My thick post of the week...

Ferger says...

I'd have thought that any potential owner would have checked these
things out before purchase, or is owning a Triumph a decision made
purely on where it's made not on its features.

I'd have voted with my wallet and bought something more suitable, after
telling the dealer exactly why I didn't want his bike.

 

Is that a red duck, or a blue cordoroy duck?

 

I think simple physics will prove that a force applied at a greater
distance from the wheel - like hanging out over the back - will have a
greater leverage and thus greater effect that a force applied closer to
the wheel.

In other words, this is bollocks. But IANAP so wibbleflip.

However, you are close to the sidewinds point. Bikes with no "holes" for
sidewinds to pass through - bikes with a hell of a lot of side bodywork,
and/or wheels that are so crammed with huge discs, massive mudguards and
thick tyres that they're nearly solid discs - are worse affected by
sidewinds than others.

The old ZZR1100 was a case in point.

A pannier frame that nearly shrouds the rear wheel *might* make a
difference on *some* bikes. But it's by no means a universal and it's
not an exact science.

SteveH saying that a Wingrack frame on its own will have no effect is
almost certainly true for some bikes and almost certainly untrue for
others.

 

Thank Christ. Someone with a clue.

Erm, actually a lot of trailies have steeper steering angles than road
bikes......

 

They are high, but what you see as 'exhausts' are actually FOAD heat shields
(the exhausts are shoddy looking things inside the shiny heat shield.

So heat isn't actually an issue - mounting points is the issue - the velcro
straps are too short to go over/under the seat/rack and having issues with
finding solid (ie not plastic!) mounting points for the bungees.

 

nah I think it' similar actually - the rack and grab handle are one piece -
there aren't two handles - it's one big one which includes the rack.

 

If you'd wanted to tour you should have gone for the ST and got the
purpose-made panniers (and box if you want, too). Actually can't you
get them for the RS as well?

And unless it's very different, there should be a little hook on the
rear footrest mount.

You. Pikey ****.

--
_______
..'_/_|_\_'. Ace (brucedotrogers a.t rochedotcom)
\`\ | /`/ GSX-R1000K3
`\\ | //' BOTAFOT#3, SbS#2, UKRMMA#13, DFV#8, SKA#2
`\|/`
`

 

Never had any handling issues with the ST's hard panniers, even with
lardy pillions as well.

--
_______
..'_/_|_\_'. Ace (brucedotrogers a.t rochedotcom)
\`\ | /`/ GSX-R1000K3
`\\ | //' BOTAFOT#3, SbS#2, UKRMMA#13, DFV#8, SKA#2
`\|/`
`

 

A trip round europe with my givi wingrack on the back and I got the bike
over further than ever before
on the Blackbird. hardly knew it was there.
Only bad point was removing it meant the original indicators have to be put
back on
and if then you put the rack back on, they have a habit of scratching all
the rear plastics
I have a new, rear cowl bagged ready for the sale of the bike (one day).
--
Vass
................................................
YZF-R1, CBR1100xx-x, A4 Cab
http://www.naldernet.plus.com/index2.html
Gamertag: RIPPPER

 

Blimey, that's a "good point" from Bear & a "someone with a clue" from
TOG - I think someone had better call me a know-nothing **** before
this goes to my head ;-)

That they do. But sticking to the types of bikes discussed in this
thread, *big* trailies typically have shallower steering angles than
sports/sports tourers.

Granted there's not a lot in it when comparing something like a VFR to
a Tig, but the softer suspension on trailies may result in a bigger
difference once you've got some weight on the back. As you know,
compressing the back of the bike effectively increases the rake/trail.

 

Krusty wrote:

That's absolutely true, and something I forgot about. Coo, you're on a
roll here, aren't you?

 

One of my most amusing biking moments was GMPD[1] on the road out of
Andorra towards Toulouse. I'd been to Valencia for the GP & stopped in
Andorra on the way back to buy a load of new kit, so was pretty well
loaded. My brother was following me & laughing like a loon as I
showered him with bits of Givi's finest plastic

[1]Getting My Panniers Down

 

Seems that way doesn't it. I'd best go & stick some Ultraseal in my
tyres to redress the balance ;-)

 

place,

Afraid you're very wrong here. A damn great box, hoicked up in the air,
and aft of the rear wheel spindle is a much worse place to put weight
than a box mounted several feet lower, and forward (ish) of said
spindle.

That said, you're right that BMWs seem less affected by luggage than
other bikes, at least in my experience. Possibly because BMW have
offered luggage as an option or standard fitment for decades and thus
have deliberately designed their bikes to take, and cope with, luggage.

The bike I owned that was least affected by luggage was my old Guzzi
Spada, possibly because the geometry was so lazy.

 

I think I read somewhere that with full luggage, some bikes perform
better 2 up. I remmeber when I had the 52l Givi box on the BB, speeds
over 150 became interesting and you could feel the buffetting against
the box. Yet, some on the BB forums said 2 up, they were absolutely
fine.

Still, even with the one box fully loaded, it developed a nice wobble
at about 30mph, which was less than fun.

Kiran

 

TOG@toil emerged from their own little
world to say

WTF are you on?

Where did I mention a top box in that paragraph? You seem to have formed
a link with my specific point about the R-GS in the one paragraph with
my generalisation in the next paragraph.

Hard panniers and the scaffolding that comes with them, IME using them
on two iterations of the VFR750, add unnecessary weight to the rear of
the bike. I now prefer soft luggage. This view has nothing to do with
the pros & cons of topboxes.

I do not dispute your leverage point about topboxes. I am happy to live
with this even though I've had some wild experiences crossing the
Severn, Manchester Ship Canal and M6 at Shap.

 

Unless you want to do wheelies...

 

On 28 Apr 2005 02:24:14 -0700, "TOG@toil

I'm sure you're right, but it prolly holds true for any half-decent
custom-designed luggage. On most bikes I've always been able to notice
_some_ difference when wearing soft panniers, laden or not, but on the
Sprint ST I really could not tell whether they were attached or not.

So much so that when one of them came adrift (due to ham-fisted
application) at eeek! mph on a country road round here, I didn't even
notice. Ten minutes later, when Jude (on the 400) had still not
appeared, I rode back to find her frantically searching for me and the
rest of the bike, having found the pannier in the ditch }

--
_______
..'_/_|_\_'. Ace (brucedotrogers a.t rochedotcom)
\`\ | /`/ GSX-R1000K3
`\\ | //' BOTAFOT#3, SbS#2, UKRMMA#13, DFV#8, SKA#2
`\|/`
`

 

And should it be stuck to the left or the right?

 

It seems perfectly reasonable to me - "here's a bike we'll produce in
two variants, one for touring, one for scratching. Let's make the
latter a grand cheaper by cutting off all the unnecessary bits."

You gets what you pays for.

--
_______
..'_/_|_\_'. Ace (brucedotrogers a.t rochedotcom)
\`\ | /`/ GSX-R1000K3
`\\ | //' BOTAFOT#3, SbS#2, UKRMMA#13, DFV#8, SKA#2
`\|/`
`