Well its been a while, but since i was last on i attended the ama vintage motorcycle days at mid-ohio sports car course. there were several dealers there offering test rides on the new 09 models. manufactures in attendance included:
can-am
bmw
triumph
ktm
kawasaki
yamaha
ducati
and some scooter company, oh well doesnt matter anyways right.
i had the opportunity to ride 4 bikes
yamaha r6s
kawasaki zx-6r
triumph daytona 675
ducati 848
all were great bikes and a blast to ride. the dealers had a 16 mile test ride laid out in the country roads around the track.
heres my first impressions:
yamaha r6s: i love this bike, it's what i've wanted to trade up into as my next bike. however, and it could have just been this demo bike in particular, i did not like the clutch engagement point, it was hard to get used to being that it was just about a 1/2 inch of pull would disengage clutch. like i said though, it could just be this one demo bike. as for performance the bike was very capable and easy to toss around, it seemed to rev forever and always took what i threw at it. riding position was very tolerable for a sport bike also.
triumph daytona 675: this was a joy to ride, although i did not get to "thrash" this bike as much as the others it was something i will never forget. the sound of the triple was amazing. at low rpm it had a kinda whine to it, and once it was let loose it rev'd like a 4 cyl but sounded much more "pissed off" in a good way that is. this was a very easy bike to jump on and ride. i did notice that towards the end of the ride i could feel the heat from the undertail exhaust. but for this european beauty i'd deal with it. the riding position was more aggressive than the yamaha but still somewhat tolerable.
kawasaki zx-6r: i'll have to admit, this bike impressed me the most overall. i'd seen this bike in the showroom, sat on it, etc. and i decided i wanted nothing to do with it. it seemed uncomfortable, i was looking over and through the windscreen at the gauges... BUT after riding this little gem my heart has been swayed. this was by far the easiest one of the bunch to hop on and ride. the bike pulled impressively, cornered well, sounded good with stock exhaust. was just a fun ride. the riding position was good, felt better than all the others to me. this engine also rev'd high but it got there pretty quickly.
and lastly...
ducati 848: i was really looking forward to this ride. they had a white 848 with the exhaust, ecu, and airbox upgrades, and a few other goodies from ducati's accessory line-up. this bike was an absolute beast, by far the biggest cc bike of the day and it proved it. while the stock horsepower is 130 (then add the goodies) which wasn't that much more than the kawasaki at 126hp ish it had gobbs of torque thanks in part to the twin. it pumps out around 70-75 ft lbs of torque all the others were closer to upper 40's low 50's in that area. this bike has a fairly flat torque curve so it pulls amazingly smooth and hard all the way through the rev's. this was the only bike i bounced off the rev limiter several times accidentally of course. the engine never gets a flat spot before redline at around 12k rpm and with the termignoni exhaust you just wanted to hear MORE. it was alittle harder for me to lean in, but that could have been me not wanting to wreck a $17K bike also ($13K base plus another $4k in upgrades). but alas all the good talk about this bike ends for me with comfort. this was the least comfortable bike of the group for me. the position was very aggressive, and my hands, wrists, arms, upper body, and legs all let me know it too. while this italian babe can get any guy/gal wet with excitement i could not ride it every day.
the rides had a lead and tail rider from the manufacture to guide you and keep you inline. while they would not tolerate "horseplay," they would let you "test" the performance of the bike (at your own risk of :police: that is). the ducati i had up to abt 125mph (maybe 130 at most), the kawasaki and yamaha were upto 115mph, and the triumph (we had a couple slow riders) was only to abt 90mph.
and YES i had my gear on and did not ride outside my comfort level!!!
i'd still like to ride a suzuki gsxr600 and a honda cbr600rr, but they did not show up at the event. :icon_sad:
well there you have it, i hope you all enjoyed reading this. feel free to post up comments or your own test rides.
Wish they had stuff like that around here!
Cool!
Mary
That sounds like an awesome day. I really want to find events like that around me. I don't even need a race track and 100+ speed runs, I would just love to get a better feel for what other bikes really feel like. The bikes I've own and ridden, were a 1983 dual sport, a ninja 250, and my triumph speed four. I've ridden a ninja 636r around a parking lot so the owner could hear the exhaust, and I rode a 900rr around another parking lot with a mini power wheelie, but that's about it. That's probably have the reason I've never really cared about super adjustable suspensions and other things, the speed four was the nicest set up bike I've ever spent time on and it was more than enough for me.
I need to try to keep an eye out for demo days around here, I'd really love to see what it feels like to ride around on a bike with a windscreen, or how it feels tossing a 750-1000cc bike around some back roads, especially if it's something I'd never consider spending money on, like a Buell. I'd really like to try out some of the newer triumphs, but there's only one local triumph dealership, and I'm not on the best of terms with them anymore after all the hassles I had to go through to get all my bike's problems warrantied.
I unfortunately don't even have any other friends that really ride around here, so I can't make them let me play on their bikes. My sister did just buy a zx6r though, so whenever she brings it for a trip into town I'm looking forward to trying it out, but she's lives a couple hours away, so I haven't gotten to see it yet. It's one of the ones from the late 90's, pre-636
Anyway, thanks for the writeup!
it was definitely a GOOD DAY! :D
we got to the track each morning at 7am when the gates opened. i was able to stay in Columbus, Ohio which was only abt an hour from the track in Lexington, Ohio. So far this has been a yearly event at the track around mid to late summer. if you want to keep tabs on the tracks events then go to www.midohio.com and see whats going on. you could always camp on the grounds and make a weekend out of it. Before we even left on sunday, my friends and i decided the hour drive each morning was stupid so we are gonna rent an RV/camper for next year and stay on the grounds. you can park the rv's right up against the track wall in some areas too. plus it was only like $40 or $45 for the weekend race pass, or $25 a day, plus whatever the rv parking fee's are for us next year. this was the first year i had been and from what i heard harley was there the previous years. also each manufacture had the better part of their line up available to ride, you just had to sign up for them and i was only able to ge 4 in on sunday, unfortunately we got rained out on saturday so i didn't get to ride any that day.
definitely a good time and would do it all again in a heartbeat. well worth the time and money.
my middle daugher is going to be 4 on saturday. she loves motorcycles as much as me. i am hoping to be able to take her to a race next spring/summer. i'm guessing mid-ohio is the closest "major" track here in this area. (i'm about 45 mins north of dayton)
there is also putnam park in Indiana somewhere, but i think that is mainly driving school type stuff. mid-ohio is a pretty major track. Its big enough that indy car and american lemans show up there once a year among others.
also jeserio if your that close we'll have to get together sometime for a ride.
sounds good to me. when i get a bike of course. :icon_mrgreen: :thumb:
:laugh: keep me posted! :thumb:
torque "in part of the twin" it is all the twin. they are torque monsters, i had a TLR1000 that was a beast and would kill any liter bike on the road back then and still do 200 mph.
I love TLRs,
That track is only 3 hours away from me, that'd be a cool weekend. I've never been to the track before though. Do you have to have full leathers to do the test rides, or do you just have to be pretty well suited up? I'd love to ride on a track, but I'm more of a padded jacket and jeans kinda guy, so I'd probably do better with a dealership demo
*1 on the triumphs sound. Its the best I've ever heard. Soundslike you had ablast !
Quote from: tt_four on August 14, 2009, 12:10:45 PM
Do you have to have full leathers to do the test rides, or do you just have to be pretty well suited up? I'd love to ride on a track, but I'm more of a padded jacket and jeans kinda guy, so I'd probably do better with a dealership demo
we didn't actually ride on the track, we rode the country roads around the track. each manufacture had its own requirements on gear. all had helmet, pants, shoes required, but some needed gloves, jacket, over ankle boots. i wore my helmet, jacket, gloves, over ankle work boots, and jeans without any problems from any manufacture. so it was pretty well the normal gear for a fun safe ride. you should try to make it next year.
So Far, Best Damn Day of the Year!!!
Awesome, I'll definitely try to make it next year. I don't skimp on the riding gear, I still have good jeans, a padded jacket, good gloves, helmet, and boots(I'll be back to combat boots until I track down a new pair of riding boots, but I'll definitely have some by that point next year, I just don't have the full out leathers. I'm pretty excited about it now though!
you'll love it!
only one problem that i see............
ITS ABOUT A YEAR AWAY! :icon_sad:
but i think it will be worth it! :woohoo: :woohoo: