angrygirafe

5 hours ago, keithu said:

I just did a price comparo on the Triumph and BMW USA websites. A red Triumph Tiger GT comes in at $14,550. A red F900XR with Select package (to get CC and heated grips, which the Tiger GT also has) is $13,440. So the BMW is a little cheaper, but the Triumph seems to have better suspension and more fuel capacity. Seems worth it to me. 

A Tiger 900 GT Pro is still only $1k USD more than a fully optioned F900XR. It's weird that the pricing would be so different in Australia. With a $1k price difference the Triumph seems like an easy choice to me. But at $3-4k no, I don't think the Triumph is that much better.

You’ll spend that 1k in “unscheduled” maintenance for the Triumph real fast. And then another 1k. And another. 

15 hours ago, kilo3 said:

Never again.

Amen. Owned a 2012 Tiger 800 for 10k miles and four very expensive months. What a maintenance nightmare. 

My has been there occasionally when visiting my brother near Victor. 
 

You could also try a rivet through the end of the strap. Might be a little easier, but my sewing skills are zero 😄

I’ve had ski gloves like that and it sucks. You’re mod should work as long as you can still get in and out with the strap still through the loop. 
 

I think gloves are the most frustrating piece of clothing to buy, no matter what the use is. 

Plastic yarmulke. So true 😂

7 hours ago, BBB said:

The plate itself is super easy to remove for oil changes, you just leave the mounts in place. I worry that a big hole in the underside would act as a dirt hoover.

@angrygirafe I think you’ll be able to fabricate another mount. Maybe just skip threading the lower holes and simply use through bolts? Or use rivnuts?

I think the biggest challenge of making a new bracket will be motivating myself to do so 😄 But if I get to it, it’ll be tempting to make everything quarter turn fasteners or similar 

14 minutes ago, 2and3cylinders said:

I do not think the SW MT skid plate is particularly inexpensive and given your review, also not durable.  Can't a hole be drilled the plate so the older style bottom drain plug can be removed without removing the plate?

It’s definitely not something that’s going to withstand multiple impacts, but if can sacrifice itself to save your oil pan. It’s a good option for someone like me who doesn’t want to spend a 400 dollars and add considerably more weight to the bike. I can go through a couple of these and still spend less than a Higdonion. But you’re right, it’s not super durable. 
 

I think a few people have drilled their plates. Never bothered on mine, but I might if I get another one, or if I can just fab a new bracket for this one. 

3 hours ago, BBB said:

BTW, I roughly polish the plate each time I take it off. A wire wheel in a drill tidies it up nicely.

Man, I bet that looks nice. I was getting a little ashamed of how grungy mine was getting 😄

I’ve got a 16 with the old style oil pan and like many, after hearing how it would explode if you looked at it sideways, I wanted to add some protection. Also like many, I didn’t want to spend $350+ to do so. So I went with the SW Motech skid plate. It looks good, it’s relatively cheap, and a few people have bumped it on curbs and their oil pans were fine. 
 

I bough the bike with 4400 miles on it, added the plate around 8000 miles, and I just changed my oil at 48k miles. After removing the plate (and discovering the shop had stripped out my mounting screws last time) I noticed the center bracket could pivot. And that’s strange considering it has two mounting bolts. Obviously discovered one of the mounting tabs had broken. 
 

Not sure when or how. I don’t think vibration is likely. I was starting to think maybe the shop could be responsible given the state of the screws that had to be drilled out. And I was thinking I’ve never impacted the plate. That’s mostly true, but it looks like I’ve managed just a few light scratches on the edges from cornering. I’m not amazing in corners; I can tell when I’m dragging a peg and it honestly makes me pucker multiple orifices. So I was surprised to see the scrapes. 
 

But that means I guess I can’t blame the shop. Or SW Motech. Maybe just me. Anyway, it’s been fine up until now, and for the cost, I still think it’s worth it, considering this one lasted 40k miles. But if you’ve got one, you might want to give it a closer look on occasion. 

 

P.S. All the SW Motech supplied bolts were pretty corroded. The Yamaha bolts that get reused were clean.

1 hour ago, betoney said:

Except the twisty roads, those don't suck... not even a little bit.

And lane splitting. Wow, I miss lane splitting 😰

My Tiger 800 was a lot of fun. When it wasn’t refusing to work. 

Probably not gonna plug that 😂😭

I’ve had two punctures in four years. One in a tire with less than 200 miles on it ☹️

2 hours ago, rustyshackles said:

How about a retired BMW police bike

2007 BMW R1200RT-P For Sale in Fort Worth, TX - Cycle Trader

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2007 BMW R1200RT-P For Sale in Fort Worth, TX on Cycle Trader.

I wouldn’t buy ex-LAPD but figure from a more suburban setting it probably hasn’t been put through hell, and likely was very well maintained.

I bought my FJ from a cop who worked in Hunting Beach. He sold it because they were letting him take the beemer home. He told me a little bit about how he treated because it wasn’t his bike, and it was enough I wouldn’t buy one. 😂 Cool machine though. The automatic center stand was neat. 

I take my GoPro on multiday tours, or just fun day rides, but it’s too much of a hassle to use as a traffic cam. Battery life sucks. 

I wish range was a concern for me right now, but my only riding time for the foreseeable future is commuting 😢

If I could have two bikes, the second one would be a Zero. When it’s time to replace the FJ, there’s still a good chance it’ll be with a Zero. 

I want one. The motion pro lube tool sucks. 

New chain and sprockets. Think I stripped one of the rear sprocket studs. Or maybe I stripped it last time and forgot about it 🤔

1 hour ago, keithu said:

Shouldn't be used at night?! Cross Pinlock off my list.

It’s fine. I left mine in until it got too scratched up to keep using. Hour commute in the dark with a tinted visor and pinlock! Oh no! 😄

I loved having the Pinlock, and whenever it starts raining again I’ll get another. They work better than anything else. They are very soft though, so if you remove it often, it will quickly get scratched. Just pop one in and forget about it. 

With the 2WDW flash, mine defaults to A. It only sees B for heavy rain or snow. STD is pretty much useless now. 

50 minutes ago, wanderer said:

Palomar Mountain via Mesa Grande. Up the South Grade, down the East Grade. The top of the mountain has Mother's Kitchen for a vegetarian snack. The East Grade has a great view point deck overlooking Lake Henshaw, a place to stop and maybe take a nap listening to the wind and the birds before the ride home.

That is a fun ride. I’d usually go the other way, making a loop from Temecula 

1 hour ago, fddriver2 said:

Maybe it's time for an for an FJR ES

Looks like an FJR, Concourse, and Huyabusa all had a little too much to drink one night...

I can get MORE miles out of twisties than commuting, and its the touring that really kills my tires. Two up with luggage in a straight lines squares off the rubber fast. But I pretty much always have my pressure at 32/36 psi, and reliability get 8-10k out of a rear and 15-17k out of a front, doesn’t seem to matter what tire. 

1 hour ago, betoney said:

Its my first time using the T31's, glad to hear that they perform well for you but man that is terrible mileage out of a sport touring tire.   

Considering the mileage I average on the S21's, I should easily get 8k out of the T31. 

I’d have to check my records, but I think my rear T31 has about 7k and is just starting to square off. They’re good tires, and great in standing (or running) water, but it’s definitely no sport tire.