Any Motorcycle Riders Here? Post Your Ride(s)

[Cathar]

Hmmm, have always loved the sporty V2's though - loved the way they lay down wads of power at any point in the rev range, and love the lilting thump-thump exhaust note. Enjoyed just as much the reactions of people when they come wailing into corners on their 4's, and there's me on the old thumper which by every right should be slower if we measure by horsepower alone, yet while they're still trying to find the right gear on the corner exit, the V2's are ripping the arms from the shoulder sockets on the way out with the 4-cyl guys practically able to count every thump-thump thundering from the exhaust as it disappears ahead.

Riding the big V2's are as much of an aural experience as the riding itself. Had a full free-breathing exhaust system fitted to the VTR, that gave a 2" diameter exhaust path the whole way, instead of the stock & somewhat restrictive 40mm exhaust pipes & headers, as opposed to simply fitting cans on the end like many do, and fitting cans only simply doesn't do the VTR's engine exhaust note justice. Lost count of the number of Ducati riders coming up to me wishing that their bike sounded as good.

/me wipes drool from mouth over the memory...

[Marci]

Heh... 2" full system would certainly make anyone in the vicinity feel the thump right in their guts as it went past...

We use a full 2" system on the sidecar... which exits just in front of my left foot behind the main fairing and spits fireballs at me with monotonous regularity... compared to the other 4 strokes on the grid ours sounds monstrous. On a V2 it must be akin to firing a thunderstorm out of a shotgun

[Cathar]

Oh sure, perhaps I understated it when I said it was merely an aural experience. Can definitely add tactile to that too. Put the bike onto the Dyno once for a lark, and can honestly say that the sound pressure coming from the exhaust when it was on song almost sends the heart into palpitations, and made you somewhat woozy.

Yeah, it was loud. Realised how loud it was when on a track day around Phillip Island. Heading out of Turn 1 @ 240kph or so, and there's some guy about 100m ahead of me heading into Southern Loop wildly looking around like the end of the world had come to town. He came up to me later and said he could've sworn I was like 2 bike lengths behind him bearing down on him like a semi-trailer, rather than 100m away.

Still as loud as it was, not one person ever complained that it was annoying, ever. Quite the opposite, everyone would comment how much they loved listening to it. Sounded like mellow thunder. Must've evoked some sort of primal reaction I guess.

/me sighs

[Marci]

The ultimate question - how far could the exhaust fire a tennis ball in neutral against the limiter...?

[Cathar]

Originally Posted by Marci

The ultimate question - how far could the exhaust fire a tennis ball in neutral against the limiter...?

LOL. Never tried that. Guess we'll never know.

[JSimmons]

1993 Harley-Davidson FLSTC - pic taken last June with 83,000 miles on it. It's still on original clutch, primary chain, final drive belt, and has never been down for anything other than regular maintenance (oil changes, cable adjustment/replacement, antires and brakes).

Modifications include five-gallon tank, beaded windshield, headlight nacelle, police solo saddle, hard bags are 1972 FLH NOS (New, Old Stock) adapted for use on this bike by yours truly, dual exhaust with turn-down tips and numerous nostalgic appearance items. On the motor end, there's adjustable pushrods, a competetition ignition module and high-output coil, the carb was re-jetted, and a Crane cam was added.

Custom paint - deep candy red over white/titanium pearl with dark red and dove grey pin stripes.






Here's a shot on a clear day so you can appreciate the real color of the paint.

[dacooltech]

Originally Posted by Cathar

Kinda had my eye set on the Aprilia RSV1000R

well check out the new Duc 999R:



999R Features

a buddy of mine got the 999 (straight 999, not the R version etc.) and it's definitely more comfy than the 748R that I had for a short period of time.

I'm sure you'll love the sound of it as well

[Bigredhog]

Ive got a Big Red Hog, 2000 Heritage Classic and its a far cry from the old 45 Harley with suicide shift I learned on 30 years ago. hence my screen name Bigredhog . The plate on it reads BGRDHOG. LMAO @ Cathar your pic schocked me for some reason I pictured you as an older grey haired professor type dude, funny the how you arrive at what a person might look like based on what they post. Heck your just a youngster and a smart one at that!

[Cathar]

Well after eyeing off the Aprilia's I went and took this absolutely immaculate 2000 Yammie R1 which is being sold on consignment at a local bike shop for a test ride today and put down a deposit on it. Bike has 8000kms (~5000miles) on it, and has fully mirror polished nickel plated rims, swingarm, and sub-frame. Man, this bike is spotless - they don't even come out of the showroom's as clean or as good.

Get home, wife rings up her best friend to tell her that I've gone and bought a bike. Her friend's husband rides bikes too, and while discussing it with him we find out that it's actually his best friend's bike that I'm buying. Man, what a small world sometimes eh?

Get on the blower to his friend who tells me he'll agree to a lower price, and throw in a full Yoshimuri exhaust system, replacement front fairings, and a few other goodies. In return I have to go riding with him at a few Phillip Island track days 'cos his friend can't get under 2:00 lap times like he can, and I know I've done sub-2:00 on the ol' VTR before, so the gauntlet has been thrown down. Final agreed price was the paltry sum of $10K AUD (~$7500K US, or ~£4300). Yeah - really twisting my arm on that one.

Come Monday, I'll have a few more reasons to smile.

[Marci]

Might wanna swap the frontbrake out for summat that gives a bit more feedback... tends to get a bit squishy feeling after time... other than that, peachy choice! 2000 onwards they'd managed to iron out everyone's little niggles n' complaints... tend to go for about £3500 over here tax'd n' MOT'd.

Once u get to that trackday, be sure to have someone to hand with a miniDV.... I wanna watch!

[Cathar]

Originally Posted by Marci

tend to go for about £3500 over here tax'd n' MOT'd.

Hmmm, the joys of Australia eh? Won't find 'em (2000 R1's) here for less than ~£4000, in stock form, and with at least 10K miles on the clock, unless they've suffered some crash damage. 2002 R1's will go for around £4800, again stock and with at least 10K miles on 'em.

Probably could've pushed him a bit harder, but given the condition of the bike it seemed a fair price to me.

Brand new 2005 R1's here go for around £7900 on-the-road.

[Marci]

Yeah price is rather reasonable for your neck o' the woods... and the added extras make up for it anyways...

I'm still eyeing over various VFR400's at the mo... waiting for NC30's to drop below £1000... shame this one won't got for it's starting price - http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/VFR400-NC30-Tr...QQcmdZViewItem

[Long Haired Git]

Ahh yes, I used to read Performance Bikes mag and always drooled over the NC30's. When grey imports finally made it this way I test rode one, and can still recall most of the ride some 10 years later.
RVF400 would be nice too....
Have fun with the new ride, Cathar, and keep it sensible on the road. I was never good with the big bikes: I turned nutter even on the way to and from work. Power wheelies just too tempting....

My next bike? http://www.gizmag.com.au/go/2350/

[Cathar]

Not to worry. I'm a sensible lad on the bikes. Even with a wheelie king bike like the VTR I never really got into the whole wheelie thing, apart from perhaps getting the front wheel an inch or two off the ground for a moment. Doing wheelies always concerns me. Knew someone who flipped a bike and is in a wheelchair as a result, so that's always been a sobering thought for me anytime the front wheel leaves the ground. Even if not for that, I never really enjoyed doing wheelies. Can barrel into corners at racetracks with the footpegs folding up and the rear wheel leaving blackies, but never ever got used to hanging the front wheel in the air. Go figure - I must be a wuss - not that this bothers me. I've always been happy to go at my own pace and not try to keep up with the true nutters. My motto has always been "Keep it at ~80% on the road, and save the 100% antics for the race-track", and I'd like to think that 99% of the time I've kept to that policy faithfully.

The R1 had insane acceleration. Overtook a car that was annoying me today and went from 30-120kph before I even realised I was going that fast. Gotta watch that if I aim to keep my license.

Am well aware that the newer GSXR1000's are meant to be better in almost every respect, but for me the R1 is a bit of a sensible step up from the VTR. A bit more of a gentle jump to go from a 110hp bike to a 155hp bike, rather than a 180hp one. Heck, I was always one to believe that 100hp was as much as I could ever need or use, but just for once in my life I'd like to see how the hardcore open-class sport-bike crowd live.

I keep reading about how the R1's are meant to be twitchy, but then I read how the GSXR1000's are meant to have vague feeling front-ends, and how the Kawasaki's are let down by their suspension, and the Honda's are the boring all-rounders, firm stable and planted, but missing a raw element. Crap, seems like no matter which bike you buy, someone's got something to bitch about with it. Then I think back to '2000 when everyone was singing the praises of the R1 as the ultimate sports-bike, so are we just splitting hairs here or what?

Bikes are meant to be fun items that allow one to explore one's abilities introspectively, regardless of any "niggles" with the bike. As far as I'm concerned, as long as it's not dangerous, it adds to the experience anyway and I firmly believe that the ability for any bike to go fast and/or be enjoyed rests about 95% with the rider, and only about 5% with the bike. Crap, I still remember crafty old Tom Saville overtaking the hardcore sport-bike nutters on his old Honda Dominator (NX650), round the outside of them, with no hands on the handlebars. If that's not a better example of the rider's skill being the dominant factor in the enjoyment of a motorbike, regardless of how good or bad the motorbike is supposed to be, then I don't know what is.

This R1 has a steering dampener, so any excessive twitchiness shouldn't be an issue. I aim to enjoy it sensibly, but not sedately. It's more of a bike than I'll ever have the skill to master, so in that respect I just see this more as a learning process of the self, and hey, isn't that what motorbike riding is all about at its very core? That Robert Pirsig guy makes a lot of sense.

[Cathar]

Bike piccies here:

http://www.employees.org/~slf/R1/

Managed to get the price down another $500.

Took it out for a little blast yesterday, man what a dichotomy. Such a well behaved bike in town, but twist that throttle even half-way and the brain struggles to catch up.

[Long Haired Git]

Carbon fibre front hugger, annodised front brake caliper?, clear-lense indicators standard?
Annodised valve caps (much faster than standard).
Hello jealousy.

Power is corrupting. Remember going from my RZ250K to a FZ750. At first it was "never use full throttle, wholly crap" and yet within weeks I remember chasing someone over the gateway bridge at full throttle thinking "come on you fat slug"....

[Marci]

And a gorgeous beasty she be....! Congrats d00d!

[Cathar]

Cheers all. I'm a happy boy.

Originally Posted by Long Haired Git

Carbon fibre front hugger, annodised front brake caliper?, clear-lense indicators standard?
Annodised valve caps (much faster than standard).

Yep, all those are after-market extras. Am very fond of the bright nickel plated polished rims and swingarm (also non-standard). Positively gleams in the sunlight.

Got to find some time to fit the Yoshi exhaust in the next coupl'o'days.

[Cathar]

Originally Posted by Long Haired Git

Power is corrupting. Remember going from my RZ250K to a FZ750. At first it was "never use full throttle, wholly crap" and yet within weeks I remember chasing someone over the gateway bridge at full throttle thinking "come on you fat slug"....

lol, so true. Still though, I'm used to the VTR and it never left me wanting for me. The VTR accelerated extremely hard (helped somewhat by a 1 tooth smaller front sprocket I had installed), and with the full exhuast system had enough top-end to keep a stock CBR929 honest. In fact the VTR was (very slowly) pulling away from the 929 but in the end I felt a little sorry for him, 'cos it was his new bike and all, so I decided to let him have some glory and backed off a touch.

Low down the R1 pulls like the VTR did which really surprises me 'cos every in-line 4 I've ridden before has been peaky. The R1 has strong tractable power from as low down as 2000RPM, but at 7000RPM it's a totally different picture. Where the VTR just continues to pull (very) hard, predictable and steady up to around 9700rpm, the R1 turns into total beast and to be honest it's a real effort to squeeze the tank hard enough to hold on without it slamming you back into the stopper pad. For sure, the more modern bikes have a few more ponies at the top-end but there's no way any sane person could ever describe the R1's power delivery and acceleration as "slug-like".

[Long Haired Git]

I had a poorly carbouretted ex-race RD350LC that was mental. It pulled fine (not like a 1000 four, but not bad for a tiny stroker) from near idle to about 4,500 RPM. Then it went to shit, made zero power and gurgled like you'd run out of petrol. It did this for 1,000 RPM.
Then it came good.
Big time.
It lit up like a mental two stroke, which it was.
As a race bike, it was either idling or between 6,000 and its redline (10k by memory?) and hence fine.
As a commuter, it was real "fun" to ride. I loaned it to a sensible rider mate who didn't get the throttle vs rpm right and it lit up and wheelied across an intersection with a none-too-happy wife on the back. One of my few smoking-the-rear-wheel-steering moments was me getting it wrong mid corner in Lutwyche (busy inner city of Brisi).
Great fun until the oil line dropped off the oil tank and it seized on the SW freeway.

Ever ridden a 500cc stroker: RZ500 or RG500?
They're the same: you ride around thinking "this is nice and sensible" but then they just light up and f*** off.

Its the reason why I like to doodle and draw electric bikes (so much more design freedom) but I don't they'll be popular until fuel is $100 a litre. Flat power curves and predictability are just sooo boring.

My ideal bike, as per above, is a cagive 125 mito evo (916 looking model) with as big a single-cylinder 2 stroke traily engine (CR500cc would be nice, WR360 more likely). Who needs broad power when you can have mental peakiness? Yummy.

[Cathar]

[Cathar]

Originally Posted by Long Haired Git

Ever ridden a 500cc stroker: RZ500 or RG500?
They're the same: you ride around thinking "this is nice and sensible" but then they just light up and f*** off.

Its the reason why I like to doodle and draw electric bikes (so much more design freedom) but I don't they'll be popular until fuel is $100 a litre. Flat power curves and predictability are just sooo boring.

My ideal bike, as per above, is a cagive 125 mito evo (916 looking model) with as big a single-cylinder 2 stroke traily engine (CR500cc would be nice, WR360 more likely). Who needs broad power when you can have mental peakiness? Yummy.

Cagiva Mito 125's look hot. Just like a 916 junior. Very nice.

Probably taking the analogy a little far to compare the R1's power delivery to a 2-stroke. The extra power on tap in the high-end is not "light switch" peaky - it's always under the rider's control to dial in the power they want from the engine from the throttle, it's just that the acceleration gets progressively more "urgent" as the revs rise, unlike the VTR for example where it accelerated steadily and strongly. By "urgent" I mean just when you're thinking it's not going to pull any harder than what it's doing right now, it surprises you and does so. I mean, the thing gives graceful, controllable, and progressive power wheelies in 1st, 2nd, and 3rd, and heck with a few engine mods I wouldn't be surprised if it could do so in 4th as well.

I do understand the desire for an RVF400 too. Nice, light, small, and flickable. Thing is that I "graduated" from a ZZR-250 to a ZX-6R, and the R1 is smaller and lighter than the ZX-6R, so it's almost like a 400cc bike of the mid-90's anyway. The seat height is about the same as a 400cc bike. While it wouldn't suit a 5'0" person, anyone 5'4" or taller would have no troubles putting their feet down when waddling around while seated.

Yeah, maybe when I've had my fill of the litre-bike cup'o'seduction I'll return to own a nice little 250-400cc bike, but when the litre-bikes of today are so close to the same size, weight and handling of the mid-90's 250-400cc bikes it's hard to give up the pull of ponies when there's not a lot of gains in doing so.

If Honda released something like an updated RVF400 with 80hp and quality suspension, a comfortable seat, and stock suspension better than "preload adjust only", then yeah, I'd be sorely tempted to take another look.

[Long Haired Git]

FZR400 + FZR1000 engine = YZF R1
I went from 750's/600 to 400 to extend my life expectency and save the license.

[Marci]

6,000 and its redline (10k by memory?)

11.5k redline, 13k hits the rpm stop iirc...

My 2T 125 performs practically the same in terms of powerband... altho ignore the rpm stop... pulls off the guage and gets a superb little kick up the ass from 12.5k thru to 14.5k before the CDI loses the plot and it all goes to shit, only solution start to advance the timing afaik... or replace the CDI but finding suitable is proving difficult...

Agree on the Cag's.... love em. Definitely the best roadrace 2T 125 out there... 110mph stock, 130mph race tuned I think...

If Honda released something like an updated RVF400 with 80hp and quality suspension, a comfortable seat, and stock suspension better than "preload adjust only"

roflmao.... preload? if only! NS = no adjustment whatsoever - fixed shock.

[Cathar]

Originally Posted by Marci

roflmao.... preload? if only! NS = no adjustment whatsoever - fixed shock.

Hmmm, this page seems to suggest that the RVF400's came at least preload and rebound adjustments... That's the RR spec bike though. I was perhaps labouring under the delusion that the standard spec RVF400's included at least preload/ride-height adjustments.