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Categories: all aviation bicycle gadgets misc motorcycle theater Mon, 21 Nov 2005
I drove the Le Mans into work for the first time in a while today. It's odd to think that I used to ride the Le Mans every day. Now, it feels like a very strange machine to me. The flywheel is huge (nice, smooth shifts). First gear is geared very low, so it feels very much like I could just let the clutch out at idle, and suddenly be rolling forward with no further effort. The engine feels very vibey, and clatters somewhat alarmingly compared to the Z (although it's just doing what it was designed to do). The seat is surprisingly low, and the pegs place my legs at a surprisingly relaxed angle -- I think with the Z, I just gave up on trying to get my knees unbent, and started adopting the sportbike aesthetic. In all, the Le Mans feels quite loose comapred to the Z. The Z feels very tightly wound, which I realized today is quite tiring. With the Le Mans, I had all sorts of "bad" habits I didn't realize I had. The Z showed me each and every one and rubbed my nose in the spot just to drive the point home. My shifting had to become a lot more precise; starting from a stop required much more balance between throttle and clutch; throttle input was much more immediate, and therefore intolerant of sloppiness (although the Le Mans is far more demanding in on/off transitions of throttle, since it has so much drivetrain lash). The Le Mans also felt a bit wobbly in corners, which I don't recall from riding it before. On that one, I suspect my riding habits are different with the Z (and the Ninja 250 before it), and the same cornering habits on the Le Mans produce results I'm not expecting. It's very interesting to me that a machine which was once so familiar can become so foreign, so quickly. I don't feel so bad any more about having the Le Mans up for sale. It's really not the right bike for me, although I don't think the Z is either. With the Z, I'm spending a lot of time and effort just mediating my inputs to keep the bike happy. Every shift is a "clench" moment, in that I tense up so I can get the timing just right. That's no good, when you think about 6 gears, and lots of city riding. I had really hoped that in 1600 miles I would have gotten the hang of it. Shifting is better now, but it's still far from acceptable, and I'm starting to get discouraged. I still don't think I'm going to do anything about it right now, but the thought has crossed my mind more than once that I could be happier with a Ninja 250. Heck, I could replace it with a new model every 20k miles and still be ahead of the game for many many years, compared to the money I've spent on the Le Mans and the Z. I guess it's back to the ol' search engine to read up on the SV650, Monster 620ie (two very similar bikes, in many ways), DRZ400SM, and CB-1. But for all that, I can't help wondering if the Ninja 250 isn't really the best choice. Posted at 23:53 permanent link category: /motorcycle Categories: all aviation gadgets misc motorcycle theater Written by Ian Johnston. Software is Blosxom. Questions? Please mail me at reaper at obairlann dot net. |