Hi All:
My 2013 Roadster finally delivered and thought I'd jot down my initial thoughts and impressions. Hopefully it's of interest to those here and perhaps some help to those 'kicking the tires'. In 13 days I've ridden 400 miles and am waiting to hit 700 or 800 before taking it on some longer trips.
First some backgound info on me to place the thoughts in perspective. I have a 2012 Vrod, which I love, and got the roadster to have a powerful bike that could serve as a good weekender. There is no way to get gear on the vrod without ruining it.
I am a fairly 'aggressive rider.' I don't tailgate, tightweave through cars, get in situations without an 'out', or generally make an ass of myself on the road, but I do drive fast and like to take corners as hard as possible, consistent with my own safety. I hit 125 MPH or so within the first 20 miles on the bike and regularly go 80-90 cruising around. I say this only for perspective on my thoughts on the bike.
On to the thoughts, in no particular order.
- First, I knew going in that she was big. Sitting on one in the dealer she felt big. Until riding away from the dealer, however, I hadn't realized just how big she is. The R3R makes the Vrod feel like a kiddie bike.
- I was quite cautious in the first 50 miles given the new tires, my unfamiliarity with the bike, and the cautions and warnings given here: no hard corners and no WOT in first or second gear. I did slam it in 3rd gear right away and hit 2nd pretty good too. In part because of all the warnings for ripped off fingers and such, I was initially expecting more response. What I've realized, however, is that with her size and seating position (feet underneath knees, good butt support), one is very well positioned to to take the pull. She goes from zero to 80 very, very quickly, but because she rides so well, 80 just doesn't seem fast on the R3R.
- At 60 she is as stable as can be (cross winds, wind turbulence, "tight") and at 125 she feels right in her stride as well. I don't know beyond that at this point.
- Self-cancelling turn signals, people! My 1981 Yamaha Seca has this. It's frankly weird they didn't include this basic feature.
- After 50 miles or so I started learning, practicing, and playing with the bike's agility. Because I'd been so docile in corning to that point, when I started practicing quick-turn maneuvers I was actually shocked. I knew her previously as a massive, stable beast, so was amazed by this. She almost feels 'flipable' between 30-60 mph. Very, very agile. Getting her over above 70 takes a little more effort and crossing from one side to the other (again, especially at speed) takes some time, but for switching lanes
getting down into a corner it is a very light and easy touch.
- Also, on handling, the big, wide bike makes it really easy to move one's weight over. The Vrod is much lighter and smaller and that helps on the twisties, but the Rocket's much more 'athletic' position really closes the gap between the two.
- The brakes seem fine. I'm still testing and practicing how much she'll go before the ABS kicks in (I haven't 'slammed' on them yet to really push the braking limits), but they seem fine. It does take a hard squeeze to brake hard, but I don't mind that at all.
- The shocks are bad. Going in, I didn't expect much on the suspension and I thought I'd perhaps wait on the aftermarket for a season or at least several thousand miles, but I'm not going to wait. If it were just the jarring I'd live with it a bit, but if one is going to use that engine and agility, aftermarket shocks are a must. The front forks seem to ride OK, but they plow a lot with any brake at all so getting upgraded forks will be a good safety addition as well. I've read all the shock threads on here several times and am trying to decide between the Nitros and YSS. Any help here with be appreciated.
- Semi trucks can hide in the blind spot of these mirrors.
- As an aside, I believe in a 'hard' break-in with plenty of hard pressure accelerating and decelerating and doing lots of oil, especially during the first several hundred miles. The magnet on one of the drain plugs had quite a lot of metal on the first change, but also metal on the subsequent changes. For those getting a new bike, you really should change it as fast as possible (even after 20 miles). It's very easy and, from what I've read, really does boost the longevity and power of one's engine if it's broken in hard with plenty of changes (more atfirst, then decreasing through the first 2000 miles). It's not that expensive since one should use dino oil for break-in anyway. We have more in North Dakota.
- Today I apparently got cocky and it almost cost me: since I hadn't had any close calls with laying her down while in slow maneuvering, apparently I wasn't paying sufficient respect to her long, heavy, beastiness, because I only recovered her by the hair on my chin - I thought she was going down. I think I leaned while going so slow rather than staying on top of her. Wow. Hopefully I'll have no other such lapses.
- I'm amazed at how hot she runs on the factory tune. The first time I rode her at night I was surprised how bright the headers glow. It could serve as mood lighting, if you're into that sort of thing. One can see the glow in the daytime too.
- She seems very comfortable for me (am 6'2", 190), but I haven't yet gone more than 50 miles in a shot, so that test is still to come. I'd really rather not buy a seat, especially since that still seems like it'd be a crapshoot to know if the aftermarket will be any better for my particular shape.
- I'm not used to riding a bike that is still ready to pounce at 2000 RPM. The sweet spot seems between 3500 and 5000 for hard acceleration, but she moves from anywhere. I finally did it today: sitting at a light and unknowingly taking off in second. It wasn't that she lugged a bit, but made it fine. Rather, she simply didn't care. I was behind traffic and was doing a light throttle for first gear and only noticed she was in second due to higher speed and lower RPM than for first.
- Speaking of which, the gearing is kinda weird. It seems to me they could have made each one longer, starting with first. They'd all still have plenty of torque, but there would actually be some room in first. A 6th gear would be nice too, as everyone says.
All told, she is a truly incredible machine, ****ty shocks and a few quirks aside. The power is fantastic, the relative agility is incredible, I love the look (though wouldn't exactly call her 'beautiful') and I know she'll be an awesome performer for my intended use. More than that, however, she just has that "it" factor that makes the R3R so much more than the sum of her parts.
I'll leave off with that, if anyone has gotten this far. I've gotten so much help from reading here I hope some find this of use or interest to them.
Peter