightster is pretty great and is maybe some risers away from fitting me fantastically - and I’ll probably change my mind 500 more times), I’m debating what I can and should change to make it better for me in the shortish term. Holy crap that looks like poo poo. Where's the taillight in this situation? BabelFish posted:When slavvy passes, I can totally see him coming back to haunt the KTM engineers, like one of the ghosts from A Muppet's Christmas Carole. Except the chains are timing chains and the lockboxes are 390 crankcases. I'll haunt them relentlessly until they fall so far they become a piaggo group subsidiary making orange vespas.
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May 25, 2022 01:44
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Slavvy posted:Holy crap that looks like poo poo. Where's the taillight in this situation? Right there, center frame. Here's a better view of the N/A Sportster  That's just a reflector in the center, and my Iron didn't even have that when I bought it. Geekboy: take that bullshit off
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May 25, 2022 02:08
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Oooh so the indicators are the taillight? Yeah ditch that poo poo asap, glue a reflector on as your local authority deems fit.
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May 25, 2022 02:10
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I will probably tear it off tomorrow night. Now it's just a matter of whether I put on a reflector or maybe something like this. I really like the style of the cafe deflector on the front of the bike, but the paint job on it is so so and now I'm afraid I've opened Pandora's box and am not going to stop until I've turned it into a precious little snowflake of a motorcycle that's just for me. Investing in the tires made me commit to not doing a trade in until at least next year and they ride so much better that it's almost like I've got a new motorcycle. I liked how it rode before, but it's really shocking to me how big a difference it made.
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May 25, 2022 04:25
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