What do you think about the riding modes? Do you find them useful?

It's an interesting thread. It's got me thinking about more than just the modes on the bike.

It's making me analyse about how I approach my riding somewhat.

The short answer is......I don't think about changing the rider mode setting hardly at all. It's default setting is on full fat Rocket propulsion.

However, there have been a couple of occasions where i've said to my self, 'hit the rain mode' due to the road conditions. because I know that I can tame the bike with the setting, but it's not something I think about 90% of the time.

I'll admit have been caught out once. I lit up the rear end accelerating in a low gear in a tight-ish bend, but managed to save the sudden sideways action. I certainly woke myself up a bit, but I deserved a wake up, because I gave the bike too much 'expression' when I knew the conditions were not the best on cold tyres.

So I hear everyone cry, why didn't you already have the bike in rain mode.....you're an idiot, and you might be right, but I think I was more of an idiot by winding her up just to taste the delicious torque, and then the bike spoke to me and I changed my mindset back to my more normal one, which is a bit more rational.

Bottom line is that i'm an 'old school' rider who wants to be the one who makes the decisions rather than letting the bike do them for me.
It's difficult to break out of that fundamental mindset.

I keep mine in sport mode all the time. I never ride in the rain, but if I would end up riding in bad weather, I would definitely chose an appropriate setting.

The original Rockets had no modes although the throttle was restricted. That was easy to solve. The max torque on my 2007 Classic was 162 rw ft lbs, rain or shine.

Using the rain mode while get used to new bike (NOS ‘23 red/chrome).

Though have related experience, have only two years of real/owner MC experience (‘23 Triumph Bobber). Using the rain mode has made this big bike an easy transition. Maybe after get first 600mi in, will go “Road”. Have preset “Rider” to be same but moved throttle map to sport; that’ll be my third move up.

dougl said:

Doesn’t it have cornering traction control?

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Not sure if that’s a real question or sarcasm lol but I definitely can sense when the rear tire starts to give way and fishtail even with traction control on. Maybe I could lean into it with more throttle and trust the traction control will prevent it from breaking loose completely but I don’t feel a need to be that aggressive or risk it when I’m doing 85+. If I lost it and went into a slide at that kind of speed I’m probably dead even with gear.

dfresh said:

Not sure if that’s a real question or sarcasm lol but I definitely can sense when the rear tire starts to give way and fishtail even with traction control on. Maybe I could lean into it with more throttle and trust the traction control will prevent it from breaking loose completely but I don’t feel a need to be that aggressive or risk it when I’m doing 85+. If I lost it and went into a slide at that kind of speed I’m probably dead even with gear.

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It wasn’t sarcasm. It’s supposed to lower the torque if the rear wheel loses traction in a turn.

dougl said:

It wasn’t sarcasm. It’s supposed to lower the torque if the rear wheel loses traction in a turn.

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Yep, I get that.

dfresh said:

Yep, I get that.

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There is probably a disclaimer about the traction control in the user manual. There was for my BMW.

dougl said:

It wasn’t sarcasm. It’s supposed to lower the torque if the rear wheel loses traction in a turn.

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Yes it does as mentioned by others and according to the manual it's lean angle dependent as well.

So, when I bought the bike, I gave myself a promise not to go into Sports mode at least 5 months, or till I feel comfy in Road mode.

Even though I fully intended to learn to drive it in Rain mode, I right away had trouble with giving it enough throttle at launches. After switching to Road mode, it just clicked, stopped stalling. Thinking back, I think I had a fear of giving so much throttle travel for a bike of this engine size. Thus, the Road mode fixed the problem because in this mode the amount of throttle rotation seemed more natural for my expectations how a bike should behave.

Now, going back to the discussion of the Sports mode, I finally switched to the Sports mode today FOR THE FIRST TIME. Though, went with the Rider custom mode, where I chose the Sports mode as a map, but the reason was for ability to chose the Road setting for Traction. Knowing how my other bike is set up, the Sports mode would have a lesser traction protection. I don't want to be surprised by changed traction mode. Thus, I opted for Rider custom, to keep the same traction.

Now, what did I experience going from Road to Sports? Well, I am so happy to report that the 1st gear is so much better yet. In Road mode I HATED the 1st gear, it was noisy, way too much engine brake, too much vibration on low speed, and also, it would quickly drop to lugging, thus, required too much clutch feathering. When I rode in Road mode the 1st gear, I always felt a need to get into the 2nd to get a smoother experience, also, less engine braking.

After the switch to Sports, man, it is a different 1st gear. Finally I am enjoying riding slow. Way less engine braking. It almost self-walks itself at 10mph without dropping to self-lugging. It feels like 2nd gear. Even revving in N or with full clutch in, I think the sound is less flat. I tried 2nd and 3rd gear, feels more smooth. I am very happy that this mode made the bike so much more enjoyable. Of cause, it takes off so much faster, I need to learn now to slightly pace myself from achieving to high of a speed from a traffic light.