yep. i am bowing out of the sportbike scene. some would say i dont really have a sportbike now, just a sporty standard that i've followed CBRs around the twisties with. but the zr-7 still too agressive for me. its a direct descendant of the 83 championship GPZ bike. the bike lives to ride agressive and i am am all too happy to oblige her.

so, a change is in order. i really like riding. i love riding. its also fun to ride agressive, but in this part of the world, the risks are too high to ride on the street agressively. even my bike is most comfortable cornering at well above reasonable speeds. and every corner around here is laden with poor road quality, spine fracturing curbs that will kill if i have a get off, oils, sand, gravel, uneven pavement (it literally melts in the summer ), inattentive drivers, overly agressive drivers, people that want to race you at every light, ticket happy cops...the list goes on.

is it going to keep me from getting hit? killed? nope. but it takes my desire to drag a knee away...and the rest of my life is too crazy right now - i dont need to feel like i need to live on that bloody performance edge. tracks are too far and i dont have a track bike to speak of at this time.

so i want something that i can cruise around in. not sure what to get. i am a "form follows function" kinda guy so useless chrome is not on my priority list...


harley? list is long on this one

jap cruiser? probably. price, performance, reliability. I'm eyeing the Yamaha Warrior



ok so...hmm i think its faster than my current bike in a straight line (evil grin). gets decent gas mileage if you dont romp on it (ha!) and is lighter than the competition thanks to aluminum frame and lots of parts lifted straight off the R1 (another evil grin). yeah, its got a decent rake with inverted fork and will actually go around corners. oh yeah..the engine is 1670cc. (i need an evil grin smiley at this point).

what? you didnt think i was gonna putter around like an old fart, did you?

 

good choice man... finally someone actually using thier brain when deciding on a bike. not thier gonads. that warrior is a bad ****.

 

I hear ya about the risks, especially after my accident. Just doesnt seem worth it sometimes

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by blue95accord &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I hear ya about the risks, especially after my accident. Just doesnt seem worth it sometimes </TD></TR></TABLE>

sometimes... usually I run into a trackday before I get thinking too far into risk assessment mode and forget all about it

 

Ill throw up the wave as I pass ya in the twisties.... hehe just messing with you. When I get old I plan to get a nice tourer and cruise. The new honda rhune looks pretty sick. Surprised it doesnt have a rear seat tho.

 

Havent you guys heard? The Warrior can handle. Yamaha has this performance kit for them to jump the power 25%. That thing is awsome. The kit goes for about $3,000 though. I work at a Yamaha dealership and my uncle (who is my co-worker) spent a weekend at Yamaha in california. He went out there to test out the new Yamaha line that came out the first year for the warrior before they were released. He rode a warrior that belongs to this guy Jason who works for Yamaha and he said the bike (which has the performance kit in it) handled and had as much power as a sportbike.

 

yeah the warrior is a neat case study in making a sport cruiser, but the more i read about it, the more i see that putting sportbike suspension pieces on a long low bike with a fat rear tire doesn't yeild a perfect handling machine.

apparently there is some real twitchyness from the different radiuses of the front and rear tires. basically what i think is going on is when its leaned over, the front and rear tires are trying to carve different radiuses around the curve, and you get twitchiness. kinda makes sense since the rear tire is so huge. some guys say they've dialed it out by making suspension adjustments and stuff, but i am not so sure.

luckily you can score test drives around here on cruisers. i should be able to find out what the deal is.

one thing i like about these "cruisers" is there are a lot of aftermarket accessories that are functional and not just chrome enhancements. i think i'll have to save up for a corbin or mustang seat and some of the forward set footpegs that will give me the extra clearance i need for my size.

 

i just found out that you can adjust the fule maps in the the ecu on this bike. so when you open up the intake and exhaust you dont need a power commander 3 and a bunch of dyno tuning. still have to tune it on the street. maybe i'll use my wideband o2 or just check the plugs. how cool. i get the impression you need the PCIII to really dial in the fuel map, but its a 2hp difference if you adjusted the ecu properly.

http://roadrider.org/iboard/in...6ba46

 

falcon

What don't you like about the Harley's?

 

i guess i'll sum it up as worst price / performance ratio of any motorcycle ever.

harley is the company that taught me the amazing power of public perception and marketing. its painfully clear to me that this country has the most disposable wealth of any country in history.

and yes, i've ridden a harley. someone actually let me take their beloved harley for a spin. had to move the oil drip pan out from under the bike before we pulled it out of the garage. no, i am not kidding. looked, felt, and smelled like my dad's old lawnmower.

 

SV650s is an awesome bike too falcon

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by falconGSR &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">i just found out that you can adjust the fule maps in the the ecu on this bike. so when you open up the intake and exhaust you dont need a power commander 3 and a bunch of dyno tuning. still have to tune it on the street. maybe i'll use my wideband o2 or just check the plugs. how cool. i get the impression you need the PCIII to really dial in the fuel map, but its a 2hp difference if you adjusted the ecu properly.

http://roadrider.org/iboard/in...6ba46</TD></TR></TABLE>

Yeah its cool. Our service department has a computer program to adjust the ecu for more fuel. It is a factory program from Yamaha so It is covered under warranty. The warrior has big aftermarket support from companies like Barrons. They have a kit to put a 250 series rear tire on that bitch.

 

now i am looking at the upcoming VTX1300

priced under $9k most likely. comes up way short compared to the warrior in terms of performance...but...money...and the warrior suspension has me concerned. plus i really want a honda and the valkyrie is too much money and discontinued for now. vtx1800 is way large.

 

Either one of those bikes would be awesome falcon. I almost bought a Warrior, and will end up getting one soon probably. I wanted to be able say that I have owned a sportbike and I got my for a really good price.

 

i am getting so much "but its not a harley" **** already and i dont even own it.

oh my god i dont think i can ******* stand it.

 

for ***** and grins i just went to a harley dealer.

first of all, it was a positive experience overall. the bikes fall into the visually "neat" category. i might go ride one for the hell of it.

i was looking at the fat boy cause a guy at work said it rode smooth.

the most notable quote out of the salesmans mouth was: "this bike's MSRP is $16,900, but we're asking $23,000"

i nearly jumped out of my seat.

 

I would look for an early or mid 90's FatBoy cause they would be cheaper, but I dont hear good things about the mechanical aspecs of Harleys. That may be the older bikes though.

I'd get a Jap cruiser.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Jeff C &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I would look for an early or mid 90's FatBoy cause they would be cheaper, but I dont hear good things about the mechanical aspecs of Harleys. That may be the older bikes though.

I'd get a Jap cruiser.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Yeah i dont think i'd touch a harley from before 2000. this new "twin cam 88B" motor looks decent. and i hope all this money they are making is helping them buy better tooling to produce a higher quality product. I'll admit they sure do look neat, but i am not plonking down that much cash! I have bigger purchases on the horizon (house) and I don't need 20k in debt.

 

oh my god what was i thinking?

i was really hungover when i made this thread please excuse me. i have come to my senses.

i did a lot of research on cruisers and stuff and all i found was people cared about image image image!

fuhgettabout that...i'll keep my current ride for now.

i am learning that motorcycles, like cars, are the the best set of compromises you can put into one package (cost, performance, comfort etc). and if i bought another bike i would just be getting another set of compromises. i have that already and i'll just deal with it.

 

Hey, a buddy of mine has a warrior here at work.. The exhaust on the one you have pictured isnt stock.. Normally they come with that big 1 foot by 3 foot muffler type thing.. Looks cool but is hella quiet.

Anyways, i rode the warrior and here is my decision
very very compfy
low end torque is nice.
bike DOES NOT FEEL VERY FAST at all, but i also ride a 1000cc vtin sport bike so who knows.
its very compfy
and its hella quiet with the stock exhaust...

I was think ing of getting that bike or something like that down the road. its so compfy.

 

no joke. oh well it was a fun deviation, but like i said in my 1st post i am a form follows function kinda guy, and that means that most cruiser bikes are simply...deformed.