2012 Ducati Monster 1100Evo; First Ride

I have to admit, as good as the Ducati's new Monster 1100Evo looks (love the repositioned exhaust!), I wasn't convinced that it was a sufficient replacement for the Monster 1100S.

While I still might go for the bike with the dry clutch, because I just cannot resist the bolts-in-a-dryer sound, the 1100Evo has more than proven it belongs with the best of the Ducati Monster family.

Click HERE to read Moto-USA's First Ride Review.  For those too lazy to read, preferring the Video:




Cheers!

Apologies for the off-center video. If anyone can tell me how to shrink a video frame without cutting off the edges, feel free to post in the comments or email me at Ann@SunnyRyder.com

2012 Ducati Monster 1100Evo; First Ride

I have to admit, as good as the Ducati's new Monster 1100Evo looks (love the repositioned exhaust!), I wasn't convinced that it was a sufficient replacement for the Monster 1100S.

While I still might go for the bike with the dry clutch, because I just cannot resist the bolts-in-a-dryer sound, the 1100Evo has more than proven it belongs with the best of the Ducati Monster family.

Click HERE to read Moto-USA's First Ride Review.  For those too lazy to read, preferring the Video:




Cheers!

Apologies for the off-center video. If anyone can tell me how to shrink a video frame without cutting off the edges, feel free to post in the comments or email me at Ann@SunnyRyder.com

Moto-Rumors and Reputations

I'm sure you have heard them The rumors? From people "in the know" about your bike, theirs, and every motorcycle in between?

Ducatis are temperamental, unreliable, and will take you down like the Edmonton Fitzgerald at the first whiff of foul weather.

BMWs are boring.

You'll spend more time picking up pieces of your Triumph along the roadside than actually riding it on the road.

Americans can't build sportbikes.

A Honda doesn't break.  And it never, ever dies.  It is the X-Man, Wolverine, of motorcycles.  Without the snarl.

Well, I've had two Ducati motorcycles, put 13,800-miles and 7,400-miles on them, respectively, and the only mechanical issue was the need to give the timing belt on the 848Evo a slight adjustment at 6,000-miles. Both were used for multi-day travel. The Monster survived a two-week, cross-country tour that included mountains, rain, and snow. It never so much as hiccuped.

Just spent a day at Virginia International Raceway on a BMW S1000RR sportbike. Of all the words I would use to describe the experience, boring isn't one of them.

Sadly, this is not me.

Um, obviously the people "in the know" haven't been on, or even near one, the modern-day Triumphs. (Or they are trying to rationalize their decision to buy a Harley instead.)

No oil spots under these Triumphs!

Two words: Eric Buell. 

Geoff May on the EBR 1190RS

So normally, the moral of today's blog would be that you should ignore people who profess to know all rumors motorcycle, do your own research, and buy what makes you happy.   

You know, the bike, where even years later, when you see it makes you think to yourself, or announce to any and all bystanders:  My bike is so cool… and its mine!  Sucks to be you!!!

And since there is no better feeling than owning the perfect motorcycle, and mocking those who don't, that moral would be a good one.  Except...

One of the rumors isn't like the rest of them.  One is true.

The statement of fact, is the Honda rumor, of course.  There is a reason why CB350s were used at the East Coast Sturgis demolition derby; same bikes, five derbies.

And how many of us have heard stories of someone literally putting a bullet into a Honda engine and the thing will still run?  I worked with a guy who ran a CB550F K on three cylinders for a year.  The engine never stopped.

But what if there is an exception to the rumor rule?

I’ve now owned or spent quality time on four different Hondas, spanning nearly four decades of Honda models and technology:  1975 CB550F K; 1986 Rebel 450; 1995 CBR900RR; and, the 1998 GB500.  

Simply put, they have all been a royal pain in my ass, refusing to start, refusing to stay started, drooling oil, spewing oil, bad plugs, fouled carbs, insufficient tank ventilation, a propensity to disgorge fluids and an inability to keep small, yet important, bolts, screws, and nuts attached to the frame.

So much for that memo about Honda and unquestionable reliability.

And for bikes rumored to have no fire or personality, my Honda motos apparently took a holiday in Italy before coming stateside and arriving at my garage.

Honda motorcycles hate me.

I have a theory about this phenomenon: my uncooperative Hondas acted out of revenge and were attempting to ensure that only the Nicest People ride Hondas.  I treated my first motorcycle, the Rebel 450, Clyde, very not nicely.  Therefore I am not a nice person.  And I must pay for my transgression and never be allowed to ride Hondas ever again. 

It may be true that I was not nice to Clyde.  Clyde lived outdoors.  All year round.  In St. Louis.  Without a cover. 

I tried taking him apart.  In this, I was successful.  Reassembly, however, was not quite as resounding of a success.  But what’s a bucket of pocket parts between rider and motorcycle?

I refused to replace Clyde’s bad stator.  For a year, I started him by popping the clutch.  It was a good thing I lived on a hill.

I never once lubed the chain, checked the tire pressure, changed the oil or filters.  I cleaned him.  Once.  But removing the dirt merely served to free the dam of road grim holding in the oil, so I never tried that again.

The only time Clyde cooperated was the day I traded him in for a BMW F650ST.  He wanted to escape that badly.

Since then, I have been tortured, and stranded, often, by the obstreperous, fulmination of a catastrophe that was my CB550F K, a Bike Named Sue.   Cecil Turtle, the little GB500, was great.  Except when he wasn’t. 

And now, my CBR900RR, Sonny, has sucked my bank account dry after the center pistons refused to fire.  It is unknown if this was before or after the carbs mysteriously unsynched themselves.  So much for the Labor Day holiday weekend travel plans.

You would have thought that I’d have known better than to buy the CBR900RR after Clyde, Sue, and Cecil.   An attempt at atonement?  I do plan to return to stock the tail on the CBR900RR, repairing the butchering committed by the previous owner. 

Or to defend my reputation?   I really am a nice person.  I was joking, sort of, when I threatened to roll the CB550F K into the canal behind my apartment.  After I had crushed him with a garbage truck.

Or I could be having yet another momentary lapse of insanity, expecting, as Nietzsche once defined it, a different outcome despite repeating the same, previously failed, actions. 

Perhaps the reputation of Honda reliability and pleasant naturedness is greatly overstated, and yet another moto-rumor falls.   

Or the real moral for today's blog is to treat your motorcycle well.  Disregard at your own risk and pay for it, literally and figuratively, for generations of models later.  

Cheers!

Love the column?  Hate it?  Leave a comment and share your thoughts.  Ann can be contacted at Ann@SunnyRyder.com

Moto-Rumors and Reputations

I'm sure you have heard them The rumors? From people "in the know" about your bike, theirs, and every motorcycle in between?

Ducatis are temperamental, unreliable, and will take you down like the Edmonton Fitzgerald at the first whiff of foul weather.

BMWs are boring.

You'll spend more time picking up pieces of your Triumph along the roadside than actually riding it on the road.

Americans can't build sportbikes.

A Honda doesn't break.  And it never, ever dies.  It is the X-Man, Wolverine, of motorcycles.  Without the snarl.

Well, I've had two Ducati motorcycles, put 13,800-miles and 7,400-miles on them, respectively, and the only mechanical issue was the need to give the timing belt on the 848Evo a slight adjustment at 6,000-miles. Both were used for multi-day travel. The Monster survived a two-week, cross-country tour that included mountains, rain, and snow. It never so much as hiccuped.

Just spent a day at Virginia International Raceway on a BMW S1000RR sportbike. Of all the words I would use to describe the experience, boring isn't one of them.

Sadly, this is not me.

Um, obviously the people "in the know" haven't been on, or even near one, the modern-day Triumphs. (Or they are trying to rationalize their decision to buy a Harley instead.)

No oil spots under these Triumphs!

Two words: Eric Buell. 

Geoff May on the EBR 1190RS

So normally, the moral of today's blog would be that you should ignore people who profess to know all rumors motorcycle, do your own research, and buy what makes you happy.   

You know, the bike, where even years later, when you see it makes you think to yourself, or announce to any and all bystanders:  My bike is so cool… and its mine!  Sucks to be you!!!

And since there is no better feeling than owning the perfect motorcycle, and mocking those who don't, that moral would be a good one.  Except...

One of the rumors isn't like the rest of them.  One is true.

The statement of fact, is the Honda rumor, of course.  There is a reason why CB350s were used at the East Coast Sturgis demolition derby; same bikes, five derbies.

And how many of us have heard stories of someone literally putting a bullet into a Honda engine and the thing will still run?  I worked with a guy who ran a CB550F K on three cylinders for a year.  The engine never stopped.

But what if there is an exception to the rumor rule?

I’ve now owned or spent quality time on four different Hondas, spanning nearly four decades of Honda models and technology:  1975 CB550F K; 1986 Rebel 450; 1995 CBR900RR; and, the 1998 GB500.  

Simply put, they have all been a royal pain in my ass, refusing to start, refusing to stay started, drooling oil, spewing oil, bad plugs, fouled carbs, insufficient tank ventilation, a propensity to disgorge fluids and an inability to keep small, yet important, bolts, screws, and nuts attached to the frame.

So much for that memo about Honda and unquestionable reliability.

And for bikes rumored to have no fire or personality, my Honda motos apparently took a holiday in Italy before coming stateside and arriving at my garage.

Honda motorcycles hate me.

I have a theory about this phenomenon: my uncooperative Hondas acted out of revenge and were attempting to ensure that only the Nicest People ride Hondas.  I treated my first motorcycle, the Rebel 450, Clyde, very not nicely.  Therefore I am not a nice person.  And I must pay for my transgression and never be allowed to ride Hondas ever again. 

It may be true that I was not nice to Clyde.  Clyde lived outdoors.  All year round.  In St. Louis.  Without a cover. 

I tried taking him apart.  In this, I was successful.  Reassembly, however, was not quite as resounding of a success.  But what’s a bucket of pocket parts between rider and motorcycle?

I refused to replace Clyde’s bad stator.  For a year, I started him by popping the clutch.  It was a good thing I lived on a hill.

I never once lubed the chain, checked the tire pressure, changed the oil or filters.  I cleaned him.  Once.  But removing the dirt merely served to free the dam of road grim holding in the oil, so I never tried that again.

The only time Clyde cooperated was the day I traded him in for a BMW F650ST.  He wanted to escape that badly.

Since then, I have been tortured, and stranded, often, by the obstreperous, fulmination of a catastrophe that was my CB550F K, a Bike Named Sue.   Cecil Turtle, the little GB500, was great.  Except when he wasn’t. 

And now, my CBR900RR, Sonny, has sucked my bank account dry after the center pistons refused to fire.  It is unknown if this was before or after the carbs mysteriously unsynched themselves.  So much for the Labor Day holiday weekend travel plans.

You would have thought that I’d have known better than to buy the CBR900RR after Clyde, Sue, and Cecil.   An attempt at atonement?  I do plan to return to stock the tail on the CBR900RR, repairing the butchering committed by the previous owner. 

Or to defend my reputation?   I really am a nice person.  I was joking, sort of, when I threatened to roll the CB550F K into the canal behind my apartment.  After I had crushed him with a garbage truck.

Or I could be having yet another momentary lapse of insanity, expecting, as Nietzsche once defined it, a different outcome despite repeating the same, previously failed, actions. 

Perhaps the reputation of Honda reliability and pleasant naturedness is greatly overstated, and yet another moto-rumor falls.   

Or the real moral for today's blog is to treat your motorcycle well.  Disregard at your own risk and pay for it, literally and figuratively, for generations of models later.  

Cheers!

Love the column?  Hate it?  Leave a comment and share your thoughts.  Ann can be contacted at Ann@SunnyRyder.com

Suzuki GSX-R 750 has shared a nearly identical platform

2010 Suzuki GSX-R 750 Limited Edition

Several changes ensued throughout the late ‘80s and early ‘90s, but it wasn’t until 1992 that the Gixxer 750’s biggest redesign took place, with the Suzuki GSX-R750 making the switch to a liquid-cooled Inline-Four engine will all-new frame and bodywork. This once again established the Gixxer as a class-leader, as it did again when the GSX-R got ram-air, or SRAD (Suzuki Ram-Air Direct), as they so famously named it in 1996. Several further redesigns followed, including fuel-injection and several styling and chassis updates, to bring the GSXR-750 to its current form today, most recent update in 2008.

Since the late ‘90s until now, the GSX-R750 has shared a nearly identical platform as it younger sibling the GSX-R600, and the differences between the two with the latest incarnation aren’t much more than a larger bore and stroke. Thus, like its little bother, the Suzuki GSX-R750 now features innovations such as Suzuki’s S-DMS fuel map selector, titanium exhaust, fully adjustable suspension and top-of-the-line radial brake calipers. And while Suzuki in now one of the only 750cc Inline-Four sportbike producers left, judging by its strong sales numbers and cult-like following, it surprising more don’t follow suit.

We have done extensive testing with the latest Suzuki GSX-R750 and one word always comes to mind: Versatility. With low-end and mid-range power like a 1000, plus handling on par with a 600, Suzuki’s GSX-R750 really does combine the best of both worlds to make one of the most capable all-around sportbikes currently on the market.

2010 Suzuki GSX-R 750 Sport Bike

Suzuki GSX-R 750 has shared a nearly identical platform

2010 Suzuki GSX-R 750 Limited Edition

Several changes ensued throughout the late ‘80s and early ‘90s, but it wasn’t until 1992 that the Gixxer 750’s biggest redesign took place, with the Suzuki GSX-R750 making the switch to a liquid-cooled Inline-Four engine will all-new frame and bodywork. This once again established the Gixxer as a class-leader, as it did again when the GSX-R got ram-air, or SRAD (Suzuki Ram-Air Direct), as they so famously named it in 1996. Several further redesigns followed, including fuel-injection and several styling and chassis updates, to bring the GSXR-750 to its current form today, most recent update in 2008.

Since the late ‘90s until now, the GSX-R750 has shared a nearly identical platform as it younger sibling the GSX-R600, and the differences between the two with the latest incarnation aren’t much more than a larger bore and stroke. Thus, like its little bother, the Suzuki GSX-R750 now features innovations such as Suzuki’s S-DMS fuel map selector, titanium exhaust, fully adjustable suspension and top-of-the-line radial brake calipers. And while Suzuki in now one of the only 750cc Inline-Four sportbike producers left, judging by its strong sales numbers and cult-like following, it surprising more don’t follow suit.

We have done extensive testing with the latest Suzuki GSX-R750 and one word always comes to mind: Versatility. With low-end and mid-range power like a 1000, plus handling on par with a 600, Suzuki’s GSX-R750 really does combine the best of both worlds to make one of the most capable all-around sportbikes currently on the market.

2010 Suzuki GSX-R 750 Sport Bike

2010 The Yamaha YZF-R125 owners wishing to customise their bike

2010 Yamaha YZF-R 125 Sport Bike

Large diameter front disc

High build quality is evident wherever you look on the new R125, and the front braking system is another example of Yamaha’s commitment to using only high-specification components.

The large diameter 292mm front disc is slowed by a compact twin-pot caliper which delivers strong and progressive braking performance for good controllability over a wide range of speeds. The large single front disc is complemented by a 230mm rear disc, giving the R125 rider accurate control in town as well as on the open road.
Lightweight alloy wheels with wide-section tyres

As well as ensuring that the unsprung weight is minimised in order to enhance the front and rear suspension performance, the distinctive 10-spoke alloy wheels give the R125 a unique look.

The lightweight wheels are fitted with some of the widest rubber in the class, with a 100/80-17 tyre at the front, and a massive 130/70-17 tyre at the rear, which ensure high levels of traction and underline the YZF-R125’s position as the main contender in the sports 125 class for 2008.
Range of quality accessories

Yamaha have developed a range of quality accessories for YZF-R125 owners wishing to customise their bike. The line-up includes a double bubble screen, a yoke, a seat cover, roller protectors and a tank pad.

2010 Yamaha YZF-R 125 Black Edition

2010 The Yamaha YZF-R125 owners wishing to customise their bike

2010 Yamaha YZF-R 125 Sport Bike

Large diameter front disc

High build quality is evident wherever you look on the new R125, and the front braking system is another example of Yamaha’s commitment to using only high-specification components.

The large diameter 292mm front disc is slowed by a compact twin-pot caliper which delivers strong and progressive braking performance for good controllability over a wide range of speeds. The large single front disc is complemented by a 230mm rear disc, giving the R125 rider accurate control in town as well as on the open road.
Lightweight alloy wheels with wide-section tyres

As well as ensuring that the unsprung weight is minimised in order to enhance the front and rear suspension performance, the distinctive 10-spoke alloy wheels give the R125 a unique look.

The lightweight wheels are fitted with some of the widest rubber in the class, with a 100/80-17 tyre at the front, and a massive 130/70-17 tyre at the rear, which ensure high levels of traction and underline the YZF-R125’s position as the main contender in the sports 125 class for 2008.
Range of quality accessories

Yamaha have developed a range of quality accessories for YZF-R125 owners wishing to customise their bike. The line-up includes a double bubble screen, a yoke, a seat cover, roller protectors and a tank pad.

2010 Yamaha YZF-R 125 Black Edition

Yamaha YZF-R 125 the most single-cylinder commuters

2010 Yamaha YZF-R 125 Picture

Following the launch of the 2009 "big bang" R1, Yamaha has come up with a bike aimed squarely at every schoolboy who has a poster of its litre-class flagship plastered on his bedroom wall – the R15 (say it Are One-Five), a 149

One of the most compact spritzer set-ups on the market

.8cc single with all the edgy looks and lot of the technology that has put its big brother at the forefront of the Superbike wars.

It has a nickel-silicon plated barrel in place of an iron liner, a forged piston, a four-valve cylinder head, liquid cooling and electronic fuel-injection. The induction system uses only four sensors and a small 26-pin ECU to control a compact fuel pump and a six-hole injector, making it one of the most compact spritzer set-ups on the market.

Yamaha quotes 12.5kW at 8500rpm and 15Nm at 7500 for this hard-revving little single, all of which reaches the rear wheel through a wet clutch, six-speed gearbox and chain final drive. Top speed, it says, is about 140km/h (with a 60kg rider – don't expect a beefy SA schoolboy to get anywhere near that) and fuel consumption is quoted as 2 .8 litres/100km – although the same caveat applies.

The frame geometry follows Yamaha's proven Deltabox layout (although in steel rather than the more expensive machines' CF-cast alloy) and the engine has one top and two rear rigid mounts, making it a stressed member and adding materially to the rigidity of the chassis.

Front suspension is by conventional cartridge forks but the rear wheel boasts a rising-rate linkage (unusual at this level), which makes it possible to carry a passenger without bottoming the suspension on every ripple, while braking is by disc on each wheel.

The R15, says Yamaha, was styled in the same studio as the R1 and R6. It's not a scaled down version of these class-leading sportsters but carries a lot of the same DNA in the upper fairing and tank areas.

The centre section of the body, by contrast, was designed primarily to optimise air-flow through the compact aluminium radiator and styled afterwards to provide the bike with more presence on the road than most single-cylinder commuters.

In profile a strong straight line running from steering head to rear axle and the vertical surfaces of the side panels and fuel tank combine to throw the visual emphasis on to the front wheel, just as with Yamaha's M1 MotoGP machine.

2010 Yamaha YZF-R 125 Blue Color

2010 Yamaha YZF-R 125 Motorcycle

Yamaha YZF-R 125 the most single-cylinder commuters

2010 Yamaha YZF-R 125 Picture

Following the launch of the 2009 "big bang" R1, Yamaha has come up with a bike aimed squarely at every schoolboy who has a poster of its litre-class flagship plastered on his bedroom wall – the R15 (say it Are One-Five), a 149

One of the most compact spritzer set-ups on the market

.8cc single with all the edgy looks and lot of the technology that has put its big brother at the forefront of the Superbike wars.

It has a nickel-silicon plated barrel in place of an iron liner, a forged piston, a four-valve cylinder head, liquid cooling and electronic fuel-injection. The induction system uses only four sensors and a small 26-pin ECU to control a compact fuel pump and a six-hole injector, making it one of the most compact spritzer set-ups on the market.

Yamaha quotes 12.5kW at 8500rpm and 15Nm at 7500 for this hard-revving little single, all of which reaches the rear wheel through a wet clutch, six-speed gearbox and chain final drive. Top speed, it says, is about 140km/h (with a 60kg rider – don't expect a beefy SA schoolboy to get anywhere near that) and fuel consumption is quoted as 2 .8 litres/100km – although the same caveat applies.

The frame geometry follows Yamaha's proven Deltabox layout (although in steel rather than the more expensive machines' CF-cast alloy) and the engine has one top and two rear rigid mounts, making it a stressed member and adding materially to the rigidity of the chassis.

Front suspension is by conventional cartridge forks but the rear wheel boasts a rising-rate linkage (unusual at this level), which makes it possible to carry a passenger without bottoming the suspension on every ripple, while braking is by disc on each wheel.

The R15, says Yamaha, was styled in the same studio as the R1 and R6. It's not a scaled down version of these class-leading sportsters but carries a lot of the same DNA in the upper fairing and tank areas.

The centre section of the body, by contrast, was designed primarily to optimise air-flow through the compact aluminium radiator and styled afterwards to provide the bike with more presence on the road than most single-cylinder commuters.

In profile a strong straight line running from steering head to rear axle and the vertical surfaces of the side panels and fuel tank combine to throw the visual emphasis on to the front wheel, just as with Yamaha's M1 MotoGP machine.

2010 Yamaha YZF-R 125 Blue Color

2010 Yamaha YZF-R 125 Motorcycle