Bikes with flaws you hate

[der_saeufer]

Originally Posted by Splendidtutional

My G650 GS has a few. First bike and overall I love it. But there are flaws...

Often wont shift into firt gear. In second, pull clutch, come to stop, wont go into first no matter how hard I stomp. have to be rolling about 10mph to have a chance at first and even then, no guarantee. This is most annoying when in traffic and the red light suddenly turns green and I am almost to a stop.

The previously mentioned oil change procedure.

The lack of a helmet lock. I know a lot of bikes dont come with them, and I do appreciate the stock (on my 09) center stand, ABS (get some use out of that in DC!) and heated grips, but a helmet lock would just take the cake.

Heck, I dont even mind that when I shift it sounds liek a screen door slamming shut, I just want it to shift into first gear consistently!

Love the bike though...

I assume the Rotax is a similar setup to Japanese bikes.. slip the clutch just a little and it'll shift at a stop. You don't have to move the bike, just get a little movement into the gearbox.

WeeStroms don't have a helmet lock either. Annoying! Ninjettes and TU250s do, but somehow bigger, more expensive bikes don't.

[ttpete]

Often wont shift into firt gear. In second, pull clutch, come to stop, wont go into first no matter how hard I stomp. have to be rolling about 10mph to have a chance at first and even then, no guarantee. This is most annoying when in traffic and the red light suddenly turns green and I am almost to a stop.

Keep on stomping on the shifter, and soon you won't have to worry about finding ANY gear. Your dealer won't mind a bit, because you're going to make him considerably richer.

[concours]

My '86 Concours had 'em.. yet my 2005 Royal Star does not, my 2007 Tiger 1050 does not... EVERY car is required by federal law to have them.. WTF?

[concours]

The headlights on the Tiger 1050 are horribly dangerous, suck worse the the old Lucas shit 40 years ago. The V-strom has GREAT lookers, and the otherwise GREAT bike has SHIT fior lights. WTF Triumph?

[DJGypsy]

Originally Posted by concours

My '86 Concours had 'em.. yet my 2005 Royal Star does not, my 2007 Tiger 1050 does not... EVERY car is required by federal law to have them.. WTF?

i agree. it would cost very little to implement this at the factory, and it's something i wish i had.

Originally Posted by concours

The headlights on the Tiger 1050 are horribly dangerous, suck worse the the old Lucas shit 40 years ago. The V-strom has GREAT lookers, and the otherwise GREAT bike has SHIT fior lights. WTF Triumph?

triumph probably didn't test their headlights when they're 50 feet off of the pavement (i say this because of other foibles i have noticed in their designs, i.e. shim valves on a low-revving understressed engine, mufflers that block easy chain maintenance, mufflers that have to be removed before you can use a paddock stand, seats that make you want to kill yourself, etc.

but back to the lights- have you tried re-aiming them? when i took my bonneville from the showroom floor it's light was aimed at the sky.

[dwoodward]

Triumph hazard flashers- Check the pin-out on the alarm connector- on the Tiger 800, both left and right turn signal circuits are present. (Otherwise, trace them out under the tail section somewhere.) At this point you have two options:

1) Buy a handlebar mounted aux light switch, wire it to those two pins. Turn on your blinker (either one), flip your switch to ON, viola, hazard flashers. If they flash too fast, replace the flasher with an electronic one.

2) Also buy a flasher unit and wire your own circuit from scratch.

As for the T1050 lights- I don't think it's just aim, I hear the reflector design was done Friday afternoon before a long weekend. Seems HID conversions are popular.

[motorat]

i had the 955i tiger.
reaiming the lights required you to remove the windscreen, mini faring and head lght assembly.
aim the lights with them off the bike then put them back in re-install the faring and hope it is right or out it has to come again.

[hooliken]

Yeah!

My KTM and my Z-Rex do sick roll on wheelies, but I need my license.

What ta do? What ta do?

[Human Ills]

Originally Posted by bwalsh

Be glad you don't own a Ford 6.0 or 6.4 liter diesel truck(No, I don't own one). The cab has to be removed from the frame to do most any work on the engine...and people here complain about removing fairings and body panels on bikes for valve adjustments/oil changes.

If I could afford that rig, surely I could afford an A frame to pull the cab off. Working on an engine without having to climb over fenders or under a hood must be a dream.

[DJGypsy]

Originally Posted by motorat

i had the 955i tiger.
reaiming the lights required you to remove the windscreen, mini faring and head lght assembly.
aim the lights with them off the bike then put them back in re-install the faring and hope it is right or out it has to come again.

what?

THAT is bullshit. Let's hunt down that engineer and the manager that approved it.

[eepeqez]

Originally Posted by DJGypsy

what?

THAT is bullshit. Let's hunt down that engineer and the manager that approved it.

ECE standards for cars have required headlights that can be adjusted from the drivers seat for years now,I'm amazed they'd even be allowed to build a bike which has to be half dismantled to adjust the headlight(s)!

Headlight design (and manufacture) will certainly have been outsourced and the design will be subject to FMVSS/CMVSS in North America; ECE in Europe, ADRs in Australia, etc, so I'm amazed anyone builds a vehicle with bad lights any more.

[Splendidtutional]

Originally Posted by ttpete

Keep on stomping on the shifter, and soon you won't have to worry about finding ANY gear. Your dealer won't mind a bit, because you're going to make him considerably richer.

OK, OK, "stomp" maybe a bit strong of a word, but I press on the shifter with a normal amount of shifting force over and over even while still rolling slowly, and it still wont shift! I've learned to mostly be able to work around it, but it is still annoying when I am almost to a stop and havent quite yet gotten it into gear, light turns green and it wont shift. CRAP! Now I have to risk getting run over to let the clutch out, hope its not "halfway" in gear and grinds a bit (which has happens and makes my skin crawl, my Subaru was slow into gear sometimes too and this would happen) wait for it to spin down, clunk it into gear (with that really nice screen door slamming noise) and if I havent been flattened by the concrete truck behind me already, take off and be on my merry way. This is a BMW for cryin' out loud!

And man, that seat. I know how to get the terrorists to talk. Make them sit on that thing for a few hours.

[crofrog]

Originally Posted by Splendidtutional

OK, OK, "stomp" maybe a bit strong of a word, but I press on the shifter with a normal amount of shifting force over and over even while still rolling slowly, and it still wont shift! I've learned to mostly be able to work around it, but it is still annoying when I am almost to a stop and havent quite yet gotten it into gear, light turns green and it wont shift. CRAP! Now I have to risk getting run over to let the clutch out, hope its not "halfway" in gear and grinds a bit (which has happens and makes my skin crawl, my Subaru was slow into gear sometimes too and this would happen) wait for it to spin down, clunk it into gear (with that really nice screen door slamming noise) and if I havent been flattened by the concrete truck behind me already, take off and be on my merry way. This is a BMW for cryin' out loud!

And man, that seat. I know how to get the terrorists to talk. Make them sit on that thing for a few hours.

Why don't you try rev-matching your downshift (give it a nice throttle blip so the wheel doesn't pull the motor rpm up) and do it earlier.

[daveinva]

Ever crack a front fender on a Vespa? Congrats, you're in for 3-4 hours of labor to remove the entire front end of the scoot, bleed the brake lines, you name it all to replace an easily scuffed piece of plastic.

But hey... it's tradition!

[Snarky]

Originally Posted by DonovanM

Lack of a 6th gear on my KLR.

Everything else... the useless front brake, poor suspension etc... that is just par for the course for a cheap ass bike and can all be changed if I wanted to spend the money on it. I don't, so I deal with it. But I'm stuck with 5 gears. If 1st gear was just a little shorter, then I could gear it taller, but as it stands if I gear it taller I have to feather the clutch too much, which is really annoying in the city/stop and go traffic.

Sigh. Love the bike anyway though

Ahh... The Japanese Minsk...