KTM LC4

Took one for an MOT for a colleague today.

Loadsa fun, but the *vibes* at anything like nsl are ridiculous. It's
about 15 miles to my pet MOT tester and I had a numb everything by the
time I got there. How does anyone ride one of those any distance? Even
my SO Brit bikes don't vibrate anything like as much.

I guess that's the penalty for getting as much performance out of a
single as they do.

 

I guess it wasn't one of the ones with a balancer shaft then? There's
several different flavours of LC4.

I suspect most of the vibes are down to saving weight. Your SO Brit
bikes are no doubt substantially heavier for a given engine size.

 

yeah, I took mine to the EOSM a year or so back - about 110 miles each
way.

If you think the vibes are bad around NSL, trying holding the throttle
to the stop, doing an indicated 110mph on the motorway for miles and
miles.

Talk about a numb arse...

 

You told me to cruise around 90. Sort of. So it's your own fault.

 

Last time I took a modern single for a ride and got numb hands from the
vibrations, I discovered the owner had fitted after-market anodised bar-end
weights. He was chuffed that they were a pretty colour and *so much
lighter* than the originals.

I had to explain to him - very slowly - than there's a reason that they are
called "weights" and the impact they have on vibration.

He was amazed how much better the bike felt with the originals re-fitted.

Turned-out the he'd bought the bike just before Xmas and spent all his
prezzie money on shiny bits, which he fitted before he'd even ridden the
thing.

 

Hah. That's a good point actually. This has got those hand guard
thingies on and <checks> there are no bar end weights at all. None
showing in the pics in the manual either.

 

Jeez I'll bet. Mine was glowing red hot after about 10 miles, I srsly
thought I'd either crapped myself, or that the exhaust was on fire. This
may have been @ just a smidgen above nsl. I tried it at nsl just to see
how bad it was there.

 

of course!

It's much more of a 40-70mph b-road kind of bike though, or a "dicking
around the City" type of thing, rather than a long distance tourer.

Though the 22l tank I have on mine would appear to be good for at
least 200 miles at whatever speed you like, so you /could/ tour on it
if you were, well, stupid. That said, and though I haven't commuted by
bike for years now, that sort of tank range is great for commuting -
if I were taking it in and out out of London (as it's only use),
that'd be about 2 fill-ups per month.

 

And what I'm after is something to use for the cross-town commute as an
alternative to the gixer, so that'd be fine.

 

actually, for me, it's the numb hands that annoy me more than the sort
arse - you can sort of get some relief from the latter by putting more
weight through the pegs and 1/2 standing up, but as at 110mph you're
grabbing the bars for dear life to stop the wind blast shoving you off
the back of the bike, you just have to accept the numbness, as it
gradually turns into excruciating agony.

Still, I'm /sort of/ pleased it didn't make its reserve on its ebay
auction last month, as I think I'd really miss it. In fact, due to
personal circumstances I'm soon going to have to only have one bike
for a while, and I think I'd rather get rid of the 12R instead of the
LC4.

 

If I didn't have the motorway bit first, it would be a fantastic commute
tool for me. The Nordwest's similar. Carving through the traffic is
amazingly simple. The owner has a 6 mile commute to central London so
it's absolutely ideal for him.

 

what year is it?

Mine's an '02, and it doesn't have any bar end weights (or bark
busters either, for that matter). In fact, it just has hatch-checked
rubber grips like what you'd get on a BMX bicycle. Mine also has
comedy mirrors which vibrate themselves loose every few hundred miles,
and flop round and bat you on the forearm.

As Krusty said, there are a lot of variations across model years, with
later machines being a bit more "civilized", having things like
balancer shafts and obvious bar-end weights.

 

You really don't you know. The thick foam grips you can get are
fantastic for killing vibes.
http://www.mandp.co.uk/productinfo/500531/Bars-And-Footrests/Grips-Road/
Baja

 

I tried that too, but even the vibes through the pegs were verging on
painful.

but as at 110mph you're

Heh, I didn't quite get up to that speed, not sure this one would make that.

What are they/should they be worth? I have no idea. This one's an 03
with only 8K miles on it.

Sounds ominous, nothing too bad I hope.

 

well, make me an offer then ;-)

 

If I lived in the city, and had to commute in the city, I'd have it in a
trice.

 

On Jul 19, 3:57 pm, Simon Wilson <>
wrote:
[LC4]

indeed. There's just something about supermotos that encourages silly
driving through traffic.

 

This morning demonstrated amply why commuting on the RGV is stupid - 8k
rpm to pull away from the lights, turning into a three-gear thrash to
the redline before I re-engage my brain.

Last time, thankfully.

 

A red bike? I think not.

 

The LC4's the complete opposite. Pulls your arms off at 0 revs. It only
needs one gear really.