isthatahemi

Nice review. Loving my bike, 10,000kms on mine, much highway, and a lot of slicing up twisty California backroads.

Agree it allows for more usable traction, than a regular bike. Much less than a 3 wheeler, and only under braking. I don’t think that applies to a fast street rider, as most don’t late brake or heavily trail- brake. On the track, completely different story for sure. That said, if the Niken ever gets C-ABS, I’d consider trading up for that alone. But ya, i find the Niken more fun than any bike I’ve ever ridden, sport bikes included. It’s the first machine I wore the side of a tire out before the middle, all while riding 2 up.

I have not ridden a bike with CABS. I had considered one, but I have never had a cornering situation where I have slammed/ applied / used the brakes and crashed. While the technology is awesome, it’s application is more gear toward absorbing errors in riding technique. As an rider who is very aggressive in corners, grip was more important to me. CABS uses technology that only helps once the rider has made an error, where as the Niken uses its traction advantage all the time. For me the 2 don’t compare, and one would have to be overwhelmingly ham-fisted to bin the Niken imo. While many will disagree that is my opinion. Only buy a a Niken if you have time to explain it every time you stop, and if you live in the USA, that involves a minute of talking and then said person regurgitating was their life story, unsolicited, every time I might add. And you like being the centre of attention, it’s a bit nuts like that.

That’s exactly the issue, the Niken has shorter gearing, so when you shut it off, it pitches into decel. Doesn’t matter what method. The only way around that is to use the throttle and the brake and then roll off the throttle. Yamaha applies a lot of smoothing to the throttle application when using the cruise function, if they would give the throttle 1/4 second to close, that would solve the issue. Again, it’s only a thing for the passenger, and it’s more the surprise of the throttle shutting a abruptly, the suddenness than the actual decel.

Closing in on 3000 Miles. WOW. I was not expecting it to be this good. Love it. Only complaints so far are the cruise control is too abrupt when cancelling (I know, big deal.....the wife hates it so I have to throttle on while tapping the brake), and the latching check engine light when I lube the chain. Bought an OBD scanner and Yamaha OBD adapter, problem, band-aided. (Don't start on me about the buffoons who can't keep their fingers out of a moving chain, and the subsequent horror stories please and thanks). Seems I'm lubricating the chain every week, so it's just the way it's gonna get done. It hasn't perceptibly stretched though, and I checked it very closely and tightened it ever so slightly, on one side only, as it was visually a little bit off. A early flawless machine, objectively, probably the best toy I have very owned (this is toy #17, excluding all 4 wheeled toys)

I would be interested to see the same on a low traction surface. Wet surfaces have difference coefficients. Interesting and touches on why I bought one.

Well, it "fits". If you try to do this and don't end up happy.....don't blame me. It sounds great, too quiet with the silencer insert, a tad loud without. Leaving it out as the tone is great, and the volume should wake the texting drivers. It requires many attempts to get the rotation of the offset pipe correct, and had to heavily bend the mounting bracket that came with the pipe. I also slightly bend the centre stand stop, and dimpled in a spot on the pipe. None of those changes bother me, but some extra OCD folks may not like it. To install: Remove exhaust system, no need to remove centre stand. cut pipe re-install headers and collector Muck around for an hour to get the fit, rotation, and alignment correct, in the process, gently bend the lower centre stand mount, and add a dimple to the pipe to clear. Great mod, and I'm happy with the result!

Yes, but I have a Niken, so I’m not certain it will fit another bike, and my intention is to cut the canister off and clamp on the scorpion slip-on.

I ordered one for a tracer GT, and will report back on whether it fits. The modified stock pipe is just too quiet for the texting and driving generation...….

Not cheap, that is true. No one is cross shopping a roadster to a Niken though....other than for for a topic of discussion. Price is always there, but if you want a Niken, you don’t buy an MT -09, or a convertible, or a Spyder, or anything else for that matter. My thinking here is that it is a good value for the amazing engineering, and if someone can afford it, the price really isn’t part of the discussion. As I perceived the price for what it is to be fair, the price vs whatever wasn’t even a factor for me (not bragging or rich, it just didn’t play into the purchase decision), there was no comparison shopping, as there is nothing to compare it to, which in my opinion is a flawed way of looking at it in the extreme. There is likely very little cross-shopping (again, just my opinion). It’s one of a kind for now. Bottom line, it’s unbelievably good for what it is, safer and very confidence inspiring. The wife loves it, which is a bonus too. One thing that keeps getting overlooked, the ride quality is unreal, so smooth yet controlled it doesn’t even make sense.

It surprised me as well with the sharp handling. It drives lighter than it looks.

Cool gismo. I bet the stock bike with a pipe is more fun though.... Says the guy with the 575hp nitrous truck.....who owns a Niken....

Okay - 1300 miles in 5 days - here is the review. Context - I'm the guy if a product sucks, is defective or has issues, will be direct about it. If it's boring but good, I'll tell ya. The Niken is UNBELIEVABLE. The handling is crazy razor sharp, to the point it is the most aggressive handling I have ever ridden, and that is comparing to the sportbikes I rode. It just wants to dive into corners, it tries to tighten the line in corners, never standing up. Brakes or throttle don't make it stand up at all. First off the negatives: (pretty minor stuff) -Check engine light comes on for silly reasons, no self clearing or simple reset (Idling in gear on stand to lube chain - Please refrain from the safety lecture) -Cruise control cancel is very abrupt, annoying to passenger -Buffeting from windshield. I'm 5'11', and the windblast catches most of my head, which is fine, but the buffeting between 65 and 70 mph, well, kinda sucks. THE GOOD -Everything else. Handling as noted is so good. -Riding position, perfect for me, except the seat height is strangely high. -The ride is so smooth it doesn't even make sense -Suspension adjustability works really well. I was able to dial it in perfectly for 2-up with luggage. And I mean perfectly. -Engine - not sure what to say here, it's a CP3 with a quick shifter. Pure gold. Nothing wrong here at all. I would greatly prefer a V-Twin though. -Brakes - again, work astoundingly well. Feel is a bit stiff pull and rubbery, a strange combo. ABS rocks. Need to stop? Grab a handful. -Traction control - I had it on aggressive and it does the job, maybe too well. -Gauges - very easy to see, tons of info. Fuel gauge is odd though. I am stunned at how good this bike is, it does everything very well, doesn't seem to have any real quicks or defects. As you can probably tell, I'm nearly speechless. I have been so unimpressed with EVERY Yamaha I have owned, and would have never bought another if not for the Niken. Shad E4 Pin Lock back - handy but humorously small. Don't buy Meknic A7 camera - Works very well, picture quality and functionality is top notch. Very pleased Exhaust mod - Sounds good, still too quiet at cruise, but will likely stay the same 50L Top case with backrest - Excellent for touring, still short on space, but this was the biggest we could get from Yamaha.

A quick thought on the lean angle. A street rider (and I was as aggressive a street rider as anyone) will seldom drag the pegs, the Niken will help us get there, but lean angle limitation on these things is a Myth imo. 43-45 degrees just isn't a limitation on the street.

Well, I do live in Stony Mtn Manitoba Canada. We have about 3 feet of snow on the ground and have been hovering between -5 to -20C for the last week, and just got 20" of snow in the last week just south of us. We are in the full grip of winter. That said, the Niken is going to Florida in my truck next weekend. Florida is going to be a slacker ride. August trip from here to San Diego, and north to BC will be the canyon carving trip of a lifetime.