Sundays for me can get a bit boring so i came up with the idea to brighten them up. With a few phone calls yesterday i was all set to go. First was a test drive a Yamaha, the bike a Nexen GT, the 3 wheeler thing. Was given an hour to try it. Once over the initial shock of having 2 wheels ahead of me and the front weight, The thing handles well. I would love this bike in the wet, with all the front grip The engine noise was not dissimilar to my tiger both being triples. Would i buy one No. Just too expensive for what it is. Next was an SCR950. Now this one looked fun. The style reminded me of the SR500 i owned years ago. But instead of a single thumper, it is a Vee twin. The riding position suited me well having a 31" inseam. On my ride, i was highly disappointed. It was gutless for a 950, ground the pegs going around most of the corners. This happened without pushing it at all. Don't even think it is fitted with ABS. A big let down. Next dealer stocked Harley Davisons. I sat on their "48" with low bars. This bike feels so narrow between my legs but even just sitting on it in the showroom the seat was hard and uncomfortable. No wonder why HD riders look so angry all the time, it cause they asses are killing them. I did get a test ride on a used 2019 1870 Ultra Limited Low. Think this was ex demo as i had only 400 miles on the clock. This was fitted with all the bells and whistles. This was totally different, seat like a soft Chesterfield chair with the passenger seat even better. But god was it heavy. It made me feel very small astride it. Must have weighed over half a ton. Now, this bike impressed me, once on the move it was beautiful. Didn't feel the need to traffic light racing but give it a handful my god did it fly. I would hate to clean it, there are just too many nooks to get in to. If i only did long distance touring i would buy this. The only off putting bit was the price. £23,895. Next Sunday i have booked test rides with KTM, BMW, and Kawasaki. Am still looking for a Can-Am dealer to test a Spider. In the week i will try a book test rides for the following Sunday on the new Royal Enfields and a couple of these Chinese 125's.
sounds like you had good fundoes the Yamaha 3 wheeler stand up on it's own or does it need a side stand?
Unlike the 3 wheeled scooters, it needs a side stand to stay up. But it don't come with a center stand. Can't understand why bike center stands aint standard fitment these days. All my old bike came standard with both stands. Is it so we can all get screwed out of more money buying them as extras.
The problem with the Yamaha Niken, apart from the bizarre three legged looks, is also the running costs, one extra tyre, another set of brake pads, two extra forks etc. I can't see if you did a cost benefit analysis it would stack up. and of course the elephant in the room is the list price! Personally it's not for me.
If it didn't need a side stand I could see there being a market for folk that for one reason or another were unable to ride a conventional bike
