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Looking at first motorcycle update sep 22 bought one!

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JCH13 said:
Well, most people are worried about tires cracking/drying out, which makes sense because they're the rubber component exposed to the most sun (generally). I think that anything that will protect the rubber from UV, ozone, and oils would work just fine. Armorall is a silicone rubber/plastic dressing, and I imagine so are things like tire black, et al. I bet any of them would help.

The fuel argument is that 93 octane has less crap in it than 87, which has a larger amount of crap that will break down faster or evaporate faster as compared to 93. 93 will also have more detergent additives, which will probably help keep your fuel system a little cleaner. Is there a big difference? Enh, debatable. Is the cost difference enough to really care? Definitely not. For $1-2 more it's worth the peace of mind IMO.
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D: No, definitely don't put anything on your tires!
 
JulesMaximus said:
I wouldn't put anything on your seat. It will probably just make it slippery which you don't want.
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Even for just storing it? I guess they're probably used to being abused by heat/sun/elements...I just don't want it to crack on me.

I was thinking of running 93 octane in it all the time, since my car does, I don't really care about the price difference. but would I get better MPG at all? Or is that insignificant to really tell.

EDIT : From what I read, never put anything on your tires.
 
ViviTheMage said:
any recommendations on rubber protectant? I might skip the stand this winter and just put it on the kickstand..it'll go in my GF's parents garage (5 stall so space is no concern) 30 miles away, so it will be safe...only one window. I will be covering it up with my Dowco cover anyhow.

I will leave the tank full, put in stabilizer, run it for the entire 30 mile drive down, top it off, and store her after applying some of the protectant and vinyl cleaner I use on my car.
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Leaving it like that is terrible for the tires. I have personally put a bike on the kickstand, left it for ~6 months, and it 'squared' the tire where it had a slight hop going down the road. You're on OE tires anyway, so this is ok just change the tires next season.

FYI... You will need a rear stand to lube the chain. You have to spin the rear tire 2-3 times to coat it and wipe it down. Don't be "that guy" rolling his bike in a circle on the driveway to save $90 on a decent rear stand :thumbsup::thumbsup:

Also, the best tire deals are online. How do you get both the bike and tires to the shop? It's so much easier having front/rear stands, take the wheels off yourself, take wheels to shop, pay discounted rate since wheels are off the bike......
 
Any one recommend a stabilizer that we could all use or does it have to be specific to the bike? Yeh and fill the fuel tank up with premium and stabilizer so you don't leave it empty or near empty.

If you want you can change the oil now before you store it or just change it in the spring when you ride. I am thinking of changing mine this weekend but I dunno how long before I will not be riding it anymore.
 
SpatiallyAware said:
Leaving it like that is terrible for the tires. I have personally put a bike on the kickstand, left it for ~6 months, and it 'squared' the tire where it had a slight hop going down the road. You're on OE tires anyway, so this is ok just change the tires next season.

FYI... You will need a rear stand to lube the chain. You have to spin the rear tire 2-3 times to coat it and wipe it down. Don't be "that guy" rolling his bike in a circle on the driveway to save $90 on a decent rear stand :thumbsup::thumbsup:

Also, the best tire deals are online. How do you get both the bike and tires to the shop? It's so much easier having front/rear stands, take the wheels off yourself, take wheels to shop, pay discounted rate since wheels are off the bike......
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You're just spending my money aren't ya 😀

This is hard to do though, since I park in the street ... guess it wouldn't be too weird if it were like that for a few hours while I got the new ones mounted/balanced.

These work ?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/T-Rex-FREES...105&pid=100015&prg=1006&rk=1&sd=300748896699&
 
ViviTheMage said:
Even for just storing it? I guess they're probably used to being abused by heat/sun/elements...I just don't want it to crack on me.

I was thinking of running 93 octane in it all the time, since my car does, I don't really care about the price difference. but would I get better MPG at all? Or is that insignificant to really tell.

EDIT : From what I read, never put anything on your tires.
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Yeah, nothing on the tires - period. Not even the sidewalls.

You used to see cracked seats all the time.. Nowadays it's only on really really old bikes that were left outside in the heat/elements. You might do it just for storage, the slickness will be gone after a few months of sitting anyway.

93/87 is a tough argument. I used to track my mpg in great detail and didn't notice a definite difference. However, some bikes did seem to run differently... Oddly enough the older bikes seemed to run better on 87.

If that SV were mine I'd run premium only.
 
jaha2000 said:
I still feel that ABS on a bike is for people who lack bike control skills. If you came from riding dirtbikes, you would hate it. I am a firm believer that everybody that wants to buy a street bike should spend at least a year or two in the trails learning how to handle poor traction conditions. Do i want some computer controlling my brake inputs when i hit some gravel on the road? No thanks, i have plenty of knowledge on how to handle that myself.
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Completely untrue. I never had any trouble handling non-ABS bikes and never owned an ABS bike until my current bike but I do believe that it is extremely beneficial for street ridden bikes to have ABS.

When the CHP went to BMW motorcycles in the late 90s they had no officer fatalities the first year on those bikes and they were ABS equipped. Are you going to tell me that CHP officers don't know how to ride? Those guys put 30,000+ miles on a bike a year.
 
ViviTheMage said:
You're just spending my money aren't ya 😀

This is hard to do though, since I park in the street ... guess it wouldn't be too weird if it were like that for a few hours while I got the new ones mounted/balanced.

These work ?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/T-Rex-FREESPOOLS35YRWRNTY-Double-Swingarms-Yamaha-Suzuki-MORE-Motorcycle-Stands-/300748896699?_trksid=p5197.m1992&_trkparms=aid%3D111000%26algo%3DREC.CURRENT%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D14%26meid%3D2298348908420200105%26pid%3D100015%26prg%3D1006%26rk%3D1%26sd%3D300748896699%26
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The rear one is fine, but I've found the axle-lift front stands useless. You can't (easily) remove the wheel with that front stand, you need the one that lifts up under the triple.

FYI.. you will get about two rear tires for every one front tire. IMO you could get by with just a rear stand for now.

Edit:

This is the front stand you want:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/T-Rex-35YRW...Parts_Accessories&hash=item35be98b092&vxp=mtr

And I would not leave the bike on the streets on a stand...

You might also want to look into the 2-way alarms that have a pager that sirens if the alarm is tripped...
 
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JulesMaximus said:
Completely untrue. I never had any trouble handling non-ABS bikes and never owned an ABS bike until my current bike but I do believe that it is extremely beneficial for street ridden bikes to have ABS.

When the CHP went to BMW motorcycles in the late 90s they had no officer fatalities the first year on those bikes and they were ABS equipped. Are you going to tell me that CHP officers don't know how to ride? Those guys put 30,000+ miles on a bike a year.
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While i appreciate the technology, i still feel it as an aid for people who dont know what they are doing. Same for traction control, stability control and all the other gizmos that dont let you do doughnuts in the snow here in Michigan. People dont have to learn how to handle the car anymore, its simply a matter of drive fast, not pay attention to road conditions, text, and let the computer worry about how to handle the road. Does that make them a safer driver? I for one think not.

Does it safe lives? For sure. Does it prevent accidents? Without a doubt yes.

I guess i should not pass judgment on the motorcycle ABS has i have never ridden a bike with it. I am just not a fan of fancy electronics. You can feel so much with your feet and hands on a bike that it seems like it would be difficult to even make the ABS work.
 
jaha2000 said:
While i appreciate the technology, i still feel it as an aid for people who dont know what they are doing. Same for traction control, stability control and all the other gizmos that dont let you do doughnuts in the snow here in Michigan. People dont have to learn how to handle the car anymore, its simply a matter of drive fast, not pay attention to road conditions, text, and let the computer worry about how to handle the road. Does that make them a safer driver? I for one think not.

Does it safe lives? For sure. Does it prevent accidents? Without a doubt yes.

I guess i should not pass judgment on the motorcycle ABS has i have never ridden a bike with it. I am just not a fan of fancy electronics. You can feel so much with your feet and hands on a bike that it seems like it would be difficult to even make the ABS work.
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Holy crap dude.. Unless you have tried it you really shouldn't tell people to pass on it.

I'm as codgy as they come, I hate all nanny electronics in cars/bikes. ABS on a bike is seriously a totally different ballgame. I wouldn't necessarily avoid anything without ABS, but if I had to choose I would definitely get it.
 
SpatiallyAware said:
Holy crap dude.. Unless you have tried it you really shouldn't tell people to pass on it.

I'm as codgy as they come, I hate all nanny electronics in cars/bikes. ABS on a bike is seriously a totally different ballgame. I wouldn't necessarily avoid anything without ABS, but if I had to choose I would definitely get it.
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Not discouraging at all..

Keep in mind i ride a supermoto on the street. I got rid of all my sportbikes cause i missed 1 cylinder, vibrations and a carb to work on. Something about having a toy that i dont have to work on bothered me as crazy as that sounds 🙂 Plus i was going to end up in jail.
 
JulesMaximus said:
D: No, definitely don't put anything on your tires!
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I'm sorry I wasn't clear, I meant that people put rubber protectant on their CAR tires, and even then never on the tread. That might work well to protect other rubber too, but should never go on tire tread. I will defer to your expertise in regards to motorcycle tires.
 
jaha2000 said:
While i appreciate the technology, i still feel it as an aid for people who dont know what they are doing. Same for traction control, stability control and all the other gizmos that dont let you do doughnuts in the snow here in Michigan. People dont have to learn how to handle the car anymore, its simply a matter of drive fast, not pay attention to road conditions, text, and let the computer worry about how to handle the road. Does that make them a safer driver? I for one think not.

Does it safe lives? For sure. Does it prevent accidents? Without a doubt yes.

I guess i should not pass judgment on the motorcycle ABS has i have never ridden a bike with it. I am just not a fan of fancy electronics. You can feel so much with your feet and hands on a bike that it seems like it would be difficult to even make the ABS work.
Click to expand...

And that is no different on a bike with ABS. I agree with you on traction control for the most part. The TC on my bike is very primative and too instrusive so I have it turned off completely. ABS on the other hand is not intrusive and the brakes have the same feel as a bike without ABS right up to the point of locking at which point the system prevents that. There just isn't any downside to having it.

I can turn it off on my bike but I see no logical reason to do so. I've never turned it off and I have over 9,000 miles on this bike now.

By the way, ABS was not an option on my bike. It is standard equipment. I didn't get it because I don't know how to ride. 🙄 Not all Ducati motorcycles come with ABS, I think only the Multistrada, the Diavel and the Monster 1100 EVO come with it as standard equipment.

Another note-This model year BMW is the first motorcycle manufacturer to include ABS as standard equipment on all of their street bikes. I think a lot of manufacturers will follow BMW and I wouldn't be surprised if it becomes mandatory in the future. The numbers seem to point to about 20-30% fewer crashes per number of registered bikes on ABS equipped models.
 
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SpatiallyAware said:
The rear one is fine, but I've found the axle-lift front stands useless. You can't (easily) remove the wheel with that front stand, you need the one that lifts up under the triple.

FYI.. you will get about two rear tires for every one front tire. IMO you could get by with just a rear stand for now.

Edit:

This is the front stand you want:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/T-Rex-35YRW...Parts_Accessories&hash=item35be98b092&vxp=mtr

And I would not leave the bike on the streets on a stand...

You might also want to look into the 2-way alarms that have a pager that sirens if the alarm is tripped...
Click to expand...

If I am removing the tire easily,what kind of stand is that exactly?

I wonder, you think I could get these local? or would I be ok getting these shipped?
 
ViviTheMage said:
If I am removing the tire easily,what kind of stand is that exactly?

I wonder, you think I could get these local? or would I be ok getting these shipped?
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Everyone around me wants like $150++ for pitbull stands. No one carries t-rex or other knockoff brands, so I would probably have it shipped.

There are two types of front stands - the type in your link lifts the bike from underneath the fork legs. On most bikes you can finagle out the pinch bolts and get the axle out, but then you have two spindly fork legs (no longer connected at the bottom via the axle) precariously on top of a fork stand. I've seen people remove wheels this way and it's flat out dangerous, in my opinion.

The other type of front stand lifts the bike from underneath the nose/fairing stay. Sort of hard to explain, but it basically lifts underneath the front of the frame itself.. Which is much more stable when dealing with removing wheels, and makes it possible to remove fork legs to change the fork oil or whatever. If you're gonna spend the money for a stand, definitely get the type that lifts from the frame vs the fork legs.
 
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pauldun170 said:
No but I have owned 2 bikes related to the Connie, GPz-900r and a ZX-11.

What year Connie is it?
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2004

2004.jpg


rack5.jpg


Put a top case on it last weekend.
 
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