Thoughts on Bikes I've ridden
Since I did not make it into the garage AT ALL during the recent four day weekend we had, I don't have any updates on the Ninja Race Bike to show. I also have to travel across the country for the next two weeks so I'm sure that further updates will be slow going for the blog in general.
As a filler, I was digging through my folder of Motorbike related pictures and found some good ones of bikes I've ridden. The memories of the rides were strong enough to get me thinking and so I present to you "Random Bikes I've ridden and my thoughts on them". (Ok so that won't be the movie title when the blog makes it to the big screen, but you get the idea)
Random Bike Thoughts Bike #1: A 2015 Harley Davidson V-Rod. I'm not a big Harley fan as I prefer function over form being a mechanical engineer by degree and by temperament. When the V-Rod came out I applauded the Company for their desire to try out something different. For this bike they got just as much right as they did wrong. The engine was designed by Porsche or designed with Porsche or had some level of outside design work done for them on the engine. How long had it been since Harley has done something different from the staid old air cooled V-twin?
The good: The engine. It is such a good motor. It is turbine like in its power delivery. The transmission only needs to be two gears as there is a juicy fat torque curve from way down low to way up high (relatively high mind you, it still is a V-twin after all). It has a great sound and feel when you twist the right grip.
The bad: Everything else. Seriously everything else sucks. There is like 2 inches of suspension travel and ground clearance. You will scrape expensive hard parts with any lean angle more then 10 degrees. The ergonomics are the worst. Look at the foot pegs and handle bars in relation to the seat. The bike is long and you are seriously bent in two to mount this thing. The gauges are tiny with no information. The exhaust pipe is hideous and it has the turning radius of a Mac truck.
If I had a million dollars I would buy up every V-Rod I could find and yank the engines out of them to put into my own design of Sport Touring bike. The rest of the bike I'd scrap to finance the effort.
Following along with the sport touring theme and turbine like power delivery I present Random Bike Thoughts Bike #2: A 2007 Yamaha FJR1300. The family and I went to Arizona for a long weekend a few months ago and I wanted to get out on a bike. I found a great little shop that rents a good variety of bikes at reasonable prices and arranged for a day trip on this baby. I had been thinking about an FJR for a while as I bike that I'd like to get eventually.
The good: The rider triangle is very comfortable. The rider triangle is the relationship from the seat to the handle bars to the pegs. It is heavy, but holds the weight down lows you don't feel it. The suspension is firm and sporty. You feel like you can really rip on the bike. The power goes straight to the rear wheel through a shaft drive so the feel is direct and well, turbine like (full disclosure, I have worked with steam turbines in my younger years so that means much to me, maybe not so much to you).
The bad: It has a power windshield which is is really cool. Unfortunately every time you kill the bike it resets back to the start position so you have to adjust it again the next time you start it up. I did find that I liked the windshield in different positions for city and freeway riding. The rpm range seemed very low. Maybe it was just me, but I felt like I had to shift early. I'm sure it was me just not knowing the bike as the tach's redline was around 8500 rpm. I never got close to that because if I did, I'd be doing 100 mph in 2nd gear. The worst part of this bike is that it is such a great bike. If I put a top case on it for the wife I could see us going across country abandoning work and bills and schedules and just riding every day. Why did I put that last sentence in the "bad" section?
Anyway I hope you enjoy my reviews on these bikes. If you have thoughts on bikes you enjoy I'd love to hear about them in the comments section. I should be back in town just in time for the Christmas holiday. I have a good amount of time off to enjoy shop time on the Ninja so I will hopefully be providing more updates soon.
Blue
As a filler, I was digging through my folder of Motorbike related pictures and found some good ones of bikes I've ridden. The memories of the rides were strong enough to get me thinking and so I present to you "Random Bikes I've ridden and my thoughts on them". (Ok so that won't be the movie title when the blog makes it to the big screen, but you get the idea)
Random Bike Thoughts Bike #1: A 2015 Harley Davidson V-Rod. I'm not a big Harley fan as I prefer function over form being a mechanical engineer by degree and by temperament. When the V-Rod came out I applauded the Company for their desire to try out something different. For this bike they got just as much right as they did wrong. The engine was designed by Porsche or designed with Porsche or had some level of outside design work done for them on the engine. How long had it been since Harley has done something different from the staid old air cooled V-twin?
The good: The engine. It is such a good motor. It is turbine like in its power delivery. The transmission only needs to be two gears as there is a juicy fat torque curve from way down low to way up high (relatively high mind you, it still is a V-twin after all). It has a great sound and feel when you twist the right grip.
The bad: Everything else. Seriously everything else sucks. There is like 2 inches of suspension travel and ground clearance. You will scrape expensive hard parts with any lean angle more then 10 degrees. The ergonomics are the worst. Look at the foot pegs and handle bars in relation to the seat. The bike is long and you are seriously bent in two to mount this thing. The gauges are tiny with no information. The exhaust pipe is hideous and it has the turning radius of a Mac truck.
If I had a million dollars I would buy up every V-Rod I could find and yank the engines out of them to put into my own design of Sport Touring bike. The rest of the bike I'd scrap to finance the effort.
Following along with the sport touring theme and turbine like power delivery I present Random Bike Thoughts Bike #2: A 2007 Yamaha FJR1300. The family and I went to Arizona for a long weekend a few months ago and I wanted to get out on a bike. I found a great little shop that rents a good variety of bikes at reasonable prices and arranged for a day trip on this baby. I had been thinking about an FJR for a while as I bike that I'd like to get eventually.
The good: The rider triangle is very comfortable. The rider triangle is the relationship from the seat to the handle bars to the pegs. It is heavy, but holds the weight down lows you don't feel it. The suspension is firm and sporty. You feel like you can really rip on the bike. The power goes straight to the rear wheel through a shaft drive so the feel is direct and well, turbine like (full disclosure, I have worked with steam turbines in my younger years so that means much to me, maybe not so much to you).
The bad: It has a power windshield which is is really cool. Unfortunately every time you kill the bike it resets back to the start position so you have to adjust it again the next time you start it up. I did find that I liked the windshield in different positions for city and freeway riding. The rpm range seemed very low. Maybe it was just me, but I felt like I had to shift early. I'm sure it was me just not knowing the bike as the tach's redline was around 8500 rpm. I never got close to that because if I did, I'd be doing 100 mph in 2nd gear. The worst part of this bike is that it is such a great bike. If I put a top case on it for the wife I could see us going across country abandoning work and bills and schedules and just riding every day. Why did I put that last sentence in the "bad" section?
Anyway I hope you enjoy my reviews on these bikes. If you have thoughts on bikes you enjoy I'd love to hear about them in the comments section. I should be back in town just in time for the Christmas holiday. I have a good amount of time off to enjoy shop time on the Ninja so I will hopefully be providing more updates soon.
Blue
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