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Guess which bike 2.0: Redemption


NinjaDoc

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Congrats Doc. I hear tale of Stroms being awesome do-all machinery. Cant blame you in moving on from the big Ninja. Hypersports can be daunting, and ever taunting you to roll right past 150 with ease, and still have a couple gears left. End of 4th gear is about 165 on mine. Stupid fast for a street bike. And they're really not much faster than a 1000cc i4 until you break 120, then they just walk away from most anything else. Just becoming overkill for what I do, so

I plan to sell mine in 3-4 months and move onto something that doesn't fight my sensabilities so much.

Looking forward to your opinion jumping from big sport to a medium weight adventure bike.

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Thx guys,

Loving the bike so far, very easy and friendly to ride. Just have to get used to the body positioning and raised 19 inch front wheels. Main issue I deal with is wind buffeting, not just my head but as if whole bike is being blown around constantly during highway ride of anything in the 70 plus speed. It's hard to explain, just feel like the bike is floating on ice and is gliding left and right at times

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Thx guys,

Loving the bike so far, very easy and friendly to ride. Just have to get used to the body positioning and raised 19 inch front wheels. Main issue I deal with is wind buffeting, not just my head but as if whole bike is being blown around constantly during highway ride of anything in the 70 plus speed. It's hard to explain, just feel like the bike is floating on ice and is gliding left and right at times

Just some input from riding a naked SV650 a shit load the past 3 years, you'll get used to the wind and riding position pretty quick. When I first started riding and getting to highway speeds it felt like the bike was buffeting and wobbling, because it probably was, due to not being conditioned to it. But that goes away and you'll unconsciously remedy that. I can ride 80 on the highway one handed sitting back now with so many miles on the bike and feel perfectly comfortable and safe. The wind from naked bike doesn't even bother me anymore. So just saying you're bound to fall in love with that bike once you've broke each other in.

Also. Congrats, that new Strom looks badass, and bullet proof motor as many already know.

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Main issue I deal with is wind buffeting, not just my head but as if whole bike is being blown around constantly during highway ride of anything in the 70 plus speed. It's hard to explain, just feel like the bike is floating on ice and is gliding left and right at times

 

Doc:  Lots of info on both the buffeting issue and the instability at speed.  Not just a problem with the new Stroms--been talked about since they first came out.  For the buffeting, you'll need to play with the angle and height of the windscreen.  I added a Madstadt bracket to the screen for adjustability and a laminar lip to push air over my helmet.  Pretty much cures the helmet buffeting but the low frequency noise from turbulence is still noticeable.  As for the instability, there are a couple of plays:  1) raise the forks in the triple clamps 10-15 mm to lower the front; 2) add a steering stabilizer; 3) try lower the tire pressures just a bit.  There's a couple of stories on the StromTrooper forum about the bike going into a tank slapper at 100+ MPH.  I've upgraded my front fork with RT springs and Gold Valves, added a HD rear shock and replaced the caged ball-type steering stem bearings with tapered roller bearings, and the Wee still doesn't like anything over 90-95 MPH.  When I add soft luggage for touring, it exacerbates the wobble.  Nature of the beast....

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Well done Nivin.  The Ninja was way too much bike for you and you were honestly scared of it.  That's no way to ride.   Perfect new bike for you and I hope to see you in your comfort zone again.   

 

Look forward to riding with you in the near future. 

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Doc:  Lots of info on both the buffeting issue and the instability at speed.  Not just a problem with the new Stroms--been talked about since they first came out.  For the buffeting, you'll need to play with the angle and height of the windscreen.  I added a Madstadt bracket to the screen for adjustability and a laminar lip to push air over my helmet.  Pretty much cures the helmet buffeting but the low frequency noise from turbulence is still noticeable.  As for the instability, there are a couple of plays:  1) raise the forks in the triple clamps 10-15 mm to lower the front; 2) add a steering stabilizer; 3) try lower the tire pressures just a bit.  There's a couple of stories on the StromTrooper forum about the bike going into a tank slapper at 100+ MPH.  I've upgraded my front fork with RT springs and Gold Valves, added a HD rear shock and replaced the caged ball-type steering stem bearings with tapered roller bearings, and the Wee still doesn't like anything over 90-95 MPH.  When I add soft luggage for touring, it exacerbates the wobble.  Nature of the beast....

 

yea been reading about them all over the forums. It was a tough call to go with the storm, mainly because of better two up comfort. Or else i would have pulled the plug on versys. For some reason i like that goofy cyclops look of versys

 

For now, planning to go through all the remedies one at a time starting from the cheapest to the higher price :D

 

Brian, i might take u up on that. Cant do heavy duty stuff yet as i am not familiar with it. But eventually want to try some light duty offroads

 

Josh u would have loved the storm for its tall seating. I am barely flat footing.

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I don't think I could get rid of it. But sometimes I think to myself, what's this sport touring thing all about lol.

Sent from my iPhone.

Buy a ST, and your Daytona will sit and never get ridden, then you will have no problems parting with it .
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You want another Daytona in your garage for the fz1?  :shots:

 

interesting idea.  i will consult my resident 675 expert when he gets back from being married like a dumbass....  i mean, happily married and better for it!

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I've never ridden a vstrom, but I imagine some of the things that work for my Multi apply.  

 

First was to increase the preload on the front forks.  It really improved the stability at highway speeds.

 

Second is to drop your elbows out of the wind.  The wide/high bars have a lot more leverage to move the front end when your body gets hit with cross winds. As Claine650 said, the bike will be more stable with only one hand on the bars and leaning back comfortably because you won't have the extra input on the bars.

 

Just my $0.02, hope it helps

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In the interest of totally highjacking this thread....

 

This is directed to Doc as well as anyone else who has done some comparison shopping, and hopefully even demo rides, on the 2015 Kawasaki Versys LT.  I've been loving my '09 Vstrom for the last 30,000 miles or so, but would love to have just a Wee bit (there's a pun there somewhere...) more HP and less weight.  Could always go the route of swapping the Strom cams for the SV cams and doing a remap, but I'm not convinced the HP gain would justify the cost.  So, does anyone own--or has anyone ridden--the new Versys LT?

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Second is to drop your elbows out of the wind.  The wide/high bars have a lot more leverage to move the front end when your body gets hit with cross winds. As Claine650 said, the bike will be more stable with only one hand on the bars and leaning back comfortably because you won't have the extra input on the bars.

 

Just my $0.02, hope it helps

Lower elbows also gives you better force angle on the steering axis.

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Good choice on the Strom...great bikes, love mine. You'll make friends with it's aero quirks...it's a recipe of things, really, but mostly it's between your ears...doesn't even phase me anymore.

 

It's a bike that will do most anything you ask of it, so have some fun finding its limits...gravel, light trails, touring, it's good at everything.

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In the interest of totally highjacking this thread....

 

This is directed to Doc as well as anyone else who has done some comparison shopping, and hopefully even demo rides, on the 2015 Kawasaki Versys LT.  I've been loving my '09 Vstrom for the last 30,000 miles or so, but would love to have just a Wee bit (there's a pun there somewhere...) more HP and less weight.  Could always go the route of swapping the Strom cams for the SV cams and doing a remap, but I'm not convinced the HP gain would justify the cost.  So, does anyone own--or has anyone ridden--the new Versys LT?

 

Probably a Tiger 800 XC or FJ-09 might fit the bill for you, however the 2012 and up 650 runs pretty darn good in comparison to the first gen 650 Strom. ;)

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Probably a Tiger 800 XC or FJ-09 might fit the bill for you, however the 2012 and up 650 runs pretty darn good in comparison to the first gen 650 Strom. ;)

If price is no object, there's no reason to get a V-Strom. The Tiger 800, FJ, several BMW models, Tenere and others all excel in paper and in the field if you're really wringing ADV bikes out to the max.

However, if you'd rather save the $4-10k difference for accessories, fuel, camping equipment and the like, and still get a bike that does everything pretty damned well for less up front and lower ongoing costs, it's hard to do better than the value of a DL650.

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