| Author | Message | ||
     Reepicheep |
In the afternoon, an 1125R on a demo ride had a pretty bad spill... The rider was OK, the bike was *not*. I talked to one of the instructors, and they said it tumbled on the track, slid, hit a curb, then tumbled more in the dirt. Everything was crunchy. Then I talked to a factory guy later, and he said "they crash pretty well, it needs new plastics, new fairing assembly, and *maybe* one engine cover". Could you post the parts list to put that particular bike back on the road? It was about as bad a crash as you are going to have short of "drive straight into a wall", and it would be interesting to know the list of replacement parts (and if available, retail parts). It was both sides, top, and front, all fairly trashed. It looked like the tail section might have been a little "bent" as well. | ||
| Anonymous |
You’re correct, that one did get hit on all sides. We don’t staff the demo trucks with enough mechanic support to do much more than tire changes & cosmetic repairs at the events. That bike got loaded way in the front of the truck and won’t see the light of day for a few weeks due to the event schedule. How is the rider by the way? In all the crashes I’ve seen at various racetracks, I’ve never seen a bruised forehead like he had. | ||
| Xb9 |
That was a racer friend of mine, Bill Smith. He runs an XB9R in local club races, and he raced at Nelson Ledges this past weekend. He had a cat scan which was negative (no concussion, and broke the bone in the tip of his little finger. Pretty tough dude! | ||
| 02m2 |
ya, took a swan dive head first, then slid the rest of the way on my back. forehead not to bad now but have two black-eyes. and bruises on the body. glad to hear the bike can be fixed! 1125 is one awesome bike | ||
| Psyclonej |
Bill, Glad to hear that you weren't more injured in your crash. Jon | ||
| Court |
It'd be cool to have THAT bike used as a training bike and allow a room full of dealers the benefit of "fixing" it. I'm thinking there **may** be value in closely logging and monitoring (costs . . . estimated vs. actual . . and learning curve . .. decrease in time as a couple are done) all of the units "consumed" in the Inside Pass events. I'm glad everyone is okay. | ||
| Bombardier |
I left my disc brake lock on a couple of weeks ago and rode off. You guys have seen the damage as the pics were posted. The quote came back as just under 4 thousand dollars Australian. Thank goodness for insurance. | ||
| Reepicheep |
Glad you are OK Bill! We were gridded up for novice, and you could feel everybody kind of go pale when the bike came by on the truck. It didn't look good. Fortunately we could see you up and walking down by the ambulance before we started. You weren't moving very quickly, but all major subsystems seemed intact. Sounds like the helmet did it's job thank God! A big bruise and two black eyes sure beats the alternative... And as for "the truck going back" you weren't fooling anyone... it said "Harley Davidson" in black print, but beneath it said "East Troy, WI". Reminded me of the Simpsons episode where Homer was undercover, and riding around in a van that had "Plain White Van" in big black letters on the side  | ||
| Jflaig |
Glad to hear that you are OK. Mid-Ohio is a "test track", and it sounds like you tested the 1125 for Buell. It sounds like both you and the 1125 are both survivors. I agree that it would be nice to hear what it would/should cost for repair. I am truely glad to hear that you are doing well. | ||
| Bikoman |
Glad to here you are alright. I was one of the 6 STT Coaches that were out there on 1125R's in that Session. Your dust had not settled yet when I crested the hill at 10. You were just sitting up, we waved at the corner worker to red flag the session. Glad the bike is recoverable. I own and ride multiple brands (Bikes that I own right now, 06 ZX6R, 03 Aprilia Mille, 03 XB9R, and 04 KTM 625SMC) and I was very impressed with the 1125R, both handling and power-wise. You guys have done a great job on it, the only oddity that I was not expecting was the total lack of any engine braking , downshifting hot into corners, but after a lap, and then knowing what to expect, I had a blast! John (Message edited by bikoman on October 09, 2007) | ||
| Mikef5000 |
Hmm, I didn't notice that. Could be the slipper clutch being a little too slippery? | ||
| Zac4mac |
So vacuum assisted slipper clutch means NO engine braking??? crap, that's the biggest gripe I had when test-riding the Uly. I sure hope I don't regret letting go of the XB9R for the 1125; wonder what happens when you plug the vacuum assist line. Z | ||
| Mikef5000 |
So vacuum assisted slipper clutch means NO engine braking??? Eep! Don't take what I say as fact. It was meerly a suggestion. | ||
| Dave_bogue |
".........,the only oddity that I was not expecting was the total lack of any engine braking" This is the first comment I've heard about lack of engine braking. Is this true? One of the first things I noticed when first riding a friend's SV1000 (I now own one) was the pronounced V2 engine braking (as opposed to an inline four). It was something I had to get accustomed to but eventually I really liked it, particularly for subtle speed adjustments when cornering. To me, the enhanced V2 engine braking is part and parcel of riding a performance V twin. Does the 1125R have the typical V2 engine braking? Dave | ||
| Ratbuell |
The 1125 has engine braking. What it doesn't have is rear wheel chatter when you hammer 2 quick downshifts at the entrance to a turn and just pop your hand off the clutch lever. I did have to adjust my riding style a bit on the track with the 1125 - turn entry went from a single "squeeze brake - downshift - ease off clutch" movement to placate my tuber to a "finger brake - pull clutch - ok, speed is down so shift-shift-dump on the clutch - release brake, hit throttle". The WRONG way to do it. I know. But the bike makes it so easy. And the front brake is sooooo good. We were doing what, 120-125 on the straight at Pocono? ONE FINGER on the front brake brought the bike down for a 40 or 50 mph left. If you want more engine braking, feather the throttle to about 10%. Sounds stupid, I know, but the slipper clutch is vacuum operated. Crack the throttle, vacuum drops and clutch is "normal". But for those who haven't had the chance to ride this beast - hold off your judgement until you get some seat time. It's tough to explain...but the damn thing just plain works. VERY well. | ||
| Slaughter |
If the clutch action is setup for performance riding (as most folks seem to be DEMANDING) - it SHOULD greatly reduce engine braking when the BRAKES are in use. This is BECAUSE in entering a turn at speed, the rear wheel is nearly leaving the ground because of normal front wheel biased braking. ANY engine braking is generally not helping and with rear wheel hopping, can de-stabilize the bike going into the turn. Most roll-off throttle usage without brake application should have no effect... you'd still get engine braking. All the above might be a bit smart-assed since my butt won't hit the seat for exactly a week yet but were I designing a "performance" bike, I'd definitely have the slipper adjustments set to prevent rear wheel hopping under hard braking... but that's just me. | ||
| Reepicheep |
I noticed the lack of engine braking immediately, it was a huge difference from my XB9. But it was hugely intuitive. I had a lot to adjust to going from riding my XB9SX all day to suddenly jumping on the 1125r. I would say it took about half a lap to adjust to the "no engine braking". I overheard some people talking (not sure if it was true or not) about the effect of a vaccum operated slipper. The net effect was that the more you chop the throttle, the less engine braking you will get. So you only get the radical "release" of engine braking when you really need it. Being on my first track day, and being on a 130HP bike for the first time, and going from 20k miles on a 9sx to an XB-R type "falling forward" position, I was lucky to find my %&& with both hands, and within two laps i was lapping faster on the 1125R then I was with the 9sx... and not in the straights, around the corners. Whatever it is, it's intuitive as hell. I knew it was there because of how radically different it felt, but it was almost instantly perfectly natural. | ||
| Ceejay |
I noticed it wasn't there, mostly, as reep stated, due to how different it was from my XB. On my XB coming off the back straight at Mid-O I'd be heavy on the brake downshifting and often times the back end would be sliding around, which I'm fairly used to, and not bothered by much. On the new bike the sliding around wasn't there. It may have had something to do with the front brake being so stout, that at first I could finish braking before downshifting turning, or better tires too(I had Z6 170's on my XB while the 1125's had 180 corsas). You could still modulate speed pretty easily via the throttle mid turn, and maybe even better...A few laps later doing all three at the same time was pretty simple on that bike, slowing down from ~150, turning, and downshifting...almost seemed to easy, and it seemed like I just needed to get my head around the fact that I could go faster... | ||
| Reepicheep |
A perfect quote that sums up the whole day, and the 1125r in particular! | ||
| Bikoman |
I was not complaining....I was only commenting about the engine braking. It was not a total lack of engine braking, but a vagueness that you got used to. After a lap I was at home on it, it actually allowed me to change my braking markers. The slipper did feel different than the slipper in my 06 ZX6R. John  | ||
| Jerseyguy |
I found the engine braking to be more then adequate, especially toward the end of the banked straight at Pocono. On my hotter laps I knew the back was very light due to the superb front brake anyway. The really cool part for me was to do two taps down with no clutch to think about while laying into the turn. I'm sure at my low level of skill, I am faster on this bike. | ||
| Zac4mac |
No, I didn't take any of the observations as complaining. I do rely on engine braking a great deal since I've been riding Harleys for over 30 years. Most of the ones that weren't Harleys or Indians were Vertical twins ala Triumph or BSA. I've only owned 2 IL4s, a Suzi 750GS and a Yamaha XS-11 Special and even they had a decent bit of back-pressure deceleration. Ah heck, if I have to change my riding habits a bit to ride this new rocket, so be it. Gonna have to change some anyway, if I grab as much throttle as I usually do I'm gonna end up on my butt. Z | ||
| Jammin_joules |
wonder what happens when you plug the vacuum assist line. The slipper action is not directly linked to the vacuum assist. The latter makes clutch pull easier. At least this is my understanding.} | ||
| Jammin_joules |
When Trip Nobles was allowed to hot lap at Miller Motorsport, he got the crowd on its feet by rear braking to back into the corner exiting the straightaway. The tire hop wheel screeches were attention-getting. Buell engineers were quick to point out that it was back braking causing that, not improper slipper clutch action.  | ||
| Zac4mac |
The way I understand the clutch(at this point) is that the vacuum assists the clutch with no load on the engine to make the pull lighter. But when you are decelerating the vacuum climbs as rpms increase, which disengages the clutch until rpms fall to a certain level. That keeps the tire from backspinning when you drop too many gears. reverse traction control... Is this the first hydraulic clutch on a Buell? I downloaded the owner's manual today at work and printed it out so I could learn some more about this new toy I'm waiting for. I'll see if it has any new info. Z | ||
| Mbsween |
Hey, I tested the slipper clutch at Pocono , it works! Like Reep indicated I was having a hard time with the controls coming of my X1, I mean barcalounger Coming into the hairpin I dropped two gears instead of one and dumped the clutch. As the tach shot from 4k to somewhere much higher, I realized what I'd done and expected to go straight off the track into whatever was behind the hairpin. What happened was a little bit of wiggle and I leaned 'er over and made the turn. Its a pretty handy feature | ||
| Diablo1 |
wonder what happens when you plug the vacuum assist line. The slipper action is not directly linked to the vacuum assist. The latter makes clutch pull easier. At least this is my understanding. If you disconnect and plug the vacuum line, the clutch will not have any slipper action. The vacuum simply operates a clutch diaphragm which reduces spring pressure on the clutch plates. High vacuum = low spring pressure. Low vacuum = normal spring pressure.} | ||
| Ccryder |
Z, the best I can remember, the higher the rpm's the lower the vacuum but, it also has to do with the throttle opening. So if you are dropping a couple of gears with the throttle closed or, almost closed even with the revs up you have more vacuum. When you go WFO or more than 1/2 WFO your vacuum drops quickly. I don't really understand all the interactions of RPM/ throttle opening and, load but it seems to work this way. After 35+ years of riding singles (1st bike was a Norton 500 single), V-twins and now a V-4, on the street even riding briskly I can drop a few gears and match the revs without a second thought. Would I like a slipper clutch on the street........ yeah it probably wouldn't hurt. Neil S. | ||
| Zac4mac |
Neil - yeah, like I said, I'm used to using the jake brake instead of the "real brakes" and I'll just have to adjust by using the ZTLs more. I don't ride aggressive enough to see a big benefit from the slipper. At least if it's too much to deal with it looks like it can be disabled without any problems. Last resort. I'll try to adapt first. Reading the owner's manual now. Damn this thing's high tech. Can't wait!!! Z |
