Hi Simon
love the idea of the MT, looks a hoot, nice to finally hear from some one that's ridden one to find out what the fun factor is
Viv
my new (ol' but low cost) ride
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Viv
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Re: my new (ol' but low cost) ride
"Sometimes the lies you tell are less frightening than the loneliness you might feel if you stopped telling them" Brock Clarke
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tufty
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Re: my new (ol' but low cost) ride
The fun factor's huge, but there's a few downsides, viz:
Under 50kph, it's a bear to turn - it wants to flop into the corners, and fights back with all of its 250 kilos as you push on the bars. 250 kilos is a quarter of a tonne. The flopping is probably "tunable" at the front end and might also be partially down to uneven tyre wear. Above 50kph, the weight disappears and handling reverts to pretty standard Yamaha neutralness.
On bumpy roads, you can feel the sheer weight of the thing overwhelming the rear shock. Taking it to work, there's a couple of places I have to slow down or it starts pogoing. Again, probably tunable to some extent.
It's thirsty, and it eats tyres and chains as soon as you start twisting your wrist.
It's hard work in the twisties, despite handling pretty well in sweeepers. Round here, where *everything* is twisty, it's a hard, muscular, ride.
It *will* get you pulled over by the plod. All the time. Even if you're driving well under the limit, on the right side of the road, with both tyres on the tarmac. Sometimes they're just wondering what it is, but usually it's to give you a strict warning about riding "something like that".
Basically, it's really not practical transport. It's stupid, it's loud, it's fast, it's fun and it makes a big, brash statement. Insanely expensive to buy, run, and insure. Like a Ferrari, the majority are probably owned by people too old to thrash^H^H^H^H^Happreciate them.
Under 50kph, it's a bear to turn - it wants to flop into the corners, and fights back with all of its 250 kilos as you push on the bars. 250 kilos is a quarter of a tonne. The flopping is probably "tunable" at the front end and might also be partially down to uneven tyre wear. Above 50kph, the weight disappears and handling reverts to pretty standard Yamaha neutralness.
On bumpy roads, you can feel the sheer weight of the thing overwhelming the rear shock. Taking it to work, there's a couple of places I have to slow down or it starts pogoing. Again, probably tunable to some extent.
It's thirsty, and it eats tyres and chains as soon as you start twisting your wrist.
It's hard work in the twisties, despite handling pretty well in sweeepers. Round here, where *everything* is twisty, it's a hard, muscular, ride.
It *will* get you pulled over by the plod. All the time. Even if you're driving well under the limit, on the right side of the road, with both tyres on the tarmac. Sometimes they're just wondering what it is, but usually it's to give you a strict warning about riding "something like that".
Basically, it's really not practical transport. It's stupid, it's loud, it's fast, it's fun and it makes a big, brash statement. Insanely expensive to buy, run, and insure. Like a Ferrari, the majority are probably owned by people too old to thrash^H^H^H^H^Happreciate them.
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Viv
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Re: my new (ol' but low cost) ride
Hi Simon
So all the reasons I would want to buy one in that last paragraph
the handling sounded worrying until you mentioned the state of the tires, if that rear tire is squired off then it will feel like your falling off the side of a cliff going in to corners, the ZZR (about the same weight) suffered the same problem with soft compound tires and uneven wear from tooo much power, maybe Continentals (love them to bits) or Battleaxes or some thing with duel compounds would help (unless thats what you got?)
Still sounds lots of fun (but maybe dial up the damping on the rear) big fat bikes are always a chuckle in twisty stuff, is the rubber rolling off the sides of the front yet
Viv
So all the reasons I would want to buy one in that last paragraph
the handling sounded worrying until you mentioned the state of the tires, if that rear tire is squired off then it will feel like your falling off the side of a cliff going in to corners, the ZZR (about the same weight) suffered the same problem with soft compound tires and uneven wear from tooo much power, maybe Continentals (love them to bits) or Battleaxes or some thing with duel compounds would help (unless thats what you got?)Still sounds lots of fun (but maybe dial up the damping on the rear) big fat bikes are always a chuckle in twisty stuff, is the rubber rolling off the sides of the front yet
Viv
"Sometimes the lies you tell are less frightening than the loneliness you might feel if you stopped telling them" Brock Clarke
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tufty
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Re: my new (ol' but low cost) ride
Yep :) Test ride one tomorrow...Viv wrote:So all the reasons I would want to buy one in that last paragraph
Yep, I had exactly the same problem with the RF as well, as soon as there was the slightest uneven wear (especially on the rear), the front would threaten to slap the tarmac on low speed corners.The handling sounded worrying until you mentioned the state of the tires, if that rear tire is squired off then it will feel like your falling off the side of a cliff going in to corners, the ZZR (about the same weight) suffered the same problem with soft compound tires and uneven wear from tooo much power
To be perfectly honest, I haven't even looked at what rubber it's wearing. Tyre choice is bike specific, though - my FZR loved battlaxes and squirmed all over the road on sportmaxes, but the RF was the opposite. Both were treacherous on contis, but the VF won't turn on anything else.maybe Continentals (love them to bits) or Battleaxes or some thing with duel compounds would help (unless thats what you got?)
[edit]It's running Battlaxes[/edit]
Maybe I'll try to get the brother-in-law to "invest" in some Ching Shens. That would be amusing :)
Front *and* back. Bastarding thing's impossible to ride in any sort of sane manner. I need to get it back to its owner before it eats my licence...Still sounds lots of fun (but maybe dial up the damping on the rear) big fat bikes are always a chuckle in twisty stuff, is the rubber rolling off the sides of the front yet
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WebPilot
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Re: my new (ol' but low cost) ride
My bike is really enjoying the present cooler weather at night. It "stumbles" a bit reaching 3 grand but once there it purrs like a kitten when I go through the gears.
It's starting to remind me of a CB900F I owned and rode back in the early 80's. What a thrill this XS650 is to ride, especially for the money.
No wonder Yamaha continued to make them for 10 years.
It's starting to remind me of a CB900F I owned and rode back in the early 80's. What a thrill this XS650 is to ride, especially for the money.
No wonder Yamaha continued to make them for 10 years.
