There's a guy in the neighborhood, late 50's, just started riding two years ago.
His first bike was (still is...) a Yamaha TW200. He spends a lot of time with a Delorme map of far Eastern Maine in the window of his tank bag just donking around on the back roads and blueberry paths.
First time I talked to him I was just curious about the TW200. We chatted quite a bit about bikes and riding and we see each other from time to time putting around.
He's decided he's ready to venture a little further afield and wanted a more street-friendly bike, wound up buying a used SR400. Today was his first distance ride on it and he stopped by to chat. Turns out he's suffering from serious buyer's remorse: The darn thing vibrates so hard at 55-60 it put his ass to sleep clear to his ears. He was hoping to be able to ride 50 or 60 miles on the highway to get to new territory to explore. After today, he's not at all sure that's gonna happen on the SR.
He wanted me to ride it and see if I thought the vibration was normal or there was something wrong with the bike.
Holy crapoly! That thing shakes like a dog crapping peach pits! The bars are isolated nicely but the vibrations through the seat are incredible. At 45 in 4th (which I guesstimated as being roughly equivalent to 55-60 in 5th), it's really noticeable. It's just the nature of the beast, being a large displacement single, but dang! I wouldn't be able to ride it 20 miles like that.
All I could tell him is maybe bump the front sprocket up a tooth to get the engine down out of the buzzy range, but I don't think he's going to be happy with the bike. I know I wouldn't be.
Shame too, cuz it's a gorgeous look!
His first bike was (still is...) a Yamaha TW200. He spends a lot of time with a Delorme map of far Eastern Maine in the window of his tank bag just donking around on the back roads and blueberry paths.
First time I talked to him I was just curious about the TW200. We chatted quite a bit about bikes and riding and we see each other from time to time putting around.
He's decided he's ready to venture a little further afield and wanted a more street-friendly bike, wound up buying a used SR400. Today was his first distance ride on it and he stopped by to chat. Turns out he's suffering from serious buyer's remorse: The darn thing vibrates so hard at 55-60 it put his ass to sleep clear to his ears. He was hoping to be able to ride 50 or 60 miles on the highway to get to new territory to explore. After today, he's not at all sure that's gonna happen on the SR.
He wanted me to ride it and see if I thought the vibration was normal or there was something wrong with the bike.
Holy crapoly! That thing shakes like a dog crapping peach pits! The bars are isolated nicely but the vibrations through the seat are incredible. At 45 in 4th (which I guesstimated as being roughly equivalent to 55-60 in 5th), it's really noticeable. It's just the nature of the beast, being a large displacement single, but dang! I wouldn't be able to ride it 20 miles like that.
All I could tell him is maybe bump the front sprocket up a tooth to get the engine down out of the buzzy range, but I don't think he's going to be happy with the bike. I know I wouldn't be.
Shame too, cuz it's a gorgeous look!