Motorcycles BS Thread 2.0

I had an older 690r that leaked from every place possible. It had like 62k on it when I sold it. That little thumper roads the exact same leaking or not, had the same vibrations in the bars.
Riding those older ones would make your hands crazy strong. It was like holding on to one of those old carnival games, to see how long you could grip it; while it vibrates the shit out of you.

 

Again, building this bike to learn to wheelie first. Once I’m comfortable I with wheelies (if I ever get there), then I’ll remove them.

 

You will get there…some bikes are way easier to wheelie than others. Light weight bikes with no power usually require clutching and most definitely cycling the suspension.
The big bikes, ya just grab a hand full of throttle in 2nd/3rd and up the go.

You got this man!

 

Thanks!! I’ve always wanted to learn and was starting to reliably get the wheel up on my Yamaha WR250X but then sold the bike and didn’t try again for years. I was always too scared to try on the bigger, more powerful bikes and my DRZ400SM scared me for some reason.

If I can’t do it on a Grom I guess I’ll never learn. My friend is hopefully coming by today to check the bike out and give me tips! He used to have a full stunt set up Grom.

I was able to pop the front wheel up once yesterday with a ton of gas while popping the clutch and cycling the suspension and even then it maybe popped up a foot.

 

Super easy on the Grom, but it requires clutch-ups, definitely no power wheelies here. Roll along at 6-8mph, clutch in, rev up to 6K rpms and drop the clutch and it'll come up no problems. I haven't added in the suspension or body language side of the equation yet, I need to do that. Still afraid of looping it when I do though haha

 

I’ve been doing clutch ups in first gear at ~6mph and it still doesn’t want to come up. Might be my timing or how I’m sitting.

My friend said it was way easier with stiffer clutch springs as well.

 

Very true, I had an oh shit moment on my old cruiser... would drag the pegs pretty often but they wore down to the point that one day I caught the underside of the footrest bracket. That caused me to slide mid-turn, but luckily I wasn't going fast and was able to pick the bike up a little once I felt it lose traction

 

I have a set of 60% springs and a six bolt plate/basket waiting to go in, too. I'm excited to see how much it helps it grab.

 

I did stiffer springs and a six bolt plate on my grom, Def helps with grabbing and 2nd gear clutch dump wheelies.

That stated, first gear, especially if you are -1 up front you should just about be able to power wheelie if you bounce the front and time it right, shouldnt need much clutch.

 

It’s probably my timing, the way I’m sitting and everything else that’s the issue.

 

Thanks and that's good to hear! I'm not sweating it but slightly disappointing on a new bike. Runs and rides awesome besides that though, think I have 3,200 miles on it. I'm getting better with the vibrations and foam grips helped a lot. The SDR is much nicer on the highway, feels like it's only idling at 80mph in 6th.

 

Got the Grom registered and plated today, so naturally I took it off road.

 

Looks like I am gonna need to host a wheelie clinic. I got some sweet little 2 stroke trials bikes. Super easy to wheelie and if you get loose, just chuck it!

Some days I practice how to do multiple different types of wheelies around my yard, for a couple hours. Yeah I pretty much wheelie till I am bored then give it another 30mins, so I can practice when I am not into it (I only recommend this if your a racer, helps build up the mental game when you feel like sitting on the rest of the race) lol

 

You must have tons of time. I swear, I just don't have the time to ride as much as I want, let along the wheelie stuff.

 

I am semi retired X Art Director. I own a landscape biz in metro ATL, where I have a rental I used to live. It is automated in a sense. The I built the company about 13yrs ago, and it just keeps rolling along.

I will say live cheap, minimize and that way there is room for bikes!

 

That's awesome!

 

Friend came by today to check out the Grom. He was able to instantly wheelie it down the street so I’m definitely doing everything wrong. He even said it felt super easy to pull the wheel up.

He also gave me his cage from his old Grom.

 

It's kinda nuts to see all the common components from the Grom that are also on my CB500X. Rear brake lever, foot pegs, likely the same shifter... I'll have to pay more attention next time I see one to see what else might overlap.

 

New wheels, tires, brake pads, and rotors today. Just in time for the rain

 

Had some paypal rewards money burning a hole in my pocket and pulled the trigger on a mosko moto "gnat" handlebar bag to replace my nomax tank bag for every day use.



Prettttttttttttttttttty pumped