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pr0zac posted:Yeah this is pretty much the plan. I expect to be limited to a 49cc scooter this time next year. Whats the maintenance like on the KTM? It would definitely be my immediate choice but I'm almost leaning toward the 400SM simply for the gas and forget factor. Looks like the maintenence interval is 6k on the valves for the KTM, so that's not bad. I know that they've been working to make things more reliable. Expect things to be a bit more expensive if you decide to go with teh KTM. Both bikes will be able to do that without an issue. It'll be a little uncomfortable for you if you're pushing it, but no biggy on the bike. Make sure if you're doing long term drones at higher RPM, you keep an eye on the oil, as some of the big singles tend to burn a little oil under long freeway use. Also, if you're into aftermarket farkles, the KTM's going to be a bit dry and expensive there. There's a huge, established aftermarket for the DRZ, so if you want to tweak and fiddle you'll have to be patient on the KTM or pay through the nose.
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Oct 30, 2008 19:44
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Z3n posted:Also, if you're into aftermarket farkles, the KTM's going to be a bit dry and expensive there. There's a huge, established aftermarket for the DRZ, so if you want to tweak and fiddle you'll have to be patient on the KTM or pay through the nose. In fairness the ktm comes from the factory with pretty high spec kit anyway, unlike the drz which needs a cash injection to change it from so-so supermotoesque bike to something more wild
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Oct 30, 2008 19:56
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I am very disappointed that when I clicked Gladius Accessories; those space pants in the ad wern't listed.
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Oct 30, 2008 20:48
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Goddamn it! Now I'm rocking out to this trippy quasi funk chill trance poo poo. Gladius...
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Oct 30, 2008 20:57
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TheFonz posted:Goddamn it! They've got it up for download too.
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Oct 30, 2008 20:59
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echomadman posted:In fairness the ktm comes from the factory with pretty high spec kit anyway, unlike the drz which needs a cash injection to change it from so-so supermotoesque bike to something more wild Err, yeah, I should have mentioned that. Even a stack of aftermarket mods still won't make the DRZ quite as awesome as the KTM. Eventually you could get it there, but it'd defeat the purpose cause it'd be more expensive than just buying teh drat KTM.
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Oct 30, 2008 21:20
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Nerobro posted:it does have a frame. The frame just happens to be the shape of a motorcycle engine. The fairing, tank, and tail are bolted to the top of the cylinder heads. They're one piece IIRC, and also contain the radiator. Hmmm...After reading about this Norman Hossack guy, and looking up "bell crank" on wikipedia, my question is if this stuff is so great, why isn't it on more bikes? Especially racing bikes? Is it just that people at the big four, BMW and Ducati are not willing to try something radical that may be a flop? Or is the success of the Britten bike a fluke and not repeatable today? Or is it a matter of patents and red tape?
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Oct 31, 2008 01:53
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Well you're looking at a lot of differnet questions there. Lets answer the simple ones first. As for bellcranks and oddly positioned shocks. That's done today, in one way or another. Suzuki uses a "full floater" arrangement. Where both ends of the shock squeeze down when the back end compresses. Honda uses their "unilink" setup, which is honda, and honda's alone. Yamaha has their Mono-X setup. Those all put the shocks in slightly different positions. Buell slings their shocks under the bike like britten did. There's no huge advantage to any of these. it's just a different way of doing it. Don't put to much thought into it. As for the forks, different front ends feel different. Racers tend to stick with what they know. As it's predictable. ELF ran some exotic chassis setups in gp500. The fork wasn't critical to the success of the britten. While it's a neat feature, it's just part of the package. I"m sure part of the choice was due to the fact you can't make forks at home, and you can make a hossak at home. The bike wasn't a fluke. The genius of the bike is that it came out of one mans mind. Without fail, the best racing machines are born that way. He envisioned the whole package, and built that package. Bikes built by teams always are full of compromises. The bike is still a radical design to this day. That should say something about how far ahead he was.
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Oct 31, 2008 02:06
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Z3n posted:Looks like the maintenence interval is 6k on the valves for the KTM, so that's not bad. I know that they've been working to make things more reliable. Expect things to be a bit more expensive if you decide to go with teh KTM. The way I see it, is that the pros list of both reads like this: Drz: Cheap outright price with cheap maint whilst being incredibly reliable. Ktm: Being completly loving awsome.
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Oct 31, 2008 02:37
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Sorry  It's Friday and I'm avoiding doing the budget for the next 12 months.Z3n posted:The point I'm trying to make here is: I think we're discussing the same point from different angles  I'm not trying to claim the 'busa is the world's best bike. Rather, I just didn't feel that many of the labels it was being given were fair.After all, I still get a huge kick out of riding 50cc scooters, and the only label I give them is "fun" Z3n posted:I wasn't aware there were any tracks where the fastest GP rider lapped slower than the fastest WSBK bike...do you have a link? I feel like a right git now I reread that statement  I was thinking of Philip Island, where the WSBK bikes are quicker through some sections of the track than the Moto GP bikes. The HP advantage of the Moto GP machines means a fair bit on the straights.Z3n posted:Less weight to deal with, about the same HP, and an easier time through the tight stuff due to a more aggressive setup on the bike. I'll respectfully disagree with a few of the points in this statement. A Gen 1 'busa is only 215 kg dry. A 2007 Yamaha R1 is 192 kg dry. One hour, and a few dollars in parts, I can easily strip a 'busa while keeping it road legal down to 195 kg dry simply by removing the "luxury" items. I know I'm almost defeating my own point by suggesting it, but 'busa does come with more "cushy" items than a SB or SS. You're right on the similar HP point, however HP doesn't reflect torque delivery. As I'm sure you're aware, HP is a function of torque and revs. The ZX-14, the ZX-12, the B-King, the V-Max, the 'busa, there's a reason why they're all popular drag bikes. There's so much more torque delivered down low in the rev range resulting in a lower rev point for peak power. Lower revs usually means a more controllable throttle from the rider's perspective, and usually faster launches. And that's even ignoring the differences in gearing. I can't argue with your point that out of the factory SBs and SSs are far more aggressive bikes. However, an aggressive setup like that is a spanner and some elbow grease away. You're very right, we won't be seeing the Hayabusa or similar bikes carving up the field at the Moto GP level, but for the riders like you and me, there's effectively nothing in it. Z3n posted:I see that every time I go to the track on my SV650...there's a lot of riders who I will pull down the front straight before the HP kicks in because they're not maximizing drive on exit because it's difficult and they're not comfortable lighting the rear as needed. I hear you A friend of mine rides a SV650S (I also own a K4 SV650S) on the track, and while he can't possibly catch me down the straights, he's great fun to follow through the corners. I often pull in behind fast 600s, and chase them through the twisties for entertainment, doing whole sessions at 600cc speeds.From time to time, I also enjoy the terror inducing acceleration when I do choose to show the one litre riders what "fast" actually is  As the saying goes, "90% rider, 10% bike". Z3n posted:It goes double for the literbike riders, who need to park it and get it sliding and pointed and upright to maximize drive. Watching a real pro do that in front of you is absolutely astounding, and you typically only get to watch them for about 2 corners. At a recent track day, one session was a tuning/practise session for the upcoming Australian Superbike series. I can only imagine what's going through their heads as they push their bikes that far into a corner, it's just amazing to watch.
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Oct 31, 2008 03:26
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Well said. I find that my walls of text often occur when I'm ducking work too.  I don't really think that labeling a busa a "S/T or H/T" bike is unfair. I mean, hell, they made the hypertouring name to go with the busa, 14, and concours 14. It's not a negative connotation by any stretch of the imagination, it just means it isn't an uncompromised race machine. Any bike that I get on that feels like a couch isn't a modern supersport, that's really all there is to it. I agree that you can get a busa close to what a R1 will weigh, but the issue is: Then you're throwing money at it, and where does it stop? You strip down a R1 a little more, and it'll be even lighter...comparing modded bikes to stock ones is like comparing motogp to wsbk. Yeah, they're both racebikes, but if you throw more money at one, it will go faster, and that goes for any bike. And unfortunantly, you're not going to get the same performance out of a busa as you will a properly setup R6/R1. A fully track prepped bike is something that's typically totally loving absurd with how quick it steers, how stable it is, etc, and you can't adjust wheelbase, geometry, etc. with a couple of spanners. You're looking at a heavy list of custom parts to get a busa set up like a racebike...and even then, it won't be well suited to it, because you're just slapping more aggressive geometry on a bike, frame and wheelbase not designed for it. It seems like it's 90% rider, 10% bike...until you start to get deep into the A group/racing stuff. After a year of constant trackdays, schools, etc. I'm finally starting to hit the laptimes where there are riders who are faster than me simply because they have better hardware, and I don't have a prayer of catching them because to ride at their laptimes are simply not possible on my bike, regardless of who is riding it. A SV650 will never do a sub 1:58 at thill unless you've spent 10k on building the world's most perfect engine, and even then it's probably not going to happen, whereas there are guys on 600s running 1:58s all day long without any issue, and still not running at the front of the grid. Either way, I agree with basically everything you said... I also bet you go faster on your literbike
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Oct 31, 2008 04:48
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So, idly poking around on youtube, I ran across this guy's RC113 replica, and just had to find out more about it (the original, not the replica). tehinternets posted:The Honda RC113, introduced during the Japanese GP of 1963, with a total capacity of 49.6 cc 13hp from a 50cc engine, a nine-speed gearbox, dry weight of 53kg, and brakes that wouldn't be out of place on a push bike? Sign me the gently caress up. No, really, I would love to know what it was like to ride something this alien to modern motorcycling.  Oh, right, photos. Tiny rear end, 50cc, two cylinder engine, with 4 valves/cylinder. How small would the valves be, to match up with that?   Notice the little cable snaking down from the triple to just on top of the front fender... 
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Nov 1, 2008 06:50
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That thing is awesome! Its crazy to see how thoroughly modern some of the things on that bike are. The cases look very modern, as do the carbs. I suppose, its a GP bike, even if it is from 69, so it was using very bleeding edge tech at the time.
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Nov 1, 2008 07:20
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^^ 1963. Apparently it made pretty extensive use of magnesium, to help shed weight, and the brake setup was also in the interest of weight savings, although I can imagine it didn't do wonders for stopping power.
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Nov 1, 2008 07:39
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I finally broke it to my mom that I've been riding two years, and bought a bike here in the UK and that's what I've been using to get to work. It went far better than I thought! Sort or "well I know you'd been thinking about it for some time, and frankly you're old enough to make your own decisions". Then she got all excited and looked up what I ride on the internet to show my dad who thought it was fantastic (he used to ride, back in ancient history). I don't know what the hell I was worried about. Mental scarring from having a bag of semolina smashed across my head as a kid for doing something stupid I guess!
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Nov 3, 2008 00:24
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ClockworkZero posted:Then she got all excited and looked up what I ride on the internet to show my dad who thought it was fantastic (he used to ride, back in ancient history). I don't know what the hell I was worried about. My Mum is a bit the same, although she flip flops between every subsequent bike I get. My first one (well, the first one that was properly mine), she was all worried (650cc, so much power!). Bought the 'busa, she was busy telling everyone at her job that her son had just bought one of the world's fastest production bikes... then I bought the track bike and told her how much horsepower it has. She asked me if I had a death wish, seems she's back to being worried.
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Nov 3, 2008 06:19
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Tonight I had my first ride on my moped. That seat needs to be fixed. Like... now. The handlebars need to be replaced too. They're a little bent, and way to narrow.
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Nov 5, 2008 09:03
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Well Z3n you got your wish. Finally got to test out the ABS on the SV tonight. I had just left work and it has been lightly raining pretty much all day. After a quick warm up off i go to deal with peak hour traffic in the wet. I had not gone more than 500m when after just powering through an intersection the road dipped down towards another intersection maybe 20m away. Here was a stop sign with a ute waiting to go. Now i would say i was going maybe 40km/hr but with the downward slope, slick road and cold tires, taking a handful of front brakes locked up the front wheel. We all know what losing the front wheel means, and i had the distinct pleasure of feeling it lock up, slide maybe an inch or so the the right, ready to drop out from under me, when the ABS took over. It was really all over before i had time to react, the wheel locked, the ABS pulsed once maybe twice before i could get off the brakes, but it was enough to save it. Off the fronts, onto the rear and softly re-apply the front. So thank you Mr Suzuki, you saved me from sliding under the back of a ute. TLDR: A+++++ WOULD LOSE FRONT WHEEL TRACTION AGAIN!  Click here for the full 892x516 image.
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Nov 5, 2008 12:49
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What's better than a race bike? http://victoria.en.craigslist.ca/mcy/906274730.html  Click here for the full 1422x621 image. A vintage race bike.  What's the vintage motorsport scene for bikes like, compared to cars?
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Nov 5, 2008 18:41
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Tentacle party, glad it worked out so well for ya Simkin...AHRMA does vintage racing in the US. Not sure about canada.
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Nov 5, 2008 22:07
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My 919 received its first battle scar yesterday. I was parking it at work and put the kick stand down and when I moved my foot it slipped and kicked the stand up and I fell over. I tried to stop it from going over, but it was past the point of no return. The bike fell on me which softened its fall. The only damage to the bike was a small scuff on the bottom of the alternator cover(you can only see it if you get on the ground) and it spun the clutch/mirror/assembly a bit(fixed it last night). The 919 is 100lbs heavier then my 650, and it was very noticeable when it was falling over on me. One of my coworkers was walking by at the time and helped me pick it up. My only injuries are a pulled back muscle and sore arm from when the bike got lifted. I haven't decided if I will try to sand the scuff and touch up paint it, I do not think it is worth buying a new cover.
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Nov 12, 2008 21:53
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Uggghhhhh, sometimes you get so into thinking about a problem that you look right past the obvious solution. A few weeks ago the RV90 just quit running. I havent had much time to work on it, so I finally got to it tonight. It had spark, fuel, compression, and nothing was obviously wrong with it. So I started tearing into it. I pulled the head off, cleaned the carbon off it, and the piston, and exhaust port, checked to see that the crankcase wasnt filled with fuel or oil, looked at the reedvalve to make sure nothing was obviously out of the ordinary with it. Then I bolted it all back together, and sat and stared at it. I checked the spark again, and noticed that the spark was jumping from the inner insulator to ground. So a simple plug swap did it. It fired right up. If only I had looked closer right off the bat.
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Nov 13, 2008 03:06
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Phat_Albert posted:Uggghhhhh, sometimes you get so into thinking about a problem that you look right past the obvious solution. I had done some work on my old Speed Triple that caused me to disassemble the top half of the bike. When I put everything back together, I put the key in the ignition and turned it on. Nothing. No power at all. After about 10 minutes and right before I started to disassemble everything again, I noticed that the kill switch was in the off position. I never use the kill switch, as per Triumph's instruction, so I didn't think to check.
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Nov 13, 2008 05:12
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bung posted:I had done some work on my old Speed Triple that caused me to disassemble the top half of the bike. When I put everything back together, I put the key in the ignition and turned it on. Nothing. No power at all. After about 10 minutes and right before I started to disassemble everything again, I noticed that the kill switch was in the off position. I never use the kill switch, as per Triumph's instruction, so I didn't think to check. Ahh, i've done the same thing. Except I spent 2 hours trying to "troubleshoot" the ignition system. Both coils failing at the same time? Nah...couldn't be that...both ECUs failing at the same time? No way... Of course the killswitch is off... 
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Nov 13, 2008 06:19
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Let's talk about supermotos for a moment. I know we have a few riders here who are experienced with their sumos... What are your thoughts on freeway use? Or long distance trips? I've got a 3k mile trip that I'm planning on taking next year, up the coast of cali into OR and WA, and finally ending in Vancouver, BC. It'd be with an...odd assortment of bikes (KLX, W650, Softtail, Z1000, and whatever I have), so it's not like we'd be ripping down the freeway at 90mph or anything, more likely a more sedate, backroadsy sort of run of things. I'm young and stupid, so wind protection and the like aren't huge concerns, more concerned with blowing the engine halfway through the trip. So...supermotos that can be effectively geared up, can run all day long without exploding, and that I won't feel like I'm destroying by running on the freeway for a hour or 3 here or there. More than 3k on the maintenence interval would be nice too.  Budget is...up to about 8k. Used, new, whatever.
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Nov 13, 2008 07:40
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Z3n posted:Of course the killswitch is off... Oh yeah, killswitch, let's turn that on.
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Nov 13, 2008 13:02
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z3n, freeway riding on a moto is interesting. It takes a different set of muscles to ride completely naked sitting straight up than it does for most other riding. But it's mysteriously quiet which is nice because you dont have wind from a windshield blasting you in the face. I don't have a problem with it, even for semi-long trips on the DRZ, which isn't the best freeway bike to begin with. When you go on this trip and come through WA let us cats in Seattle know ya.
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Nov 13, 2008 14:42
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Tentacle Party posted:TLDR: A+++++ WOULD LOSE FRONT WHEEL TRACTION AGAIN! I haven't laughed like this at an ebay joke in years. Thanks. Being only 4 months in the saddle, I'm still pretty terrified of the sand/grit that collects in asphalt-colored patches across the parking lot here at work. Getting better though.
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Nov 13, 2008 15:58
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Z3n posted:Let's talk about supermotos for a moment. Honestly, the easiest SM for touring is the DRZ. The motor has sportbike-like maintenance intervals, its heavier, so it doesnt get blown around quite as much, and it doesnt feel super strained on the highway. I cant imagine a more focused SM being any fun on the highway.
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Nov 13, 2008 16:07
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Downsides to DRZ touring would be the tiny stock gas tank (lots of aftermarket options), rear end numbing seat and top end buzz around 75-80 EDIT: It's also compounded by the fact that the steering lock key rattles and jingles around against the bar metal and makes lots of noise right now. The vibration isn't bad, but at freeway speed the engine does sound like it's working pretty hard without that 6th gear. \/\/\/\/ FlerpNerpin fucked around with this message at 16:32 on Nov 13, 2008 |
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Nov 13, 2008 16:10
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Spiffness posted:Downsides to DRZ touring would be the tiny stock gas tank (lots of aftermarket options), rear end numbing seat and top end buzz around 75-80 All SM's have numbing seats though. They're all narrow as gently caress. I never noticed a buzz up top. I did have Renthal Fatbars though, so that might have made a difference.
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Nov 13, 2008 16:28
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Z3n posted:Of course the killswitch is off... I had something similar to that. First time my sister took my bike out for anything more than a potter around the housing estate, I got a frantic phone call about 20 minutes later. Seems she'd been attempting a U-turn and the bike conked out on her mid turn. After verifying that the side stand was up and the lights were on, it was just not turning over, I knew it was the kill switch because I'd spent a frantic 20 minutes on my second ever bike ride trying to work out why my beloved and new bike wasn't running.
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Nov 13, 2008 17:19
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Phat_Albert posted:Honestly, the easiest SM for touring is the DRZ. The motor has sportbike-like maintenance intervals, its heavier, so it doesnt get blown around quite as much, and it doesnt feel super strained on the highway. Honestly I hate riding the DRZ on the highway. I won't do it for more that 15-20 minutes. To be fair, my comparison is only with bigger bikes (gsx-r600, speed3) but I feel like I get blown different directions all the time. Are there used, larger, KTM's available for that price? I don't really know. Also, why are you sold on taking a motard?
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Nov 13, 2008 17:52
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cmorrow001 posted:Honestly I hate riding the DRZ on the highway. I won't do it for more that 15-20 minutes. To be fair, my comparison is only with bigger bikes (gsx-r600, speed3) but I feel like I get blown different directions all the time. Assuming hes anything like me whos been running similar questions through his head, its largely because of http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fYu7DQn5vAI Personally I'm leaning towards a KTM 690 if I can find one in the area.
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Nov 13, 2008 18:11
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cmorrow001 posted:Honestly I hate riding the DRZ on the highway. I won't do it for more that 15-20 minutes. To be fair, my comparison is only with bigger bikes (gsx-r600, speed3) but I feel like I get blown different directions all the time. Ok, so it looks like I'll have to take the bikes out on the freeway to really figure it out. I've heard of a few adjustments to the suspension that can be done to make it handle freeway better (ie, getting some more weight over the front wheel) There are the used larger KTMs available for the price. Why am I sold on a motard? I've owned just about anything else...standard, supersport, s/t, 600, 1000, twin, triple, 4, blah blah blah. I want something that I can wad without significantly damaging learning to wheelie and roll stoppies on, that I can take off road, on road, where i can go up fire roads, that's entertaining. I've learned after some long trips that distance on a naked bike isn't bad, so...why not a supermoto?
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Nov 13, 2008 18:21
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Wow the 09 DRZ is 320 lbs. I always thought it was a more dirtbike-like 200 or so. I guess that's what their advertising would lead you to believe. To add a question, as I might want to get a supermoto next year (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fYu7DQn5vAI), is there a learning curve with these bikes like there is with sportbikes? In other words, would it be better to get a DRZ first before getting a KTM?
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Nov 13, 2008 18:27
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The advantage of a DRZ over some KTM's is it is actually possible to keep the front wheel on the ground. You can bring the DRZ's up without any problem, fling it, jump it, stoppie it and drift the crap out of it, within days of owning one really if you have riding experience. But it can also be pretty docile while being stupid amounts of fun. The more serious motards are all the more likely to get you arrested. You can talk yourself out of a speeding ticket, but you cant talk yourself out of a 'I was 5 feet in the air on accident!' situation.
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Nov 13, 2008 19:09
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I've taken my XR125L on the motorway quite a few times. It's not completely pleasant, mostly down to the lack of power so I'm always alert and checking for people trying to merge into me. It's fairly comparable to a supermoto in terms of riding position and fairings (or lack thereof), and it's not too bad. Obviously there is some wind and buffeting, but it's not about to blow you off the bike. Coming down to a supermoto from something a little more fairing'ed and highway orientated, might feel rough, but I've nothing to compare it to.
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Nov 13, 2008 19:42
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I want every bike ever right now in my garage. Or maybe just a sumo.
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Nov 13, 2008 20:41
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Spiffness posted:You can talk yourself out of a speeding ticket, but you cant talk yourself out of a 'I was 5 feet in the air on accident!' situation. Erm... Collision avoidance?
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Nov 13, 2008 21:15
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