The new Yamaha Bolt BIKE thread

I may not want to go that far, but thanks for the heads up.

I gotta sell a couple of project bikes yet anyway.

And then resist the allure of more fixer uppers.

I had a Vulcan 900 and everything save for the fuel tank was plastic, cheap brittle plastic.

oh my

Gorgeous looking bike.

I suppose now the comparison to the Sportster is becoming more solid since we now have a "girl bike" ad.

That "bed pan" looks overly large.

What happened to this thread? All that momentum came to a halt!

I just rode one of these this week. I loved it. More than adequate power, very good turn-in, no problem with the brakes, and better suspension than the Sportster. The Sporty takes it to the cleaners in the looks/fit/finish department, though. All the little metal guards on the exhaust are cheesy, as are the plastic covers everywhere, and the switch gear doesn't seem like it would hold up to extended outdoor abuse very well.

Makes my decision very hard, I wish I could walk up to the Sportster and then have it ride like the Bolt. Can't have your cake and eat it too, I suppose.

IMHO for one thing, Yamaha came out with the FZ-09.
That bled off a lot of enthusiasm for the Bolt, especially here at ADV, where inmates care more about motorcycles than image.
The triple is a much better motorcycle (power, handling, weight, ride) by just about any measure for the same money.
Because of the value the FZ-09 represents (equal to bikes in the $11k range), and it's the newest thing, the Bolt is less interesting.

Oh yeah, and you don't have to own any red flannel shirts to ride the FZ-09.
(Sorry, Steve)

happened to run into an aquaintenance who works at our local Yamahog shop and the conversation tured to the Bolt ... they've had 4 or 5 in this seaon, all sold and one already wrecked apparently ... he went on to say that he's heard that the Bolt hasn't been as big a seller for Yamaha as was initially anticipated ... if true, that's also sad ...

It is big. I like the way the exhaust runs through it on the other side. I didn't want to repost all the pictures though. My favorite is Greg Hagemen's custom.

That's a shame, I kind of like them. If I was going to a cruiser style bike I would go for that more upright sitting position. I sat on one a few months back and it felt closer to my Vmax than the Stryker. Being 5'8" everything was much more comfortable. I'm not ready to trade in the FZ1 just yet though.

yeah, and there's the usual rush for the new cool thing.
There's a part of the moto population that always has to have the new thing before anyone else.

Now that we're past those buyers, we'll move into the next segment of buyers who buy what they like and intend to keep it or make some longer term plans.

Every Bolt my local dealer had was sold quickly and the next two r-specs already have deposits. There's no slow down around here. Not that I can see, anyway.

I saw a shiney Black, non R, model in Harrodsburg,Ky. yesterday knocked down to $7500.
It looked like a deal til I spyed the 650 V-Strom with FREE! hard bags for $7700.
The stuff I've read says the R's shocks aren't enough to make much difference anyway.

yeah, the shocks on any bike at that price point aren't enough for a 200lb guy like me riding in the Happylachian curves every day. I just figure in the cost of shocks and forks or fork internal upgrades to anything that doesn't come with fully adjustable parts.

I'd like more travel on the rear anyway and a higher tail/sharper rake/trail.

I can only peek through the Facebook window, but I thought this scrambler from "Doc's Chops" was very well done.

(The docschops.net website was nowhere to be found, but Google Images showed some nice Virago-based cafes from them, too)

Edit:Googled again - this is Hageman's bike! You MUST have excellent taste!

I have a black non R-spec. It's a nice bike but it's not perfect. It gets a little cramped at 6'1" and it could use some more power.

It seems like nice gains are made with a new air filter assembly, fuel programmer, and exhaust.

I don't know if you found it or not, the name just changed to Hageman Motorcycles - http://hagemanmc.com/

He has some really classy understated beauties.

Here's one with a lot of pink. Pink Bolt

The OCC PeptoBismol bike?