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Review of the CFMoto Glory
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Sean_DParticipant
That one was definitely interesting. Sounds like, from what he is saying, that the Hyper Yellow would make an excellent daytime light. Maybe not so great a night riding light though. Maybe PIAA needs to make a Green Plasma for night to put a slight green cast around it
Sean_DParticipantI really appreciate the feedback on the yellow bulbs. I am glad to hear that seem to work as well as advertised in terms of visibility. I have been running that PIAA Super Plasma GT-X because of that purple hued low beam, but I kind of like the look of the yellow. So you don’t find them too funky for nighttime use? When you say “work very well for visibility” I wasn’t sure if you mean making you more visible, visibility of the road and surroundings, or both.
Sean_DParticipant…adding to my previous post. I know a number of folks around here who prefer the Hyper Yellow bulbs. They claim they are more visible during peak daylight hours. The logic is that peak daylight hours are a very bright white/blue light and that the deeper yellow of the Hyper Yellow bulbs stand out in contrast. While that may or may not be true, I have been hesitant to try them. I am not sure what effect they would have on night time driving. Decreased visibility? Is the yellow light kind of odd? I understand there are some questions about their legality? Anyone have any feedback or experience with he hyper yellow bulbs?
Sean_DParticipantDue to the lack of atmospheric filtering the sunlight can be very intense at high altitude. Anyone who has spent time at altitude knows exactly what I am talking about. I used to live on the East Coast and it isn’t anywhere near the same.
During peak hours of brightness, low beams are simply over powered. There are times that you can’t tell if a vehicle even has any lights on until you are passing it. I definitely ride with my high beams on during those times. I am not even sure that high beams offer the necessary visibility, but they have to be an improvement over low beams. I will turn them off when stuck behind someone for any distance, at a stop sign or traffic light. But there are times when those high beams may be your best bet in being seen from any distance.
Of course I am only talking about what is maybe a two hour time frame of when I do this. My basic rule of thumb is if I can’t tell if a vehicle has daytime running lights on until it is passing me, chances are they can’t see my low beams until I am passing them. Very unscientific I know, but until someone flashes me to indicate annoyance I will keep doing it.
Sean_DParticipantCentral Hockey League?
Since I don’t have a clue what CHL land is.. I am guessing I don’t live there
@Kirk: NO problems with the Xena. Unlike my car alarm, which has a glass break sensor, the Xena takes a fair bit of movement. My car alarm goes off any time a big truck like the garbage truck, a moving truck etc. passes by. But the Xena alarm does require the bike to be moved a bit, not just vibration.Now, I can’t be sure that it wouldn’t go off in some of the parking garages that the floors kind of vibrate on when cars run up and down. That might be enough, but I think not. Because it will just chirp with minor “one time” vibrations, your neighbors shouldn’t find it an annoyance. Not unless someone is physically messing with your bike. You will know in a hurry if you forget to take it off though. I had to try that for myself.
Here is the WebBikeWorld review on it here…
http://www.webbikeworld.com/r2/motorcycle-lock/xena-disc-lock-alarm/
Sean_DParticipantWebBike World published the regs for modulators http://www.webbikeworld.com/Motorcycle-technical-articles/Modulator-regs.htm
I would assume the current models would have to comply if they are from a reputable company. So I am thinking since section (e) states: Means shall be provided so that both the lower beam and upper beam remain operable in the event of a modulator failure. There should be a way to bypass the modulator so that the system faults to a “fail” state and both the high beam and low beam operate as normal.
So my bike has a cover for a dummy switch for the headlight. I would like to order one of the Euro Spec switches to replace the blank plate and wire the modulator to be able to bypass it at will.
I think I am going to write to a few of the companies and get their feedback on that as a solution.
Sean_DParticipant.. one of the Xena XX14 models to be exact. Hopefully if someone did try to steal it the shrieking alarm would cause them to abandon the attempt. I think for the neighborhood I live/work in it is more than adequate, but you never know I guess.
Sean_DParticipant… they reply quickly, if you have questions about fit they will answer them, if the size is still wrong they will exchange them. They seem to be a really nice company from my experiences with them. Luckily they shipped my jacket right before Bike Week so I received that two days ago
I did the bucket test with my Thermosports and submerged them almost to the top of the cuff for about 10 minutes and they both passed (more than I can say about a pair of “Waterproof Joe Rocket Gloves I have), but I understand if for some reason one or both doesn’t they do warrant them to be waterproof.
Sean_DParticipantEvery time I see one on the the road I spot them waaay down the road, so they definitely seem to work in that regard. But I can see the point you bring up about how they could possible be dangerous in certain situations. Wonder if there is any way to rig one enable and disable it when necessary? Probably not be the nature of how they work.
Sean_DParticipant…. the fit and finish is amazing, but unfortunately they have a price tag to match. I do own one pair, the Steve Glove. That glove is considered a touring glove. It doesn’t have the carbon protection, but is made from Kangaroo palms (stronger than leather), and has kevlar and foam protection throughout as well as rivets in the palm area that are supposed to prevent friction and shredding in a slide. Knock on wood I have never had to test them.
Some nice protection for the $$ my IMHO is the British Motorcycle Gear products. Despite the name they are a San Diego based company. I came upon them at a show and have purchased a few items from them. The Montana Jacket, as well as both the ThermoSport Winter Glove and Rapido Summer Glove. These things are well made with carbon, kevlar and keprotec reinforcements all over the fingers, hands, thumbs, palms, etc. They come at a “reasonable” price of $79. Yes, there are cheaper gloves out there, but I haven’t found any that offer that level of protection for that price. Held Gloves, by comparison, start at around $150 and go north of there into the $300’s.
BMG Rapido Glove – http://www.britishmotorcyclegear.com/rapido-gloves.asp
Sean_DParticipant… in that I generally wear a black and yellow jacket with a bright helmet. Solid yellow in my case. Your helmet is your highest and most visible point in traffic. My wife has followed me and says she can easily pick me out in traffic because of the bright yellow helmet. White and Silver also work well.
I am also a bit of a safety geek I suppose, but I do wear one of those bright vests. If people notice the vest and think it looks stupid then so be it. They had to notice me to think that. Besides, the thing lights up like the Vegas strip when headlights hit it. Here are some Hi-Vis tips along with a “score sheet.” I will have 10 out of 10 covered once I add the auxiliary lights hehe.
http://www.motorcyclesafety.state.mn.us/latest/MMSCHomeSecondary.asp?cid=5&mid=279&scat=84Adding to the gear I have placed reflective Solas stickers on the Helmet and tape my bike frame to increase visibility at night. The frame on my bike is black so I have used the black tape. It is barely visible during the day, but reflects brightly when headlights hit it. I have placed this one the forks and a couple other areas to increase side visibility at night. The reflective helmet stickers I have placed front, back and sides. Some I got from here… http://www.nightfirepatches.com/Decals.html
I do always pulse my brakes to grab attention, but I have also added a Kissan license plate frame. In addition to having redundant turn signals in the form of progressive LED’s (5 LED’s for each direction) it also has a modulated brake light in the center. http://tinyurl.com/y8fwenx
I changed my headlight out for one of the PIAA Plasma bulbs. Sort of a bright white with a purplish hue similar to the HID lights. Watching oncoming traffic, even in the day, I find I always pick out those purple/white HID headlights out of the crowd of more yellow and white of the standard headlights.
I am going to add some additional lights to the front as I only have the headlight. From what I gather the human eye requires more than one source of light to properly triangulate speed and distance. I am also considering adding a headlight modulator and bar-end turn signals.
Sean_DParticipantI am sure the idea was to maintain the look of the Hinkley “Modern Classics” which have CV carbs rather than go even more retro to the Meridian T-120. I am not a Triumph historian by any stretch of the imagination so don’t quote me on this.. but when John Bloor resurrected the Bonneville in 2001 didn’t they always use CV carbs?
I know there are folks who are crazy passionate about the T-120 and may have liked to have seen that, but I can understand the logic of wanting to maintain the consistency of the Hinkley line, particularly since the Amal didn’t seem to have the best of reputations. I am no expert on carbs by any stretch either, but from owners of Merdian bikes, I garner that there were many issues with construction quality and the like with the Amal Mk I.
I recall reading a review of the Kawasaki W650 awhile ago as I always like the looks of those as well. The review mentioned that perhaps the Kawasaki was working harder to make the W650 look like a ’69 Bonnie than the Triumph Hinkley models. But even that review applauded Kawasaki for not having the “dreaded Amal carburetor” and instead using CV carbs.
From Triumph’s standpoint of EFI in general are better fuel economy, automatic mixture adjustment, better performance, longer engine life.
I am sure that is all true, to what degree I don’t know. The better performance claim sounds like some of the computer overlockers who go on about 10% improvements in performance as though the average user would ever recognize that without benchmarking tools.
Maybe if you are the type of rider who really rings the snot out of every last ounce of performance you might notice. I am guessing for the average rider (like myself) , the performance difference is trivial.
In any case, I don’t have an EFI bike, so what they decided to hide the EFI unit in isn’t of much concern to me .. at least not until I decide to buy something else
Sean_DParticipant“In fact on the pre-EFI (carburetted) Bonnevilles, Triumph had to graft on secondary air injection in order to meet pollution regulations.”
Seems to be a popular mod to do the “airboxectomy” and remove it or at least remove the rubber intake snorkel on the air filter lid. I think one county in Arizona is the only place in the country to actually require Motorcycle Emissions Testing and I am not even sure that is still true. California I think had testing at one time and dropped it?
I haven’t done anything with mine, I have heard pros and cons and not sure it is the best idea for the type of riding I mostly do.. but thats another topic from this
Sean_DParticipant… comparing Apples to Apples. When I purchased my Bonnie I took one of the ’09’s, which are Fuel Injected for a test ride after I took the ’07 I purchased out. I just wanted to see what the differences between the two were and if there was anything there that made me want to buy new vs. used. Honestly I really didn’t notice much of a difference between the two one way or the other. But being a taller rider the ’07 had a taller seat hight than the ’09 models, with the exception of the top of the line T-100, so that was a plus for the ’07. The ’07 only had 2,300 miles on it and was significantly cheaper, so for me it was an easy choice.
But, long story short, I really didn’t notice any significant difference in how smooth one was over the other, and really no difference in how they sounded. If I could have purchased the ’09 T-100 for the same price, or even within $500 I probably would have gone with the FI ’09. But with a difference of a couple thousand plus, it was an easy choice to go with the carb’ed ’07.
But that is the closest to a direct comparison between mostly identical models I can offer.
Sean_DParticipant… and that they can be a little rough at first. Not that they require more than 5 minutes with the choke open per se, but that they can still run a little rough at stops etc. for the first minute or two. I have never owned one, so not sure how true or not that is.
I own a Triumph Bonneville. I find with that bike that generally speaking, by the time I have given it a once over, put my jacket, helmet and gloves on, I push in the choke and its idling smooth and ready to go. As I said, generally 3-5 minutes depending on how long it has been sitting and how cold.
There was only one brief period in which I found the carbs to be a pain. The bike is an ’07 and the neutral switch went out on it in December. Due to the switch going out if you dropped the stand it would cut the engine even when in neutral. Apparently, at least on the Triumphs, the Neutral Switch and the side stand work together. Maybe thats true of all bikes, I don’t know as this is my first one. But if the switch doesn’t tell the side stand it is in neutral it assumes it is in gear even if it really isn’t.
So, the only way to warm it up before heading out was to pull up the stand and actually sit on it for 3-5 minutes while it was warming up. It took me like 2 weeks to get the switch replaced, so it was really only a minor inconvenience, but to correct my earlier statement, I guess there was a 2 week period where maybe FI would have been handy
On the bright side, I purchased it used from a dealer and bought the extended warranty. That covered the parts and labor for the switch
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