Taming The Elephant

[Bigkahunaburger]

Love that colour scheme 

[owen426]

Well I'd prefer no upset egos here and everyone can make there own decision where they take their bikes. If anyone feels the need to discuss it further they can start another thread.

And yes, like everyone else I think my bike is the best colour! 

[Mrg]

welcome and enjoy the family's vast data bank of information  on here its the best you can ask for and there tops guys and girls on here to 

[owen426]

The Elephant at 500km
Well I'm currently waiting at a cafe, coincedentally at exactly 500km, so here are my initial impressions of my '14.

Good

• THAT engine. Enough said.
• The brakes - Proper two finger braking
• Seating - So far both rider and pillion have been comfortable but we are yet to do a long ride together.
• The windshield - My bike came a bug deflector, but it's shaped in such a way it deflects the worst of the wind.

Bad

• Handlebars - No real problems, but I would like to try something wider
• Gearing - Too low or too many. Not sure which but it seems about a thousand rpm too high at cruising speed, great for being silly but a bit revvy for the highway. The gears also appear to be quite close together, which doesnt let the engine use it spread of power, though this may change if I alter the sprockets.

Early days yet so I plan on doing more riding before making any changes.

[KiwiCol]

Hi Owen, what sort of rpm are you pulling at 60mph? (100K) 


Std gearing / sprocket sizing is 18t front & 41t rear which give you 3000 - 3300rpm at highway speed. (60 odd mph)


I wouldn't of thought that was 1000 too high, else you'll be laboring the engine & have no (little) pickup in top gear.




The reason for the 300 odd rev difference is the speedo, depends if yours has been corrected, if not it'll say you're doing 60mph & 3000rpm, if it has it'll be more line 3300 rpm for 60mph which is the true reading. The speedo often read faster than actual, anywhere up to 5-6 mph.  3000 rpm in top is about 94kph , mine at 100k is doing 3300.

[owen426]

I went for another ride to double check, at 100km indicated it reads 3000rpm. I dont think it has been corrected and the speed limit here is 110kmh, so at 120kmh indicated it reads 3500rpm. Trying different engine speeds it seems to be happy enough at around 2500rpm in top which is where I got my 1000rpm difference from.

The reasoning behind this is I'm planning on doing some longer trips so 3500rpm seems unnecessarily high for an engine like this to cruise at, however I could also be totally wrong.

[owen426]

Went for a burn around the back blocks, cool weather and dry roads made for good ride.

[Tony Nitrous]

Some good posts Owen. Very interesting.

If I was bike hunting today something like yours (year / colour / mileage) would certainly be on my short list.

I agree about the bars. I always go wider, there's several threads about it and a lot of options.

Not so sure about the brakes. Some of us consider them OK at best when new and they don't age well. Again, that's a whole thread in itself.

I like the seat too. Its an "all day" bike with no stress for me.

I've played with gearing on a few bikes. I find the stock gearing pretty good on a 14. It covers everything from the drags and wheelies to sitting on the highway at 100kph all day. If mine was a pure tourer sitting at the speed limit most of its life then maybe I'd consider going a up a fraction on the gearing, at the expense of my launches.


I'll be following your posts.
They are interesting.

Tony.

[owen426]

Thanks for the info Tony. Interesting about the brakes, I come from off road riding so I guess anything with twin discs would be impressive to me. However from the posts I've read I get the feeling that you are a lot more capable than I am on the bike, and use it a lot closer to its limit.
It will be interesting to see if my opinion changes as I spend more time with the bike.

[Kiwifruit]

Thanks for the info Tony. Interesting about the brakes, I come from off road riding so I guess anything with twin discs would be impressive to me. However from the posts I've read I get the feeling that you are a lot more capable than I am on the bike, and use it a lot closer to its limit.
It will be interesting to see if my opinion changes as I spend more time with the bike.

Took me a while to get my confidence on the bike. Id say as long as 12 months. Biggest bike I have ridden. Riding it two up and loaded and certainly the quickest.
Definately my favourite.

[owen426]

Right its been a couple of weeks between rides due to work and a flat battery but I managed to get out for a ride on Sunday. With the day to myself so I decided to head to a fantatsic bakery the next town over. Left early in the morning as rain was predicted later on but I had nothing but sunshine, country roads and a sausage roll ahead of me. I decided to get stuck into some quiet and twisty bits to learn the bike a bit more and I'm starting to think the gearing is where it should be. I rolled into home after spot on 200km quite happy with a morning well spent, and certainly happier than the horses i went past at full noise! 

Photo is at the breakfast pitstop.

[owen426]

Tried a new helmet out and it was LOUD. A fly trekker as it was cheap and I had access to tinted visors and spare parts from a fellow rider. I'm trying to get away with a dual sport helmet so I can just run the one helmet on all of my bikes, but it was louder than my open faced mx helmet! I'm hoping it was just because it was a windy day. I'm going to try without a peak etc but I'm not too optimistic.

[northern]

Hi Owen,

Seems you have original screen. Can you post front picture?
I was thinking about same, but cant find it anywhere. Was even thinking to produce it myself... 

[owen426]

I wasn't aware they came with screens? I assumed it was aftermarket that a previous owner installed. I'm at work so I'll see what I can do when I he home regarding pics

[northern]

They did not came with screens, but it could be Suzuki genuine accessory.
I can't find where to get one, only mention is here https://goo.gl/Zfy3TA and it out of stock.
Actually, this page was the only mention about Suzuki had genuine screen for 14 ☺️