maximNikenGT

Was going back through my current armored equipment inventory and was thinking about doing a direct comparison between armor from a Dainese GTR jacket from the ‘90s, my Aerostich TF6 armor from 2000s, then my Hit-Air Powertech armor from 2020s. 

Stumbled on this interesting observation from Aerostich on their experience with motorcycle armor and evolution since based upon Aerostich’s in-house built TF armor from pre-2k:

https://www.aerostich.com/protection

While the Aerostich TF armor does not conform to current CE standards due to shape requirements it did conform to best in class impact reduction (NOTE: This was impact reduction was tested back in November 2008). The following chart is interesting in terms of where their TF armor results landed in terms of independent testing against one of the CE standards. Couldn’t tell what the other items were along the x-axis though e.g. were they competitor armor or different classifications? 

Aerostich did make the following commentary on the current state of available armor:

”Despite today’s relentless marketing claims, TF impact armor and those more recently introduced consumer-branded armor types have a lot in common. All are slightly different formulations of siliconized visco-elastic foams. The shades of difference in the better types of energy absorption materials are important, the performance levels are fairly close now. Greater differences involve the cost, fit, comfort, shapes and sizes. Newer armor types have more in common with each other than TF though because most are a separate branded ingredient inside differently branded riding gear. The newer stuff is usually more expensive.”

On 4/3/2024 at 10:55 AM, Hollybrook said:

A thoughtful rebuttal:

https://youtu.be/NOJxubCS0wM?si=-Po27A_2_VA2TelY

F9 and the insightful dialogue here on armor took me down some deep rabbit holes during this morning’s coffee.

This incredibly insightful rebuttal from Bennet’s Bike Social brought up some very good points about additional benefits of armor. Some of the many key points that caught my attention were:

• Armor not only includes point of impact protection at key joints e.g. elbows/knees/shoulders/hips due to impact but also dispersion of forces at point of impact to minimize catastrophic garment failure due to abrasion ex. if the sleeves wear away at the elbows as seen by motorcycle riders wearing leathers whom abrade away during a long slide.
• The CE testing procedures for equestrian armor certification start at a lower number in comparison to motorcycle armor (e.g. 35 vs. 50). So while equestrian armor does have a lower testing number required of transmitted force to pass certification, the amount of transferred force reduction is less in comparison to motorcycle armor which starts at a higher amount of tested force.
• Amount of force required to break ribs is about 3-4 (according to cited study) while femur ~ 10 (conflicts with what Ryan at F9 cited e.g. ~4).  
• CE ratings appear to be evolving to have a standard for whether armor stays in place e.g. dedicated pocket for armor. Additionally the standard looks to further evolve to verify during impact  tests whether any movement of the armor occurred e.g. is armor secured. 

Being in the US I’m not familiar with the BRK custom suits they cited in the Bennet’s review. Going to have to take a look at those. I’m familiar with the US Aerostich roadcrafter suits. 

Parent’s just got a new car and I decided to apply some aftermarket cerakote ceramic polish to their new ride. After application on a freshly cleaned and dried car, I let it sit in the garage overnight for it to cure. The cerakote looks great on their new car, then got me thinking. Has anyone actually applied Cerakote to their Niken’s matte finish? If so how did it look?

http://www.cerakoteceramics.com 

This is my first vehicle with a matte paint finish so not sure if this would be disastrous to apply a cerakote finish to the matte finish bits of the Niken. 

In Italian - use Close Captioning and translate to English to get a sense of what he’s explaining. 

Video of Yamaha dealers test riding the Niken around Sydney Motorsports track.

Spark plugs NGK SKU ID: MR9K9, Product ID: 97469, are $7.47 USD per plug direct from NGK: https://www.ngk.com/ngk-97469-mr9k-9-nickel-spark-plug.

Does not include shipping or any applicable taxes. Amazon Prime did not seem to stock these but did have alternate suppliers for $11.52 per plug. 

Approaching 5 year mark on my 2019 GT and was reviewing maintenance schedules. Has anyone done a spark plug change on their Niken? All I could find in the maintenance manual was the spark plug specification and that there are 3 needed in the CP3 triple. Looks like spark plugs replacement is every 8k miles or annually. Don’t have a good idea of how hard/easy it is. Anyone have any photos/tips?

Unverified source but ran across this as I was looking for Brudeli videos. The video suggests that Yamaha has a hybrid three wheeler version in the works. Had to read the transcript since it was recorded in Hindi. Source didn’t cite where he got the images from, so this may just be internet vaporware. But this was posted 3 years ago right as Niken sales was discontinued in the US (presumably due to poor sales/general user adoption).

With the price of a new full size EV in the US averaging about  $55353 (source: The Average Price of an Electric Car Keeps Dropping (2024 Update) - CarEdge https://caredge.com/guides/average-price-of-an-electric-car-2024 ), this may be a solution for folks needing more affordable mobility.

Curiosity got the better of me and I had to see one of these Brudeli’s 654Ls in action. What really caught my attention was when they dirt tracked and ice tracked the Brudeli. Pretty sure I would never dirt or ice track my Niken but the Brudeli looked pretty fun doing it. 

Shorter video with dirt tracking:

Longer video with ice tracking:

Did some further digging, looks like Yamaha is utilizing the patents it acquired from Brudeli Tech to refine its LMW tech to a second generation: 

https://www.carandbike.com/news/yamaha-patents-reveal-new-leaning-three-wheeler-2243396

Unclear if this is heralding a second gen Niken or if tech is to be used in its Tricities line or some other yet to be announced product. 

17 hours ago, Yaman said:

In 2018 Yamaha bought patent from a norwegian company called brudeli tech , it was patent of the front leaning suspension .  The company are located 10 min from my home so i drive by them often . 

Thanks Yaman. Fascinating. First time I’ve heard that Yamaha bought a patent for leaning front wheels from a Norwegian company. 

Upon further review: https://brudelitech.com/history-22385s.html, the Brudeli Tech company’s own website touts the sale of the patent in the following press release. 

I’ll have to do a patent lookup to see which patent specifically changed hands here but it wouldn’t surprise me if Yamaha did buy certain suspension patents to support it’s own Leaning Multi Wheel (LMW) tech. 

Not sure why I didn’t encounter this before but here’s a link to the Yamaha 01GEN concept bike that debuted in 2014 (four years before the worldwide introduction to the Niken in 2018): https://www.revzilla.com/common-tread/yamaha-01gen-concept

What’s interesting is that the 01GEN had the front double suspension tubes on the inside of the front wheels vs. the Niken production having the suspension tubes on the outside. I actually kind of like the double beak on the 01GEN. Makes it feel more adventure bike. 

On 2/17/2024 at 4:04 PM, Dommy said:

Hi all and thank to let me in in this community 🙂.

I'm always been interested in the Niken and last year I rented a 850 model for 3 days. I think it's a terrific bike, I like all of it. Of course its insane front grip, but also the engine power and how it's delivered. Its look is outstanding. It was summer and unfortunately I could not test it under the rain.

This for sure could be one of my bikes, but I would like to better understand how really different the 850 and 890 models are? I read some reviews, but so far I've never read one from an owner who had all the two versions? I actually met here close to home a guy who had first the 850 and now the 890, but he told me that he cannot really say if the differences are noticeable anyway.

Is there here one who could say something about it?

Dommy (Domenico).

 

 

Buonguorno Dommy! Benvenuti ai nostri cavalieri Italiani.(Welcome to our Italian riders). 

I love Italy and dream of riding my Niken there someday, especially anywhere near the Chianti region and near Positano so I can snack on world class prosciutto along the way. 

Saw this windscreen maker that I've not heard of before. While they make adjustable windscreens for Yamaha FJ and MTs I think they could potentially fit the Nikens. 

Anyone have experience with the Madstad windscreens?

https://madstad.com/collections/fj-models/products/yamaha-fj-09-2015-up

Spanish review of the 2023 Yamaha Niken in Sardinia.  Use close captions with translate to English option. 

I applaud your camaraderie with fellow Niken owners. Bravo!👏

Was checking out the year end Helite sales and was looking very closely at the Mocycle airbag pants. Didn’t realize until watching the video that the inner pant airbag is separable from riding jeans. 

Fast forward to 2:38 to see how the inner airbag is separable from the pants for washing purposes (e.g. the jeans, not the airbag). 

Makes me think that this inner airbag is transferable to other riding pants so long as you have the appropriate space within the pants for the bladder to expand. 

Can any Helite/Mocycle pant owners confirm? 

In case anyone is looking for additional product details on the Ohlins rear shock upgrade for the Niken. 

Stumbled across this surfing the Yamaha Japan website - lo and behold, a custom bike cover for the Yamaha Niken GT!

Bike Cover F Type NIKEN/NIKEN GT | Yamaha Motor Group Wise Gear (ysgear.co.jp)

Yamaha might be on to something here if they marketed/branded it correctly to the adventure/SUV crowd. E.g. Niken/Jeep edition or something like that...

Any suggestions on what you might brand it as? Trigger Reddit style posting now...

Special ask for Niken owners who reside  in  Countries outside of the  United States  please - need some help looking up local regulatory authorities in your country who handles motorcycle recalls to see whether they show numbers of Nikens impacted in your country to help with worldwide country estimates please.  Not only do I not know which local authority would handle your country's local motorcycle recalls, but also need this help with non-English countries due to language translation challenges. 

General tips for recall look ups: some  countries search by make and model ex. Yamaha Niken, while some go by product code ex. MTX850J, while others go by actual VIN. I've encountered one country (Canada) that actually listed the model name incorrectly (NIKKEN) so I'm sure not all searches will actually pull up correctly for their motorcycles. 

Updating world totals  with first Greek  confirmation and Hong Kong specific re-estimated. 

2018 Nikens =1532,

2019 Nikens=1553, and

2020 Nikens =2258

2023 Nikens = 539

Still no serial numbers confirmed for 2021-2024 Nikens. Current estimated worldwide total of 5882!

Country representation so far includes:

Australia (55 as of March 29, 2021, recall data)

Canada: Vancouver (1 confirmed in March 2024). Toronto, Quebec

China (estimated at 23-24)

Czechoslovakia

France

Greece (3 confirmed but estimated at 20)

Hong Kong (11/30/23 re-estimated at ~5-10),

Hungary (1),

Ireland (Republic of Ireland)

Italy (estimated at <120),

Israel,

Japan = 537 as of November 2020, recall data)

New Zealand (estimated at 14)

Philippines (1)

Portugal

Serbia

South Africa (1 2019 non-GT, #38)

Spain

Sweden (1)

Switzerland (1)

Taiwan

Thailand (estimated at 10)

Turkey

UK (England/NorthernIreland/Scotland/Wales = 302, as of December 8,2020, recall data).

US 280 (all model year 2019, recall data)

On 11/9/2023 at 7:06 PM, Heli ATP said:

I learned today that 'Yamaha Trail TMW' refers to a new version of the TW200 that will have the Leaning Multi Wheel geometry up front.

At first I thought it might be worth trading in my Kawasaki dirt bike for but then I saw the pics.

Still, could be ideal to get to you favorite fishing/hunting spot, and no side stand.

Tricity and TW Combined

https://global.yamaha-motor.com/showroom/event/japan-mobilityshow-2023/tmw/

 

I could see this doing lifeguard duties at the beach. 

Reposting from another thread - anyone attempted using LED cornering lights from a FJ1300 or Tracer 9 GT into the Niken? I know Yamaha has the tech - just not sure how hard it would be to make it work with the Niken or if the front end cowling will even fit the new cornering lights or if the IMU will even work correctly with an LED from another Yamaha model.

Anyone attempted using LED cornering lights from a FJ1300 or Tracer 9 GT into the Niken? I know Yamaha has the tech - just not sure how hard it would be to make it work with the Niken or if the front end cowling will even fit the new cornering lights or if the IMU will even work correctly with an LED from another Yamaha model