|
I fuckin love my drz, it's so much fun to ride. glad it's my first real bike to put some hours in on.
|
#
?
Aug 5, 2021 06:18
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 31, 2024 22:51 |
|
|
Oops. I let my friend who's never been on a bike on my little 125cc china bike and now he's about to sign on a CBR600RR. Please don't die my man. Somewhere a few pages back someone mentioned how handling on a real sports bike kinda doesn't give a lot of signals back to the rider. It's muted. I kinda get that. I sorta regurgitated that back to my friend. He's really stuck on the idea of buying one bike and keeping it forever. It's his choice I guess. SSH IT ZOMBIE fucked around with this message at 23:09 on Aug 5, 2021 |
|
#
?
Aug 5, 2021 22:56
|
|
|
Lmao that’s terminal newbie brain. “I’ll just buy the perfect bike and keep it forever” only makes sense if you’ve never ridden before.
|
|
#
?
Aug 5, 2021 23:10
|
|
|
SSH IT ZOMBIE posted:Oops. I let my friend who's never been on a bike on my little 125cc china bike and now he's about to sign on a CBR600RR. Please don't die my man. Well, at least it's not a 1000RR (I'm sure that was his reasoning)
|
|
#
?
Aug 5, 2021 23:17
|
|
|
if you are going to go big on your first bike might as well stop loving around and go for the ZX14.
|
|
#
?
Aug 5, 2021 23:23
|
|
|
the fallacy is that there could ever be one perfect bike i'd say you need at least three or four motorcycles just to have the perfect bike for the normal range of riding opportunities
|
|
#
?
Aug 5, 2021 23:49
|
|
|
numberoneposter posted:if you are going to go big on your first bike might as well stop loving around and go for the ZX14. Whether I crash or don’t crash, I don’t want to feel a thing. Sound logic?
|
|
#
?
Aug 5, 2021 23:54
|
|
|
Jim Silly-Balls posted:Lmao that’s terminal newbie brain
|
|
#
?
Aug 6, 2021 02:09
|
|
|
SSH IT ZOMBIE posted:Oops. I let my friend who's never been on a bike on my little 125cc china bike and now he's about to sign on a CBR600RR. Please don't die my man. Is he taking the msf at least.
|
|
#
?
Aug 6, 2021 04:19
|
|
|
Jim Silly-Balls posted:Lmao that’s terminal newbie brain. “I’ll just buy the perfect bike and keep it forever” only makes sense if you’ve never ridden before.
|
|
#
?
Aug 7, 2021 01:58
|
|
|
I mean, you can get to your personal idea of a perfect bike and own it forever. Lots of people do. It just requires riding a lot of different bikes to understand what you do and don’t like. The idea that you can just randomly pick your perfect bike based off, I guess looks? as a new rider is crazy
|
|
#
?
Aug 7, 2021 02:01
|
|
|
Rev. Dr. Moses P. Lester posted:I've been riding about 15 years now and my brain still does that. I've thought recently I'd like a track bike, and instead of just getting an SV650 as any rational person would, I'm thinking I'd like a VFR400 or an RS125 or something. Pardon my ignorance!! but why is an RS125 a bad track bike? Yes, it's a 2-stroke GP bike, so it's going to be a bit of a handful compared to an SV650, but does that make it bad? I am under the impression they are fairly inexpensive, unlike a VFR400. I personally wouldn't track a +10k bike.
|
|
#
?
Aug 7, 2021 02:57
|
|
|
RS wouldn't be bad, but they're not exactly easy to find. A running SV is on every street corner across the US for a reasonable price, though. RS would be a bit extreme in its ergos and power delivery, too, when it would make more sense to get a friendly bike.
|
|
#
?
Aug 7, 2021 03:52
|
|
|
A buddy of mine had an rs125 for a track bike and it was really, REALLY good in a razor thin margin of every possible thing coming together in a perfect storm. If you were in the middle of the tiny powerband, set up perfectly for a corner, had the tires up to temp, nailed your shifts perfectly to keep it on the boil, completely committed 100%, and the air temperature was right for its jetting, it would take down bikes much more powerful than itself. Mess up any of that, however and it wasn’t going anywhere. He wound up getting rid of it and tracking a *horn fanfare* SV650 instead after the RS seized on track.
|
|
#
?
Aug 7, 2021 16:52
|
|
|
I spent probably three hours trying to adjust my chain slack/alignment with everything that could probably go wrong happening (massive over-/under-adjustments, not having the right size/depth sockets, constantly second-guessing the chain alignment tool, and just being generally out-of-shape) but dammit I pulled it off. I'm still not super happy about the alignment tool I used and will probably get a set of calipers to measure from the back of the adjustment nut to the end of the bolt and square it up between the left and right sides. I did have a question for the more experienced people here. When I was loosening up the axel nut from one side the other side would start turning, so I wrenched one side in place and loosened the other. However, when I reversed the process to tighten up to the suggested torque, the wrench would immediately start clicking on the second side that I would start tightening. Is that normal or should there be any cause for concern? Sorry if that was oddly explained, but I'm very old, tired, and paranoid about messing up something on baby's first wrench job.
|
|
#
?
Aug 9, 2021 02:57
|
|
|
yeah that alignment tool is worthless and no different than just closing one eye and looking at the chain straight on from the rear. A caliper is the way to go IMO and what I'll use if I think I messed it up somehow. I too completely overestimated how many turns of the nut were necessary to tighten the chain. It turns out 2 full turns is way too much! I would get a set of combo wrenches because there's a lot of places on a motorcycle you'll have a hard time getting a socket. I just replaced my gear shift lever the other day and there is no way any one of those nuts could be touched with a socket. As to your second question I am definitely a mechanical simpleton but you should only be tightening the axle on one side. For example, you would put a wrench on the bolt head side of 5 just to keep it from spinning and then tighten 7. 
|
|
#
?
Aug 9, 2021 03:10
|
|
|
Spiggy posted:I spent probably three hours trying to adjust my chain slack/alignment with everything that could probably go wrong happening (massive over-/under-adjustments, not having the right size/depth sockets, constantly second-guessing the chain alignment tool, and just being generally out-of-shape) but dammit I pulled it off. I'm still not super happy about the alignment tool I used and will probably get a set of calipers to measure from the back of the adjustment nut to the end of the bolt and square it up between the left and right sides. Ok there are two semi related issues I'll try to tackle seperately here: 1. Chain tension stuff As toe rag says, alignment tools are worthless tat. There are many time-honored alignment methods, old people seem to like the string method you can google while younger folk like measuring with calipers as above. Or, you can release yourself from the trappings of empirical reality and forget about measuring anything and do this instead: loosen the adjusters off until the axle can slide all the way forward and do that. While holding the wheel forward either with your meat or with a block of wood, depending on your setup, tighten the axle nut just enough that the wheel can't slide anywhere by itself. Run the adjuster bolts in until they touch. At this point the axle nut needs to be just tight enough to provide some dragging resistance for the adjuster bolts to pull on, sometimes finger tight is enough to do this, other times you need a spanner. Now you just turn the adjuster bolts equally, simply by counting the turns! Put your spanner/ratchet at the 12'o'clock position and tighten to 6 or fully over to 12 (or whatever fraction is repeatable and easily referenced), do the same on the other side. As long as you count the turns consistently and evenly this method will work to perfection because it relies on the consistency of the adjuster threads, which is far more accurate than squinting at a vernier. Eventually, you'll get to the range where the chain starts to tension. Absolutely critical: do not obtain the chain tension you want by loosening the adjusters. It is a one-way operation and if you try to loosen things off everything will be aligned like poo poo, so if you overtighten the chain and have to loosen the adjusters, you need to loosen them both evenly a couple of turns and approch it again with both adjusters tensioned. Spin the wheel and find the tight spot in the chain by grabbing the bottom run at mid-length, it may take a bunch of turns to repeat but you'll find it, that's where you set your tension. Work the adjuster bolts backwards until it's set right, tighten axle, then give the adjuster bolts a tiny bit of extra tension so they don't work loose from any slight loosening as you did the nut up. FWIW a quarter-turn on the extremely common 1.25mm adjuster bolt thread equates to 0.31mm so you can adjust to an extremely fine degree this way. 2. Axle stuff You need to hold the bolt end of the axle still with a spanner or socket and bar, and tighten the nut gradually until you get the click/beep. Again this is a one-way operation, you can't loosen your way to the right tension so if you over-do it, loosen and start again. Don't loosen the axle right off or you'll destroy all your effort in following the instructions above, half-way will do so you can smoothly ramp the torque into the wrench again. Make sure the axle nut/bolt head and the flats they press on are nice and clean, grease the axle bolt with a light layer of bearing grease so it doesn't corrode in there. Slavvy fucked around with this message at 03:47 on Aug 9, 2021 |
|
#
?
Aug 9, 2021 03:41
|
|
|
I’m so spoiled by axle snails. I haven’t actually checked axle alignment in years now, and when I set chain tension I grab it and wiggle it up and down and say “Yeah, that looks right.”
|
|
#
?
Aug 9, 2021 04:26
|
|
|
Spent 4 hours riding today (~180 miles) with a mix of divided highway, county two lane twisties with what must have been 50 years of patches on it and interstate. Wind came to play too and I was riding away from a monsoon off in the distance. Had a couple pucker moments with wind gusts, which must have been 25mph or so. My instinct is to slow down, which did help, but I feel like I should speed up as faster = more stable. What's the right thing to do here?
|
|
#
?
Aug 9, 2021 04:56
|
|
|
I should probably service my chain...
|
|
#
?
Aug 9, 2021 05:40
|
|
|
Russian Bear posted:Spent 4 hours riding today (~180 miles) with a mix of divided highway, county two lane twisties with what must have been 50 years of patches on it and interstate. Wind came to play too and I was riding away from a monsoon off in the distance. Had a couple pucker moments with wind gusts, which must have been 25mph or so. Loosen your arms until they're noodles of mince, look as far ahead as possible, ignore everything the bike does. The safest thing is to do nothing because anything you do will make the bike react and change geometry, which changes your line and makes you react, which makes the bike react, which... The safest and best way is to be in full command of the throttle and brakes so any small movements due to wind or bumps are overridden by the far larger forces of front-rear loading.
|
|
#
?
Aug 9, 2021 05:56
|
|
|
So, this may be obvious to most, but had completely gone over my head when I first started and I guess I didn't pay too much attention to it when I bought my bike as everything felt 'new' anyway...but.. In trying to improve my general bike handling I've started paying more attention to how I'm sitting, etc and as I started experimenting with trail braking, I realized I couldn't. There was no way for me to grab the brake and maintain any kind of throttle control. This in turn made me look at my control setup and I've now adjusted more or less to the way he does here and things are much better: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=47YG4dAwOIM I had seen this video before and kinda ignored it, but it's really made it way more comfortable...only took 3 years or riding to figure out!
|
|
#
?
Aug 9, 2021 07:02
|
|
|
Russian Bear posted:My instinct is to slow down, which did help, but I feel like I should speed up as faster = more stable. What's the right thing to do here? Definitely slow down. If I'm doing 90mph and the wind makes me go from 0 degrees straight ahead to 15 degrees to the right, and it takes me a half second to correct the issue, I will have gone farther towards the next lane over if I'm doing 90mph than had I been doing 65mph. At least that's my theory for why I slow down when you get crazy wind (it's actually because it feels a lot better so who cares why). I also didn't find my bike drastically increased in how stable it felt once you got past something like 15 - 25mph, but I did ride a friend's FZ-07 once for ~50 miles and I was surprised at the effort it took to turn at freeway speeds compared to the streets, so maybe there's something to that. I can't really think of a bike safety situation that's improved by going faster. Given the choice between braking and accelerating to get out of danger, braking at least significantly lowers the forces you feel in any crash compared to speeding up.
|
|
#
?
Aug 9, 2021 07:49
|
|
|
I just passed my riding exam this morning. I was super nervous but managed well enough to pass anyway. So now I'm licenced to ride all by myself without the yellow vest of shame, which feels pretty great. My very generous brother will let me ride his versys 650 for the time being, but I need to get my own ride come spring at the latest. Hopefully used bike prices will drop significantly when the weather turns bad like they usually do from what I've heard.
|
|
#
?
Aug 9, 2021 12:52
|
|
|
Is the wind advice generally the same as for riding over a grated bridge? Loosen up, try to provide less active input, stay focused up ahead? I think we talked about this a little while ago. That's my go-to now for a super annoying bridge which makes my bike feel like it's drunk :|
|
|
#
?
Aug 9, 2021 13:51
|
|
|
Yeah, don’t manhandle the bike, don’t death grip it. Keep your eyes up ahead, not pointed at the ground in front of you. You basically have it
|
|
#
?
Aug 9, 2021 13:56
|
|
|
Martytoof posted:Is the wind advice generally the same as for riding over a grated bridge? Loosen up, try to provide less active input, stay focused up ahead? I think we talked about this a little while ago. That's my go-to now for a super annoying bridge which makes my bike feel like it's drunk :| Get a 300+ KG Harley which doesn't care about winds less than gale force strength.
|
|
#
?
Aug 9, 2021 14:04
|
|
|
Martytoof posted:Is the wind advice generally the same as for riding over a grated bridge? Loosen up, try to provide less active input, stay focused up ahead? I think we talked about this a little while ago. That's my go-to now for a super annoying bridge which makes my bike feel like it's drunk :| What people have said but also: steady throttle is the safest. If you're on a shut throttle you have no front suspension and all the weight is on the front tyre, not a good place to be over rough terrain. On a steady throttle you have maximum suspension travel front and rear, most of the weight is on the back tyre, steering effort is drastically reduced. Naturally the safest method is to wheelie over them at speed. Steakandchips posted:Get a 300+ KG Harley which doesn't care about winds less than gale force strength. The length and girth matters more than the bulk in this scenario 
|
|
#
?
Aug 9, 2021 19:48
|
|
|
Reminder that motorcycles exhibit positive stability (when in motion) and, when all rider torques are removed, they will attempt to right themselves and go in a straight line. (mute, lovely music) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C0_d-SjyTgY The video above is all racing motorcycles, so your street bike is even more stable than those. On lovely roads, metal grille bridges, etc the best thing to do is loosen up your grip and let the bike sort itself out. It might wiggle underneath you but it wants to stabilize and keep moving forwards. In a heavy crosswind you will probably find that you have to lean into it a bit to make the bike track a straight line, but again, the vehicle will be more stable the fewer inputs you provide.
|
|
#
?
Aug 9, 2021 20:21
|
|
|
all the buffeting from highway traffic wind is easily my least favorite part about riding the whole ordeal of doing like 100 kph in traffic on the freeway just kinda sucks
|
|
#
?
Aug 9, 2021 20:37
|
|
|
I'm reminded of the possibly apocryphal story of the dude who was riding along a straight road at night in full tuck at like 150 mph and suddenly sat up when he realized he missed his turn, got plucked off the bike by the sudden force of the wind, and later found his bike a half mile down the road, where it had finally encountered a curve, hopped the ditch, and went into a field before it got tired and lay down.
|
|
#
?
Aug 9, 2021 21:26
|
|
|
You can find videos of ~mad stuntaz~ with throttle locks who fall off and the bike just keeps on riding
|
|
#
?
Aug 9, 2021 21:30
|
|
|
MomJeans420 posted:You can find videos of ~mad stuntaz~ with throttle locks who fall off and the bike just keeps on riding The bike has had enough of my poo poo
|
|
#
?
Aug 9, 2021 22:04
|
|
|
MomJeans420 posted:You can find videos of ~mad stuntaz~ with throttle locks who fall off and the bike just keeps on riding I am trying to find examples of this because dudes' bikes riding off into the sunset without them sounds hilarious but I can only find one video of a guy on a Harley jettisoning it into the side of an Astro van
|
|
#
?
Aug 10, 2021 01:33
|
|
|
I did a quick search and can't find it, but I can picture one particular video in my head very well. Unfortunately searching for variations of stunter, wheelie, freeway, crash brings back A LOT of videos. This is similar though, but not as good https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KSVgweZ8BwA
|
|
#
?
Aug 10, 2021 03:01
|
|
|
Thanks yall, pretty much what I was doing i think, just keeping steady and riding it out. A lot like riding through a sand pit on a bicycle.
|
|
#
?
Aug 10, 2021 03:17
|
|
|
HenryJLittlefinger posted:I'm reminded of the possibly apocryphal story of the dude who was riding along a straight road at night in full tuck at like 150 mph and suddenly sat up when he realized he missed his turn, got plucked off the bike by the sudden force of the wind, and later found his bike a half mile down the road, where it had finally encountered a curve, hopped the ditch, and went into a field before it got tired and lay down. After doing 210km/h on the autobahn, i can fully believe that story. The wind is intense. When i got my head out of tuck when looking at my blind spots (remember, the average family sedan can reach 200km/h just fine, they might just have crept up on you) the wind really snapped it backwards. Got a sore neck the next day! I did kinda enjoy the feeling of the various bubbles of air that exist on the road. Lorries have this thick wall of air you bust through if you fly past them. Overtake a row of them and you're spending not a second completely upright, instead constantly re-balancing for the varying crosswinds and air bubbles. Things start to look a bit like cockpit footage of an airplane on final approach, constantly making little bank angle adjustments. Also bloody weird that i have to put in a bit of effort to overtake modern Sprinter or Transporter vans. Christ, they've gotten fast. I wouldn't exactly call my SV650 slow... It was the most visceral riding experience ever. From the intense reactions of the bike on the wind and pressure waves from the lorries, to the high pitched roar of the engine, to the heat bubbles rising into the fairing, to the intense radiant heat from the exhaust that's even noticeable with a hurricane force air blast cooling them down. God i need to do that again. Every force imaginable you can feel with your body. Keep in mind, the average speed on the autobahn is barely above 100km/h and people WILL overtake and not see you coming because you're a dot in the mirror approaching way faster than people expect. Drive responsibly. LimaBiker fucked around with this message at 12:37 on Aug 10, 2021 |
|
#
?
Aug 10, 2021 12:34
|
|
|
Since I managed to get my licence with one single vacation day left I spend most of today in the saddle (with breaks obvs). I rode in heavy traffic, twisties, highway, gravel roads that were sometimes more like trails - pretty much anything and everything. Good times were had. It's liberating not to have an instructor right behind you and inside your helmet over the radio. I reflected more than once that the education I've received is good and comprehensive, and the only times anything felt at all out of control was when I disregarded what I've been taught. "Remember your training" is probably the main thing I'll try to keep in mind going forward so I don't pick up any bad habits from here on. Despite said training I nearly dropped the bike when I attempted a tight U-turn in first gear and had no power available when I needed it since I was actually in neutral. I also got rained on a bunch at the end but I had brought rain gear which worked fine. Even the boots and gloves held up which was a pleasant surprise. The only issue was a bit of fogging at low speed with the visor fully closed. I also learned that I really, really like earplugs on the highway but not so much on slower sections. Best to protect my hearing regardless I guess.
|
|
#
?
Aug 10, 2021 19:07
|
|
|
I was like not sure if I should ask this here or in the discussion thread or questions thread. I am still like a new rider and it's kind of a safety question. Mechanically, is there any kind of way a bike can fail and like throw you off or get you hurt easy? Like - in a way that makes a bike inherently higher risk than a car? They seem pretty basic mechanically and thus not a lot of crazy ways to fail - most of it would be entirely user error - is that a bad assumption? My friend, not a new rider, was pulling wheelies and riding his CBR500r aggressively in a parking lot. Mid wheelie his rear tire locked and he skidded out. He was able to maintain control of the bike and stopped it. It was a little scary to see. The noise it made was awful, sounded like automatic gunfire. To me it sounded like a chain force sliding over a sprocket or maybe a gear slipping. He said he didn't downshift and drop the clutch. The bike also has a slipper clutch. It would have made retarded Yoshi noises if he did that. Woulda heard it. His engine didn't like seize did it? I can't think of what the hell else can cause a bike to do that. SSH IT ZOMBIE fucked around with this message at 18:21 on Aug 12, 2021 |
|
#
?
Aug 12, 2021 17:58
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 31, 2024 22:51 |
|
|
SSH IT ZOMBIE posted:retarded Don't. quote:The noise it made was awful, sounded like automatic gunfire. To me it sounded like a chain force sliding over a sprocket or maybe a gear slipping.
|
|
#
?
Aug 12, 2021 18:28
|
|