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Author Topic: The one you know you shouldn't let get away...  (Read 8020 times)
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kf6pqt
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« on: September 01, 2007, 07:44:55 PM »

My next door neighbor was upgrading to some thing faster/louder/more cc's... He let me ride it the day he got it new over a year ago... heck, I helped put that exhaust on! So I couldnt pass it up.

Financially unwise, yet the fun factor is priceless!


DRZ 400 Supermoto... Everything thats great about a dirt bike, but for the street, and yet entirely street legal. More fun than should be legal!


* supermoto224.JPG (320.9 KB, 1200x900 - viewed 376 times.)
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W6IEE, formerly KF6PQT
AF9J
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« Reply #1 on: September 01, 2007, 09:18:18 PM »

OH Cool!  A Suzook DR400Z converted into a supermotard!  Those things are a blast.  But, don't forget Jason,  Supermotards are blast in the twisties (a good supermotard rider can embarass a Gixxer rider on a nasty, super twisty road) but a drag on the highway (read the tests on the KTM625 Duke).

73,
Ellen - AF9J

P.S. - for those of you who are OT riders, supermotards can trace their lineage to the bikes that were used for the old ABC Wide World of Sports, "Superbikers" competition, which pitted riders from various disciplines (MX, flat track, & grand prix) against each other on a track that was a mix of dirt and paved road 
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The Slab Bacon
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« Reply #2 on: September 02, 2007, 10:37:20 AM »

Thatz kinda weird lookin. Kinda like "whats wrong with this picture"??

A dirt bike with smooth high speed street tires.  I doubt that it is really capable of street speeds that will take advantage of those tires, and those tires will definately have you pickin the gravel out of your teeth if you go off road. So what is its real purpose??

As a general rule street bikes dont make very good dirt bikes, and dirt bikes are usually deathtraps on the street. At least out of the box anyway.

                                                                                               The Slab Bacon
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AF9J
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« Reply #3 on: September 02, 2007, 12:16:56 PM »

Hi Frank,

Supermotos (also called supermotards) are very popular over in Europe.  Companies like Suzuki (the DR-Z400SM that Jason's neighbor has), KTM (with it's 690 and 950 Supermotos), and Yamaha (with its XT660 in Europe) market purpose made supermotos.  These bikes are considered like naked bikes (ala the Triumph Speed Triple), to be hooligan bikes of a sort.  With their gearing, doing wheelies and other stunts is easy, and a blast to do.  The same for stoppies.  In some ways they're considered to to almost perfect urban bikes.  Their frame geometry makes them ridiculously nimble handlers - perfect for darting in and out of traffic congestion.  The long travel suspension is nice for some of the junky street surfaces many cities have nowadays. 

Out in the country, supermotos are a horse a piece.  Unlike my old Honda XL-250R dual purpose (which had semiknobbies for tires), their weight, and tires make them unsuitable (actually downright frightening) in the dirt.  Their relatively low gearing (great for squirting in and out of traffic and exiting tight turns, not so good for droning along), and relative lack of comfort (some tests say the seats on the KTMs feel like a padded brick) make them a pain for freeway riding.  In high speed sportbike riding on smooth roads, their long travel suspension can be a hinderance, due to the movement of the bike on its suspension, making the handling feel vague and flighty at times.  BUT, in a set of nasty twisties (especially on a road with a ratty surface), that keep the speeds down, supermotos can give full blown sportsbikes the fits.  There have been more than a few times that a rider on a Suzuki GSXR-600, Ducati 998, or Yamaha YZF-R1 has wound up chasing a supermoto on your favorite crappy, winding country road, instead of the other way around.

73,
Ellen - AF9J
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AF9J
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« Reply #4 on: September 02, 2007, 12:33:26 PM »

BTW Jason, did you keep your old bike too?

Ellen
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kf6pqt
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« Reply #5 on: September 02, 2007, 01:25:27 PM »

No, the neighbor is the crazy one and got a new R1, I got his "old" DRZ. They come this way from the factory, the main feature is basically a GSXR front-end,  obviously with much longer inverted shocks. MASSIVE brakes for such a light bike. Its a leeetly teeny 400cc single cyl. 4-stroke, and even with a stage 2 carb jet and a NICE sounding Yoshi pipe, Its just "a little" bit faster off the line than my old beater Seca 650. (4 cyl)

With the present gearing, I'm told this thing maxes out downhill with a tailwind at a little over 70 Mph. (hence, my neighbor "needed" the R1 for his short freeway commute, this bike wasn't cutting it!)

My commute consists of two miles of residential streets, going putt-putt-putt, so this bike is perfect. (LET gas go to $6 a gallon, I'm set!)  I don't really anticipate exploring the handling potential this thing has, but if I do, I will be well armored.

For something that is little more than a water-cooled lawnmower engine, this thing sounds awesome! That exhaust was pricey when new, but worth every penny. Downshifting and letting out the clutch sounds like something you'd expect to watch and hear on TV, not actually be riding. One blip of the throttle, and all cell phone conversations in a 50 foot radius are disrupted. Wink Also nice setting off all the Mercedes, Land Rover, and Saab burglar alarms in the parking garage at work!

But, this does mean all the other bikes need to go. '82 Seca, '81 XS650S, '71 CB350, '69 AT1, and a basket case of a Suzuki 650 hardtail bobber need new homes!

I need the garage space to rackmount my 4-1000a amp!  Wink
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W6IEE, formerly KF6PQT
The Slab Bacon
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« Reply #6 on: September 02, 2007, 02:13:30 PM »

The one I still wish I had was my '63 T-120. Although very primative by todays standards, it was a bike that did everything so well that it inspired confidence in the rider.

Add an 850 Routt kit and some tuning tricks, 30 years ago it was a blast to ride. Plenty of horsepower, light weight (about 380 lbs) and good handling, it was a great fun bike to ride. It was comfortable tooling down the highway and just as at home on a twisty back road. I was known for my here to eternity wheelies with a big "shit eating grin" on my face.
It would stand strait up with just hard crack of the throttle, there was no need to "flyclutch" it to get it to stand up. torque was definately the name of the game!! People used to joke about my headlight in the trees. One of the limitations back in those days was the old Dunlop universal tires. But they didnt do too bad on dirt roads.

"Stoppies" hadnt become popular yet. However i also used to have a little Honda mini 50 that I used to keep in the trunk of my car. We used to joke about it as being the ultimate spare tire. I would usually pull it out of the trunk when a bunch of us were hanging out on one of the local shopping center parking lots late at night and half loaded. As we were getting more and more beered up, we would get it going as fast as we could and lock up the front brake and see who could ride it the farthest on the front wheel. This usualy caused many really funny low speed crashes and lots of really good laughs!! No one ever got hurt, but we all had sore ribs from laughing!!

                                                                                     The Slab Bacon
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AF9J
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« Reply #7 on: September 02, 2007, 02:57:56 PM »

No, the neighbor is the crazy one and got a new R1, I got his "old" DRZ. They come this way from the factory, the main feature is basically a GSXR front-end,  obviously with much longer inverted shocks. MASSIVE brakes for such a light bike. Its a leeetly teeny 400cc single cyl. 4-stroke, and even with a stage 2 carb jet and a NICE sounding Yoshi pipe, Its just "a little" bit faster off the line than my old beater Seca 650. (4 cyl)

With the present gearing, I'm told this thing maxes out downhill with a tailwind at a little over 70 Mph. (hence, my neighbor "needed" the R1 for his short freeway commute, this bike wasn't cutting it!)

My commute consists of two miles of residential streets, going putt-putt-putt, so this bike is perfect. (LET gas go to $6 a gallon, I'm set!)  I don't really anticipate exploring the handling potential this thing has, but if I do, I will be well armored.

For something that is little more than a water-cooled lawnmower engine, this thing sounds awesome! That exhaust was pricey when new, but worth every penny. Downshifting and letting out the clutch sounds like something you'd expect to watch and hear on TV, not actually be riding. One blip of the throttle, and all cell phone conversations in a 50 foot radius are disrupted. Wink Also nice setting off all the Mercedes, Land Rover, and Saab burglar alarms in the parking garage at work!

But, this does mean all the other bikes need to go. '82 Seca, '81 XS650S, '71 CB350, '69 AT1, and a basket case of a Suzuki 650 hardtail bobber need new homes!

I need the garage space to rackmount my 4-1000a amp!  Wink

I know where you're coming from Jason. Big singles are a blast!  If  I had the money, and my commute to work wasn't on 27 miles of freeway (although I know all of the backroads that'll get me to work too), I wouldn't mind a supermoto myself.  I've always liked giant killers.  In the right hands on a twisty road (especially if the pavement's not so good [we have a lot of back roads like that around here]), a supermoto can embarass a lot of sporty bikes.  70 mph top speed? - I'm suprised that the DR400 Supermoto is geared so low. The standard dual purpose version of the bike is capable of around 100 for its top speed.  Even my dual purpose Honda XL-250R could do at least 75.  Did your neighbor change the sprockets, so that he could have a wheelie king?  Just in case you ever want to ride it more than 15 or 20 miles, you might want to put on a larger (as in more teeth) countershaft sprocket.   I hope you retuned the carb for the new pipe.

So you're selling the other bikes -  Damn!, I wish I had the money for the Seca 650. I'd take it off of your hands. That's a great, underrated bike.  Also, shaft drive - no screwing around with chains.  Have fun with your supermoto. Smiley

73,
Ellen - AF9J
The K & A indices are bad, and I can't hear the DX-60 net on 7290 today
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kf6pqt
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« Reply #8 on: September 03, 2007, 03:06:43 PM »

Yes, the Seca is a true sleeper, a sportbike in ratbike's clothing. My understanding is that Yamaha tried to give the Americans a taste of European stuff (To me the Seca looks like a BMW sans protruding cylinders) but the idea didnt take off.

Also, they made a TURBOcharged version,  Shocked  but it turned out to be a bit of a dog.



The garage of superfluous projects:




* garage1.jpg (270.18 KB, 1200x900 - viewed 324 times.)
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W6IEE, formerly KF6PQT
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« Reply #9 on: September 03, 2007, 04:54:06 PM »

The Yagermeister project looks finished ..................   klc
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kf6pqt
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« Reply #10 on: September 03, 2007, 05:11:53 PM »

Haha, no, never finished!  Leftover prop from the college "frat" house...

Not a "real" frat... It was co-ed.  Wink  And existed underground, as it was banned by the school as its primary pledging activity consisted of alcohol hazing.  Good times, good times!
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W6IEE, formerly KF6PQT
AF9J
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« Reply #11 on: September 03, 2007, 05:24:57 PM »

Where'd you go to school Jason?

Ellen - AF9J
Univ. of WI, Class of 1987
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kf6pqt
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« Reply #12 on: September 03, 2007, 05:35:46 PM »

Whittier College, Whittier CA... only claim to fame is that its where Nixon did his undergrad.

Last two years I was the engineer for the crummy AM radio station, which broadcast through the AC mains. This was about 5 years before I became a Ham. My idea then (which I wasnt permitted to do) was to take it pirate FM. Had I known what I know now, omfg, 530 AM would have STRAPPED!!!! Wink
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W6IEE, formerly KF6PQT
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« Reply #13 on: September 04, 2007, 08:09:30 PM »

A good set of trail tread on a dirtbike is a ton of go-anywhere fun. Not sure about the dirt-to-street conversion.
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AF9J
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« Reply #14 on: September 04, 2007, 08:29:37 PM »

Today's supermotos (like Jason's) really aren't dirbike to street conversions.  The early ones were, but not so much anymore.  There are several companies out there that purpose build them for the street.  the firks and the shocks aren't quite as long travel, and are a bit firemr than the dirtbikes.  They have full streetlegal kit.  Two of the biggest manufacturers of them are Suzuki:

http://www.suzukicycles.com/Products/DRZ400SMK8/Default.aspx

and KTM:

http://www.ktm.com/Supermoto.16.20.html

To rephrase it, if you're thinking Harley, or Goldwing (which a lot of people think about, when they envision motorcycles), supermotos are definitely NOT for you.  They don't cruise or tour very well.  But if you want manic, giggle inducing stuntbike-like performance, and the ability to turn on a dime (something a lot of sportbikes won't do), supermotos become very interesting.

73,
Ellen - AF9J
 
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kf6pqt
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« Reply #15 on: September 06, 2007, 11:31:43 AM »

Quote
concoction of 130 Aviation gas, alcohol, Jet A, nitromethane, 2 stroke oil and several other ingredients now long forgotten.

WOW!  What kept that thing from melting/grenading when you wound it out???
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W6IEE, formerly KF6PQT
The Slab Bacon
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« Reply #16 on: September 06, 2007, 12:29:02 PM »

Hey, I may be the inventor of this "supermoto" idea!!! I had a 1974 Husqvarna 400WR that I had to stick a 'light kit' on to make it 'street legal' with a tag for trials use. So I ended up sticking some street tires on the thing and riding it to work for a couple of years. Stock horsepower was pretty good but I did a few mods and ran it on a dangerous concoction of 130 Aviation gas, alcohol, Jet A, nitromethane, 2 stroke oil and several other ingredients now long forgotten. This 'secret formula' of racing fuel was later reported to 'self ignite' when left stored too long! The old Husky was a left side starter and a very dangerous one at that, stood on the left and used my right leg to kick start the beast with full body weight and full leg extension required or the thing would 'kick back' and break a bone for you!

I had a 'back road' route to work on a very narrow and twisting 2 lane concrete road that few cars ever used. It was a real hoot to blast that road on the old Husky twice a day.
Mack
 


then I guess you get a smile on your face and raise an eyebrow at the smell of "Klotz" and "blenzall" Grin Grin
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The Slab Bacon
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« Reply #17 on: September 06, 2007, 12:53:01 PM »

Yea!! but that stuff was pretty expensive, so most of the time I just ran Sunoco 260 and Full Bore (remember that stuff). I used to think it was pretty neat that turned the clear fuel lines blue. We used to only use the Klotz and Blenzall for the really big races. Bean oil definately has a rather unique and unforgettable smell.

                                                   The Slab Bacon
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"No is not an answer and failure is not an option!"
Ian VK3KRI
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« Reply #18 on: September 07, 2007, 08:27:07 AM »

Bean oil definately has a rather unique and unforgettable smell.


Ahhh! I love the smell of Castrol-R in the morining
                                   Ian VK3KRI
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