| Author | Message | ||
     Danger_dave |
Rode one yesterday. Reminded me of the City-X http://kiwiridermagazine.blogspot.com/2010/05/er-6 n-quick-flick.html | ||
| Froggy |
There is one that parks next to me sometimes at work, looks like a fun bike. | ||
| Buellkowski |
How different from the Versys? | ||
| Pwnzor |
Same drivetrain, different ergos. I can tell you the Versys is a LOT of fun to ride, way more torque than you might expect from a 650. (Message edited by pwnzor on May 05, 2010) | ||
| Crusty |
Hey Dave; How'd you like the Stelvio? | ||
| Danger_dave |
Stelvio - Short answer - I think it's a good dirt/crap roads bike and it handles beautifully in any conditions. Very impressive manners and cornering. If I lived up 20 miles of good dirt road. Yeah - very nice - I enjoyed it off tarmac and on cruddy roads a lot. Ultimately it suffers from the same disadvantage as the Buell with the 180 tyre - no knobby available so not really a hard core off roader. On the Tarmac it's a good big dirt roads bike. A reasonably fast one though. The 4 valve boogies when spooled up. Speaking of fast, I have a Limited Edition ZX14 now. (Message edited by danger_dave on May 05, 2010) | ||
| Danger_dave |
This is the king missile.  As it seems Vampress and I are in the minority when preferring to use the expletive rather than the fake, I'll just say the most apt thing I can say to describe the way the king missile goes rhymes with Clucking Bell*. The Stelvio. Wherefore art thou Stelvio? If only we could put knobs on.   Sounds nice hey. Windscreen shook too much in the first shots - but worth the listen. * Blackadder | ||
| Cityxslicker |
that Kawi is not CityXSlicker approved The first time in the dirt, those fairing mounted turnsignals are done for.... DAMHIk | ||
| Elsinore74 |
The ER-6n is on a short list of bikes the wife is interested in. Anyone ever ride one back-to-back with an SV650 for comparison? | ||
| Faseljd |
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IPm11Lx1Oxk comparison to the gladius | ||
| Danger_dave |
No sorry - my Editor is a SV650 fan so he always grabs the ride. | ||
| Ft_bstrd |
The I didn't think anyone could create a bike less attractive in the appearance department than a VStrom. Until I saw the Stelvio. | ||
| Preybird1 |
I like the look of that bike. I was going to test drive the versus but the salesman said not allowed, So i said i won't buy it if i can't test it out! The salesman apologized to me, But i wont buy it. This is after i had just bought a bike from the same dealer and salesman 2 weeks ago paid for it in full, In cash! | ||
| Pwnzor |
I'll take function over form every day of the week. Personally, I think the Stelvio looks pretty sharp, much better than a Vstrom. I happen to be of the opinion that the Versys is a good looking bike as well. I can tell you the Versys handles way better than a Vstrom. Can't say anything about the Stelvio... yet. | ||
| Xbeau12s |
I agree 100% with Ft_bstrd. But to each their own I guess. | ||
| Ft_bstrd |
The "form over function" argument is like saying "I don't care if she looks like Roseanne Barr as long as her uterus works." Given assumed functional uterus, I'll take this:  over this:  | ||
| Pwnzor |
I prefer a non-functioning uterus. And option number 1 looks like it functions quite well. Option number 2 doesn't even look functional to me. | ||
| Cyclonemduece |
this one time at band camp | ||
| Danger_dave |
O’ Stelvio, wherefore art thou Stelvio? It’s the line that pops into my head every time I say ‘Stelvio’. It’s probably apt when you consider that Shakespeare’s ‘wherefore’ in the line from Romeo and Juliet means ‘why’, rather than ‘where are you?’ ‘Why are you a Montague and I a Capulet?’ She is yodelling from the balcony. In context ‘what are you?’ Is more accurately the question of the Stelvio that caused conjecture. Even the Ed and I are differing in opinions about its relative merits (a rare occurrence.) He 'rated it' on the road, I wasn’t so sure. I rated it highly on the dirt, he wasn’t so sure. Vege looks at it and asks ‘tyres?’ And Photographer Osborne liked it everywhere and commented it was one of the few motorcycles where he used ‘all’ of the engine in a day’s ride. It seems this is a machine that evokes a different response from all of us and the best way to make sure that this is the bike for you would be to test ride it. The Ed often gives his bike of the year accolade to an in-line four. Mine usually goes to a large twin and that might explain our differing ratings on the Stelvio on road. The 4-valve 1200cc Vee has a torque curve more like an IL4’s. We theorise that this is because it has a lighter flywheel to compensate for its traverse mounting in the frame. The lighter flywheel reduces the gyroscopic effect (which I only noticed when blipping the throttle when stationary), but it also moves maximum torque further up the rev range when compared to a longitudinally mounted engine. Subsequently it needs ‘spooling up’ - and when spooled it really does get along. Don’t let the big trailie façade fool you, this is a motorcycle that can be ridden very quickly and it has fabulous handling, braking and stability to match. The bottom end isn’t what I expected from a large V-twin. It’s more like an IL4 till it gets its boogie shoes dancing. Then it hammers. Conversely the engine suited me on the dirt nicely. Keeping it in the middle rev range and punting along in 3rd gear gave good engine braking and corner exiting pull, closer to where the engine is at its sweetest. Max torque of 108nm is achieved around 6,500rpm and peak power of 80.8kw (110 ponies) is at 7,500rpm, or ‘spooled’. Again it’s different to the traditional large Vee Twin, but I found it a very enjoyable way to get dusty. The ergos also suited me on bad or dirt roads. It worked well sanding up on the pegs and the wide bars gave good leverage and helped the feeling of stability. Geoff also commented that the seat and screen worked very well for him at touring speeds. I wasn’t that comfortable with either on the open road. The Ed seemed ambivalent. Vege just said ‘Tyres’. His issue is the 180-section rear. There isn’t a knobby tyre available in that size. The experts I’ve asked say it’s because there are heat issues at that sort of width and knobbys, so the bike is limited to heavily cut road tyres that limit its hard-core off roadabilty. They still work quite well on good gravel and generally perform well on poor road surfaces. (I wonder where in NZ I could find some of them?) For that reason I’d like a Stelvio in the shed. It really is a great back roads carver. Tackling the Western Waikato and its mixture of smooth gravel and tortured tarmac is where I found the Stelvio to really shine. Same with zig-zagging through the forest roads north of Auckland. I found it to be geared a bit tall for my normal vee-twin, short shifting riding style on the main highways, but the beaut handling and the ability to just ‘charge on through’ made back roads adventuring and discovering around those regions really good fun. Co-pilot rated the passenger accommodation as very good and was comfortable on the back. It has reasonable luggage and an unusual looking carry rack as standard too. At 214kg it’s a very tidy-handling bike that has the wire wheels, bash plates and hardness that dealing with all of the conditions that NZ’s worst roads throw at us. A pretty good all round machine for local all-roads conditions. |
