Two-wheeled adventures.
It's fair to say, that I have been very lucky with my motorbikes.
My first bike was a CBR250R. Bought in early October, 2015, and passed the test on 16th December that year. There's not much to say about any 250's, except it was loud, slow, and pretty darn fuel efficient. For a learner, however, it was fantastic. Looking back on the exhaust now, it's embarrassingly obnoxious - not a nice sound at all - but it was mine, and I loved it.
My first 'big' bike was a Kawasaki Z1000, 2007 model (ZR1000B). It sounded great - big inline four-cylinder engine, with some very expensive exhausts and a whole bunch of other aesthetic and performance enhancing goodies to boot. All for a decent price. I bought it before I'd even passed my RE test, in late November 2015.
It was loud, but not raucous by any means. At idle, you could describe it as a refined purr, rapidly devolving into a grand prix-esque howl as it screamed past in the higher registers.
Generally speaking, it rode very well. Easy to turn, never kicking up too hard, but always had power there when you wanted it. The only issues I ever had were clutch related slipping under high load, but unfortunately I never got to work that one out. I also had no idea exactly how expensive these exhausts were until much later, when I 'sold' my bike to the insurance agency around April 2017 (i.e. wrote it off).
I'd just bought a new set of tyres for it too.
Luckily, my passenger and I were ok - nothing broken or seriously injured, and I can't stress enough how important decent safety gear is. Those guys you see riding without any protective gear? They're in for a whole new world of pain when they come off.
This incident led me to look for a new motorbike. I'd have really liked a Yamaha MT-10, the new naked-style 1000cc offering, but, as they were only released in 2016, they are all quite expensive.
Gazing through the bikesales ads, I noticed a 2012 Ducati Streetfighter 848. Bright, 'Ducati' red with red trellis frame. Aggressively styled, and a generally great looking bike - it looked like it meant business.
One thing led to another, and come end of May, I had the Ducati.
The 'L' shaped v-twin through the dual akrapovic exhausts sounded great. Whereas the z1000 was a smooth, purring powerhouse, this bike was grumbly and certainly turned more heads down the street - that iconic, 'rattly v-twin' sound was unmistakable. This marked my first experience with a quickshifter system, a not-unpleasant experience by any sense of the word. I also forked out a fairly large amount of money to have it professionally tuned, putting the peak power output up to 122 hp, and smoothing a few of the power delivery issues out, which people seem to complain so much about. I put a new front tyre on as well - it was truly overdue for it.
Among other things, I bought a new 'Ducati Comfort seat', and a passenger cowling cover. There's a guy in the eastern states who has the same model SF848, and I replicated most of what he'd done on his bike, or at least I intended to (Link; https://mattdownunder.com/ducati-streetfighter-848). I had to buy new levers when the old OEM ones cracked, and I bought a new radiator guard too. Installing that was an interesting experience, to say the least.
Despite the new bike, I couldn't decide if I'd grown to dislike riding, whether the crash had shaken me more than I cared to admit, or perhaps whether I just hadn't ridden it for long enough yet. I liked the Ducati, undoubtedly, but I don't think I loved it. Life, however, has a funny way of working sometimes, and after an off-hand comment on an advertised z1000 in an online forum I frequent, I ended up trading the Ducati (plus a bit of money) for a virtually brand-new 2015 Yamaha R1.
I think I had the Ducati for all of 6 weeks.
Although it might look small in that picture, I'm yet to come across a bike built for someone my size, and I'll be damned if I let that stop me. This bike is easily as exciting as the Z1000 was when I first rode it. The power available makes everything seem effortless, and the electronics package present is amongst the most comprehensive of any bikes currently on the road.
But, the sound. The muffler on this is virtually straight-through to new titanium headers. It's *raw*, and I love it. To quote, "I thought it was a V8 coming down the road". The cross-plane crankshaft is largely responsible for the 'raw' sound, rather than the 'purr' of the z1000, as the exhaust gases tend to bunch up and congest slightly, rather than flow smoothly out (i.e. in-plane crank). I'll let you google that if you want to know though!
So far, I've only had the bike under-a-week, but am pretty darn impressed.
The video below might give you a slight idea to the sound! (Apologies for the orientation)
My first bike was a CBR250R. Bought in early October, 2015, and passed the test on 16th December that year. There's not much to say about any 250's, except it was loud, slow, and pretty darn fuel efficient. For a learner, however, it was fantastic. Looking back on the exhaust now, it's embarrassingly obnoxious - not a nice sound at all - but it was mine, and I loved it.
My first 'big' bike was a Kawasaki Z1000, 2007 model (ZR1000B). It sounded great - big inline four-cylinder engine, with some very expensive exhausts and a whole bunch of other aesthetic and performance enhancing goodies to boot. All for a decent price. I bought it before I'd even passed my RE test, in late November 2015.
Generally speaking, it rode very well. Easy to turn, never kicking up too hard, but always had power there when you wanted it. The only issues I ever had were clutch related slipping under high load, but unfortunately I never got to work that one out. I also had no idea exactly how expensive these exhausts were until much later, when I 'sold' my bike to the insurance agency around April 2017 (i.e. wrote it off).
I'd just bought a new set of tyres for it too.
Luckily, my passenger and I were ok - nothing broken or seriously injured, and I can't stress enough how important decent safety gear is. Those guys you see riding without any protective gear? They're in for a whole new world of pain when they come off.
This incident led me to look for a new motorbike. I'd have really liked a Yamaha MT-10, the new naked-style 1000cc offering, but, as they were only released in 2016, they are all quite expensive.
Gazing through the bikesales ads, I noticed a 2012 Ducati Streetfighter 848. Bright, 'Ducati' red with red trellis frame. Aggressively styled, and a generally great looking bike - it looked like it meant business.
One thing led to another, and come end of May, I had the Ducati.
The 'L' shaped v-twin through the dual akrapovic exhausts sounded great. Whereas the z1000 was a smooth, purring powerhouse, this bike was grumbly and certainly turned more heads down the street - that iconic, 'rattly v-twin' sound was unmistakable. This marked my first experience with a quickshifter system, a not-unpleasant experience by any sense of the word. I also forked out a fairly large amount of money to have it professionally tuned, putting the peak power output up to 122 hp, and smoothing a few of the power delivery issues out, which people seem to complain so much about. I put a new front tyre on as well - it was truly overdue for it.
Among other things, I bought a new 'Ducati Comfort seat', and a passenger cowling cover. There's a guy in the eastern states who has the same model SF848, and I replicated most of what he'd done on his bike, or at least I intended to (Link; https://mattdownunder.com/ducati-streetfighter-848). I had to buy new levers when the old OEM ones cracked, and I bought a new radiator guard too. Installing that was an interesting experience, to say the least.
Despite the new bike, I couldn't decide if I'd grown to dislike riding, whether the crash had shaken me more than I cared to admit, or perhaps whether I just hadn't ridden it for long enough yet. I liked the Ducati, undoubtedly, but I don't think I loved it. Life, however, has a funny way of working sometimes, and after an off-hand comment on an advertised z1000 in an online forum I frequent, I ended up trading the Ducati (plus a bit of money) for a virtually brand-new 2015 Yamaha R1.
I think I had the Ducati for all of 6 weeks.
But, the sound. The muffler on this is virtually straight-through to new titanium headers. It's *raw*, and I love it. To quote, "I thought it was a V8 coming down the road". The cross-plane crankshaft is largely responsible for the 'raw' sound, rather than the 'purr' of the z1000, as the exhaust gases tend to bunch up and congest slightly, rather than flow smoothly out (i.e. in-plane crank). I'll let you google that if you want to know though!
So far, I've only had the bike under-a-week, but am pretty darn impressed.
The video below might give you a slight idea to the sound! (Apologies for the orientation)
Comments
Post a Comment