maximNikenGT

On 1/9/2021 at 4:58 PM, Bruno said:

I have a photo of the swmotech bars installed, as well as a front axle slider. Maybe tomorrow I will post some more pics, when there is some daylight

Looks great Bruno. Thanks for posting. Looking forward to pictures of the axle sliders. 

1 hour ago, Switchglide12 said:

Did you install the crash bars yet? Do you have picture of the crash bars before the installation? 

Not yet installed. I actually started a new thread dedicated to just the crash bar install to keep track of notes. Photos of bars before install are all in the other thread. 

Finally got my SW Motech crash bars in and confirmed bar diameter at 1 inch / 25 mm. Called up Baja Designs and they don't actually carry/make  a horizontal mounting bracket for 1 inch bars. They actually referred me to Axia Alloys in Arizona to get quality mounting brackets in that size.  Apparently my bar diameter is uncommon with a 10mm bolt hole to mount the Squadron Sports that they outsource uncommon sizes to this fellow small business.  Looking at the website the mounts look high quality, but each mount appears to start at $35 USD per mount.  Needless to say I was not looking for my mounts to make up a third of the cost of my lights themselves.  I guess that's the going rate for mounts tough enough to survive baja racing.  

Not Niken specific but showed up in my feed after watching the French Tour Nikens. Apparently the moto journalists are flogging three wheel cycles on race and dirt tracks. I'm very amused at the motocross style riding with foot planted in the mud at the latter part of the video. If anyone ever off roaded their Niken I suspect this is what it would look like. 

Looks bonkers and fun. 

Also instructions are very specific indicating that one must use threadlock on the engine mounting bolts (not provided). DO NOT SKIP THREAD LOCK STEP OR YOUR BOLTS MIGHT SEPARATE FROM THE ENGINE - VERY BAD! 😵😵😵☠️☠️☠️
 

Nice personal touch from the Germans who personally stamped their signature in the instructions as to who packaged the product. Special kudos  to Emille Zacharova at SW Motech in Rauschenberg, Germany, who did a phenomenal job in packaging my crash bars. 👍👍👍

Close up of the badging and instructions. 

The instructions are very specific in that you must install the left before the right crash bar but didn't say exactly why. But there was an additional note indicating that one should support the engine with a suitable jack while installing the left crash bar. I'm assuming that because you're removing engine mounting bolts from the frame there's the possibility that you might bend the other side engine bolts if you don't support the engine properly during install, but that doesn't explain why left must be installed first. 

Happy new year everyone. Finally back from the holidays and ready to tackle my latest project, installing crash bars on my 2019 Niken GT. The crash bars took almost 4 weeks to get delivered from Germany's SW Motech because of back orders. 

Initial thoughts: 

SW Motech did a hell of a good job packaging it in bubble wrap up make sure they arrived with no dents or scratches  A+. 

Right hand side crash bar appears to be few millimeters longer than the left. Only picked up on this because the four bolts that come with it have three different lengths. Didn't realize the crash bars were going to be asymmetrical. 

Bars are super beefy and welds look fantastic. Bars are 1 inch / 25.4mm in diameter. Now I finally know what diameter bracket is needed to mount my auxiliary lights. 
 

SW Motech badges on both bars make the crash bars look super nice. Nice little detail. 

Saw this interesting video on the original trike, the Honda ATC All Terrain Cycle. My thinking is that although the new Niken three wheel design that allows the rider to lean is fundamentally different than the Honda ATC,  Honda is maybe waiting to see the results through Yamaha before undertaking the plunge back into three wheels again. 

Don't know if this counts as a "jacket" but Aerostich R-3 light one piece suit for the past 10 years. Beat out my Dainese GTR textile jacket in terms of functionality, waterproofing, armor,and ventilation. Other surprise is how well it's built to accommodate electric heated vests and gear with tailored pass through holes for wired connectors while keeping water out. Super comfortable with assorted vents to keep you cooler in the hot days and can all be zippered to keep you warm when it gets chilly. 

Was talking a fellow Niken forum member when conversation stumbled across the Helite airbag vest and how this device had saved his bacon on a few occasions. 

Very interesting safety technology. And I then stumbled on this article- airbag equipped pants: 

These Airbag Jeans Could Fashionably Protect Motorcyclists

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Strapping on a leather suit can protect you from a nasty case of...

vest makes sense since a higher percentage of accidents involve some form of back impact/slide according to Fortnine of Canada. 

Legs also make sense but not sure how easy it is to have the necessary strength in the airbag deploy and not accidentally injure your legs in the process e.g, from riding knee position to fully extended and encased leg upon deployment. 

On 12/17/2020 at 3:12 PM, pilninggas said:

In the UK Yamaha have registered about 100 Nikens and 100 GTs.

I doubt they've broke even given the marketing costs etc.

Ok, so  assuming proportionally holds between population vs number of Nikens, if the US is about five  times the population of the UK, this might suggest a ballpark of about 5x200 Nikens =1,000 Nikens in the US, of 1000/50 US states = ~20 Nikens per US state. 

Can't speak for other areas of the US but I'm the only Niken owner I'm aware of in Charlotte, and I've yet to have encountered another Niken outside of a motorcycle dealership. So this number of 20 Nikens per state seems high at first blush. 

Current cost of a Niken GT in Japan is 1,980,000 Yen. At current exchange rates that translates to $19163.39 USD or 15642.98 Euro. 

価格・仕様：NIKEN - バイク・スクーター | ヤマハ発動機

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Also some gorgeous shots of the Niken GT in red. 

フォトライブラリー：NIKEN - バイク・スクーター | ヤマハ発動機

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55 minutes ago, Salish900 said:

I hear this called the "sissy patch", the edge of the tire untouched by road. Well, I'm a sissy. I seem to always have a good 1/4 inch of untouched rubber. I've touched pegs once or twice, but always unintentionally. 

I've heard one of the other forum members referred to them as "chicken strips".  I'll admit I've never intentionally gone so deep where I get to the sidewall. You saw my strips in the first photos and I thought I was Evil Knievel. 

54 minutes ago, Heli ATP said:

I wonder if the number of Niken's will increase for the tour year after year or if it is just a fad?

And how do you say it   Nike N or Nick N?

The Japanese pronounce it Nee-ken (nee=The number two in Japanese, ken=sword). It helped me to think of the first half of the word  "kendo" and that's the way of the sword). 

I did run across a Yamaha of Europe article indicating the Nai-ken pronunciation was equally acceptable with the understanding that this would be a probable westernized pronunciation of Nee-ken.

Only thing to consider is that in Japanese, Nai is the Japanese word for "absent". So in Japanese if you say Nai-ken, that translates to "absent swords/no swords/potentially implying unarmed".

Of course you can always anglicize Niken however you want. As the Japanese say, "Okyakusama wa kamisama desu = Customer is god."

In an unrelated note, I believe your spelling above E.g. what you're referencing above with Nike N = Nai-ken. My only hesitation being that I knew some kids back in school who pronounced the shoe brand Nike =Nai-kee. 

2019 Niken Tour support in Italian. 

2020 Tour de France Niken support. 

Fascinating angle on the Yamaha Niken being tapped for bike race support and live action camera roles at endurance events like the Tour de France. Previously this used to be dominated by the BMW R1200/1250 RTs which was what most cameramen preferred since there is a niche industry for rear facing camera seating and mounts for the tv/movie industry. 

5 minutes ago, pilninggas said:

I follow a few Japanese Niken riders on twitter. It seems to be massive over there. Custom paint jobs, mods galore and a huge following.

The japs sure know how to do cult vehicles.

Wish some of the niken stuff would disseminate to the rest of us.

Would love to get access to one of the Japanese Niken owner sites. If you have links that you wouldn't mind sharing that would be great. One of the things I would love to do is set up an interview with the developers of the Niken in Japan. Obviously would need a translator but i think that would be super fun. 

3 hours ago, pelayo said:

Experieced a couple of times trying it on porpuse at low speed. Not something i want to sufer at hight because, apart for the lock, you start riding a bike with two wheels not following the same line. At that limit standar front tyres are oversteering a lot. To get that angles, the stabilizer bar under the muffler had to be removed, causing just a bit of vibrations but not afecting the balance.

No way you can do that on the GT because of the center stand. I'm trying to figure out what stabilizer bar you're referring to...

6 hours ago, pelayo said:

Lock  front suspension and scratching the pegs in the floor here

This looks way past the 45 degree mechanical limit...

All I can think of is this: 

Was searching the Yamaha Japan site for Niken updates for 2021 and ran across this article for a special Niken owners meeting/rally in Japan. What was of special interest was what they created as souvenirs for this special owners meeting:

Who the hell wouldn't want a set of Niken double swords?!? 

Don't know what the thing to the right is though. Anyone have any ideas or can read Japanese Kanji characters?

4 hours ago, peteinpa said:

So the next thing to happen will be lifting the OUTSIDE front tire?? WOW!

My thoughts exactly - didn't even think the outside tire would lift!

6 hours ago, pelayo said:

WHOA! Bravo to your riding skills!

According to this article there are 1315 Ferrari F40s in the world.

So the likelihood of seeing a Niken in the wild is a little more than seeing a Ferrari F40 on the street assuming production of ~1500 Nikens. 

If the production numbers are that low on the Niken, it's only a matter of time before one makes it's way into Jay Leno's garage as a future collectible. 

Interesting video on the 7 benefits of the Leaning Multi wheel Technology of the Yamaha Niken from the Yamaha Motors of Japan. Turn close captioning on in the YouTube screen and change settings to auto translate to English to get a different view of how the Niken is being marketed in Japan.