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I've kind of wondered why bike cruise control isn't like this either, particularly with the new fly-by-wire setups. It seems at least as safe to me as putting a mechanical clamp on your throttle.
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Sep 21, 2011 04:33
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MrZig posted:Why? Do you feel that way about cars too? I think cruise control would be awesome on a touring machine. Endless straight highway just hit cruise and.. cruise. Would help relieve pressure on my horrible right shoulder, that's for sure. The idea of simultaneously being on the throttle and the brake on a motorcycle makes me feel weird. In a car, whatever, but on a bike...I'd rather have a throttle lock. It means that if you slam the throttle shut the throttle still shuts. Overcoming friction is easy, overcoming a little motor holding your throttle open isn't (looks like he removes the push cable to fit the cruise). Sport touring is any bike that's relatively sporty that you tour on, IMO. If you're comfortable on a fzr600 for touring, why not? Z3n fucked around with this message at 15:24 on Sep 21, 2011 |
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Sep 21, 2011 15:21
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The idea of a true cruise control that seeks a set speed as opposed to "x" throttle opening certainly does appeal to me. However, dealing with an install and routing wires/hoses in an already tight enough area doesn't appeal to me at all. I'll take a ghetto throttle lock for ease of use and simplicity of install because of my VALUABLE TIME and ineptness
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Sep 21, 2011 16:17
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I have the Audiovox CCS-100 cruise control, and the system disengages when you hit the brake or clutch (When installed correctly, that is. I have no idea what would happen if it wasn't installed right.) The installation is a huge pain in the rear end though.
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Sep 21, 2011 20:47
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Yeah I do not approve of that guy's cable connection to the throttle bodies at all. The throttles on that BMW are not designed to be pulled from that end. He needs to attach it to the same plate that the normal throttle cable attaches to.
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Sep 22, 2011 01:48
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Z3n posted:The idea of simultaneously being on the throttle and the brake on a motorcycle makes me feel weird. In a car, whatever, but on a bike...I'd rather have a throttle lock. It means that if you slam the throttle shut the throttle still shuts. Overcoming friction is easy, overcoming a little motor holding your throttle open isn't (looks like he removes the push cable to fit the cruise). I'm thinking of making an RC-style servo cruise control setup. I was going to have it actuate only the pull cable, so when I mashed the throttle closed, the push cable would still shut the throttle. The little RC servomotors aren't all that powerful, so I think I could overcome it. Does this sound like a useful project? It'd be way, way smaller(probably) than a vacuum servo, and no more hoses to connect, just some wires.
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Sep 22, 2011 08:17
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Posting in here too since lots of Bandit owners hang in here. I have an 02 Bandit 600S. Are the clocks that are in the fairing supposed to be softely mounted? I can grab them and move them around a bit. They aren't loose, but they move around a quite a bit if you grab them. Is this normal?
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Sep 24, 2011 01:06
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Ziploc posted:Posting in here too since lots of Bandit owners hang in here. '02 1200S here. Yep. Everything on this bike is mounted to the frame through a rubber bushing. Keeps the vibes down overall, but leads to weird buzzing at some RPMs as various panel/component/bushing systems hit resonance in different places. I fixed that by removing most of the stuff that buzzes.
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Sep 24, 2011 18:07
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Are there any other major differences between sport and sport touring bikes aside from luggage and possibly engine size? Related: I have a thing for the 90s FJ series (1200, 1100). Does anyone have any experience with them?
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Sep 26, 2011 00:36
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 GROSS GENERALIZATION ALERTBikes marketed as a factory "Sport Tourer" generally make the ergos a little more touring friendly as opposed to heavy on the sport. In addition to body geometry, the seats are a little plusher. Generally you'll get a larger tank hence increased range. I also think that, with the more modern bikes at least, you get a little more driver info in the cluster and depending on brand, potentially OEM power outlets for accessories and factory touring goodies like grip heaters, storage cubbyholes, yadda. You also get into things like more touring friendly tires as opposed to full sport tires from the OEM. slidebite fucked around with this message at 01:06 on Sep 26, 2011 |
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Sep 26, 2011 01:04
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You do have to understand it is mostly a marketing definition. One brand's sport tourer is the other one's full blown sport (especially taking in account 15 year old supersports having more in common with today's standards than (super)sports).
karms fucked around with this message at 01:32 on Sep 26, 2011 |
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Sep 26, 2011 01:29
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There is certainly truth to that. Various companies address them in different ways.
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Sep 26, 2011 13:58
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Safety Dance posted:
Depends on who you ask. A lot of people, myself included, consider it a lightweight sport tourer. Fully loaded, I pulled 52.8mpg max with ~50 average on my California trip. Same for my friend who owns an '07. With a 5 gallon tank, you're well over the 200 mile mark a lot of people look for. It has plenty of get up and go even when fully loaded. I'm sure hard luggage (I have soft) weighs it a bit, but not by much. My friend had plenty of power, also. On the day we headed back, we just jumped on I-5 heading north. It was about 6am with the sun just barely up and the road empty, so I gunned it. Hit ~135 indicated, GPS said ~120, before I decided to back down. The bike wanted to keep going. I like that it's not giant but not too small to make you feel cramped. The stock seat leaves plenty to be desired, but it's a far cry from my old bike's seat (SV650). I have an Alaska Leather seat pad (I think it's called the "rally special" or something) and I did just fine with frequent stops of about every 60-100 miles. The size also helps in navigating through city traffic. Even with my Fieldsheer expander saddlebags fully loaded, I was able to lane split through San Francisco with ease. One of the biggest selling points for me was the stock centerstand. Holy poo poo, it's amazing. Chain maintenance (among other things) is a goddamn breeze, and I you don't have buy and install an aftermarket stand at a further expense. The 1/4 fairing means you get some protection from the wind/rain without having to deal with removing lower plastics for any maintenance. The windscreen isn't the greatest for highway riding, and I get a bit of buffetting when sitting up straight (I'm 6'). Due to the undermounted exhaust, the passenger seat does get warm. It's great on the cold rides for any passengers you have but becomes uncomfortable on hot days. Why I don't know, but the clutch is extremely clunky going in and out of first gear. According to the folks over at fz6-forum, that's just how the bike is. You get used to it eventually. There are two trip-meters. I use A for fuel and B for oil tracking. When you hit your reserve tank, the last bar on the fuel meter starts flashing and you automatically switch over to F-trip. There isn't a lot of space for mounting on the handlebars due to the cover that comes installed over the middle of it. You can take some copper pipe, bend the ends, spray it black (to make it stand out less) get some longer bolts and attach it just above the speedo. It's a great spot for a GPS mount. Mine looks like poo poo, but I'm about function over form. It also has juice for plugging stuff in. I've got a USB port and will soon be installing grip heaters. My next steps will be a taller screen and a Corbin seat. My issue on the latter is that it's a dual seat. I was spoiled by having my SV650's be separate, thus lowering the price on seats. Guess it's a win for any passengers I carry, though. I plan on getting some sort of small container that I'll mount into the fairing. That way I can keep stuff I need (badges, parking pass, ferry pass, etc.) dry without fumbling around when it's wet. There's a decent sized community on various boards. The SV650 has the largest active community I've seen, but there's plenty out there for the FZ6. All in all, I love the bike. I'm not sure how it'll do with two up touring. It obviously won't be able to keep up with dedicated sport tourers, but properly equiped, I don't see why it wouldn't be comfortable. E: The bike's also sexy. I'd suggest getting some sort of throttle control. I just use a crampbuster. Works just fine for me. Here's the GPS mount and overall setup:  
its all nice on rice fucked around with this message at 00:16 on Sep 27, 2011 |
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Sep 27, 2011 00:07
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Pope Mobile posted:I was able to lane split through San Francisco with ease. Sweet, thanks for the writeup. I'm thinking when I sell my beater Ninja and my Fiat that doesn't run, I'll start looking for one.
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Sep 27, 2011 20:22
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Safety Dance posted:I wish lane splitting were legal in Atlanta. Doesn't mean I won't do it under duress. On the other hand, I did a 5000+ mile trip with a buddy who was riding a Ninja 500. It wasn't in great shape by the end (then again, it wasn't in great shape when we started) but it's possible. I don't think anyone would call it a sport tourer but it was sporty and it toured.
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Sep 28, 2011 19:34
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Posting this here, since it's Sport Tourer related  Sunday I attended the MotoPro Challenge (http://www.motofun.net/courses/motorpro/) here in Georgetown, Texas. I was on my ST1300, there were 4 guys from the Travis County EMS Motorcycle team on their department issued dual sport BMW 650 thumpers and another guy from the EMS team on his personal Yamaha naked standard. The class emphasis is on low speed maneuvers using the friction zone and the rear brake to adjust speed and maintain control (similar to what you see in the Ride Like a Pro video series), and accident avoidance through emergency braking drills. We did slow speed cone weave runs, offset cone weave runs, stop and go drills (accelerate to 2nd gear, slow to almost a full stop while keeping our feet on the pegs at all times, proceed straight ahead in first), stop and go's with 45 degree turns, and my un-favorite, the 20 foot uturn box  I did well on everything except the box. The instructor was riding an ST1300 too, so it's not that the box was too small, it's just that I suck. The instructor was able to help me realize that I was cutting myself short 2 - 3 feet by not getting far enough over before starting the turn, but even after correcting that I just couldn't force myself to crank the bars around to full lock fast enough and still would go wide. Oddly enough, I can do uturns on an average two lane city street without much issue or second thought. This all tells me that our streets are a lot wider than 20 feet, and that the cones were messing with my head. Either way, I'll be heading back to the MSF range near my house to work in the figure eight box some more.
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Oct 3, 2011 20:23
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Raven457 posted:Either way, I'll be heading back to the MSF range near my house to work in the figure eight box some more. I would like to do this with you, let me know when.
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Oct 4, 2011 18:33
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Pope Mobile posted:So I'd say stock bars are good position for touring, and maybe get a seat, and then the FZ6 would be good enough to tour around.   Plus I only have cash enough for one bike, so I like having something that can ride I-5 for 14 hrs and do my 15 minute commute e'eryday
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Oct 4, 2011 19:17
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For a second I was wondering who you are and how you got my pictures.
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Oct 4, 2011 21:35
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Chiming in a little late on the subject of saddleass issues:
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Oct 5, 2011 02:48
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Korwen posted:I would like to do this with you, let me know when. Will do! We're leaving tomorrow morning for a weekend on the ST in Fredericksburg Texas, and this day at work is dragging by. I spent some time last night rerouting my power feed cable from the bike to my tankbag, covering the cables in wire wrap, and moving everything over from the old bag to the new Cortech Super 18. This bag is huge, with plenty of pockets to stuff things into. If that's not enough, you can unzip the expansion zone at the top and gain another half inch or so of storage. The power feed from the bike plugs into the bag with an SAE two pole connector, once inside the bag the cable splits into two cigar sockets. The GPS plugs into one, and I have a MicroUSB charger in the other one to recharge my phone or the Sena Bluetooth headset. The Aquabox setup looks like it will work quite well. It is a little bit wider than my GPS, but it still fits pretty nicely between the handlebars. I bought an official Garmin 12V cigar socket USB power adapter from amazon.com for my GPS, and semi-permanently routed that cable through the RAM mount and the Aquabox's pass-through holes. Now when I need the GPS in the car, I can just open the Aquabox, unplug the unit, hook it to the OEM Garmin windshield mount and power cable and that's it. I'll try to get some pictures up tonight or next Monday.
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Oct 6, 2011 16:54
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Back from the first, shorter, trip. I'm a horrible bastard, and I didn't take any pictures while we were out of town. We put a little over 500 miles on the bike this weekend as the ST-O took over Fredericksburg, Texas. This was sort of a warm up weekend, since we'll be putting on over 1500 miles during the trip to the Talimena Skyway in a couple of weeks. Cool temperatures with a bit of rain here and there made for great riding, and it's hard to beat swapping tall tales with your friends while hanging out in the hotel parking lot after the bikes are parked. Here's a shot of the Nuvi in the Aquabox, just before leaving the house on Friday.
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Oct 10, 2011 04:20
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TL;DR: Would I be a horrible human for selling my TDM 850 and turning a B-King into a quasi-ST? I want to ride again. I've had a 1992 TDM 850 since 2004; got the bike with around 8,000 miles on it, and as it sits it is right at 21k. I rode it a fair bit prior to getting married (5 years ago) and had room for it in my garage until we bought our house... 3 years ago this month... And since then it's sat in my dad's garage, which has definitely been a disservice to the bike.  (mine looks like this but has a black Corbin seat - could find any good pics of my own) A couple maintenance problems with the bike: it has a coolant system issue where it will overheat if you're not moving, it needs tires, new chain, not to mention needing general TLC after sitting for 3 years. From a usability standpoint, the 5-speed is not geared well for Colorado roads, which is to say you're deep in the heart of buzziness through the bars anywhere from 65-85mph plus you're quickly drinking down gas to the tune of 120-140 miles before you hit the reserve. Moreover it's not real comforable 2-up. So you could say that while I've enjoyed the 850, it's not my ideal bike. My current thinking is to dump the necessary maintenance into the bike and sell it, and then turn that cash into something more interesting... ... and for now that's looking like a Suzuki B-King. A few problems: this doesn't solve my 2-up riding problem (and probably makes it worse) and it doesn't solve for range. I also still don't have my own garage to put it in. So what does it solve? It solves for awesome. (This is very clearly a rational dialogue in my head.)  (pic stolen from b-king forums but rehosted) In its favor: stupid power and a relatively unique bike whose looks I actually like. Maybe I'm weird, I don't care. It looks fun. With bags and a windscreen I get the impression this makes for a sort-of ST bike. I'd like to go ride in the mountains, and the reality is my wife won't be coming with me most of the time, so I can see this actually working. I showed it to my wife (and her not knowing any better) said "sure, do it." So I even have the blessing to just ... do it. Better question though: should I? Would I be better off going with a Concours 14 or something? Ugh. Advice wanted. Tremek fucked around with this message at 02:23 on Oct 13, 2011 |
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Oct 12, 2011 23:30
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The seat is very wide. I don't know how that translates to touring, but there's a guy nearby that has a B-King and looks awfully uncomfortable on it. Maybe it's because he's on the plump side, but still. PS tdm's rule
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Oct 13, 2011 00:13
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You'll be happiest with a bike that you want. Sure, you have a TDM and TDMs are cool but they're also kinda boring and lame. B-Kings are very out there, which makes them fun. I say, go for it.
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Oct 13, 2011 00:34
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I know nothing about bkings, but I like the looks of it with those bags. Looks really sweet.
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Oct 13, 2011 00:49
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I went looking for a sport-touring B-king and found this. I say go for it.
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Oct 13, 2011 01:13
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slidebite posted:I know nothing about bkings, but I like the looks of it with those bags. Looks really sweet. PS do it!
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Oct 13, 2011 02:11
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Gnaghi posted:I went looking for a sport-touring B-king and found this. I say go for it. The bike in that link looks like it has car tires. Do people usually use car tires instead of moto tires in a sidecar setup?
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Oct 13, 2011 13:29
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bladesamurai posted:The bike in that link looks like it has car tires. Do people usually use car tires instead of moto tires in a sidecar setup? Traditional sidecars, no. Sidecars with tricky suspension like that, yes.
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Oct 13, 2011 13:52
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I think I'm broken. Decided to do some more research on the B-King, and happened upon the Ducati Diavel... This:  With these:  ... are so crazy it just might work. Double the B-King's pricetag, but ridiculously awesome. Ducati even offers a touring windshield.
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Oct 13, 2011 21:38
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Bonus that it's the fastest (in a straight line) bike that Ducati has ever made. It's the muscle cruiser I'd buy, simply because 40+ degrees of lean angle in a cruiser is awesome. I mean: http://blip.tv/hell-for-leather/diavel-track-chase-cam-5083637 If that doesn't look fun, you're dead inside. Z3n fucked around with this message at 21:46 on Oct 13, 2011 |
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Oct 13, 2011 21:43
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Tremek, you need either one of these: or one of these:  Both big, fast, fun, comfy and designed for long-distance riding. And the KTM is really awesome.
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Oct 14, 2011 10:48
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Good news! I got my Smuggler and Corbin! lovely News! I managed to but a GREAT BIG loving GOUGE IN THE PERFECTLY MATCHED PAINT TAKING THE THING OUT OF THE loving BOX because I'm a loving idiot and didn't clear my bench first. Fuuuuuuuucck Hopefully the nearby micro-repair guy can do a decent match to it. gently caress me am I upset with myself.
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Oct 15, 2011 00:13
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slidebite posted:Good news! I got my Smuggler and Corbin! If it helps, I'm upset with you too.
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Oct 15, 2011 17:23
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invision posted:If it helps, I'm upset with you too. I took the time to actually put it all together. Decent riding weather is starting to be on its last legs for sure up here, so I thought I'd give it a try out while I still could. Hope you guys don't mind me whoring out photos, but I am pretty impressed by the whole setup. Please excuse the horrid lighting for a couple of them. Before:  After:   It is surprisingly large. With my hand in it to one corner, it goes to the elbow in the other corner. The interior is finished quite well too.  fffffffffffffffffffffffffuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu lawnmower blade!!   rear end  And with different lighting  The color match really is pretty much perfect. The seat is by FAR more comfortable. I was a little concerned at first because it felt so different. It is certainly more "saddle-like" than the OEM, but I took it out for about an hour in town and I could tell right away that it was a good decision. It'll probably get even better as it breaks in. I really like that I can still use the rear carrier if necessary. slidebite fucked around with this message at 23:47 on Oct 16, 2011 |
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Oct 16, 2011 23:11
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Looks great slidebite. I doubt it's intentional but I like how the lid of the smuggler has the lines on it that mirror the ones on the side cases. The scratch shouldn't be too much of a problem. With the paint being brand new it should be easy to color match.
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Oct 17, 2011 16:22
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Tremek posted:TL;DR: Would I be a horrible human for selling my TDM 850 and turning a B-King into a quasi-ST? Maybe you're really looking for a Buell Ulysses?  For me, aside from the height, it's pretty much the perfect ST. Combine a XB12Ss [long swingarm naked, lower model] with the tail section of a XB12X [Ulysses] for the luggage and bigger seat, and I'd be a happy dude.
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Oct 17, 2011 18:40
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I'd like to get into cycling a bit, for trips especially and I'd really like to make a big trip down to south america one day on a motorbike. I'm completely new to all this, I don't have a licence, I haven't ever done mechanic work on cars or whatever but i'd like to learn and make it a hobby. I live in Montreal (Canada) and I would like to know how much does all this cost? Do I need to learn how to maintain the bike and if so, how much of a timesink is it? How much does a bike that is good for beginners and of good build cost? what about maintenance? I know i'm a far way from purchasing one but I like to see what's ahead. I'll have to take courses too if I want to get my license.
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Oct 17, 2011 22:10
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Odddzy posted:I'd like to get into cycling a bit, for trips especially and I'd really like to make a big trip down to south america one day on a motorbike. I'm completely new to all this, I don't have a licence, quote:I haven't ever done mechanic work on cars or whatever but i'd like to learn and make it a hobby. quote:I live in Montreal (Canada) and I would like to know how much does all this cost? quote:Do I need to learn how to maintain the bike and if so, how much of a timesink is it? quote:How much does a bike that is good for beginners and of good build cost? quote:what about maintenance? quote:I know i'm a far way from purchasing one but I like to see what's ahead. I'll have to take courses too if I want to get my license. slidebite fucked around with this message at 03:21 on Oct 18, 2011 |
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Oct 18, 2011 02:18
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