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Review of the CFMoto Glory
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TrialsRiderParticipant
…I love riding in the rain,
besides, consider this; it’s -10 C here right now and there is a sick amount of road salt on all the roadsTrialsRiderParticipantRe: “…if I start riding and hate it” lol nobody hates riding motorcycles, it’s better than sex! …well almost;) Yes you will fall while learning from scratch, more likely in the first minutes or hours rather than weeks and months, because the more you ride the better you get at it.
Of course you do realize if learning to ride a motorcycle is the goal, by starting on a Dirt bike you could avoid a number of significant expenses like, bringing a beater bike up to road worthiness, vehicle certification, plates and insurance. Then once you can ride proficiently go out and buy and ride any bike you want with confidence.
…sorry, I had to point that out again guys.With zero riding experience you should stay clear of 3 and 4 cylinder bikes totally. If you find a bike in nice shape, strip off the signals and mirrors before venturing out to your first parking lot. Find a friend to ride with, preferably with some experience or a desire to learn equal to yours.
If you must go straight to a road legal learner bike on a budget, one with cosmetic dents and scratches is the best deal, nobody is trying to sell a bike with a big dent in the tank for top dollar. What you don’t want is bent bars, controls and pegs, so if those are damaged, factor the replacement parts in to your purchase and replace them immediately. Bars are about 40-140$ depending on type and quality. Signal and brake lenses must be totally free of cracks to pass certification.
Start with the 500-1500 (or your budget limit) bikes, since you’re not great with a wrench you should stay away from fixer uppers, here are the key phrases and parameters you should watch for: runs good, ready to go, recently certified, single or 2 cylinder, 500cc or smaller.
In about 2 minutes on my regions free online classifieds I found some reasonable candidates;
8000 original kms on this 1981 Suzuki 400 GS. Recent carburator cleaning with new parts, new coil, runs like a top. Great beginner bike. Mechanically strong. $1000 obo.9000km, 1978 400cc Hondamatic. This bike is a classic. 2 speed automatic, great for a starter bike. Was certified 2 yrs ago and hasn’t really gone anywhere. Needs some tlc. This bike was taken apart and put back together, new tire, brakes some cables. $1000 firm
1983 Honda CB 250, starts easily, runs good. Carb recently cleaned, new brakes front and back (still in box, not on bike). Very nice bike needs no work and very little care. Not sure the number of kilometers on it. 1000$
Hope this helps some, & do keep us posted with your progress
TrialsRiderParticipantOops, my apology the current model Moto Guzzi is up to 744cc now ~54 hp.
Original service manuals for most bikes are optional extras that dealers can acquire but seldom promote, it’s in their best interest to keep you dependant. Competition bikes generally come with very complete manuals, incl. parts schematics, service instructions, maintenance schedule, torque specs and references to special tools. Never seen an aftermarket manual that comes close for complete and accurate content. Buying a new vehicle and not getting one is a bit of a rip off, similar to buying a computer without the OS on re-installation disks ;p
Don’t go by me on riding gear, other than Trials boots, really good helmets and lots of gloves, I’m not one to armor up and my street riding cloths are likely older than you. …my dirt stuff is way new:)
You’re going to love riding no matter what you end up on Zim and BTW the Best riders all work on their own bikes, or can if they have to;)
…hope this helps someTrialsRiderParticipantThe Ninja 400R is a 650R with smaller barrel, shorter crank throws and a lighter clutch. Weight savings is 2 lbs. That being the case it would be just like riding a Ninja 650R with a governor on it. …not to say that would be a bad thing, but it does still weigh in at 448 lbs. which makes it very heavy for a lightweight, total beginner.
I think they borrowed this strategy straight from Trials bikes, but I’m not sure it will fly with street bikes.
…I’m guessing they hope to leverage a Canadian insurance bracket wrinkle ?There are 2 scenarios where the ‘big 4’ bike manufacturers could bring a decent 350 – 450 class machine to market. #1 – convert the existing 450cc motocross class bikes to road rockets. #2 – design a new multi-cylinder platform from scratch.
#1 they could nearly do with the stroke of a pen, #2 would be driven by overwhelming competition or divine intervention.TrialsRiderParticipantLooked it over real close too:
Very light, nice ergos, fuel injection is the same proven type as on my Trials bike, except with the fuel filter located external to the tank for easier replacement (nice touch), PGM-fi FAR outperforms Any carb equipped 250 singles that you might be familiar with. The 250 features a very interesting crankshaft/connecting rod layout designed to make the power-stroke more efficient (the barrel sits forward of the crankshaft centre line) They can only do this because the pistons have extremely low profile skirts compared to old school piston technology (they should change the name ‘Pistons’ to ‘Ring Holders’ The valve layout is also new and lightweight with ease of maintenance very well thought out. Overall finish is excellent which belies the fact they are produced in Taiwan and not in Japan. (is one of the reasons I have zero concerns with the prospect, my next bike might be manufactured there too)Between the 2011 250 Ninja and Honda, if I was buying it to own for a long time and not to race, I would hands down buy the Honda CBR250R.
…unless I could find a Ninja 250 with fuel injection or a Honda 250 four cylinder in perfect condition:)The new 2011 CBR125R is actually very close in dimension to the new 250 or the Ninja now and nothing like the previous 125, much nicer, you would not know it was a 125 to look at it, (much bigger tires) but to sit on it much lighter yet. Does not have quite as many new engine design features. If I was buying a bike for city riding only, this would be the bike. (would be a hoot on a tight race track too)
TrialsRiderParticipantI’d still recommend you check out the Honda VLX Delux and Suzuki S40 if only as a basis for comparison. No idea what the cost or availability is for you but Moto Guzzi makes a sweet 650 also (shaft drive, tame performer and very roomy:)
Collect sales brochures from all if they exist and keep the ones for whatever bike you buy.
If you actually need cost incentives to make a purchase, dealers make high markup on apparel, it might be the only thing you can get thrown in for free or cheap. Actual Service Manuals are rare for anything except competition bikes, but worth their weight in gold if you keep the bike forever.
..think that’s about it, maybe stand real close and look imposing and he might be intimidated into giving you a better dealTrialsRiderParticipantThink this one would actually qualify as an FTD
I want to see what he does once the front half clears the rock and he sumps out the leaf spring, foot holder, bash plate thingy, …talk about a steering deficite !
The spring saddle is obviously to get a better launch over the handlebars, but I’m not totally certain what the rear fender is for, high speed maybe ?TrialsRiderParticipantSomebody should have told these guys, you really Can just ride over a little rock like That one.
TrialsRiderParticipantClose comparison to the Vulcan 500 LTD that I know of: Honda VLX Delux
and Suzuki LS650 Savage/Boulavard. Three very different engine layout variations on the theme.TrialsRiderParticipant…and not in response to any particular previous comment.
The model letter suffix for dirt bikes sometimes implies something about their mechanical design; Historically WR stands for Wide Ratio with reference to the gear ratios fitted, WR offering a variation in speed between each shift that is greater than would be experienced on a CR (Close Ratio) ride. WR is often associated with Enduro or Scramblers where speeds are consistently high, CR is suited for Motocross where rapid accelerate through the gears is desirable.Not a convention but more history, I’d be guessing that SF equates to Street Fighter, DS to Dirt & Street and SF to Street Fighter.
My driver license would never survive a SuperMoto (SM ? on public roads, the urge to pull catwalks would be too great 😮 😮
TrialsRiderParticipantI’ve visited that beautiful state and Sam you guys sure know wide open roads! Utah Police are Super nice guys too
I don’t actually profess anyone should go so fast, and one of the reasons a hyper sport is Not a good selection for new riders is the ease with which such machines achieve warp speed. Jeff and I got a little carried away with the go fast discussion on your thread, but as I once pointed out, fast is the most exciting thing you can do with a road bike so eventually the urge to ‘see what she’ll do’ can become almost unavoidable. ..never a good thing for an inexperienced rider on a liter bike, but something you Will do very quickly with the 250 Ninja.
Ninja 250 is a very capable bike and excellent to learn on (if dirt holds no appeal for you) yes, but once you add; long distance luggage it’s no longer a wind slippery 250 hauling 150lbs. of rider down some of the fastest roadways in North America.
Hence a dilemma; your parameters are ‘unusual’ for this message board in that distances you expect to travel and the associated speeds are much higher than most, so I could be wrong on this but I’m thinking you still need to saddle test some of the larger displacement bikes and possibly resolve to never exercising more than 60% of it’s power, which is pretty much where I will be when I get my F3
…just my 2 cents worth, but if you can find one:
K75 is like a 3/4 scale Concours with all the right stuff. Those bags are stock issue and large enough to hold a helmet or 50lbs. of stuff.
Haven’t read all of that article in your latest link, but quickly spotted the chapter where he rode the rear tire off and saw how top heavy the luggage is stacked plus comments on wind issues. I don’t think you want to make every trip an odyssey
TrialsRiderParticipantlol …I thought you guys just go out back and drill another hole in the ground.
TrialsRiderParticipantIn my experience the full fairing is a major advantage that pays off nearly as much as some extra cc’s. I’ve ridden my Ascot 500cc single air cooler from Toronto to Detroit near non-stop and the things that made it less than comfortable; the upright riding position and the vibration. Maximum comfortable sustained speed is <120kph (75mph) and if I tuck in as much as the standard bars will allow and shift my feet to the passenger pegs I can pass at 145k (90mph) Wind turbulence blows you all over the place, particularly behind transport trucks.
Fuel economy suffers at anything over 70mph, which is not so much a problem with cost as the reduced range and a lot more vibration relates to chain drive than one would think, chain drive is definitely more efficient for power transfer, but after you ride a shaft drive bike the reduced vibration benefits become very apparent.
I like eon’s BMW suggestion:) too bad they still don’t offer smaller displacement boxer twins, that is a great design for giant riders that see gravel roads on occasion. It was the K100RS aerodynamics that sold me on my Beemer some 25 years ago, sitting upright it is comfortable and actually vibrates less at 145k+ speeds, wind resistance does not increase appreciably as you approach the rev limited 235k mark, but the damn cars and trucks look like they are backing up at youTrialsRiderParticipantHey Sam, & welcome, sure hope we can help you here. Hmmm at 6-1 & 150 you’re not much bigger than myself and I can tell you, a liter bike is not even going to feel you on there. Before you jump on board something as big as the concours try pushing it around or putting her up on the center stand, that will quickly bring everything into perspective. Big bikes are no problem once you are moving over 20 and terrific at warp speed, but at low speed they are like a lame duck out of water, they must remain balanced 100% of the time or it will tip over and there is no muscling a 670 lb. bike once it starts in the wrong direction.
Sounds like distance is your thing so keep these on your shopping list; Full fairing, shaft drive, liquid cooled. If you can actually find a Concours cheap go for it, but with the money you save get yourself a little beater bike to learn on. If ever there was a candidate to learn on dirt that’s you, dirt technique would relate directly to riding any motorcycle without the extra 400 lbs. and costs associated with having 2 road legal bikes.
TrialsRiderParticipantsome of us fit in between there somewhere
live long and prosper snuggles… you must be setting some fuel economy records there!
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