Do to the requirement of attending our monthly team meeting at the Range today, I opted to ride the KTM. The Range is not Sport Bike Friendly. Not at all. It’s not even Car Friendly. It’s 4X4 friendly for sure… So the KTM went to work with me.
I like it. Due to the use of Off Road Cogs instead of actual Tires, it did have an abundance of vibration. But that was expected. It’s very different through the curves, the way these sorts of machines lean. I like the riding position and the fact that its so much easier to stand up on the pegs. It’s odd standing up on the highway… but fun. I only went tops 67 MPH and not my usual Warp Factor 9, but it didn’t feel like I was going slow. It’s just a fun machine. I got used to the bike more… and coming home on it I was much more confident and comfortable. I liked it even more.
I also liked the fact that I was able to say to myself, “Hey, where does that little turn off go?” So I took it… went over a couple hills and across a field and back onto the highway. NICE! That is the exact thing I wanted an Enduro for. I can go anywhere on it. I love that. It’s not smooth pavement only. I am digging this Enduro thing. The Two Wheeled Jeep thing. It’s addicting. I find myself daydreaming about where I can go and explore. I’ve gone up to Paradise Lake a couple times… and it’s fun. But I want to take it further. Go explore some Ghost Towns. Go up to the tops of some of these mountains around here. And I will.
Guys should never ride Scooters. I don’t care who you are, where you are, Scooters are for Chicks, not Dudes. A Dude on a Scooter is just wrong.
For Example.
Now there is nothing but right with that. If you look like that, by all means, ride that Scooter. We’re going to overlook the complete lack of safety gear… and just appreciate this for what it is… A moment of zen… a moment to contemplate the beauty in the world.
And then there’s this guy. Wrong on all counts. Don’t be this guy. No gear, riding a Scooter while on a Cell Phone, and he’s guilty of being a Dude On a Scooter. Someone should smash him with a 2×4 while he rides past… for his own good. Yes, I know who that dude is. Doesn’t matter. He’s still wrong. Very wrong.
There is a brand new Motorcycle Brand that has just popped up. MOTUS. And they are impressive.
Basically they have a new engine design. A V-4 specifically designed motorcycling. Small, compact, big bore, lots of power. 160 horses. You gotta love that. I especially love the Moto Guzzi look, but doubling it up. I like the engine configuration and aggressive lines is has… with the claimed power delivery it should be one hell of a ride.
Two versions, Sport Touring and Sport. Basically it’s one bike and they just put a fairing and some luggage on it to make the other. Simple. I like that.
The overall look of the bike is that a Ducati and a Motoguzzi had a relationship… Engine and frame showing off the technical aspects of the machine. I don’t know if I can live in this world and not have one of these bikes! Oh wait. There is the price aspect. Hold on to your seat, Moto Fans… 30 Grand Plus from what I’m gathering. That’s expensive for a bike. Very expensive. You could buy a BMW S1000RR for 16-18 Grand depending on options, and pretty much all lesser machines for less than that. This Motus? Wow. That’s a lot of money for something brand new like this with no track record to stand on. But the engineering support that went into these bikes is impressive indeed. Oh wait, what’s that? Well, your right. Some Harley Guys will spend more than that on their HD Branded Leathers and matching Hard Case Luggage. Yeah, just so they can ride their twice a year tour to show off that they are Bikers. I know. You’ve seen them on the road. Sparkling new machines that are five years old and less miles than some of us ride in a month and every bit of kit they have on the bike or themselves is all stamped Harley Davidson. So in that perspective, a Motus is cheap.
My concern about these, and any new engine. Is how does the engine run after 50 thousand miles? I’ve seen some engines that are nice and tight and keep their performance and then it just comes apart with no hope of regaining the efficiency it once had. Others chug along happy as can be forever as long as you keep oil in it. I don’t want one like an Audi engine… Fine until it starts to unravel. I hope this Motus engine is more like Ford’s old inline 6 truck engine they used to make… the things were bullet proof. If it had oil in it and gas, the engine would run. That kind of reliability is what I would want out of this new Motus powerplant.
That engine would look amazing in a custom chopper frame, wouldn’t it? Considering that Motus is selling those engines as crate motors, I’m betting we’ll be seeing some wild custom builds.
If I had the money, I’d certainly buy one. Of course, I can’t even afford to pay attention, so a machine like this is a pipe dream at the moment. But still… what a sweet sweet dream it is. If I could, I’d buy the stripped down sport version. Because an engine like this, you are not getting the big mile numbers back for a tank of juice, and those don’t look like the largest of fuel tanks given the size of the airbox that motor needs. And the seat looks like it gives you little room for moving around. So even with the claimed “Large Fuel Tank” on the product page, I’m guessing your getting barely over a hundred miles on one refill. To me, that’s not a Sport Touring machine. This machine looks like it just needs to be stripped down and enjoyed for what it is… a Beastly machine that wants to tear shit up. I’d want to keep it pure. You don’t see a lot of Ducati Monsters wearing hard luggage, now do you?
Went for a ride on the KTM… this time I went and hit dirt. About five miles on sand, dirt, gravel, and rocks.
I have to be honest, this was absolutely horrifying. It was the scariest thing I’ve ever done. No, seriously… out of everything I’ve ever done – this was the scariest. I got to a point where I overlook Highway 40, and I had to stop to take a breather. I was drenched in sweat and my heart was racing! Oh man. At one point, it felt like my hair was on fire and my balls were on fire… and I glanced down… I was only doing 28 MPH. Oh Man!
But I survived, didn’t face plant. Kept the bike up. Coming back I was able to open it up some more… went faster. Caught a bit of air. It was scary and thrilling.
I’ve wanted an Enduro for years. And I’ve wanted a second bike to add to the Ogre Ranch Stables. Finally brought it home. It’s a KTM 525 MXC… I’ve probably mentioned it before. Well, the deal is done and the bike is mine now.
The bike is in brand new – seriously, like it’s never been ridden, brand new condition with a ton of upgrades. First thing I have got to do to it though… is lower this beast. It’s tall. I’m talking, big time, Shaq Attack altitude. To give some perspective, here it is with my Superhawk…
The bikes were parked almost completely side by side, with the Rear Tires up on the concrete pad… The KTM is a big machine. My ZX-11 isn’t much bigger than the Hawk was in physical size, and the KTM is just dwarfing it. The riding position is very much upright. It’s like a Culture Shock Whiplash riding this thing. Of course, the hard part is getting it going… and by that I mean getting up on it. I’m about 2 inches too short for it, or so it feels. The bike was set up for Desert Racing, which it never had a chance to do, so it’s in Desert Attack Mode right now. Yeah, that’s going to have to be changed a bit. I need it in more “Dual Sport” mode. She’s Street Legal as she sits now, lights and everything… good to go. But Tires and Suspension are set for Baja 1000.
The big question: Why?
Man, I don’t know. I just always wanted an Enduro. I’ve been attracted to Adventure Touring. Go freaking anywhere. Up trails that disappear over mountains. That kinda stuff. Now I have the machine… I need to go do it. It’s something I’ve always wanted to do.
The biggest thing I got to get over is riding on Dirt. I’ll be honest… it scares the shit out of me. I’ve not had good luck on dirt and gravel and such. So this is me overcoming my fear of Earth. Once I can do that – I’ll be in a much better place psychologically when it comes to riding, regardless of what I am on.
Eventually I will no longer be able to Ride. Bad knees and dizziness will catch up to me. Death and Taxes… they are going to happen.
I watched some guys ride past on Sport Touring machines this morning and I thought, man… I never want to give this up, as I rubbed the pain in my knees.
Then I saw a dude motor past on one of those Harley Trikes. I thought “Oh hell no!”. I’d have o give up riding first.
This depressed me all day. Like The Ghost of Christmas Future, it loomed over me threatening my inevitable doom.
On the way home I saw one of these Can-Am Spyders. Goofy looking… but still sporty, still zoomy.
Huh.
I could do one of those.
The Bike of the Week this time around is the Kawasaki ZX10R. Another one from The Big Green. Unlike my ZX11, which is aimed for “Sport Touring”, the ZX10R is pure sport. The differences are in Rider Position, Engine Tuning, and Suspension geometry and settings. It’s a completely different animal. Like a Ford Escort is almost completely unrelated to the Mustang GT. This bike is all about Aggression. Speed and handling. This thing is a monster.
We have a small group that watches a couple motorcycle races every few weeks. Primarily we really only pay attention to the Liter Class Wars. We’ve noticed a distinct trend. The first handful of laps are always led by the Kawasaki ZX10R. After about the 5th lap or so, the Ninja starts to drop back a few positions… and usually ends up coming in 7th place or something. However, the last time the Ninja stayed up front all the way to the Almost End.
I say “Almost End” because in the last lap, that damned Messerschmidt Pilot tucked in to the Ninja’s 6 O’Clock and in the last few corners… gunned him down in Cold Blood… Passed him and took the race. It was something the BMW Pilots have been doing to Honda, Aprilia, freaking everyone. What’s different this time though is that the Ninja was finally leading, and he did so by a good long margin. It really came down to not the bike, but Tire Selection. Looks like they finally found the right one. Now if someone could just sabotage the BMW’s, they might win!
Outside of Racing, the ZX10R remains a fantastic street bike. According to Motorcyclist Magazine, if you want the Best Liter Bike you can buy – that’s not the BMW – then it’s the Ninja. It’s got more than a huge following… It’s one of the best selling Liter Bikes out there. This bike doesn’t have any new huge advances in technology, just an evolution of everything Kawasaki has been doing right since the move Top Gun.
This last weekend the trip to SLC on the bike was both good and bad.
The bad was because if my knee. The tendon took a couple minutes to stretch back out. This meant when I came to a stop, I could only put down my right foot.
That’s not good. If I tipped to the left, I’d have gone down because I had nothing to stop it.
Once I was rolling though, it was smooth sailing. The bike loves to cruise. It ran flawlessly and turned in 48 mpg. I topped off in Lapoint and didn’t have to gas up again untill I was well into SLC.
On my Magna or Superhawk, I’d have refilled twice more. I’ve never had a bike with this much range.
I couldn’t be happier with the Kawasaki.
