"Pickup_man" (zekeh)
08/26/2019 at 10:47 • Filed to: None
6
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"Pickup_man" (zekeh)
08/26/2019 at 10:47 • Filed to: None | 6
| 22 |
Didn’t really take any pictures but I rode five different bikes, The Africa Twin, W800, Goldwing, Venture, and Bolt. Here’s a quick summary of each, in the order that I rode them.
Honda Africa Twin
Easily my favorite bike of the day, plenty of power, cruises at speed very nicely, easy to handle, confident handling, easy to stand up on and control, very easy to imagine taking this on some fire roads/light trails with plenty of confidence. Only complaint was the seat, it was angled to push you forward on the bike and is super grippy, because of that it felt like I had been sitting, and sliding on sandpaper. Great for when you’re pushing the bike offroad, not great for general riding.
Kawasaki W800
Great looking little cafe bike, actually thought it was a Triumph when I pulled into the lot. For the most part I really liked this bike, it was fun to ride, handled decently well, and was surprisingly competent on the highway. It had several downsides though. 30 seconds on it was all it took to remind me why I’m over the cafe racer phase in my life, the suspension is fine, until it isn’t and it wrecks your back, the lack of power and torque for an 800 cc (773 actually) twin is unacceptable. My friend was on a 650cc Vulcan S and walked away from me at every opportunity. At a ny speed, any RPM, this thing was just downright slow. The worst thing though was the tramlining, on the highway it was actually unnerving to the point I had to slow down. My buddy expressed the same feelings. I’ve never ride a bike before, or since that was so bad.
2019 Goldwing
The Goldwing deserves every bit of praise that it gets. Incredibly smooth, phenomenal handling for such a large bike, easy to use controls, surprisingly sporty, comfortable, etc. Yet, it didn’t quite live up to expectations. At 6' I felt a little cramped on the bike, my seating position, while still comfortable, was very upright, and I felt very locked into that one single position with no room to move, especially my feet. The pegs really lock your feet into one spot, move your feet back and you’re in a slight rear set position with your toes supporting all your weight, and trying to move your feet forward results in boots meeting engine. It’s not enough to turn me off of the bike because it was still comfortable, but I’ve ridden more comfortable bikes.
Also, sport mode makes a massive difference in throttle response and turned the bike from good but boring, to comfortable and super fun.
Yamaha Star Venture
Let’s get one thing out of the way, this bike is hefty and not shy about it’s weight. Coming off the Goldwing the weight difference was remarkable. Slow speed maneuvering took a lot of focus, and if I had to do more than just a couple of turns in a parking lot it would be exhausting. Once moving though and on the road the weight hides fairly well, and actually benefits high speed stability. It was a fairly windy day, even the ‘Wing was helpless against the big gusts, but you’d never notice on the Venture . The V-Twin puts out gobs of torque as one would expect, perfect for cruising and no downshifts acceleration, but it needs to either rev higher, or have taller gearing. I’ve ridden several variations of this Yamaha twin, and it’s the same base engine in my Warrior. These come on hard at 2500 rpm, and pull like a freight train up till about 4300, at 4500 power noticeably starts to taper, and by 5k it’s time to shift. The Venture has the same bottom end characteristics, but hits the limiter around 4700 rpm. So when you’re accelerating, it pulls, pulls, pulls, and juuuussstt as power starts to taper, BAM! You hit the limiter. It’s infuriating. I found myself constantly watching the tach and short shifting just to try and avoid this. Comfort was phenomenal with lots of room to move and stretch. Despite the weight disadvantage, I’d still take this over the Goldwing if I was looking for a bike to eat up a ton of miles in comfort.
Yamaha Bolt
I came away with one conclusion on this bike. Just buy the Sportster. The Sportster defines this style of bike, and as much as a person wants to deny it I guarantee that it was a Sport
ster that got them interested in the Bolt in the first place. “
But the Sport
ster is a Harley”
they cry, “They’re ancient and horrible and heavy and don’t stop”, “Their riders are terrible people and I don’t want to be associated with that”.
I’ll be honest
, the Bolt did have a bit more power and was a bit smoother, but I didn’t find anything else about it that the Sport
ster doesn’t do the same (that is terribly), or better. The seat is small, the airbox is huge and clunky
, there is zero lean angle, the suspension has no travel and will shatter your spine at the mere mention of a bump. I had fun on the Bolt in a bomb around town and act like a hooligan kind of way, but the only lasting impression it gave me was that I really miss my Sportster. Just buy a Sportster, put on a set of non obnoxious
pipes, and don’t dress in ass-
less fringe chaps with a black and blaze orange do-rag and no one will give you a second glance.
Decay buys too many beaters
> Pickup_man
08/26/2019 at 11:06 |
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I need to get back out there and do some demos, haven’t ridden any of these.
themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles
> Pickup_man
08/26/2019 at 11:16 |
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Bummer that the W800 was a bust. I liked its looks but the Z900 RS shares floor space with it and seems infinitely more capable and better to own.
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Pickup_man
> Decay buys too many beaters
08/26/2019 at 11:17 |
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I was surprised at the range of bikes they had out. I only saw this promoted on their Indian Motorcycle social media page and showed up only expecting to have Indians available. I was really excited to see all the bikes they had because I’ve always been curious about the Africa T win, and I’m seriously considering an Eluder (Venture without the trunk basically) as the next big bike purchase.
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Decay buys too many beaters
> Pickup_man
08/26/2019 at 11:21 |
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Dealers around me (besides Yamaha) don’t seem to demo Japanese brands. A shame, I’d love to try a g oldw ing and see what all the fuss is about.
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Pickup_man
> themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles
08/26/2019 at 11:23 |
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If all a person is after is the look of a traditional cafe racer but wants all the newness and reliability of a new bike and can’t afford a Triumph... it will fill that roll. Overall I still really liked it, but it’s shortcomings were pretty noticeable .
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Pickup_man
> Decay buys too many beaters
08/26/2019 at 11:27 |
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This is the first time I’ve demo’d anything other than a Harley or an Indian. I was really surprised and happy to see the Japanese bikes out. Talking to a couple people working the event it sounds like this was a dealership decision, not anything but on or supported by Yamaha/Honda/Kawasaki. Still, I’d love to see the Japanese and Euro manufacturers start doing demo tours with their full range of bikes. These demo rides have opened me up to a lot of bikes and riding styles that I never thought I’d like, and actually dissuaded me from bikes that I lusted after until I spent some time on them.
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themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles
> Pickup_man
08/26/2019 at 11:27 |
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True, though I wish Honda would just commit to it already and make a full-on cafe version of the new CB300. THey half-heartedly did it already now just hurry up and finish the job!
bob and john
> Pickup_man
08/26/2019 at 11:37 |
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the problem with the star (at least in canada)
a gold wing starts at 27K
a star is 33k .
it is most certianly not 6K more worth of bike.
W800: ag
r
ee 100%
bolt: also agree. the only pros it has over the H-D is that its reliable and they sell for cheap. but no one wants them.
africa twin: awesome awesome bike. my ONLY complanit about it is that it really needs more HP. if the bike was in a vaccum it would be fine...but all of the liter ADVs are at LEAST 120hp. the KTM
SADV 1090 is almost 150. 100hp just aint gunna cut it.
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Pickup_man
> bob and john
08/26/2019 at 11:58 |
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The Star’s seem to be getting some pretty good discounts, at least around here. The Eluder/Venture are listed for $19k/$21k, the Goldwing/Goldwing tour are $18k/$21k, so basically the same price. If this was a bike I’d be living with every day the Goldwing is the better bike hands down, but if I’m looking at a big touring bike (and I’ve been considering one lately) I want one that will eat up the most amount of miles, in the most comfort, and leave me feeling the most rested at the end of the trip. I think the Star does that better than the Goldwing.
This is something I’ve heard a few times about the AT, I thought power was sufficient , but I’ve never spent any time on any of the other ADV bikes for comparison.
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bob and john
> Pickup_man
08/26/2019 at 12:00 |
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yea, none of the dealers here ordered any because we didnt think anyone would want it...
no one did. it was so bad that they didnt actually make a 2019 for us lol.
thats the thing with the AT, its sufficent. which is why I said, alone, in a vaccum, its a AMAZING machine.
but the competition just has a lot of HP advanatge on it.
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bob and john
> themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles
08/26/2019 at 13:39 |
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I mean...that is a cafe? what more do you want?
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themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles
> bob and john
08/26/2019 at 14:07 |
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bikini fairing and a less bulky exhaust. Wire wheels would be a nice touch. Maybe a bit less plastic body panels?
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bob and john
> themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles
08/26/2019 at 14:33 |
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its got literally 2 panels on it....
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themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles
> bob and john
08/26/2019 at 14:57 |
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Al l it needs is a tank. Maaaaaaaaybe a small pair of vanity panels for the air cleaner and to tuck some wiring.
But that silver bit isn't doing it for me. Needs to go.
AMGtech - now with more recalls!
> bob and john
08/26/2019 at 15:32 |
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I actually love that the Africa is so undertuned for it’s size. It should translate into excellent long-term reliability. Based on pricing and power it’s better compared against midsized ADV’s like tiger 800, etc. At that point, power is perfect. Just don’t think of it as a lit er bike.
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AMGtech - now with more recalls!
> Decay buys too many beaters
08/26/2019 at 15:34 |
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Have you found an XSR to ride yet?
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AMGtech - now with more recalls!
> Pickup_man
08/26/2019 at 15:35 |
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Africa twin laughs at your silly fire roads Muahahaha!
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Decay buys too many beaters
> AMGtech - now with more recalls!
08/26/2019 at 15:36 |
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Haven’t yet :(
Just the 700, which is basically an SV650 but a little heavier.
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bob and john
> themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles
08/26/2019 at 15:37 |
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yea, the red/silver is all one panel.
and the battery is under that.
epic pain in the ass.
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AMGtech - now with more recalls!
> Decay buys too many beaters
08/26/2019 at 15:38 |
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I am disappoint. The two feel so different to me that I don't even bother comparing them.
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Decay buys too many beaters
> AMGtech - now with more recalls!
08/26/2019 at 15:47 |
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But how would I euro snob from atop a Yamaha?
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AMGtech - now with more recalls!
> Decay buys too many beaters
08/26/2019 at 16:22 |
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Just tell people it's a speed triple.