Post by Big Blue on Nov 12, 2018 0:42:03 GMT
So on Saturday morning two Slovak JLR factory workers arrived from Coventry (I asked if they were going to go back and work in the new SK factory and they said "no way - we're paid twice as much in this one"; neither have any urge to return home to live as they've made their lives over here); money changed hands and the Black Whanger was gone. To be honest it's gone to a good home: the owner wanted a 5VY model as it's the 50th year Yamaha and said he'll store it for the winter and clean every nut and bolt. They were shocked that I commuted on it all year, but I pointed out bikes and cars hate sitting about.
Anyway, enough of that. The bike......
It's seen me safely to and from since March 2015; been stolen for a night; waited for me when I put my foot under a lorry and basically not really gone wrong. Having said that let's look at what did not go 100% right.
I've had a puncture or two, one was hot plugged and two others resulted in new black round things. Both headlights failed together which led to me spending an evening in the garage looking for a fault that was just two blown bulbs. The biggest failure by far was the gear selector return spring which had me riding back to MAC motorcycles in Balham flicking back between gears twice each change. The part was pence but a pretty odd failure. By far the most expensive failure was a broken EXUP valve cable - a length of cable a few cms long that cost £35. The EXUP valve sits in the exhaust and changes the back pressure to give more torque lower down the rev range. I can honestly say it makes fuck all difference if it's working or not.
Riding the bike is always a nice easy experience, to the extent I'm shitting myself at the prospect of riding that Ducati next week. The big difference should be torque. The 5 valve R1 is all about power (it was the first 172hp/172kg bike and McGuiness won the Senior TT on one) and as a result is a very hard bike to ride quickly because you have to wring it's neck which basically means if you try on the road you'll be dead. Having previously had a Fireblade RR5 (the direct competitor from Honda) I was actually shocked at the lack of torque at trundling speed from a litre bike and if I wasn't in the mood I'd be dropped dead by any old tugboat on my commute. I think this is a big difference between cars and bikes: I can lazily mash my foot into the carpet of the Gorilla and look good and fast; on a big sports bike you need to make sure you don't wheelie; bog down; catch the light front end on the upshift.... I rarely try against 911 Turbos and Supercars from the lights these days with their launch control and double clutch gearboxes. In gear roll-ons are another issue: that's just bye-bye time fro the bike.
I digress. Torque deficiency aside, the engine is a peach. Revs without fear, pulls in any gear from any speed and has a massive step up around 9k revs. In fact it’s one of those bikes it is hard to hang on to when you nail it to the red line in first gear so brutal is the acceleration (0-100mph in a shade over 5s, which is very hard to achieve as stated above) but there’s no need to because whilst there’s no torque lower down the rev range that 9k power step is accompanied by a torque bulge at around 8k. Change up at 11k (still 3k shy of the red line) and the bike throws itself into the onrushing horizon with renewed vigour, causing you to reassess your need for more power (the new super bikes are 200bhp and next year’s S1000RR BMW is apparently blessed with 210+). One time I nearly crashed into the back of a K1300S BMW as it torqued off into the distance then the Black Whanger did its torque-power thing and caught him as I reached for the brake lever and squeezed it heavier than I would normally.
Brakes. Ah yes: absolutely nothing to say about them. No ABS. 4 pot callipers front; two pot rear and they always stopped me. Same for the suspension. I like a soft front end with loads of feedback: the previous owner (who by my calculation at the time of buying was scared of it) had it set up like an ironing board so some playing with settings led me to a world of decent feedback, a modicum of comfort and cornering that just did what its supposed to do.
So, that handling thing. All sportbikes built from about 2001 and ridden on the public highway are operating at a maximum of 75% when it comes to handling, I reckon. I’ve ridden on the track loads in the past and I could eat big bikes on a 2-stroke 250 when I was skinny and lighter, simply because they’re better at braking late, turning in, carrying speed in the turn and being ejected onto the straight bits. The road has massive limitations that dictate you can’t really do that and even the aforementioned Mr McGuinness (more Senior TTs than anyone but Hailwood who has 7 like him) says he only rides the TT course at 99%. So on open roads with street furniture, opposing traffic, shite surfaces and a myriad of other things you aren’t going to test the ability of one of these things anytime soon. The new ones are even more compromised because they are just SO fast and SO powerful that death awaits at 76%. The Black Whanger was no different. I parked at a football match a few weeks ago and my friend met me as we made our way to the ground. He pointed out that I’d been right round on the rear tyre and I replied that the edges are used but not feathered, so not really pushing it - I only commute on it after all. “That’s why I noticed,” he said. “Into London and you still get it over to the edge.”
And that is the real true joy of superbike riding over supercar driving. It remains totally enjoyable at lower speeds and on my commute there are a few points that I know if the lights are with me, the traffic is with me and the weather is with me I can feel like a Moto2 rider. I had the Black Whanger step out of line a handful of times in 3 1/2 years, once a massive front end slide when it found neutral for me on the Wandsworth Bridge roundabout :eek: but it never put me on the floor and never felt like it was going to. Unsurprisingly it felt most planted when a new tyre was on it, namely a new rear tyre. This is because they are properly round when they’re new and the bike leans over very nicely, like a well damped VW grab handle in fact, and stays planted as though some magical hand is holding you in place as you glide round the corner. No wonder well funded racers with loads of new tyres always win…..
So that’s it. Just some numbers to think about. You can see the number of miles I did so let’s add in 2,170 litres of petrol (all Shell), 147 fill ups, a cost of £2,611.19 in petrol and servicing and MoT costs of £1,082.68 (1/3 of which was tyres). I paid £5,200 for it and sold it for £3,550, both privately. Tax is £78/ annum and my insurance is around £220 per annum with commuting. I just made that about 36.2p per mile based on 3.5 years. For me to catch TfL to work tomorrow (zone 1-4 rtn plus 2xNo 88 bus rides) it will be £9.80 on PAYG. That’s 35p per mile but figure in that I often commute to StPauls from SW1 and also ride to the RAC three times a week and the TfL travel card cost comes in at £12 so accounting for the additional travel distance my man-maths comes out at almost dead level. But of course I have the time flexibility on the bike; I travel door-door and of course it’s a fuck sight more pleasant on a motorbike than a suburban-route train, even in the pouring rain.
Final words: On Thursday last week I rode from the office to watch the Arsenal play. The ride home afterwards was fantastic: nice weather, some traffic beating and a high speed zip down the A3 (yes, very high speed....) It was a fitting swan song but worse was to come. I got on the bike on Friday morning for that last ever commute in, connected my DAB radio to the headset in the helmet (yes, like you car commuters I listen to the radio on my journey in) and the first song played as I left Worcester Park was Sweet Child o' Mine. I nearly cried my eyes out.
Farewell old friend. You are missed already. Roll on Tuesday…. when the new one arrives.
Anyway, enough of that. The bike......
It's seen me safely to and from since March 2015; been stolen for a night; waited for me when I put my foot under a lorry and basically not really gone wrong. Having said that let's look at what did not go 100% right.
I've had a puncture or two, one was hot plugged and two others resulted in new black round things. Both headlights failed together which led to me spending an evening in the garage looking for a fault that was just two blown bulbs. The biggest failure by far was the gear selector return spring which had me riding back to MAC motorcycles in Balham flicking back between gears twice each change. The part was pence but a pretty odd failure. By far the most expensive failure was a broken EXUP valve cable - a length of cable a few cms long that cost £35. The EXUP valve sits in the exhaust and changes the back pressure to give more torque lower down the rev range. I can honestly say it makes fuck all difference if it's working or not.
Riding the bike is always a nice easy experience, to the extent I'm shitting myself at the prospect of riding that Ducati next week. The big difference should be torque. The 5 valve R1 is all about power (it was the first 172hp/172kg bike and McGuiness won the Senior TT on one) and as a result is a very hard bike to ride quickly because you have to wring it's neck which basically means if you try on the road you'll be dead. Having previously had a Fireblade RR5 (the direct competitor from Honda) I was actually shocked at the lack of torque at trundling speed from a litre bike and if I wasn't in the mood I'd be dropped dead by any old tugboat on my commute. I think this is a big difference between cars and bikes: I can lazily mash my foot into the carpet of the Gorilla and look good and fast; on a big sports bike you need to make sure you don't wheelie; bog down; catch the light front end on the upshift.... I rarely try against 911 Turbos and Supercars from the lights these days with their launch control and double clutch gearboxes. In gear roll-ons are another issue: that's just bye-bye time fro the bike.
I digress. Torque deficiency aside, the engine is a peach. Revs without fear, pulls in any gear from any speed and has a massive step up around 9k revs. In fact it’s one of those bikes it is hard to hang on to when you nail it to the red line in first gear so brutal is the acceleration (0-100mph in a shade over 5s, which is very hard to achieve as stated above) but there’s no need to because whilst there’s no torque lower down the rev range that 9k power step is accompanied by a torque bulge at around 8k. Change up at 11k (still 3k shy of the red line) and the bike throws itself into the onrushing horizon with renewed vigour, causing you to reassess your need for more power (the new super bikes are 200bhp and next year’s S1000RR BMW is apparently blessed with 210+). One time I nearly crashed into the back of a K1300S BMW as it torqued off into the distance then the Black Whanger did its torque-power thing and caught him as I reached for the brake lever and squeezed it heavier than I would normally.
Brakes. Ah yes: absolutely nothing to say about them. No ABS. 4 pot callipers front; two pot rear and they always stopped me. Same for the suspension. I like a soft front end with loads of feedback: the previous owner (who by my calculation at the time of buying was scared of it) had it set up like an ironing board so some playing with settings led me to a world of decent feedback, a modicum of comfort and cornering that just did what its supposed to do.
So, that handling thing. All sportbikes built from about 2001 and ridden on the public highway are operating at a maximum of 75% when it comes to handling, I reckon. I’ve ridden on the track loads in the past and I could eat big bikes on a 2-stroke 250 when I was skinny and lighter, simply because they’re better at braking late, turning in, carrying speed in the turn and being ejected onto the straight bits. The road has massive limitations that dictate you can’t really do that and even the aforementioned Mr McGuinness (more Senior TTs than anyone but Hailwood who has 7 like him) says he only rides the TT course at 99%. So on open roads with street furniture, opposing traffic, shite surfaces and a myriad of other things you aren’t going to test the ability of one of these things anytime soon. The new ones are even more compromised because they are just SO fast and SO powerful that death awaits at 76%. The Black Whanger was no different. I parked at a football match a few weeks ago and my friend met me as we made our way to the ground. He pointed out that I’d been right round on the rear tyre and I replied that the edges are used but not feathered, so not really pushing it - I only commute on it after all. “That’s why I noticed,” he said. “Into London and you still get it over to the edge.”
And that is the real true joy of superbike riding over supercar driving. It remains totally enjoyable at lower speeds and on my commute there are a few points that I know if the lights are with me, the traffic is with me and the weather is with me I can feel like a Moto2 rider. I had the Black Whanger step out of line a handful of times in 3 1/2 years, once a massive front end slide when it found neutral for me on the Wandsworth Bridge roundabout :eek: but it never put me on the floor and never felt like it was going to. Unsurprisingly it felt most planted when a new tyre was on it, namely a new rear tyre. This is because they are properly round when they’re new and the bike leans over very nicely, like a well damped VW grab handle in fact, and stays planted as though some magical hand is holding you in place as you glide round the corner. No wonder well funded racers with loads of new tyres always win…..
So that’s it. Just some numbers to think about. You can see the number of miles I did so let’s add in 2,170 litres of petrol (all Shell), 147 fill ups, a cost of £2,611.19 in petrol and servicing and MoT costs of £1,082.68 (1/3 of which was tyres). I paid £5,200 for it and sold it for £3,550, both privately. Tax is £78/ annum and my insurance is around £220 per annum with commuting. I just made that about 36.2p per mile based on 3.5 years. For me to catch TfL to work tomorrow (zone 1-4 rtn plus 2xNo 88 bus rides) it will be £9.80 on PAYG. That’s 35p per mile but figure in that I often commute to StPauls from SW1 and also ride to the RAC three times a week and the TfL travel card cost comes in at £12 so accounting for the additional travel distance my man-maths comes out at almost dead level. But of course I have the time flexibility on the bike; I travel door-door and of course it’s a fuck sight more pleasant on a motorbike than a suburban-route train, even in the pouring rain.
Final words: On Thursday last week I rode from the office to watch the Arsenal play. The ride home afterwards was fantastic: nice weather, some traffic beating and a high speed zip down the A3 (yes, very high speed....) It was a fitting swan song but worse was to come. I got on the bike on Friday morning for that last ever commute in, connected my DAB radio to the headset in the helmet (yes, like you car commuters I listen to the radio on my journey in) and the first song played as I left Worcester Park was Sweet Child o' Mine. I nearly cried my eyes out.
Farewell old friend. You are missed already. Roll on Tuesday…. when the new one arrives.
