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With motorcycles, you'll always be turning at higher RPM, especially if the engine is extra small. My GN125 cruises at 7-8000 RPM (Redline is 10000). The bigger the engine, the more safe it is to just leave it in a higher gear, since bigger engines tend to have much better roll-on power. You can adjust it simply by downshifting, if you feel like you are suddenly going to need extra power. Like, you're on the highway, in the middle lane, and there's a guy in the right lane slightly ahead of you, and there's a moderately busy entrance ramp coming up. (Extra credit: the guy's front driver's side window is destroyed and he has a black garbage bag duct taped over it) If you want to lower the RPMs, you can do that by changing the gearing, if your bike is chain drive. By putting a larger drive sprocket on the engine (or a smaller driven sprocket, on the rear wheel) the gearing will become more spaced out—longer. This is good if you do a lot of highway riding and feel like you already have more than enough power.
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Apr 28, 2017 14:23
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| # ¿ May 6, 2024 10:45 |
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Ohhhh, in that case, you might want to consult a Ninja 500 forum specifically; they'd know the nitty-gritty of that engine best.
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Apr 28, 2017 16:18
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When I bought my 2004 Ninja 250 a year and a half ago, I discovered that it was still shod in the OEM tires. Instant replace. Tires are one of the best maintenance items to replace, because a new set so dramatically alters the feel of your ride, for the better.
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May 2, 2017 19:52
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There's definitely something to be said for power, but an extremely lightweight motorcycle is a charm all unto itself. When you're not riding the motorcycle, you're parking it, pushing it, maneuvering it onto sidewalks, maneuvering it into the garage, out of the garage, putting it on a stand, etc... Light weight makes all the not-riding stuff a lot easier. A lightweight motorcycle is also more responsive to steering input and weight shifting.
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May 9, 2017 04:05
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Chinese stuff bought on ebay will not be as good a fit as OEM parts. I have found this true for levers. If you bought the bike used, and there's a chance that the levers have been replaced at some point, and if you wanna spend, like, $15, then you could probably get a better-fitting lever at the dealer.
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Nov 24, 2017 02:52
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Those boots radiate maximum freedom. Need to look up USSR-era Russian MX boots now to heal my soul from the burn.
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Dec 19, 2017 15:41
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Heavy bikes suck, because the weight is the one aspect that you have to deal with at all times you're not going faster than 15 mph, including shifting it around as you wiggle it into a parking space. I have a GN125 and it weighs about 230 lbs. I have been loathe to get rid of it for mostly this reason. It's a bicycle that can go 60 mph. Even my other bike, a Ninja 250, is ungainly compared to this thing. (The turning circle is also better than the Ninja's.) Dual sports are the only other bike I've seen that can approach this weight and have an engine size over 125ccs.
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Apr 7, 2018 21:27
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builds character posted:How much dirt will you really ride? Sagebrush posted::bigtran:
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May 17, 2018 02:33
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Horse Clocks posted:What’s the correct thing to do when you feel you’re losing traction? Ease off of the throttle. Accelerating takes up traction, and you have a finite amount of traction for everything that requires it, including cornering and braking. Get the motorcycle as upright as you can, because that's where the tires will have more contact with the ground, or whatever happens to be on the ground at the moment. In the situation you quoted, the guy getting his front or back tire loose due to braking too hard could have modulated his braking better. This is something that you have to practice for your specific motorcycle (and tires). If you brake too much, it will lock the wheels. He used up all of the traction on braking and then couldn't corner... "cornering" in this case meaning being able to even slightly lean the motorcycle.
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Jul 13, 2018 20:09
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This is another reason to get a small, light, cheap bike as your first and even not-first bike: Digital_Jesus posted:
When did they become such porkers? The GN125 is 232 lbs. I mean, that's a GN, so, that's too far off in the other direction. No, the best beginner bike is a nice, small-displacement dual-sport, because they are some of the lightest bikes you can currently buy for the street, and also designed to take a fall or 10.
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Jul 22, 2018 04:22
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Never think that getting another bike of a similar displacement is a downgrade, just because it might have similar power. Powerful bikes are fun, but they're usually heavier, and heavy bikes are not as responsive to rider input (and are also exponentially more of a drag to maneuver when NOT riding them). Since so much of the fun of operating a motorcycle is in maneuvering it through curves, it's worth taking into consideration. I started on a 250, then went to a 750, then another 250, then a 350, then a 125, and then another 250. (I still have the 125.)
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Aug 4, 2018 04:20
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I use a 125cc motorcycle on packed New York metropolitan highways at 60+ mph and I've never felt fear. Maybe I'm just oblivious. My thoughts are, that people don't want to damage their own cars, which is something that would happen if they hit you on purpose. (My intuition is that they couldn't give less of a poo poo about any motorcyclists, though. At least the ones without the "Watch for Motorcyclists!" bumper stickers). If someone's following you closely on a multilane highway, that person is probably not going to ram you on purpose. You can take advantage of such a person's impatience by gradually slowing down (letting off of the accelerator a little over a mile or so) to the point where he or she is enticed to just change lanes and go around. You just have to keep an eye out for when you're in cars' blind spots. The biggest danger I've seen on the highway is when you go to change lanes to a center lane, and someone in the lane far over is also coming into the center lane. You have to be aware of situations like that, checking multiple times, and also being aware of your own blind spots. On the same little 125cc motorcycle, I've never experienced being blown about by semis like some claim to have happen to them. There's a wall of air formed around a semi truck going 60 mph, plowing into the wind, and you can feel it, but you never lose control. If a little 230-pound bike won't lose control, then people on typical 300+ pound bikes have nothing to worry about. I'd be more worried about genuinely windy conditions, like headwinds and sidewinds, which small-displacement motors can't deal with very well. A sudden gust of high speed wind to the side can be unexpected, and cant your course over a foot or two. This can be more of an issue in the United States' midwest, where the highways carve through more expansive spaces (and at higher speed limits, too).
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Aug 5, 2018 20:49
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Slavvy posted:How big are you slide? Being tall I've found my torso acts like a sail on most 125's but the biggest factor seems to be how skinny the tyres are. I'm around 175-180 cm, 68kg. Maybe I'm so used to being blown around by the wind that I just don't even notice it. The Ninja 250 is my first faired bike after 15 years. I like that you can duck under the windshield and buffeting is greatly reduced, but that position isn't very comfy!
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Aug 6, 2018 03:25
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When my father passed, he left behind two huge hiking backpacks. I use one for carrying in all of my gear to work, where there's no locker, and then, if I need groceries, they come in handy to carry two big bags. "Lowe Alpine Sirocco L" they're called. They're great, but the amount of straps dangling down off of them is a little worrying. They have a lot of adjustment points.
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Sep 6, 2018 04:17
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I live here in the New York metropolitan area, and while I do have an EX250 (and it is indeed very good), my bike of choice for the city is my GN125. It has a top speed of about 63 mph on a good day, and you'll usually never get anywhere near that. The GN125 is a standard motorcycle. It also weighs 232 lbs and has all the presence of a bicycle. Lightweight motorcycles are so easy to use here around the city, that they have an extra advantage over other bikes. Moving it around (for parking or whatever) is a breeze. You know how 2nd ave. and York ave. heading towards the Queensboro (now Ed Koch?) Bridge is always backed up around the afternoon? One time, I just hopped off of the bike I had at the time, an XT350 (a dual-sport, by the way, which also weighed around 250 lbs.), turned it off, and started walking it up the streets on the sidewalk. I was making way better time than if I were a car.
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May 4, 2019 03:24
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right arm posted:handroids look like rear end Handrrhoids
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May 7, 2019 23:12
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Whaaa? It looks great. Nice score.
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Jul 7, 2019 23:22
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Sagebrush posted:If you're light on the bars and you don't panic and swerve or haul on the brakes, it's amazing how much of an impact a motorcycle can take without going out of control. This has been proven to me in my years of riding by hitting a few gigantic potholes, sometimes when leaned over.
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Jul 23, 2019 18:32
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Rev. Dr. Moses P. Lester posted:You can think about it like a car. It's ok if you put the pedal to the floor, that's not going to blow anything up, it's ok if you run it up to redline sometimes. But what if you had it on the highway in top gear with the pedal to the floor for 20 minutes at a stretch every day? Nobody does this, cause you'd get arrested, but the motor probably wouldn't survive too long, it's not designed to run like that. It's the same with a 50cc scooter, except the top speed doesn't feel that fast. Is this regarding 2-strokes only? I was riding my GN125 at like 80-90% of redline for 30-mins to an hour near-daily a year ago. Has almost 16,000 miles on it. (Of course, every top end gasket seems to be leaking now.)
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Jul 24, 2019 04:19
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Whenever I would stall on my XT350 (kickstart only) I would have to always walk it off to the side, because I'm not tall enough to kickstart it without standing on the pegs, sidestand down.
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Jul 31, 2019 15:11
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Rolo posted:Is it normal and healthy to ride the thing up to 10k and the like? I imagine keeping it in the power band at times is a safety consideration but I have no idea what “high” is for daily riding. Most engines are happiest where they make maximum horsepower. Things like air compressors and lawnmowers sit right at that point, then shut down when the work is finished. Looking at a power curve for it, it looks like the R3 is happiest in between 10 and 11k. So, you should be able to keep it there for a while as the engine does its work. It's not a car-sized engine; the piston stroke is much, much shorter than that of pistons in a car. As a result, the speed that the piston reaches is much lower at any RPM that would match a car's. That means that the engine can definitely handle it, even though it as a whole is making more revolutions. This is why small engines can rev high; that's the same point that the piston speed starts to approach a danger zone where everything is liable to fly apart or run into each other, just adjusted for a much shorter stroke.
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Aug 1, 2019 20:08
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Sagebrush posted:riding down the freeway endlessly alternating between pressing the blinker cancel and kicking up into that intangible next gear I remember that the CB250's shifter gets loose in top gear, so you can casually toe up with no resistance into a blank space in the transmission and suddenly realize that you're in top gear. I was saddened to realize that, like, no other bike I've owned has this quirk.
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Sep 1, 2019 04:51
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The speed and weight of the rotating wheels really wants to keep all motorcycles upright and plowing forward. I've seen a bunch of MotoGP clips where the rider falls off and the bike just keeps on going until it hits something. We're taught to push in the direction we want to go, but you can also pull with the opposite hand at the same time for extra turning power (don't do this on something as light as a bicycle...)
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Aug 18, 2023 13:37
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I ride in the Winter a lot. Neck gaitor from a ski equipment shop, tucked into the chin strap of your helmet and hanging down below it, will do wonders for Winter riding. Keeping your hands warm is the next step...
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Sep 29, 2023 01:02
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Beve Stuscemi posted:The flip side of that coin is jets only cost a couple bucks and FI programmers are hundreds if you don’t already have a gameboy color Wait, are you just using hyperbole here, or is there really a game/application available to put in a GameBoy Color to tune FI computers? This is triggering something in my memory.
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Oct 9, 2023 13:37
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It is one of the biggest advantages that fuel injection has over carbs, for normal people. Excepting throttle response, ease of tuning, serviceability. No more maintenance riding, just riding when you need to. I remember back when my mother gave me her old car, '89 Nissan Maxima, fuel injected, it would sit for weeks until I suddenly needed it, and it would just shudder to life every time. Rust killed it. Fuel injection on bikes might suck later for people who have never used an OBD scanner, especially as they continue to get older and older. But, in the United States, at least, most bikes never even reach that age, toys. They get sold and trickle down to poorer people who are used to servicing their own stuff. The lack of a data port standard across manufacturers is annoying, though.
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Oct 12, 2023 13:44
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| # ¿ May 6, 2024 10:45 |
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If you don't intend to ride it often, it might be worth just putting fuel stabilizer into the tank before you fill up each time, so that it would be fine to just leave for a few months in case the weather does get too nasty.
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Oct 16, 2023 13:45
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