Bike got an upgrade today

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Custom made Hypersport suspension. Progressive front springs & new fluid, custom made rear shock & spring to match my weight. When it was apart the tech called and said the steering bearings were pretty shot so I had him just replace them now as well. The rear end is raised up noticeably from what it was, too, which is a way better fit for my tall frame.

Rode it in this morning, picked it up this evening and put about 90-100km on it, including an extra 25km loop on my way home tonight.

Game changer. Feels like a brand new bike! 30 year old squishy undersprung suspension swapped out for waaaaay better engineered & performing parts changes so much more than what it feels
like going over bumps. I’m pleasantly surprised & impressed tbh. Worth every penny.

Feels much more stable and kinda “magneted,” to the road.. definitely confidence inspiring as I can feel it’s going to be easier to carry more speed smoothly through curves as well as much more responsive and stable making sudden moves. It also feels faster as the bike doesn’t rock back and move when accelerating - it just moves forward, so much less energy lost to squishy parts moving. Braking is much smoother, better, and more stable feeling due to not rocking forward while braking too - which is even more noticeable (I think) because I don’t have antilock brakes.

Biggest con is it’s going to cost me more time and gas money now that I’ll want to ride it more and take the scenic route an extra 25kms home. :p

 

Just kidding!

Haha! Was looking at the pics!

But yes. Is a bit improvement that relatively small changes in design between components can make.

Congrats on Successful Project . many happy miles ....please do not let the bike outride you ..And enjoy the hec outta it .ZOOM... ZOOM...ZOOOoooom...! ( be careful please)

Oh, I'll enjoy it! I think I've put like 17-18k kms on the bike so far. (A VERY EXPENSIVE per km cost omfg way more expensive than driving a car.. but now that so much has been rebuilt/replaced it Should be lower cost maintenance for a while.) Yeah, doubt the bike is gonna out ride me.. it's not exactly a high performance speed machine or anything and I don't ride aggressively. I'm pretty cautious and the new upgrades make everything feel much safer and controllable, so that's a huge bonus.

Is this an electric bike you are talking about?

No.. push button electric start, yes.. but no. 750cc BMW K75. 1993 (30 years old!) with Collector plates for cheap insurance. (The only thing that’s cheap about it.)

Blue one:



Apparently people complained that the suspension was “under sprung,” right from new.. now add 30 years of wear and tear and settling & sagging and I bet it was a lot softer than it was even brand new.

Now it’s much more rigid, but planted and stable - not rough and uncomfortable. Throttle on, bike moves forward instead of first tipping back and losing power to saggy soft springs moving around. Brakes on, bike slows nicely instead of nose diving and compressing the front fork springs. I steer, bike moves more responsively. I lean it a bit, bike feels stable and more comfortable holding a bit more speed around curves - and I’m sure over the course of many rides to come I’ll get ever more comfortable with high performing brand new suspension and will be able to take curves quicker and leaned over more without feeling sketched out. Game changer - definitely confidence inspiring.

Electric.. no no; it takes hella expensive gas. Laws changed in Canada last Spring so all pump gas has ethanol in it. The only gas without it is Marine gas sold at marinas for boats at 2.75/L. I drove to a marina in Washington State (beautiful drive omg!) and filled several gas cans cheaper there so I have several tanks worth. Ethanols ruins boat engines and older motorcycles so it’s cheap insurance to buy it. Can run a bit of ethanol mid season, but end of the riding season/Winter storage needs to be ethanol free as if it sits in the fuel system it sort of glazes it and gums it all up.. which would be excessively expensive to dismantle, clean, and rebuild. Since the fuel is more expensive, it’s gotta be about on par with the fuel cost of driving my car. When I bought regular premium gas here fuel savings were about 12%.. but with the US exchange rate it might even cost more for fuel than my car now and it’s not even a very big thirsty motorcycle compared to some.

Cloudy wet today, rain the next couple days - oh well - lots of work lined up to do with 2 different contractors. Wednesday through the end of the week looks clear for riding, though! But only highs of 8-9C and lows of 1 and even 0 in the forecast.. soooo, if I can get out for some midday to early evening rides later this week I'm gonna go burn some gas and play (in traffic!) with the new upgrades.

Enjoy... average person does not seem to be aware of effects of Ethanol on long term storage inside a fuel system of a gasoline operated engine / carburetor system ... Had figured that to be uncommon knowledge ..? .....
You be a sMART , one of them. late hubby and people in the racing industry ..made me aware of it .. Then of course learned it obviously applied to smaller scale gas powered lawn equipment. Ethanol.. Is not so good in older engines , i think. And thought folks shoulda been been made more aware of that issue .Long time ago ..Cost much money in repairs.. for unsuspecting consumers. Cannot imagine the fun your gonna have on that bike . ..DO IT TO IT !. Please be careful on those 0 c ,, days ,, besides being nicer to your bike...Important to have your posts on here as well.. Much enjoyable reading over the years . ..!

Need me a older vintage 1970s version of a R-5 beemer bike ...

They teach about ethanol in bikes at Pacific Riding School where we took our riding lessons. (The "premium," motorcycle training place here - costs more but their teaching methods are superior because the owner has a Masters degree in designing education programs.)

Oh, I will enjoy it.. multiple times over what I have been to date!! It's a SIGNIFICANT upgrade/improvement to so many different factors of riding I was quite pleasantly surprised at just how game changing it truly is. Should be able to get out later this week and burn some gas. It's crazy expensive, though... like if I were to add up every expense divided by distance travelled on it so far I swear it's gotta be approaching $800-900 per 1,000 kms. Mind you, many of the expensive repairs should last for many years so the longer I keep and ride this bike and put kms on it the lower the price per trip should be.. which is a part of why I figured I'd do the suspension to make it more enjoyable/safer and better all around as with all the other money spent I may as well just keep it and ride it for the next 3-5 years+ vs switching to a different bike. Otherwise tons of money spent on repairs goes out the window when sold vs. getting to exploit the value riding it myself.

I don't plan on making any lethal moves so should be around to make posts about motorcycle adventures. I'm really quite cautious vs. the sudden moves kind of rider, which IMO bodes well for longevity.