Cupid Stunt
06-07-2005, 02:42 PM
OK
It's time for a short term review of my bike
I won't go into how much I enjoy riding it etc as you've heard all that and will no doubt hear it again :)
A recap on mileage:
The bike already had a thousand miles on it when I bought it, so it had been run in for me, the rest has been done by myself and teh vast majority (app 80%) has been off road
As you should all know by now, I tend to ride a wee bit beyond my abilities at times in order to keep up with my more experienced friends and also get a bit adventurous at times without thinking it through, this tends to result in me falling off / crashing far more than anyone else I know (see ride reports) on average I have been out at least once a week come rain or shine and I would guess taht I crash about three times per outing
The bike has stood up amazingly well to everything thrown at it.
So far with two exceptions the only things to break have been aftermarket accessories (bark busters etc)
Of the two exceptions the first victim was the sidestand, it appeared to be made of toffee and snapped off when the bike fell over in the back of a van (thanks Simon for strapping the bike in and leaving the sidestand down :p: ), however the free of charge replacement (OEM) stand supplied by te dealer has been fine (Simon hasn't got at it yet)
The second and very recent victim was a couple of welded nuts that held teh rear rack on, the welds on these came away resulting in a lack of support for the rack and rear mudguard, not a very good design as the holes through which the bolts went were much larger than the shaft of the bolt, so when the welds gave out it allowed the bolts to move in the hole causing teh tail end to drop enough to cause the number plate to hit the rear tyre on every bump
This has now been fixed with a bit of drilling and some new bolts
Other than that the bike has done all I have expected of it and more
It has required some tailoring to my exact requirements as it is supposed to be a 50/50 road and trail bike, I have found it better for my needs to fit bar risers and tilt the bars slightly forward (this helps as I am standing up most of the time), bark busters, a 50 tooth rear sprocket and a 14 tooth front They were 16/45, this also required a new chain that was a little longer
Oh and of course tweeking the suspension which was very easily done due the standard fittings being WP front and rear and fully adjustable.
As most of you know, I also have two sets of trail wheels, the standard set with TKC80's and a 45 tooth rear sprocket and a new set with a 50 tooth rear sprocket fitted with Pirelli Scorpion Pro's
I stll can't beleive that the bike is still in one peice, you really had to be there to see some of the crashes to appreciate how tough this thing is, even the plastics have only minor scratches (and fortunately the colour of the plastics run right through the material as opposed to being painted one's
It's time for a short term review of my bike
I won't go into how much I enjoy riding it etc as you've heard all that and will no doubt hear it again :)
A recap on mileage:
The bike already had a thousand miles on it when I bought it, so it had been run in for me, the rest has been done by myself and teh vast majority (app 80%) has been off road
As you should all know by now, I tend to ride a wee bit beyond my abilities at times in order to keep up with my more experienced friends and also get a bit adventurous at times without thinking it through, this tends to result in me falling off / crashing far more than anyone else I know (see ride reports) on average I have been out at least once a week come rain or shine and I would guess taht I crash about three times per outing
The bike has stood up amazingly well to everything thrown at it.
So far with two exceptions the only things to break have been aftermarket accessories (bark busters etc)
Of the two exceptions the first victim was the sidestand, it appeared to be made of toffee and snapped off when the bike fell over in the back of a van (thanks Simon for strapping the bike in and leaving the sidestand down :p: ), however the free of charge replacement (OEM) stand supplied by te dealer has been fine (Simon hasn't got at it yet)
The second and very recent victim was a couple of welded nuts that held teh rear rack on, the welds on these came away resulting in a lack of support for the rack and rear mudguard, not a very good design as the holes through which the bolts went were much larger than the shaft of the bolt, so when the welds gave out it allowed the bolts to move in the hole causing teh tail end to drop enough to cause the number plate to hit the rear tyre on every bump
This has now been fixed with a bit of drilling and some new bolts
Other than that the bike has done all I have expected of it and more
It has required some tailoring to my exact requirements as it is supposed to be a 50/50 road and trail bike, I have found it better for my needs to fit bar risers and tilt the bars slightly forward (this helps as I am standing up most of the time), bark busters, a 50 tooth rear sprocket and a 14 tooth front They were 16/45, this also required a new chain that was a little longer
Oh and of course tweeking the suspension which was very easily done due the standard fittings being WP front and rear and fully adjustable.
As most of you know, I also have two sets of trail wheels, the standard set with TKC80's and a 45 tooth rear sprocket and a new set with a 50 tooth rear sprocket fitted with Pirelli Scorpion Pro's
I stll can't beleive that the bike is still in one peice, you really had to be there to see some of the crashes to appreciate how tough this thing is, even the plastics have only minor scratches (and fortunately the colour of the plastics run right through the material as opposed to being painted one's