Forum Replies Created
How Often To Change Motorcycle Oil?
-
AuthorPosts
-
Gary856Participant
eternal, you’re right about the difficulty of mastering clutch/throttle control as a beginner, of course. It took some time before I completely stopped stalling the bike on take offs. Even after learning the basics of riding on an “easy” bike (GS500), there was certainly some fear in my heart when I started riding a 600cc (YZF600R); I’m far from riding anywhere close to it’s potentials at this point, I might add. My point was that you have to do everything right all at once to ride a sportbike well, and if I had to pick the number one problem with it, I feel it’s the silly ergonomics for low speed. With the low clip-ons (or a low handlebar), all the extra weight on the arms/wrists (before a beginner learned the need, and the how, to keep the weight off the arms/wrists), and the extra balance required, clutch/throttle control becomes that much more difficult to manipulate.
However, when I say you need to be “ready” for a bike, I didn’t mean to say that you must first completely max out the performance potential of a bike smalller than that. I wasn’t talking about racing where results are measured in absolute terms, so you don’t need to be able to ride a 600cc to the max before moving to a 1000cc for the performance gain. I was talking riding a bike within your ability for general enjoyment on public roads. On public roads, you don’t need to max out the performance potential of a Civic before moving to an Accord. All I’m saying is, don’t jumpt to a Corvette, if you don’t even know how to drive a Civic. When you jump from a beginner’s model to an expert’s model, motorcycles are a lot less forgiving than cars. There’s no crumple zone to save you; you are the crumple zone. When you do one thing wrong, a whole bunch of wrongs follow right behind.
Gary856ParticipantI read that having even beam pattern/spread is more inportant than outright brightness. It’s about having the right contrast. When the beam pattern has bright areas that cuts off sharply to the dark area, it hurts your night vision and makes it harder to see the surroundings.
Gary856Participantdeleted and moved to “General” section
Gary856ParticipantWhen it’s raining you’re in a steady supply of fairly clean and fresh water. In light rain or after the rain has stopped, you get the dirty, muddy spray kicked up by cars around you.
Gary856ParticipantFeedback on a couple items you mentioned –
1. Security due to DR-Z being light – Recently in a local motorcycle forum someone posted that she chained her GSX-R600 to another bike, with both bikes wedged in front of her car in the car port of her apartment complex. Both bikes disappeared in the middle of the night without anyone noticing anything. She didn’t think the chain was cut. There were many feedback from other riders on that forum that bikes in an open and public area need to be chained to something solid, but even then it’s no guarantee. You simply cannot count on the weight of a bike as a security measure.
3. To me, no fuel level indicator (needle or light) is normal, since my first bike, a GS500, has neither. That never bothered me – just use the trip distance to determine when you need to gas up. In fact, I find the blinking yellow low-fuel indicator light on the SV650 very, very distracting and annoying.
4. I really wanted to have a windscreen for my GS500 for the winter. I ordered a Givi 603 over two months ago, and it’s only due to arrive tomorrow. In the meantime, I’ve gotten used to, and like, riding without wind protection, I began to wonder why I ordered a windscreen in the first place. At 50 mph or even 60 mph, I certainly don’t feel the wind blast was significant. On a calm day, I can ride at 80-85 mph without feeling it’s too much wind blast, but add some headwind, then I start wishing for a little wind protection. Is the wind blast on a DR-Z worse than a typical naked bike because it’s higher and more upright?
One question I have regarding DRZ400sm’s cornering – a lot of people seem to say a motard with sticky tires corners just as well, or better, than a sportbike. Convention wisdom says your CG needs to be low to corner well, so how is it a “tall” bike like a DRZ, even in sm trim, can corner well like a sportbike? What’s your thought and experience on this, eternal?
Gary856ParticipantI’m 6′, 170 lbs, and never touched a motorcycle before taking the MSF class. But even during the class, I wasn’t impressed with the 250 Nighthawks and Rebels we had. The two different Nighthawk 250 I rode were low and easy to handle and ride, but the engine was weak and buzzy. Their throttle response was terrible – off idle, it hesitated for a moment before responding to my throttle input; felt like a cheap go-car lawnmower engine. The Rebel 250 in the class looked terribly cramped for the guy on it, and he was like 5’8″ or so, and wasn’t big. Those bikes all had only a few thousand miles, and didn’t look beat up. So that experience totally turned me off to the 250s.
Now, the GS500 (’01, naked) I got as my first bike – can’t say enough good things about it! I remember the first time I stood next to one in person, and the owner fired it up, I felt a little intimidated by its size, thinking that it looked bigger than I thought. I rode my GS for the first time the night after I finished the MSF class, and thought it was so much more refined, more powerful, and actually easier to ride, than the 250s I rode earlier that day.
1 year, 11k miles, and 3 bikes later, the GS is the smallest bike in my garage, but still the one I ride the most. Compared to the bigger bikes, now the GS feels a little weak and a little buzzy, but because it’s so “easy” to ride, it’s still tremendously fun to ride. I think a GS500 would be perfect for a 5’10”, 195 lbs guy.
Gary856Participant– $800 for an ’01 Ninja 250 w/ 15k miles is a good deal.
– Why was the clutch cable disconnected? Ask the seller that, and ask him to connect it back.
– Ask the seller how long the bike has been sitting to get a sense of the age of the gas and condition of the carb. The shop I use charges about $150 to clean/adjust the carb.
– The ad says “looks like in the pictures”. Does that the pictures are not the actual bike? Does that explains the ’04 plastic?
– Ask the seller about how the bike was dropped. Tip overs are generally no big deal; all the new riders do that. Even some low speed lowsides only damages the handlebar and plastics, as long as the bike didn’t smash into something hard.Bottom line – if the bike starts and runs ok, then it may be a good buy. May just need to get fresh gas, oil change, and a tune up; about $200-$250 or so.
Gary856ParticipantLast night I measured the peg-to-brake-lever vertical distance of the 3 bikes I have:
GS500: brake lever 2-1/4″ lower than peg. Works fine for me.
SV650N: brake lever 2-3/4″ lower than peg. Works fine for me.
YZF600R: brake lever less than 1-1/4″ lower than peg. No wonder I have to bend my foot up so hard to clear the brake lever on this bike, and the rear locks up so easily … I’ll get it adjusted.
Gary856ParticipantWith bikes, just like with cars, I can’t seem to break the psychological barrier when it comes to European makes, even though I love the way some of those things look. Blame it on my frugal upbringing? But my bad, that ’01 Monster 750 on CL looks like a deal.
Gary856ParticipantDucati Monster 750???!!! In the motorcycle world a Ducati is like a Porsche/Ferrari in the car world. That as a first street bike? Well, I guess if you guys all go to Ivy League schools and have rich parents, maybe that’s not an issue.
Ninja 650r is more for the “normal” people. Should work ok, but still a little too new/expensive in my opinion as a first street bike. It’s almost certain the bike will be dropped, that’s a part of learning, so get something smaller, older, cheaper. My favorite – naked GS500.
Gary856ParticipantWhat temperature range?
Gary856ParticipantYou want a windscreen for what kind of bike, what kind of riding (distance, speed), what kind of weather conditions (temp, dry/rain/snow)?
Gary856ParticipantI started riding almost exactly 1 year ago. My bikes and drop history:
First bike: Suzuki GS500. In the beginning I had wanted to beat the statistics, promised myself that I’d be careful and would never drop the bike, but that was not reality for a brand new rider. Dropped it 3 different times at walking speed (didn’t know what I was doing for the condition), followed by a 40 mph lowside (preventable, I rode over my head). Replaced the handlebar and fixed the gauges, still rides great. I’m 6′ even, and this bike is “comfortably small.”
Second bike: Yamaha YZF600R. Never dropped yet. Much harder to ride and balance at low speed. About 1.5-2″ taller than the GS500, so more roomy.
Third bike: Suzuki SV650N. Never dropped yet. Much more torquey than the GS, probably get me in more trouble as a first bike. About 1.5″ taller than the GS500, so more roomy.
My point is the first bike will get dropped; that’s a part of learning. Still own all 3 bikes above. Want to get an R6 real bad, just because…
I’ve never ridden a dual sport, but kind of want to get one and have been looking. My thinking is, if you ride in the inner city with stop-and-go traffic, and don’t expect to go over much 50 mph much of the time, then a smaller dual sport (let’s say 400cc or below) would be totally in it elements. But if you need to ride the freeway, I’d want a bigger dual sport, like a DR650, which is the one I’m hoping to get. DRZ400sm is very cool looking, but its less than ideal freeway cruising capability is what’s been holding me back from getting one.
Gary856ParticipantSome additional thoughts:
– With painted DY and reflectors, night rides are almost easy. The reflectors light up beautifully like a fiery ribbon, and you can totally see the twist and turns of the road far ahead. Some of those white reflectors on road side markers light up like light bulbs! I charged up a mountain road like that to stay ahead of, and pull away from, cars and had a blast. With the visual help of center line reflectors, I was turning and banking so effortless without seeing the surroundings, it felt like playing a computer simulation. When I thought about that ride afterwards, I realized that I was being reckless, and totally forgotten about watching out for road hazards like possible gravel, wet spots, debris, etc. Nevertheless, it shows that cornering can be so easy when you have clear visual cues, and when you’re smooth and relaxed.
– Without reflectors, the painted centerline works as a fair visual aid in the headlight.
– With no painted center line, and no reflectors, the twist and turns are much harder to follow and predict in the headlight. Light and shadows play tricks with your eyes, and you have to concentrate hard to understand what you’re seeing. It’s like trying to solve a constantly changing visual puzzle. Many times I thought the road would turn one way, and it ended up going the other. I learned to use the outline of the hill as visual aid to see which way the road’s turning, and I enjoy the game.
– I hate stopping in pitch darkness. Couldn’t see a thing outside the headlight, and you get that vulnerable feeling like something was lurking just behind you.
– After an hour of riding in total darkness, seeing city lights in the distance was a great feeling.
– I don’t really know what I’m supposed to do, other than what I already do at night (slow down, look hard), when I see a sign like “deer next 10 miles”… I’ve seen deers a number of times on the road in my headlight on the low speed twisty sections, when I was going like 15-20 mph, and that was no problem. I just hope they don’t charge into me (like you see on YouTube) when I’m in the straight sections at 40-50 mph.
Gary856ParticipantCool – thanks, eon, on how to post images.
That big round thing hanging low in the sky is the moon.
-
AuthorPosts