What do they really weigh?

[mountain eagle]

According to Ramz here on his page about his husky setup....

Regarding his 08' Husky TE610

Originally Posted by ramz

emptied the gas tank and weighed the bike; it weighed 296 pounds. The bike was stone stock with no mods, fluids topped up, and the gas tank was empty. After filling with 3.25 gallons of gas, the TE weighed 317 pounds.

and regarding his 09 TE310

Originally Posted by ramz

But first I weighed the bike and took measurements. The TE weighed 260 pounds.

Thanks to rick for us huskylusters...... lots of info there.

[LukasM]

Originally Posted by montesa_vr

I realize it is perverse publish weight with a full gas tank, therefore penalizing the manufacturers for providing additional gas capacity to a stock motorcycle. As adventure riders, that's one of the things we are always screaming about. Unfortunately, weight with a full tank is the only number I can find that is comparable. Wet weight with an empty gas tank would be the most fair comparison, but it is hard to find.

+1000.

That is the only relevant weight by which bikes should be compared IMO. Depending on how much range is needed most people will put an aftermarket tank on their bike anyway.

[dwayne]

weight with 3 gallons. You can always choose not to fill up a big tank. most bikes will fit 3 gallons.

[BikePilot]

Thanks for the informative post! IIRC MCN numbers are ready to ride, no gas, but I could be wrong about that.

As long as its known whether its with full tank, empty tank, 3 gallons or whatever I'm happy, the math isn't hard:)

[Django Loco]

MCN (USA) test weigh bikes Wet. They claim tanks are full.

Here are a couple weights from recent issues that you can squeeze into your list. (nice job by the way! )

Wet Weights:

BMW R1200GS MCN sept. '08 536 lbs.
BMW F800GS MCN Jan. '09 490.5 lbs. (ABS)
BMW F650GS MCN April '09 473.5 lbs. (note: there is a mistake on spec sheet, this is the true wet weight as shown in the text of the article)

Neither bathroom scales nor giant truck scales are not all that accurate for weighing motorcycles. Truck scales are optimized for accuracy around 10,000 to 15,000 lbs. more or less. Weighing front then rear wheel on a common bathroom scale is just not accurate.
Been there, tried it. It under weighs.

The best we've found for weighing bikes is at a near by hospital, back at the laundry loading dock. There is a nice ramp up to the scale, and the scale is drive on. It's used to weigh bins of laundry before they go out on a truck.

This scale is certified and checked annually. It's range is from Zero to 1000 lbs. which is about perfect for accurate measurements on MC's. Very fancy piece. The whole bike fits on it and is perfectly level. It's very accurate in our experience. Many hospitals have these types of scales. We know the chief maintenance guy for the whole hospital .... so have an in

[LukasM]

Originally Posted by Django Loco

Weighing front then rear wheel on a common bathroom scale is just not accurate.
Been there, tried it. It under weighs.

Patrick,

Why do you think that is? If you placed the non-measured wheel at equal height and just supported the bike from falling over to the side, this should work very accurately. Provided that your bathroom scale is accurate, of course. They operate in pretty much the exact range we need for one wheel.

[earthroamer]

Originally Posted by LukasM

Patrick,

Why do you think that is? If you placed the non-measured wheel at equal height and just supported the bike from falling over to the side, this should work very accurately. Provided that your bathroom scale is accurate, of course. They operate in pretty much the exact range we need for one wheel.

Eggzakly. Sometimes I wonder if you guys ever took high school physics. The wheels push down the same whether they on the garage floor or a set of scales. The wheels don't know what they are on. As long as the tires are the same elevation and the bathroom scales are accurate in the 2-300 lb range it's simple physics.

[5050]

Originally Posted by earthroamer

Eggzakly. Sometimes I wonder if you guys ever took high school physics. The wheels push down the same whether they on the garage floor or a set of scales. The wheels don't know what they are on. As long as the tires are the same elevation and the bathroom scales are accurate in the 2-300 lb range it's simple physics.

Operative words - wheels at same elevation. When tipped the cg moves in the direction of the lower wheel thus biasing weight to the lower wheel and decreasing the weight born by the higher wheel. Which end of a washing machine feels heavier going downstairs - the upper or lower? Easier to wheelie going uphill or down?

[30Bones]

Originally Posted by swjohnsey

Interesting the the KLR650 would be listed at 401 and 442. Mine weighs full of fuel 415 lbs.

Originally Posted by Castleman

99 LC4e 317 lbs ready to ride and the 04 LC4 625 motard
was 321 ready to ride.

As a former KLR owner and now a 640e owner, That right there is such a HUGE difference it's unreal. Even if the weights are +/-20#. Not to mention the motor output is far greater.

[montesa_vr]

In theory, I believe it is possible to get an accurate weight one wheel at a time. In practice, the numbers are so variable that they are useless. Besides the problem that 5050 points out of the scale changing height with weight on it, there's the quality of the scales. I have never seen a bathroom scale, digital or analog, that I can't get to show varying weights depending on how I stand. Furthermore, my weight varies as much as 15 pounds from one bathroom scale to another.

I've said it before, and I'll repeat it here. I only use weights from a few magazines because I know they weigh the bikes the same way on the same scale with a full tank of gas. Maybe the weights I have listed aren't absolutely correct, or accurate, but they are consistent. And since they are consisent, they are absolutely usefull for comparison. So I don't care if your DR650 only weighs 347 pounds on your certified meat scale. For all I know, your scale is more accurate than the one at Cycle World. But I can't weigh all these bikes on your certified meat scale. And what I'm really interested in is relative weight -- how much heavier a DR650 is than a WR250R, for example. And I like to be able to look at the list and have some confidence that the difference is 66 pounds.

[Django Loco]

Originally Posted by 5050

Operative words - wheels at same elevation. When tipped the cg moves in the direction of the lower wheel thus biasing weight to the lower wheel and decreasing the weight born by the higher wheel. Which end of a washing machine feels heavier going downstairs - the upper or lower? Easier to wheelie going uphill or down?

This is it exactly. If the bike is not level then this method may not be accurate.
Also, how do you determine front to rear bias? How much do you count from each wheel? Just simply add the two weights together? Or work a percentage based on manufacturers listed front to rear bias?

Doesn't sound right to me but I never took Physics!

Sorry, I'm old school, prefer a real scale. I did measure the weight of a motor once. I got on the bathroom scale, noted the amount then held the motor close to me and held still. Just the slightest movement of the motor changed the scale ready by 15 to 20 lbs. on a 100 lb. motor.

[bmwktmbill]

'02 KTM Adventure 640a, OEM trim, KTM Competition pipe and pre muffler replacement pipe, Touratech pannier mounts(no panniers), 1.5 gallons of fuel....

400 lbs.

http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=...QEwAQ&dur=7031
bill

[mikegreen]

What is this "pounds" you guys talk about. Where's the kilo's

[montesa_vr]

Originally Posted by mikegreen

What is this "pounds" you guys talk about. Where's the kilo's

In the U.S., the school system has been teaching the metric system since the 1970's, but the polticians are afraid to make it our standard of measurement, so we still rely on feet, pounds, pecks, pints, rods, and other antiquated measures. If Obama really wants to be the science president he could push for us to advance in this area, but I haven't heard a proposal.

[dgrs2]

I weighed my 2004 KTM 950 Adventure on a friends race car scale. Full wet, crash bars, heppco, becker hard cases, KTM top case. 525 lbs. With myself on it with bags full of camping gear, 8 man tent, back pack filled, extra doodads for fixin, 855 lbs. Have to weigh my 03 KTM 625 SXC. I'll let you know.