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Newb from Montreal

66K views 668 replies 12 participants last post by  fwd25 
#1 ·
Hi,

I'm a newb to riding (been riding for 5 months) and very new to Supermoto. I currently ride a 2003 600 Bandit. But I'm thinking of getting a supermoto. 90% of my riding is city, 10% is highway. I'm in Montreal, Canada where the fscking snow will be flying in no time.

Really happy to have found this forum.

Cheers
 
#52 ·
Yup, that would be a 2010 WR250X :thumbup: But it's not mine, that one is stock...:nutkick: I did buy my A*stars jacket from Mecamoto. :D
 
#54 ·
I can remember being a kid when I started racing bicycles. We used to just crank down everything as tight as it will go.

Now ? Now you need a torque wrench otherwise you'll crack all the carbon fibre bits that cost a fortune!

I notice a lot of mechanics on YouTube never use torque wrenches. I know none of the pro mechanics in the pro cycling world use them. But they get all their parts for free. And none of them actually repair anything, they just swap the whole thing out for a new one. I can't quite afford to to that.

I got a good kick out of this one:




He rambles on how it's important to do all the maintenance and how this guy hasn't done any valve checks in like 80hrs and they take the valve cover off, do the check and they are in spec, and they start to giggle like school girls.

There's also this thread on M4E if you are bored:

http://m4e.com/showthread.php/153936-ktm-350-EXC-F-et-500-EXC-F

There was someone making the comment that if you just ride that 500 on the streets, don't race it, you can go 1000km before needing an oil change.. I guess it all comes down to what you are comfortable with. I hear a lot that those recommendations are for people riding the piss out of them in races. Just putzing around town is another story.

I get the feeling this winter is going to be loonnnggg
 
#55 · (Edited)
I never owned a torque wrench before buying my WRX. My $6k DH bike never got babied with a torque wrench, I just tightened everything down until it wouldn't fall off. Now I have a torque wrench so I don't screw up my block doing my yearly oil changes. (Oil filter has 3 bolts that have a bad reputation)


I get the feeling this winter is going to be loonnnggg
Last winter was long and I didn't have my full licence yet. This winter is already F-ing long, and it's technically not even winter yet. :damn:
At this rate, I'll go "coo-coo-bananas" before spring, or worse, full on "wack-a-doodle"... :laughings
 
#56 ·
Make sence that if the 500 did not get the extreme heat stress and dirt from racing that the service interval could be stretch , funny how that guy in the clip giggle lol like it would be the first time it would occur lol , quit sure they must have a test bike with those interval stretch to max , they must have those interval set to prevent the worst case a bit like in aerospace , I guess after doing it like they call it in the manual for the first year the interval can be stretch
 
#57 ·
Torque wrench or not , I got the habit of using it when I was kart racing and it stick to this day , help to keep the tread load in spec mostly important on multi bolt Assembly with high heat stress like cylinder head , ultimately does it really make a diff may be not , may be I am the crazy one hahaha , but it can be seen as that extra love for the bike [emoji8].
 
#58 ·
went to the dealer on sat , sitting on a superduke , that would be a nasty beast too but with all this talk about the 500 have to say I was looking for one lol they had none so I left with a 690 shop manual CD , that kind of reading should help to make the winter wait go by faster
 
#63 ·
Which dealer ? Have you decided which wheels to get ?

Let me know how and what you decide to do finally.. Are you going to mod it ? New seat ? New exhaust ?

As for getting through winter, I try and focus on the signs of spring instead of spring.

For instance, the Tour Down Under which is a fairly big bike race in Australia starts Jan 17 or so. You can normally find a live feed on the web. Once that's on, I start to feel spring coming.. Then it's all the races in Arab countries.. then comes Paris Nice and by then we are pretty well there.

But for motorcycles, I guess the first real sign is the bike show. I've never been. What's it like ?

Still have my eye on the 500. I just can't decide to get it this summer or spring 2016. I don't want to have to finance it.. $15K after all is said and done I figure. Gonna be hard to pull that off in 7 months.
 
#61 ·
I did get to spend almost a full year in Victoria B.C. While back , kind of jealous cuz you can use the bike all year round plus go to the mountain for skiing or snowmobiling , but got to say those Montreal summer are kind of HOT in every sence of the word [emoji41]

Hope you get it back soon
 
#62 · (Edited)
I spent two summers planting trees in northern BC and I hated every minute of it. ;-)

I have never seen so much rain before. And bugs the size of hummingbirds too.

I raced a few times in Victoria as well.. and a few races in Delta as well.. Vancouver really is spectacular place. Every winter I look into moving there and then I see the price of houses and think "maybe next year". ;-)

Definitely jealous of your weather.. well when it isn't raining that is.
 
#65 ·
I was in the Trois-Rivieres area last weekend so I stop by motosport4saison , that where I sign for the bike , I eard nothing but good comment from them


Will order my SM kit in February look like it going to be ktm wheels unless a big diff in $ ,with the excel then I will go for Excel , beringer calliper and master at the front with a 310 disk , michelin PP3 , seat and suspension .for the 2 last I am still looking for options

Eventually I like to install an evo 2 kit or some equivalent , 75 hp sound like a nice round number I would like to get from the bike ..... Eventually ....will see

How about you shampoo , how far do you want to go into the SM conversion


So we meet at the KTM stand [emoji41], seriously I can t say if or when I be going cuz I may be burning some 2 stoke gas with my snowmobile buddies , will see in the week before
 
#66 ·
How about you shampoo , how far do you want to go into the SM conversion


So we meet at the KTM stand [emoji41], seriously I can t say if or when I be going cuz I may be burning some 2 stoke gas with my snowmobile buddies , will see in the week before

Obviously the wheels, probably KTM wheels but I wouldn't mind a set of decent orange rims. The KTM's only seem to come in black. I'll have to do some more reading on the WARP9 and the quality.

Maybe the front brake, but that I'm not sure of either. Ideally I'd like to find a used 500 next year. But there aren't a lot and given the maintenance schedules on the 500, not sure buying used is a good idea.

I will definitely be going to the bike show. I had a funny feeling it was mostly cruisers. As a member of Gen X those baby boomers shadowed us all.. even in bikes ! You gotta wonder for how much longer cruisers will be the big sellers.. I did my moto school this summer, and not one guy there was looking to get a cruiser. I think Harley knows this too.
 
#68 ·
Agree every bike has there fun factor , cruiser also best suited for couple and with the cost of these machine it can become a couple decision

Since my wife has 1 % of the decision on my bike I get the 690 with pass peg for 1 % of ride as a 2 seater lol

For those new rider out of driving school we get to see those smaller bike coming to the market , I would think it they would promote them at the show , but what I have seen with the past shows there is less and less interesting content
 
#69 ·
Ok I lied a little when I said no one wanted a cruiser.

There was one guy in our class who was going to get a cruiser, but he wanted a sport tourer. He had shall we say, an impressive gut and he couldn't fit said gut over the gas tank on the bikes we had in our class.. So he was going to get a cruiser.

I rode one and they are definitely comfy. I just couldn't see myself getting one.. ever. But hey, I'm with the rest of you; a bike is cool no matter the bike.

As I get older, I could probably see myself switching to an adventure bike. Not sure if you watch YouTube videos, but Baron Von Grumble is riding one.. I think mostly because if he stays on his Gixxer he'll be banned from riding!



Never in a million years did I see the Baron on a GS..

Oh ya, I meant to ask you, who knows what about Enduro trails in Quebec? I see there's one in Oureau ? I can't seem to find the entrance using Google Street View.
 
#78 ·
$9k for the already sumo'd 500 EXC is nice.

This was "me" on Feb 1st 2013 about to buy either a 690 Enduro R or 500 EXC....



I put it back in the bank. :rolleyes2: Maybe next time. :thumbup:
 
#82 ·
I'd like to see that shirt! ;-)

My gf and I bought our first house this past May. The downpayment pretty well emptied my account. Not to mention the 100 trips to Home Despot that cost a fortune and the maudit taxe de Bienvenue which was the icing on top.

I had to borrow money out of my RRSP to cover the downpayment and my goal has been to pay that off for March. So looking at my account and the money for the KTM is "there", it's just not earmarked for _that_. ;-)

Then if I do the math on what I spent this year on motorcycle related stuff, it makes even less sense to buy that KTM. I calculate I spent close to $7000 on the classes, the bike, pants, jacket, gloves, boots and helmet. And I don't think I rode 1000km this year. Not exactly a great return on my investment.

So all in all, I don't think I'll be buying anything until 2016... as much as I'd like to. Hell, I don't even have my full license yet ! It would be completely pointless buying another bike only to have to ask my babysitter to ride down with me to pick it up. ;-)

So hopefully one of you guys will get one so I can live vicariously through you. ;-)

Oh look, it's snowing. :headshake
 
#83 ·
That cool , I understand been there , done that , would get a house over any bike for sure , I own 2 old house one of witch was built in 1928 so for the last 10 years I been spending countless holiday and weekend on Reno and still have some to do , that is money in the bank ,

Old house are solid they made to last but they need facelift trough those Reno,,,and that get to be sooooo time consuming that I am thinking the next one should be a self construct , I have friends who did this and it is a 6 month well invest and tons of money return on the house value

Here what I was told to do ,

Show the bank you have the cash down , ( value from the current house or actual cash)
Get the max loan from the bank ,,( materail , labor , all to the max )
Do the construction with max saving by doing most of it your self and an expert bodie
If done well at the end should have extra left from the loan to cover some 6 to 12 month morgage until the first house is sold

Then get the bike of your choice for the reward of the work well done
 
#84 ·
We are now getting horribly off topic.. But that's OK. ;-)

I got myself into some nasty debt several years ago. Nothing to show for either.. Just a lot of crap really. It took me five years of living like a monk to dig myself out of that hole.

I promised myself NEVER again. So unless the cash is in the account, I don't buy it.

When we bought the house, I explained to my gf that if we couldn't put down 25%, then we couldn't afford the house. It seemed like a good way of filtering out what we could and couldn't afford.

Buying and fixing old houses is a great way to go.. assuming you have the skills to do it. So way to go! That's impressive. Especially if that old house you buy has some nice enduro trails in the back.. ;-)

I did some math this morning and a new bike purchase might be possible after I pass my exam in July. But it's going to be pretty tight.

It's too bad you can't rent them for the day. At least I don't see who rents them like that. I guess I'll have to wait for the KTM demo day.
 
#85 ·
So unless the cash is in the account, I don't buy it.
That is the best way to buy stuff !!!! :thumbup:

When I bought my WR250X almost 2 years ago now, I had the money in the account, but life would be tight, so my wife and I decided together to take money out of our line of credit at the bank, paid off the bike, and we repaid the loan in a month...Yes, it cost me a little bit extra in interest, but life was easy instead of being tight.
I'd do it like that again as long as it would be paid off within 6 months MAX, otherwise I would wait until the cash was there.

:thumbup:
 
#87 ·
Very nice. Video

Been in dept and broke , i did get the taste of that too while back I was racing bike ( road racing ) until I ran out of money , completly broke , took me many years to recover and all this time was drewling over the R1 , thinking some day .... Some day ... , well that some day came to be recently as I had to refinance the house for some RENO ,took some extra for a bike , R1 been out of question now , enduro/SM seem to make more sence
 
#89 ·
Whoa.. I had no idea you raced! That is very cool. But I think we'll have to postpone our ride next year until 2020 when I can actually keep up with you. ;-)

I thought racing bicycles was expensive, I can only imagine what racing motorcycles costs. Where did you race ? All over the US ?

I have a buddy who races sail boats. I asked him what it was like. He replied: "take a cold shower with all your clothes on, and throw $20 bills out the window, one after the other. ;-) "
 
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