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RichBomb posted:Is there any mounting system (or could one be fabricated on the cheap) to allow this in some sane way? I want to go car free but I'd need to be able to huff my bicycles around. Sure, you just need one of these and an old Velosolex... http://www.surlybikes.com/bd_comp.html
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Sep 2, 2009 08:41
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Nerobro posted:Motorcycle transmissions are "designed" for it. Using the clutch is nicer though. My brother in law regularly quotes Hewland (of "that Hewland") fame to me to the effect that a non-synchro 'box is best shifted by applying pressure to the shifter and then blipping the throttle (plus clutch on downshifts). Faster and harder is better basically, as wear/damage is only possible to dogs or gears during the shift. Whereas on your typical H-pattern shift synchronised automotive box, slowly and gently is best. Apparently. As Hewland was talking about crash boxes in racing cars AFAIK, it may make no difference at all for bikes with lower inertial loads etc.
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Sep 10, 2009 15:49
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Ola posted:
This happens a lot with TDMs, unfortunately. It's dry sump, which is why it doesn't fill into the sump.
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Aug 19, 2010 11:20
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Ola posted:You know how all bikes have some niggle? The TDM seems like a perfect candidate for me as I want a sleek looking adventure bike. But The maintenance seems like an absolute pain on that. The 1st or 2nd generation 850s are better IMO - or even an XTZ750 if you want something more dirt-capable. Having ridden the 900 for a couple of days, it feels more like a tourer or a huge scooter than any kind of adventure bike. Maintenance isn't a huge issue - I had a TRX850 for 12 years and the only problems I had were caused by me. Or do you mean maintenance as in getting access around the frame? The TRX is a bit easier in that respect as it has a spaceframe. 90% of them will drink a lot of oil, but it isn't actually a problem, it's how the pistons and bores match up (or don't, which is the issue).
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Aug 19, 2010 15:44
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Ola posted:Yeah, I meant getting access to oil fill / change and doing the valves. The Cagiva Gran Canyon I've been eyeballing is very nice and practical in every way...apart from doing the valves on the rear cylinder means removing large parts of the rear suspension... I thought most Norwegians would say "en flyktninger"? Please be more sensitive to the plight of the less fortunate! I.e. me. The valves are a little unpredictable - mine were never actually out. Some people claimed to have torn down the 850s and found badly stretched camchains, but I did mine at about 30k miles and it was fine. On the TRX the valves are done by swinging the radiator up - you don't need to drop anything. As far as TDMs, I honestly doubt Yamaha managed to design a deltabox frame that needed the engine out to do the valves, although I'm sure it's one of those jobs that needs a special tool, a child slave laborer, a magnifying glass and a torch. The only other issue with used TRXs/XTZs/TDMs is where people buy one, don't bother checking the oil level, ride them for a thousand miles and then notice their error. And then sell them on to you. So if you do end up looking for one, it's best to buy only from someone who's a long-term owner. I have a copy of Fast Bikes magazine from back when it was good that has them drooling over the Gran Canyon. They were also big fans of the Cagiva Elefant, but let's not even go there.
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Aug 19, 2010 23:25
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KARMA! posted:You know TDM stands for That drat Maintenance, right? It's is a packaged deal. So what are the extras? My TRX just needed valve clearances every 10k miles or so and an oil change every 3, which is pretty standard fare for 5-valve yams from the 90s. Or is it just access, like Ola said?
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Aug 21, 2010 16:14
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KARMA! posted:Nah, just a little joke. Sorry, being literal-minded!
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Aug 21, 2010 20:19
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KozmoNaut posted:It's a render, look at the repeating pattern on the carpet Schadenfreude - the feeling you get watching a $10,000,000,000,000 carbon swinger as it delaminates "in flight". Seriously though, what's the excuse for this thing? It's sort of like one of those disgustingly expensive dinners for the hyper-rich they have at Davos every year, where you think, that is so obscene that it actually makes me want to say "there are children starving in Africa!". It's not for endurance racing, because it has a hugger. It's presumably not for short-circuit racing because it's single-sided. So someone is putting this on their road bike?
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Aug 22, 2010 08:29
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KARMA! posted:I desperately need to see part 90210. It has big tits, but is apparently a complete bitch to all the other parts.
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Aug 24, 2010 20:59
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Marv Hushman posted:unless they've found a way to bring it to market for 20% less than a Bonnie. If not, I don't see the point. At least over here, exchange rates are loving killing the big 4. Triumph can make money on Bonnes and still undercut them. Triumph's twins are hardly considerable unreliable or badly built, so I have to agree this seems like it would be a pretty questionable product outside of the JDM. Ola posted:By the way, I've thought about taking pictures while riding and I've also thought about riding cows instead of bikes. I've come up with this That is not a cow. That is a picture of a cow. Thank you for your talk of public flap-squeezing, which just confirms my Anglo-Saxon preconceptions. Why has no one ever mentioned this before? I think I need a holiday. In fact, I can see the advertising campaign now -  Kom til Norge! Var du kan klemfare min flaps. *winks*Seriously though, I am glad to see that sentence construction in English is as confusing for some of your compatriots as sentence construction in Scandiwegian is for English speakers.
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Sep 1, 2010 16:02
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Z3n posted:
Well, if you have an india rubber belt you can use one to run a ditch pump. A small ditch pump, obviously. With lots of easily-marred chrome and not very good for draining ditches, but... Z3n posted:e: Sorry, I should have used "whust" to make the horrible joke about false cognates more obvious.  Saga fucked around with this message at 22:04 on Sep 1, 2010 |
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Sep 1, 2010 21:43
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Phat_Albert posted:NOTE: requires one day of charging for every two days of sitting This just in - the Rocket IV will come with a trailer, its own transformer and 10 miles of hi-viz insulated cable to get you from home to even the most remote of cafes.
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Sep 8, 2010 15:29
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Radbot posted:Any suggestions on how to convince my girlfriend to get a motorcycle? We've both got scooters in our garage (and she is a patched scooter club member (!)) but I've got a V-Strom she can't get on. I want her to ride with me on trips that require freeway access, dammit! Do you have superscooters in the US? Suzuki Burgmans, Honda Silverwings etc.? That might be the only way to manage it if she has a mental block about things with a clutch. Maybe (if she's tall-ish) you could find a small-wheel dirt bike that's freeway-capable? My wife won't generally have much of anything to do with (motorised) bikes, but I could hardly get her off my TY250, even with all of 30 seconds of biking experience.
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Sep 8, 2010 16:03
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Z3n posted:Meh wake me up when they make a new tuono with the v4. Anything but that is just sorta wanky. You know that's linked to in one of the links above, right?
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Sep 15, 2010 06:39
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Commiserations on having the transportation policy version of the Moral Majority. We have a bunch of groups over here with a masturbatory obsession with speed (ie preventing it!), but luckily they don't have control of policy makers - yet. MrZig posted:http://www.cbc.ca/canada/british-columbia/story/2010/09/02/bc-speeding-impoundment.html or
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Sep 20, 2010 06:35
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You won't be able to use the front brake with a wheelbase that long and a c of g that low. I remember riding the first Victory "sport" cruisers - you could do pretty nifty front skids without actually falling over, but stopping not so much. This thing basically is great if you don't like riding motorcycles but do have a batman fetish. ne: in other words, your typical custom cruiser.
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Oct 6, 2010 10:18
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SlightlyMadman posted:Wow that's some really amazing 3d graphics circa 1996. Is that because it's a re-skin of Microprose's GP500? That's a guess based on the look, and the fact that there were a few user mods floating around "back in the day". It was a very honest attempt at a simulation. I don't think it modelled front end slides very well, which is a bit of a liability for a GP sim, but possibly beyond their capabilities. The front was either hooked up or actually tucking on you. It would be good for simulating the average streetbike/streetrider, but doesn't really reflect how close to the edge GP bikes get ridden. Or allow you any Gary wassisname (who am I thinking of? I haven't had my coffee yet) two wheel drift action. EA's WSB title, IIRC, had much better graphics but not quite as good an engine. The other problem was basically that we don't have a controller that can "do" bikes properly. You'd probably need a full size bike mockup with force feedback, arcade stylee. The most fun to be had in GP500 was taking out the NSR500V, wheelieing the full length of every straight into every braking zone and then watching the replay. TEASE MY NECKBEARD - you don't have to claim on your own insurance. You should give them notice to preserve your right to claim should you need to do so. Then claim on his insurance yourself. Saga fucked around with this message at 09:29 on Oct 8, 2010 |
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Oct 8, 2010 09:24
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Sell your rear end. It's fun, and cures constipation.
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Oct 14, 2010 16:39
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Ola posted:Black frame, teal everything else. Yes, tires too. I asked an Australian: 
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Oct 19, 2010 12:11
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A flyscreen from a Buell?
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Oct 22, 2010 15:35
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Z3n posted:Yup, it was what I had on hand to cover up the mess of wiring and gauges. Funnily enough, that was Buell's explanation as well! HAW!
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Oct 25, 2010 13:32
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The CB250 is basically there to fill a gap in the stepped licensing regime across the EU. In other words, it's there to give young riders SOMETHING to buy that has a Honda badge on it. It's the m/c equivalent of fan service, and the only reason it exists in the EU is the son-of-Bangemann types responsible for beating on the bike industry and giving us power limits. The whole press release pretty much makes this clear in marketing speak, i.e. by desperately refusing to acknowledge the obvious. Oh yes, we're just making a green bike for the needs of the 21st century metrosexual. Except we made it look like a 'blade, not a courier-chic fixie or a Moto 6.5, and the spec sheet says it's the same reheated crap we always throw at this segment, so clearly it's not anything of the kind. They achieve a marketing-speak trifecta by even saying exactly what it's actually for in the first line (selling to people who can't afford or aren't allowed to buy a 'blade), while simultaneously denying it. Honda made the "CBR"125 for 15 years or so for similar reasons, despite the fact that it was comprehensively shat on from day 1 (i.e. 1988) by Mitos and RS125s. Kawasaki, love them or hate them, appear to actually take joy in recycling their ju--- er, classic examples of motorcycle design, so it's no surprise they got in first. Not sure if this is a Japanese perversion like used-panty vending machines, or if it's just that KHI hates its motorcycle division and likes to punish it by taking away all its R&D money and sending it to bed without dinner.
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Oct 27, 2010 15:16
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Z3n posted:Probably just condensation burning off, I wouldn't worry about it. This. Unless it's VERY thick and still going after the bike's done about 10 miles, white "smoke" on startup is just condensation. If he has coolant getting into the oilways/sump, it's not likely to magically stop if he changes the oil. So not sure what he hopes to achieve with that one. Laying the bike on its side isn't going to cause the two to mix temporarily. Might be a better investment of the cost of the oil & filter, if you have a DECENT bike shop in your area (i.e. not rip off artists) to pay them the same amount of money (30 mins labour?) to give it a once over and tell him if they see anything more than broken plastics. A good mechanic who works on those bikes all day, every day will spot stuff an amateur won't.
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Oct 29, 2010 09:25
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Marv Hushman posted:LEATHER CHAPS WITH CRYING EAGLES? WHERE DO I GET ME SOME? You think that's cool, I've got a pair of specially-bred crying eagles wearing leather chaps. Only 2 million space bucks to you.
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Nov 15, 2010 21:37
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I don't want to open this whole can of worms again, but seeing as it's already open...my street bike costs me less on maintenance, less on insurance, less on petrol (ITS "GAS", JEEZ LOUISEEZ) and goes faster than my car. I think it's about a wash on tyres. The car isn't actually expensive, being an ancient BMW and pretty drat reliable, but it does only get ~30 mpg (on 97). The only big plus point of the car is that I can hook up my trailer and take any of my bikes to the track/MX track/trial, throw the dogs in the back (literally). And an approved child seat. I think it would probably break out something like: fuel: 45mpg on regular v. 30mpg on 97 tyres: £200 @ 6000 v. £300 @ 10000 (if I don't buy winter tyres for the car) insurance: £173 v. £400 maint.: £50 for oil and filter v. £50 for same plus about £250 a year so far in required running repairs (I'm leaving out preventative maintenance and care - if I didn't, the bike would win hands down as it's a 2007 and don't need poo poo). road tax: £60 v. £200 (220 next year IIRC) Sure, you could get a diesel supermini that goes 60k on £30 tyres, but then again I could buy a C90 for £100 and get to the moon and back at 90 mpg and do all my maintenance with a selection of hammers and baling twine. e: 2ndclasscitizen, I assume you're saying you have to have sex next to the ute as you have two bikes and a blue heeler in the back?
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Nov 18, 2010 18:30
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Z3n posted:Tires are the big killer in my book. Even with S/T rubber, I'm lucky to get 6k out of a set of tires. The car will go 30k+ easily on a set of tires that are a lot cheaper. And motorcycle tires are absurdly expensive. Yes, but it's a question of what the market provides. I could get far more miles than your average car driver with that C90 and some white-heat-of-technology Thai rubber (Thai-ers?) made from palm oil, powdered granite and recycled coconut husks. Your average modern sport-touring bike tyre is the equivalent of something very sticky for a car that would get you maybe 10k - like the SP9000s* or Firehawks I used to use on my E46. A full-on trackday comp tyre, as fitted to many modern open-class bikes, is the equivalent of something like an R888, a product that only a tiny percentage of car drivers even know exists, and which certainly don't last 30k miles. * Actually, I managed to destroy a brand-new pair of SP9000s in one track day, which is basically impossible with anything less than a full-on race tyre on a bike.
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Nov 18, 2010 20:28
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Mcqueen posted:Just a thought about Car-vs-Bike in terms of money saved, so far most of the things mentioned are tires, fuel, and oil. What about the interior and exterior items of a car? The AC went out in my jalopy 2 years ago. Have you seen what an ac compressor/installation/fill costs? What about poo poo like body wear, scratches, dents. If my FZ6 falls over (and it has) some poo poo gets dinged up -its naked- who gives a poo poo. When I ripped the bumper off my Viggen in a parking lot it was 400 for body work and took weeks of searching for a bumper Saab doesn't make anymore, plus paint and installation. Of course, your millage may vary but there is a huge difference there. Don't even get me started on windshields. Surely with a Viggen the big problem is replacing half shafts and tie rod ends every few thousand miles? And the extra lane you need if you apply the throttle mid-corner...   Z3N, I still don't know how you get that maintenance is going to cost more on the bike. My bike costs me less to do than my car and that's with the car having been unbelievably cheap (again excluding preventative maintenance and tweaking) to keep running. If I had the average person's car maintenance costs or if included stuff I've done to the E30 just for kicks (and did the same for the bike), it would be a clear win to the bike. The bike's way ahead on petrol - it gets the same real-world mileage as a diesel supermini on cheaper regular unleaded. It even costs me less to insure. In 15 years of riding, valve clearances are the most expensive bit of maintenance I've ever paid for, and that's cheap compared to any number of jobs the average car will throw up. If you want to fixate on tyres exclusively, I'm sure I could pick up a Superdream or a mz 250, put cheng shin bias plys on it and match the statistical average car driver's mileage figures. If we're talking commuting use, I don't actually need anything faster or grippier. e: the downside is that I commute so cheaply I'm considering picking up an Alpina D3 touring next year with my spare cash. I want to rock up to trials with it and see if middle aged farmers and spotty yoofs throw rocks at me. Saga fucked around with this message at 11:35 on Nov 19, 2010 |
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Nov 19, 2010 11:17
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2ndclasscitizen posted:What? You think I'd actually use a ute to carry stuff around? Like it was designed for? Are you nuts? I'd get the bed dirty! My god, what's the world coming to. Are there no decent bogans left in Aussie? From the bastard offspring of Ned Kelly and Skippy the bush kangaroo to the cast of Neighbours in so few generations! That soft pattering noise you hear is Les Murray crying into his Fosters. e: content 
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Nov 19, 2010 11:30
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SlightlyMadman posted:Cheap bastard here, as well. I honestly can't imagine what possessed them to think that was a good idea. They'll probably get a bit of money coming in right now, but very few of those will actually renew their subscriptions, and by that time everyone else will have forgotten they even exist. I'm cheap and OLD. That means I'm in the happy position of not caring particularly what new 200hp/$30,000 wonder-bike has come out this week or who is blogging about it. Instead I can concentrate on  It helps that modern bikes are generally not poo poo. In my wild youth, I also made the mistake of paying motorcycle online or whatever they were called (motorcycle.com?) a "one-off" fee. They later started charging monthly and didn't honour the one-off bit.
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Nov 25, 2010 21:16
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Hey, has everyone heard about http://www.ventsdouest.com/bd/joe-bar-team-tome-07-9782749305172.htm
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Nov 28, 2010 09:47
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2ndclasscitizen posted:A Suzuki with dodgy electrics? I am shocked! Shocked! Also run back along the loom if you are getting multiple problems (fan, lights etc) - you could have insulation which has abraided or otherwise been damaged and is shorting out. Just a thought.
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Dec 5, 2010 20:01
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e: double post, doh sorry.
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Dec 5, 2010 20:10
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2ndclasscitizen posted:Looking like the light issue could be water ingress from not having any fairings. Apparently there's a couple of connectors that sit on top of the valve cover that cop water from the front wheel if the top fairing undertray is removed. What Suzuki is this again?
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Dec 7, 2010 10:11
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FuzzyWuzzyBear posted:I still think it's something to do with your suspension set up if the bike feels that bad to you. There's not really much else it could be, seeing as you have decent rubber on it already. I can't imagine ZX6R's really are supposed to spin up the rear that much. It could be a case of a way too much/little damping for compression or rebound. How's your tire wear? Further to FWB's post above, I thought it was a known feature (not a bug!) that the 6R has a too-hard rear spring (like many a Kwakka) as standard? Have you checked the recommended spring rate for your weight? If it has too hard a spring, you're going to have difficulty getting weight back, and that should translate into a tendency to spin the rear in situations where coefficient of friction for the rear boot is low in the first place - cold, wet, icy, cold tyre, all of the above. The trade off to a stiffer spring is less geometry change on throttle and the ability to retain travel in situations where you have a shitload of grip and want to be able to use a lot of throttle without sitting all the weight instantly onto the tail. Basically, the tldr is have you checked the spring rate? e: also chain tension - if you are running it too tight, it may be stopping the shock moving. ee: at 170 pounds, I would have thought you were below the average European/American rider (not member of the general population, though maybe that as well these days), and as above I believe the 6Rs are known for being sprung way on the high side. Saga fucked around with this message at 19:41 on Dec 13, 2010 |
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Dec 13, 2010 19:38
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Personally, I don't keep up with any of these sites or with magazines any more. I don't need a new 150hp hyperbike or a £/$15,000 tourer/fat pseudo-adventure bike or whatever in order to go to work on our slimy, gravel strewn B roads and come back again. And consequently I don't honestly give a gently caress whether the new R1 is faster than the GSX-R1000, or about Ducati's latest red object, or Honda's new bike shaped like a dragon dildo designed for the Corgi-owning demographic. TBM is interesting (an excellent independent UK dirt magazine with a trail focus), but I don't actually buy it any more because I'm hardly going to shell out £6k on a dirt bike in the near future. If I did, I'd have no-where to ride it, as all our MX tracks and unsurfaced roads are being rapidly shut down by the council. As far as Visor Down, I bought the mag a couple of times to read on the train, but don't buy them any more due to the generally lazy, lovely standard of their journalism. They really have no excuse, given that they have some highly experienced staff. I read an article purporting to be a "review" of the Sportclassic, that Guzzi 750 thing and the Bonnie in it which quite clearly had been knocked out in the last couple of hours before press without seeing or riding any of the bikes in question. Press pack and file photos plus a recitation of the spec sheet and some second hand information the author heard in a pub once. Complete drivel. I also read Mark Forsyth (who should know better - he's been writing for bike mags for at least 20 years) describe a brand new Hornet as being just the same as the original Hornet bar an "Essex face lift" (American goons - that's a very tight ponytail), when in point of fact engine, chassis and 95% of the cycle parts are completely different. The site's news articles seem to be mostly pulled from British tabloids and other biking websites, presumably by whoever the work experience kid is that month.
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Jan 11, 2011 10:38
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Christoff posted:I don't care about new and exciting things because there's a good chance my broke rear end can't afford It. We should pool our resources so one of us can care about $20k bikes for the other. e: I reckon 20 of us should about do it. Saga fucked around with this message at 07:25 on Jan 12, 2011 |
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Jan 12, 2011 07:19
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Z3n posted:If I were single I'd say gently caress it all and move into a commercial space with me and my motorcycles. And some welding equipment, and a milling machine. Why not run it by your wife? Turn her head with an offer of new chintz curtains. It's sure to work.
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Jan 12, 2011 19:35
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Phy posted:Ever watch Top Gear? Are you being ironic?  In the 90s, they featured a couple of "shock-horror" pieces on motorcycles going too fast and the irresponsible bike press. By which I think they meant Fast Bikes magazine. I have to assume one of the FB massiv encountered a wild Clarkson somewhere in Belgravia and kicked him in the nuts/shagged his bird/stole his pint. These pieces generated a lot of anti-bike column inches in the dailies, and came of course from a show whose chief attraction was pube-head driving extremely powerful cars at "undisclosed" speeds on public roads while going 'pow-ah!'. Hypocritical much? After its hiatus, it of course come back on the air in the current bike-free maximum pube-head form. The show isn't even about or for "people in love with psycho motoring". They effectively ban kit cars and bikes - only Caterham has got anything onto the show, and that was a production Superlight. I'm pretty sure Dax has tried to get their turbo-busa car on with zero success. It's basically just about reproducing the socio-economic relations of post-industrial western capitalism.  The vast majority of its mainstream broadcast audience (the reason the BBC keeps paying Clarkson's salary) is made up of people who detest bikes (or cars, for that matter) actually being used as intended. These are the people who would like to see you locked up for a wheelie or try to run you off the road for daring to overtake them. They don't like seeing Clarkson driving a £500,000 Zonda sideways around the Algarve because they appreciate engineering achievement or the joy of "motoring" - if it was Jim Bob in an Iroc or Trev in a Saxo VTR doing the same thing around Acacia Avenue, they'd be horrified - what they like is the fact that it's a £500,000 car. This is a society where your car and how you use it represents your socio-economic position, which is why Clarkson and his audience hate bikes (and also Jim Bob and Trev) and celebrate the playthings of the rich and powerful. A £/$5,000 bike making a "respectable" person's Bentley look like a Reliant Robin is offensive to them. It engenders the same feeling that a white person from Alabama experiences seeing miscegenation (or just the President) on network television. Digust, rage, violation, violent irrational anger, etc. Whut I'm tryin to say is it sux ok.
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Jan 13, 2011 13:34
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MrZig posted:How come bike manufacturers make the gauges/top triple, handle bars, levers, etc look so beautiful, yet leave that same ugly rear end brake reservoir thats been a standard since 1970? It's this horrible translucent ugly thing on an otherwise good looking.. Dash? Its just something I've noticed and not a big deal, but it bugs me. ISR do spangly Harley ones I think. Have Ola nip over and get you one. e: 
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Jan 14, 2011 18:16
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I miss Blaster of Justice. Am I allowed to say that? 
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Jan 25, 2011 10:30
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