maximNikenGT

Sounds from the Yamaha Niken. 

Yamaha Niken in Australia:

Yamaha Niken and other bikes assembly in Iwata, Japan. 

Checked the diameter of the SW Motech crash guards. Turns out the diameter of the SW Motech is at 1.07 inches with the powder coating (not exactly 1 inch in diameter). As such the stock 1 inch Axia Alloys clamp won't actually fit onto the crash bars. 

So the M10 x 20 mm stock bolts measure at 9.3 mm in diameter while the new M10 x 30 mm bolts measure at 9.8 mm in diameter using a set of digital calipers. while the new bolts will fit the Axia mounting bracket holes fine, they do NOT fit into the holes of the Baja Design light bracket. The 9.5 mm holes need to be widened by 0.3 mm to fit. 

Additionally, the stock nylock nuts won't fit either onto the new M10 x30mm bolts because of this tiny diameter difference. Luckily I had another set of nylock nuts that would fit. 

Gotta bust out my drill with the appropriate bit size, clamp the Baja designs metal bracket down and widen out the hole by 3 mm to make the longer bolts fit. 

Son of a muddscuffer, two problems trying to test mount the brackets this weekend:

1.  The M10 x 20mm mounting bolt for the driving lights are too short because of two washers and the thickness of the mount being used. Had to order M10x 30mm bolts so the nylock nuts had enough bolt to tighten down on. 

2. Although the Axia Alloy mounts are very nice units, the 1 inch clamps I ordered seemed  too small for the 1 inch diameter SW Motech crash  bars. After talking with Axia Alloys they asked if I had powder coating on the crash bars, and indeed I do. As such, the SW Motech black powder coating is thick enough that 1 inch clamps will not fit onto the bars. 

Getting a  digital caliper this weekend to confirm  what the actual clamp size needed is. Axia Alloys was very helpful indicating that they'd be more than happy to do an exchange.

So close....

Yamaha Niken acting like adventure bike. 

Yamaha Niken at the Ofenpass. 

Speak of the devil...mounts are in!

Baja Designs amber rock covers arrived. Now just need mounts to arrive...

Not familiar with Hit-Air but am checking them out. Sound like they've got strong partnerships with various motorcycling police organizations internationally after initially  establishing themselves by supplying to Japanese motorcycle police. 

Airbag Jacket / Vest | motorcycle | - hit-air - Werable Airbag | Mugen Denko Co., Ltd.

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In a fall or crash, the shock-buffering protection system will be activated...

US wholesale distributor is actually located in Irmo, South Carolina, not too far from Charlotte, NC. 

https://hitairmoto.com/

Ran across this Swiss company with a four wheeled leaning "motorcycle" called the Quadro 4/Qooter.  

Quadro Qooter Qoming to America - Motorcycle.com News

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See it at AIMExpo, Columbus, OH, Sep. 26-29 [...]

Am assuming their US deployment plan was put on hold because of pandemic. 

On 12/17/2020 at 4:37 PM, Heli ATP said:

I see the Niken seat height is about an inch lower than the FJ-09. I searched Yamaha parts and found no lowering links for it. How does the Niken compare to the FJ-09 and are there any lowering options for us short legged guys? Is the extra weight that noticeable lugging it around the garage?

Never ridden a FJ-09 so cannot make a direct comparison, but compared to my old '04 BMW R1150R, if the seat height is lower on the Niken, it definitely seems higher in that I'm on the balls of my feet generally at stoplights. I've never seen any kind of lowering kit offered for the Nikens (a la BMW) and strongly suspect because Niken sales are not that high being the primary culprit. 

4 hours ago, daboo said:

I picked up a Hit-Air vest several years ago.  Things may have changed in model offerings, but I liked what the Hit-Air did verses the Helite at the time.  So my thoughts are to check the pictures for each when blown up to see what they protect.

Hit-Air at the time was also about $150 less than the Helite.  If you watch for sales, Helite seems to discount their airbag vests to get the price pretty much equal.

I won't ride without mine.  Well, I have, but only after I've used it.  🤫

The first time I had mine go off was when I went to make a right turn at a busy intersection.  I looked right and saw that the light had just changed.  I looked left and the traffic hadn't started moving, and I gave it gas to move out...and a teenager with a skate board walked out into the crosswalk.

I admit I did a stupid thing and shouldn't have gone without checking more thoroughly.  I hit the front brake...and found myself looking up at the sky.  My bike was over on its side.  I was laying up against the edge of the curb...and then realized I felt no pain.    What happened?  Why doesn't this hurt?  Oh...the airbag vest went off.

I should've had a couple broken ribs because the edge of that curb was against the rib cage.  But the vest had deployed before I landed.

 

Here's my take on getting an airbag vest.

• Get a vest, not a "jacket".  I can wear my vest with any jacket.
• Stick with the lanyard style, not the sensors.  With the Helite or Hit-Air vests that connect to the bike with a lanyard, if the vest goes off, all you have to do is tuck the airbag back where it normally is and connect a new CO2 cannister.  Cost of the cannister is about $22.  The whole process takes about 15 minutes.  With the airbags that use sensors, if it deploys, you have to send it in to the factory to be repacked and inspected.  Here's what it says about the $700 Alpinestars Tech-Air 5 airbag vest if it deploys like mine did.

Chris

I read on Amazon that one of the reviewers mentioned that Hit-Air vests requires some kind of paid subscription. Is that true? 

11 hours ago, betoney said:

They all seem really impressed with the machine as I was after a brief test ride, I cant see myself buying one but I would absolutely rent one for the weekend like they did.

Interesting that he says only 36 were brought to the U.S... I'm not sure how accurate that statement is but I would think it has to be a bit more than that?  🤷‍♀️

 

My other thread on how many Nikens are out there in the wild came up with an estimate of a little under 200 in the US. Another forum member mentioned about how the highest serial number he saw in another Niken forum in Europe seemed to imply about 1400-1500 Nikens in total based upon last couple of digits on folks serial numbers. 

My last couple numbers end in 134, and another gentleman indicated his was 371. So if production numbers are truly sequential, there's at least a few hundred Nikens in the US. My last best guess was approximately 20-30 Niken's per US state. 

If the number were truly as low as only 36 Nikens in the US, that would make Nikens about as rare as Mclaren F1s (only 106 produced worldwide). 

3 Nikens at the Tail of the Dragon and the Cherohala skyway.

Niken GT in the rain: 

While I'm awaiting for my mounting brackets to arrive I finally installed my crash bars and tried to prototype potential mounting points on the bars in preparation. 

Left hand side bars seem like they'll actually be an ok mounting point, however the right side bar actually has a big radiator line behind the bar. I think my light can mount there without the light housing or the auxiliary light cable making contact with the radiator line but it'll be VERY close. Hopefully the mounting bracket isn't too beefy that it causes contact between the light and the radiator  line. 

7 hours ago, biggo said:

Thanks for all your replies Picking up my 2018 Niken on Thursday cant wait

Congrats! Welcome to the group. Look forward to pics of your new ride!

7 hours ago, biggo said:

Are they going to protect engine cases if the bike goes over ? 

I cannot say that they will protect engine covers like on a traditional motorcycle. What this will do however is protect your knees by having the crash guards make first contact with pavement. Assuming the crash guards don't deform on impact then at least your knees will be protected in the event of a fall. 

I am primarily installing these so I have a  solid mounting point for my auxiliary lights. The additional knee protection is nice. 

Just completed the install of my SW Motech crash bars on my 2019 Yamaha Niken GT. Install time was about 30 minutes. 

Tools needed for installation:

• rubber mallet
• hexagonal socket 8mm piece and ratchet wrench
• 12mm socket and ratchet wrench
• torque wrench
• Loctite threadlock

KEY CAUTIONARY NOTES:

a. SW Motech instructions clearly point out you MUST do the left hand side bars first BEFORE the right hand side. Even after installing them in this order, it's still not entirely clear as to why you must do left first. 

b. If you do not have a centerstand, you must find a way to prop up the engine before removing these bolts otherwise your engine may drop from one side of the frame enough to bend the mounting bolts off the other side. SW Motech recommends a jack of some sort to prop up the engine however it is unclear where a safe jacking point  is on the underside of the bike. My bike happened to have the centerstand so I didn't actually have to prop up the engine because the centerstand happens to be attached to the bottom of the engine and provides enough support. 

Step 1: Starting with the left hand side, use your hexagonal 8mm socket and ratcheting wrench, and loosen one of the two engine bolts from the frame to the engine. I removed and replaced one bolt at a time just in case loosening and removing both bolts per side at the same time might result in an engine drop.  

Step 2: follow the SW Motech instructions of inserting the bolt with big washer through the left hand side crash bar. And then insert the really big spacer on the other side of the crash bar and place threadlock on the threads before tightening down the bolts to 15 newton meters with torque wrench. Repeat this step for the other crash bar bolt. 

Step 3: On the right hand side, use your 12mm socket and ratcheting wrench to loosen the right hand side bolts one at a time. Replace each bolt one at a time to minimize the chance of an engine drop. Don't forget to use threadlock when installing the replacement bolts. Only difference on the right hand side is that you're installing a bolt, big washer, and running this through the hole for the crash bar first. Followed by a big spacer and then a small washer on the other side of the crash bar bolt. When installing the SW Motech bolts, you'll use the hexagonal 8mm socket attachment and torque wrench to tighten down the right hand side bolts to 15 newton meters.

Step 3: After tightening all bolts down to spec, take the hole covers and install them using a rubber mallet. Your palm can do it too but I suggest wearing some gloves of some kind so that you don't pinch yourself while ramming the hole covers into place. 

Link to Youtube video of install (total time to install approximately 30 minutes).

Depends on the style of riding you do. I used to have a '04 BMW R1150R which I loved. Light, quick enough, and easy to maneuver. But my riding habits in recent years started going more and more long distance touring style. I was seriously considering a BMW K1600GTL, Honda Goldwing DCT, Ducati Multistrada 950S, or a BMW 900XR, before I stumbled upon the Niken GT by accident. The Niken GT's  comfy seats, more upright seating position, cruise control, solid engineering, and relatively lower running costs (in comparison to the German/Italian fare)  made it a great GT bike for me. 

Haven't put enough miles on yet to determine how quick it'll go through tires. But I am planning on getting a NoMar tire changer in the near future since I do plan on swapping tires out myself to save some money e.g. local shop charges about $30-50 per tire to replace/mount/balance new tires on my ride. After about 4 tire changes the machine will have paid for itself and I can use it to swap out my summer car tires with winters and swap back again. 

On 1/9/2021 at 5:13 PM, Bruno said:

Greetings folks, I really would like to equip my Niken with some luggage (top case and panniers).

I really would like to find some kind of way to fit the metal (black) ones. But wherever I look, Shad, Givi, etc, the only moutings brackets available for the Niken just fit the plastic cases, which I don't like so much.

Do you know any way to solve this? Or maybe any brand I am unaware of?

I've been looking at hard cases but not specifically the metal ones. I know that Givi makes a hard top case with mounting bracket which I have, but they specifically do not make  hard case mounts for panniers (I confirmed with Givi America). 

I ran across some hard metal cases from SW Motech. What I don't know is whether they actually produce a mounting bracket specifically for the Nikens. Only things I've seen are some smaller  metro cases available. 

I've not yet checked Touratech. They might be worth a shot. 

1 hour ago, Bruno said:

Posting a link

seems I can’t upload from my phone for some reason...

here are the sliders

https://www.dropbox.com/s/p02if7ad0n1cs1a/2021-01-10 12.12.20.jpg?dl=0

They look great. Were they difficult to install?

On 1/9/2021 at 4:39 PM, Bruno said:

I own a 2018 Niken with SW Motech crash bars and front axle sliders. I recently bought Denali D4 light kit... Looking forward to have them installed, really curious! They should be awesome.

Congrats! Where do you plan mounting them?