Categories: all aviation Building a Biplane bicycle gadgets misc motorcycle theater
The Z is a stately luxocruiser
Due to the possibility of showing it to a potential buyer, I rode the Z750s into work today. I wasn't sure what the experience would be like, having ridden the Ninja 250 for the last few days.
In fact, I was not-entirely-surprised to find that the Z reminded me a lot of something I noticed ages ago on the K75: it feels glassy-smooth and heavy. I equated the K75 at the time with a luxury vehicle of some description, and the F650 I'd been given as a loaner as being a kind of rickety contraption-feeling bike.
I get the same sort of comparative feeling about the Z750s and the Ninja 250 now. I knew I would, but it was still a bit surprising to actually have it come true. The Z feels really heavy, and big, and powerful; the Ninja feels small and toy-like, and not particularly smooth. What's interesting about that is that I really prefer the Ninja, although by reading the preceding sentence you might conclude the opposite.
The Z felt like the perfect bike to load up and go touring on, but far too heavy and twitchy-powerful to be riding to work. I guess it's a good thing I've got it for sale, and may even sell it today (but I figure there's maybe a 5% chance of that).
In the good news department, I filled the tank for the first time last night, and the Ninja turned in 46 MPG. Not bad, considering that I was spending a lot of time cranking the throttle wide open for break-in, which I don't normally do.
Posted at 11:16 permanent link category: /motorcycle
I placed my order today, for a shiny new Hagon shock. Bright red spring and all.
The Hagon guy called me up yesterday and relayed that a stock shock (costing a mere $375, in the face of $500 for the equivalent Works or $800+ for an equivalent Penske) should work fine for me. Good news for me, since it means I don't need to spend the extra sixty bucks for a new spring and a revalve to match the new spring.
Of course, it's also exciting because it means I get to introduce a new alternative to the Ninja 250 board. This is a very rare circumstance, since the Ninja 250 aftermarket is basically completely stagnant. And, of course, I'm not actually telling anyone they couldn't have found out for themselves with a bit of looking, but there's a bit of a hidebound quality to the Ninja 250 folks. It's like a bunch of scientists from 1902 sitting around talking about the nature of the universe when suddenly Einstein bursts in with some crazytalk about relativity and quantum universes. They're not (ultimately) going to dismiss it out of hand, but they never would have even thought to look under that particular rock for an answer, assuming they could have even found the rock.
So I'm very excited to see what will show up at my door in a few weeks ("3-4 weeks usually; I mean, 85% of the time we'll get an order in within 2 weeks, but at this time of year, I wouldn't be surprised to see them take the whole month," said the distributor). It should be quite an upgrade to the current situation.
On that same topic, the front end needs some help, too. Fortunately, this is easier to do, and cheaper. Some new springs and a cartridge emulator should have me sorted there, and for under $300.
It's funny, as I mention all these prices they sound like an awful lot of money, particularly for a $3000 motorcycle, but these bits represent about 75% of the outlay I'm expecting to do on this bike. Suspension bits have never been cheap, but I'm getting away with spending very little for a huge improvement.
It helps that the bike only really needs three things to make it right for me: slight improvement in brakes (already installed: stainless steel braided brake lines), better tires, and upgraded suspension. Since the tires it has right now are actually fine until it rains (then they apparently get much less acceptable), I've got a few months until I really have to worry about tires. Even so, new tires are under $200 shipped to my door, so they don't come close to suspension upgrades. They have to be replaced much more often, but you can typically live with replacing one tire at a time, which brings it under $100 a whack. I can live with that.
So, in a month's time (or so), I should have the bike suspended properly. It won't feel so toy-like, rocking back and forth as I apply throttle or brakes, or sit down on it.
Posted at 09:57 permanent link category: /motorcycle
Categories: all aviation Building a Biplane bicycle gadgets misc motorcycle theater