- Thread starter qwakers
- Start date
mangocrazy
Italian V-twin nutjob
- Messages
- 1,165
- Location
- Sheffield, UK
I think it's three things - bean counters, space and weight. The bean counters want to shave the cost of every component to the minimum. So as long as it's legal they'll go with the cheapest (which is, not coincidentally, the smallest and lightest). And on a sports bike, the extra space and weight constraints of a proper compressor horn aren't really workable. Even on my KTM which doesn't have a fairing to get in the way, it caused some head-scratching where I would fit the Denali, which isn't massively bigger than OE.Aye, what is it about motorcycle makers that they flog a bike costing the neck end of 20 grand and still fit it with something robbed from a 1960s scooter?
Even my Pan Euro had a fly's fart for a horn... until I bought a pair of twin-tones and shoe-horned them in - the fairings may look spacious but there's very little fresh air left behind them.
New relay and a dedicated feed from the battery and it sounds like a Scania(yes, I know, it weighs about the same as a Scania...
)
But I agree - on a Pan or other serious touring metal, it's unforgivable to fit a weedy horn. Any bike needs a decent horn, given the general cluelessness and myopia of most of the people we share road space with. Just last week a female runner very nearly ran straight inunder my wheels when I was on the Falco. She hadn't seen or heard me despite looking in my direction. And that bike has a pair of Akrapovic cans (can't really call them silencers). The sound of approaching thunder alone should have alerted her.
mangocrazy
Italian V-twin nutjob
- Messages
- 1,165
- Location
- Sheffield, UK
That was the name of a cat I had in the 1980s. As a tiny kitten he'd blunder about the place going 'meep meep', so he was named Meep until we came up with a better one. We never did. Even after he grew into a seriously chunky ginger Tom.
Wedg1e
They call me Mr. Bodge-angles
- Messages
- 7,735
- Location
- Teesside, England
My mate Mart with the RST Futura has just blown the money he saved by us not being able to go to the Alps, on a new set of underseat pipes the make of which escapes me... but it's gone from stock rumble to anti-aircraft cannon, I can hear it from 3 bikes back through a pair of earplugs and Tracy Chapman
.I've never tried the Falco but I did 2 miles on a Tuono desperately trying to find a gear that didn't go chugga-chugga-chugga, while the guy who owned it nearly pooed himself on the Pan Euro. He flagged me in and said there was no way he could cope with the weight, I said fair enough, I couldn't cope with a litre engine that needed to be kept at stupid RPM to make it work.
Bizarrely, the Futura and the RSV Mille with the same basic engine manage to deliver how I'd expect a big V-twin to
- OK, probably have to stir the cogs a bit more than you do on the Honda's V4.One of the guys is just starting his first season with a 1290 KTM and that thing is just bonkers. It probably needs all the fancy electronics just to get it off the driveway without looping the loop
RaceDiagnostics
Forum Supporter
- Messages
- 3,166
This peg snapped off of my bonnet release lever mechanism a couple of days ago. Its where the lever pivots.
Drilled it out and taped it to M10.
Turned down an old head bolt, it was hard steel.
Readu to go in.
Loctited in place.
Drilled it out and taped it to M10.
Turned down an old head bolt, it was hard steel.
Readu to go in.
Loctited in place.
brightspark
Member
- Messages
- 40,320
- Location
- yarm stockton on tees
fixed the lead on my hedge trimmer they cut leads as well as branches 
a couple of crimped connectors and tape . good as new didn't even blow the fuse or the trip switch
a couple of crimped connectors and tape . good as new didn't even blow the fuse or the trip switch
Cobbler
Codger bodger
- Messages
- 7,727
- Location
- Gloucestershire UK
I used to have one of those B & D drills with a hedge cutter attachment, remember them? Someone borrowed it, guess what .... it came back with a lead a foot long & an apology.fixed the lead on my hedge trimmer they cut leads as well as branches
mangocrazy
Italian V-twin nutjob
- Messages
- 1,165
- Location
- Sheffield, UK
I wouldn't mind betting your mate with the Futura has got a set of Tigcraft exhausts. They are seriously loud and also give a nice performance increase.My mate Mart with the RST Futura has just blown the money he saved by us not being able to go to the Alps, on a new set of underseat pipes the make of which escapes me... but it's gone from stock rumble to anti-aircraft cannon, I can hear it from 3 bikes back through a pair of earplugs and Tracy Chapman
I've never tried the Falco but I did 2 miles on a Tuono desperately trying to find a gear that didn't go chugga-chugga-chugga, while the guy who owned it nearly pooed himself on the Pan Euro. He flagged me in and said there was no way he could cope with the weight, I said fair enough, I couldn't cope with a litre engine that needed to be kept at stupid RPM to make it work.
Bizarrely, the Futura and the RSV Mille with the same basic engine manage to deliver how I'd expect a big V-twin to
One of the guys is just starting his first season with a 1290 KTM and that thing is just bonkers. It probably needs all the fancy electronics just to get it off the driveway without looping the loop
I've never ridden a Tuono, but as you say it shares the same basic engine with the Futura and RSV (and Falco)and I just love the way my Falco grunts out of corners. On one of my fave sections of road in the Peak District I can go up a twisty hill spanning a couple of miles with no real straights and stay in the same gear, using the low down torque out of the corner and the engine braking into the next corner.
All I can think of is that the Tuono you rode needs the throttle bodies synchronising and the CO levels setting up correctly. They can get quite nasty and snatchy if that's not done.
KTMs are officially bonkers. It's in the DNA. The horns sprout through the helmet every time I ride mine.
James1979
Member
- Messages
- 8,434
- Location
- Orkney
Today I mostly fixed a digger bucket! Do a few of these but nothing quite so bad as this one in a long time. God only knows what they did to it. I dont post many pictures online of what I do because firstly I cant be arsed with all the online welding inspectors and secondly although its not top secret stuff my customers dont really want their f-ups plastered all over the web!
Anyhow, pictures tell the story. All welded in position with 7018 rods as thats the only LoHi I could get. Welded in situ as I'm too old and sore to be rolling digger buckets about by hand and nothing was available to help most of the day. Hardox cheek plates will give it a fighting chance against getting wrecked agin, I hope. Plenty of heat, chain blocking and a bit of a sledgehammer to get it to play. got there in the end
Anyhow, pictures tell the story. All welded in position with 7018 rods as thats the only LoHi I could get. Welded in situ as I'm too old and sore to be rolling digger buckets about by hand and nothing was available to help most of the day. Hardox cheek plates will give it a fighting chance against getting wrecked agin, I hope. Plenty of heat, chain blocking and a bit of a sledgehammer to get it to play. got there in the end
Wedg1e
They call me Mr. Bodge-angles
- Messages
- 7,735
- Location
- Teesside, England
Yeah, I think that was the problem; I've had 14 years of the ST's V4 which has a torque curve flatter than Keira Knightley - it'll pull from just above walking pace to death weave in top.
A mate had the old 1100 Multistrada and that had a powerband like a 2-stroke: nothing...nothing... chug..chug... 4000rpm - whoooosh... bang as you chin the clocks (about 2500 revs later).
The 1200 Multi he replaced it with was much better but sadly that was the one that he parked in, on, under and around a Renault Megane and he now rides a Crossrunner (got made redundant while recovering from the crash so had to balance the shekels).
Another mate chopped his 1200 Multi in for the KTM; his helmet has one of those hatches so you can take your brain out before you set off
A third rides the Multi 1200 Pike's Peak, with the funky adaptive suspension - which apparently works really well, which is odd for Italian electronics
Wedg1e
They call me Mr. Bodge-angles
- Messages
- 7,735
- Location
- Teesside, England
I went and looked: Dominator. Look OK, seem to fit well but he wasn't impressed with the mounting arrangement for the indicators/numberplate bracket so he lashed something together.
northwest
Searching for the Holy Grail.........
- Messages
- 5,791
- Location
- Manchester UK
Very good, made me smile anyway. I am always very careful to edit photographs of customers stuff to make sure it cannot be identified. My own gear I just don't care.
James1979
Member
- Messages
- 8,434
- Location
- Orkney
I wasn't referring to folk on here, it's social media that attracts them. A necessary evil for businesses these days though.
I tend to blank all livery on stuff for customers or just get the photo so tight it'll only show the part. Couldn't care less about my own stuff though. Be nice if I had time to do it mind!!
I tend to blank all livery on stuff for customers or just get the photo so tight it'll only show the part. Couldn't care less about my own stuff though. Be nice if I had time to do it mind!!
mangocrazy
Italian V-twin nutjob
- Messages
- 1,165
- Location
- Sheffield, UK
I've owned Honda V4s since the late '80s (VFR750, not Pan) and they do spoil you for tractability and throttle response. There's a slight increase in urgency around the 7k mark, but otherwise it's just linear. My only wish is that they'd made a 1000cc VFR based on the original RC24 models, but with better brakes and suspension and no increase in weight. That would have been pretty much the perfect motorbike.
dobbslc
Member
- Messages
- 12,156
- Location
- Hertfordshire UK
The VFR 400 was soooooo smooth too!
Real surprising amount of torque for an engine that revs to 14000!
" third rides the Multi 1200 Pike's Peak, with the funky adaptive suspension - which apparently works really well, which is odd for Italian electronics"
Sky Hook I think it's called. I think the bike has an imaginary hook just above it and the suspension tries to stay level with that
What's wrong with increasing the damping of your forks with some EP80 gear oil anyway?
Real surprising amount of torque for an engine that revs to 14000!
" third rides the Multi 1200 Pike's Peak, with the funky adaptive suspension - which apparently works really well, which is odd for Italian electronics
"Sky Hook I think it's called. I think the bike has an imaginary hook just above it and the suspension tries to stay level with that
What's wrong with increasing the damping of your forks with some EP80 gear oil anyway?
slim_boy_fat
Member
- Messages
- 29,540
- Location
- Scottish Highlands
Wedg1e
They call me Mr. Bodge-angles
- Messages
- 7,735
- Location
- Teesside, England
Bit late coming back... after being spoiled with the grunt of the 1260 V4 in the ST, I rode a mate's VFR800 and sat there waiting for something to happen... but when it did
A guy who rarely comes out with us any more (since he got married and had kids) bought a VFR1200 shortly after they came out - he has several VFRs going back to an E-reg (I think) which is in his mate's garage in Basingstoke... anyway, although I haven't ridden the '12 I've watchd it leave the ST13 for dead in a top-gear roll-on as well as through the gears, but the looks of the thing
- what were Honda smoking that week?About 2012 Honda released pics of a hurried re-think where they'd taken the styling of the ST13 Pan Euro and applied it to the chassis of the VFR1200; THAT to me at least might have been the perfect bike - but then Honda looked at what was selling thanks to Charlie and Ewan and it wasn't sports-tourers. Enter the Crossrunner and Crosstourer which of course are the VFR800 and VFR1200 engines in mis-shapen frocks
The ST13 was quietly dropped about 2011 although they hung around in showrooms with big price tags for years - there was one on Ebay last week that claimed to be the last Pan registered in the UK on a 15-plate but I've seen them in dealers more recently than that (about £14K with all the optional extras, and there weren't many).
I think the VFR1200 is also now history; their resale values went down quite quickly from new where the Pan Euro historically always had good 'residuals', as they say. Recently though there have been some bargain-basement bikes for £2K or less with lower mileage than mine
Wedg1e
They call me Mr. Bodge-angles
- Messages
- 7,735
- Location
- Teesside, England
The VFR 400 was soooooo smooth too!
Real surprising amount of torque for an engine that revs to 14000!
" third rides the Multi 1200 Pike's Peak, with the funky adaptive suspension - which apparently works really well, which is odd for Italian electronics
Sky Hook I think it's called. I think the bike has an imaginary hook just above it and the suspension tries to stay level with that
What's wrong with increasing the damping of your forks with some EP80 gear oil anyway?
That's the one. I'm told it's a decent improvement on the standard ride which isn't bad to start with, but there's a £ penalty to pay even on used Pike's Peak Multis.
