** KNEE DRAGGERS UNITE ** Part XIII - Squid City and Crash Cages

[13nick31]

Deleted my previous post...but wound up with a 2020 Triumph Street Triple RS. ...whydidmypantsgettighter

Wasn't going to wait for the new Ducati Monsters to hit the showroom, plus their reliability ultimately turned me off.

Hopefully my first Triumph proves to be reliable! Any other miskers own a Street Triple?


Also, first time seeing one of these...thought it looked like a nice alternative to a Grom.



And...this is just ridiculous.

[RoyalRyy]

Deleted my previous post...but wound up with a 2020 Triumph Street Triple RS. ...whydidmypantsgettighter

Wasn't going to wait for the new Ducati Monsters to hit the showroom, plus their reliability ultimately turned me off.

Hopefully my first Triumph proves to be reliable! Any other miskers own a Street Triple?


Also, first time seeing one of these...thought it looked like a nice alternative to a Grom.

Sick pics brah!

[Zackad]

got a question for you guys. I did some shopping at a nearby dealership this weekend, and noticed on nearly every bike there is a $1-2k dealer markup. Is this something that's a pretty standard tacked on fee for bikes, or am i able to negotiate this down/away entirely? As a buddy explained it, bikes are a luxury item that they don't really need to mark down/discount to make sales, and with supply being low due to COVID that i have even less negotiating power.

[RoyalRyy]

got a question for you guys. I did some shopping at a nearby dealership this weekend, and noticed on nearly every bike there is a $1-2k dealer markup. Is this something that's a pretty standard tacked on fee for bikes, or am i able to negotiate this down/away entirely? As a buddy explained it, bikes are a luxury item that they don't really need to mark down/discount to make sales, and with supply being low due to COVID that i have even less negotiating power.

Yes, those dealer markups are normal and pretty bull****. The amount you can negotiate really depends on the bike as well. If it's a popular bike they can easily sell off their floor then good luck negotiating much. I would negotiate the OTD price and ignore the fees. They'll play with the fees/numbers to try and get close to your bottom line price.

When I was negotiating my ninja 400 I told them I would buy it right now if they were able to meet at "xx" price. Was a pain in the ass and the sales guy had to go back to the manager to get his approval multiple times but whatever. Negotiating is a pain in the fukin ass on a popular bike and expect it to take awhile because they hate budging. You really have to research your fees and ask around multiple dealerships to get an idea of the average OTD price. Try and get them to compete with each other.

[13nick31]

got a question for you guys. I did some shopping at a nearby dealership this weekend, and noticed on nearly every bike there is a $1-2k dealer markup. Is this something that's a pretty standard tacked on fee for bikes, or am i able to negotiate this down/away entirely? As a buddy explained it, bikes are a luxury item that they don't really need to mark down/discount to make sales, and with supply being low due to COVID that i have even less negotiating power.

Could be certain dealerships...or just your area.

My RS I just got has an MSRP of $12850 plus $500 destination. I got it for $10500 plus $250 doc fee, then my 6.75% sales tax. $11500 OTD.

Deals are out there, but not as often as they used to be before COVID. May have to look outside your area and find a dealer willing to work with you and pay extra to ship the bike...or road trip.

My local dealership had like 5 bikes in stock. Usually carrying 30-40. I found my bike 2 hours away from a dealership that had a lot of inventory still. Guy said they sold 130 bikes in March and 80 in April.

[mtpaquette]

got a question for you guys. I did some shopping at a nearby dealership this weekend, and noticed on nearly every bike there is a $1-2k dealer markup. Is this something that's a pretty standard tacked on fee for bikes, or am i able to negotiate this down/away entirely? As a buddy explained it, bikes are a luxury item that they don't really need to mark down/discount to make sales, and with supply being low due to COVID that i have even less negotiating power.

Acquire personal loan. Buy gently used bike for much less. I got a fully set up 2 year old KTM 690 SMCr for about $5k what I'd been paying to finance new through a dealership. Bike looked like it came straight off the showroom floor. Less than 5k miles.

[Zackad]

Yes, those dealer markups are normal and pretty bull****. The amount you can negotiate really depends on the bike as well. If it's a popular bike they can easily sell off their floor then good luck negotiating much. I would negotiate the OTD price and ignore the fees. They'll play with the fees/numbers to try and get close to your bottom line price.

When I was negotiating my ninja 400 I told them I would buy it right now if they were able to meet at "xx" price. Was a pain in the ass and the sales guy had to go back to the manager to get his approval multiple times but whatever. Negotiating is a pain in the fukin ass on a popular bike and expect it to take awhile because they hate budging. You really have to research your fees and ask around multiple dealerships to get an idea of the average OTD price. Try and get them to compete with each other.

dang that's not bad at all. Yeah will definitely have to do some research and subtly pit them against each other haha. Good to know that a deal isn't impossible though.

Could be certain dealerships...or just your area.

My RS I just got has an MSRP of $12850 plus $500 destination. I got it for $10500 plus $250 doc fee, then my 6.75% sales tax. $11500 OTD.

Deals are out there, but not as often as they used to be before COVID. May have to look outside your area and find a dealer willing to work with you and pay extra to ship the bike...or road trip.

My local dealership had like 5 bikes in stock. Usually carrying 30-40. I found my bike 2 hours away from a dealership that had a lot of inventory still. Guy said they sold 130 bikes in March and 80 in April.

Acquire personal loan. Buy gently used bike for much less. I got a fully set up 2 year old KTM 690 SMCr for about $5k what I'd been paying to finance new through a dealership. Bike looked like it came straight off the showroom floor. Less than 5k miles.

Personaly loan definitely seems like the better option. Won't have to be cornered into whatever requirements their financing might decide on at the time of sale. I would absolutely love to buy used...but for the model i'm looking at, there don't seem to be many options at all, if any.

I just paid off a personal loan that I've had for a while this morning, so I could certainly see that being the method. Gonna be holding off on purchasing for at least a month or two since I just paid that off, in the meantime I have the MSF course scheduled for memorial day weekend so hopefully I can knock that out in one go.

[Avalanche3319]

Just put a down payment on this beauty, picking her up Saturday.

[QisGQ]

Just put a down payment on this beauty, picking her up Saturday.

Congrats, zx6r is my favorite 600. I own a 2011. IDK the newer ones just don't look as good as the older ones, to me. They don't even make good green ninjas anymore . Has me worried when I wanna upgrade. Sigh. But I digress, enjoy lol

[kcuviello]

love the color on that zx6r. can I have it?

[Zackad]

I'm sure none of you care that much if at all, but I took my MSF course over the weekend and aced both parts! 100% on the written, no points docked on the riding test.

The dream is finally coming together

[13nick31]

I'm sure none of you care that much if at all, but I took my MSF course over the weekend and aced both parts! 100% on the written, no points docked on the riding test.

The dream is finally coming together

Good job, bro! Have you narrowed down your potential bike yet?

[QisGQ]

Man, was not expecting track days to sell out over a month in advance
Normally I can book within a week or so. Memorial weekend is usually my weekend so idk when I'll go now. Because the summer heat is coming, maybe the fall...

[Zackad]

Good job, bro! Have you narrowed down your potential bike yet?

I think so. I'm heavily leaning towards the Yamaha XSR700. was debating between that and the Scrambler, but Ducati's maintenance intervals are twice as frequent, and their valve maintenance is like 3-4x as expensive lol.

That being said, I'm still shopping around. Just settled on the Yamaha because most reviews say it's a solid starter bike with plenty of manageable power to grow into.

[13nick31]

I think so. I'm heavily leaning towards the Yamaha XSR700. was debating between that and the Scrambler, but Ducati's maintenance intervals are twice as frequent, and their valve maintenance is like 3-4x as expensive lol.

That being said, I'm still shopping around. Just settled on the Yamaha because most reviews say it's a solid starter bike with plenty of manageable power to grow into.

I think you'll love the parallel twin in that bike.
I had a 2016 FZ07 for 4 years and it was a great all around bike. Never had any issues with it.

After awhile, I'll be honest, I'd wring that thing out and get a tiny bit bored and wanted more power. Ended up getting a tune, Hord airbox, and a full Yoshi carbon exhaust. Absolutely loved the way that exhaust sounds. Throaty and beautiful.

My urge for more power brought me to my dream bike, a Street Triple RS. While shopping for a bike, I was interested in the new Ducati Monster, but my insurance was showing $1000+/year, whereas the Triumph was $350/year full coverage.

Anyway, I'd say get the XSR700. I don't think you'll be disappointed. If you know how to control the throttle and respect the power, it can be a great beginner bike that'll keep you smiling for years.

Hopefully you can find a good deal on one. I've always been able to haggle the OTD price for under MSRP price.

[Exiled93]

Thinking about picking up a bike again. Looking at iron 883s. I love the style and how it looks. Also tons of aftermarket it seems.

My only riding experiences are from a ninja 250 and a cbr300. Small bikes. I definitely want a slightly bigger bike and looking for a cruiser style this time.

Also looking around at similar styles such as shadows, vstars, bolts etc. Extremely low inventory on everything though.

Saw an 883 at a dealership. 2019 with 1k miles asking 9500. Prices definitely seem very inflated on everything I've been seeing.

Anyone have an 883 or other recommendations? I know it's still a smallish bike but I'm not wanting a huge 800 lb harley lol.

[Zackad]

I think you'll love the parallel twin in that bike.
I had a 2016 FZ07 for 4 years and it was a great all around bike. Never had any issues with it.

After awhile, I'll be honest, I'd wring that thing out and get a tiny bit bored and wanted more power. Ended up getting a tune, Hord airbox, and a full Yoshi carbon exhaust. Absolutely loved the way that exhaust sounds. Throaty and beautiful.

My urge for more power brought me to my dream bike, a Street Triple RS. While shopping for a bike, I was interested in the new Ducati Monster, but my insurance was showing $1000+/year, whereas the Triumph was $350/year full coverage.

Anyway, I'd say get the XSR700. I don't think you'll be disappointed. If you know how to control the throttle and respect the power, it can be a great beginner bike that'll keep you smiling for years.

Hopefully you can find a good deal on one. I've always been able to haggle the OTD price for under MSRP price.

You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to 13nick31 again.

Thanks for the input man, yeah i think i'm pretty set on the Yamaha. Hopefully negotiating won't be too tough lol. Definitely look forward to growing into it for years

Street Triple RS is one of my down-the-line dream bikes. How have you been enjoying that?

[13nick31]

You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to 13nick31 again.

Thanks for the input man, yeah i think i'm pretty set on the Yamaha. Hopefully negotiating won't be too tough lol. Definitely look forward to growing into it for years

Street Triple RS is one of my down-the-line dream bikes. How have you been enjoying that?

Absolutely loving the bike so far! This has always been a dream bikes as well for me; I've always gravitated towards naked bikes over sport bikes. Plus, I've always been a sucker for green/black graphics...so it kind of pushed me to get it when they dropped this new color combo last year.

I've only been out on it like 5-6 times so far as I've been a bit busy, but...it's just so amazingly smooth and precise. Also, the up/down quickshifter is something I've never had and something I don't want to forgo on future bikes now lol

I've already added a radiator guard and a tail tidy. In the mail I have tank grips on the way to give extra grip AND protect the matte paint from my legs. It's a definite bike I will keep for years. I just hope the reliability pans out for me as the closest Triumph dealer is 2 hours away.

Definitely get some pics up here when you pick up your bike!

[kcuviello]

guys im really pissed off rn.

I saw an article for new Yamaha r7. thought it was to pay homage to the 90s r7 and compete with the gsxr750 and have some fastAF middle weight type thing with 175hp 4cyl.

its a 70hp parallel twin? wtf? im shaking rn.

[Zackad]

Absolutely loving the bike so far! This has always been a dream bikes as well for me; I've always gravitated towards naked bikes over sport bikes. Plus, I've always been a sucker for green/black graphics...so it kind of pushed me to get it when they dropped this new color combo last year.

I've only been out on it like 5-6 times so far as I've been a bit busy, but...it's just so amazingly smooth and precise. Also, the up/down quickshifter is something I've never had and something I don't want to forgo on future bikes now lol

I've already added a radiator guard and a tail tidy. In the mail I have tank grips on the way to give extra grip AND protect the matte paint from my legs. It's a definite bike I will keep for years. I just hope the reliability pans out for me as the closest Triumph dealer is 2 hours away.

Definitely get some pics up here when you pick up your bike!

well...you know what to do...pics or negs...lol jk

awesome to hear though. I've personally always loved naked bikes too, but the main killer for me on a lot of them was the transformer-esque headlights. When I saw the XSR with the bucket style headlight i fell in love

Definitely already been looking at things that I can mod out on my bike as well. It's a curse lol, though luckily there's less to do and parts aren't as expensive as they are for my truck, so i don't feel as bad haha. Got the MSF Cert in the mail yesterday, hitting the DMV this week to finalize the license and then hopefully hit a couple dealers this weekend and do some shopping

[RoyalRyy]

guys im really pissed off rn.

I saw an article for new Yamaha r7. thought it was to pay homage to the 90s r7 and compete with the gsxr750 and have some fastAF middle weight type thing with 175hp 4cyl.

its a 70hp parallel twin? wtf? im shaking rn.

Yeah, when I saw the parallel twin I was like hell nawww.

[Zackad]

Yeah, when I saw the parallel twin I was like hell nawww.

as someone who isn't too familiar with the pros and cons of differing motorcycle engine types, why is this a bad thing?

Buddy of mine was excited about it but he said he was biased because he started on a parallel twin.

[RoyalRyy]

as someone who isn't too familiar with the pros and cons of differing motorcycle engine types, why is this a bad thing?

Buddy of mine was excited about it but he said he was biased because he started on a parallel twin.

I'll let someone else that knows the technicals answer but for me I'm strictly speaking from a sound perspective haha. I personally love the sound of a high revving inline 4. Parallel twin won't rev as high and it doesn't sound like a beast. I had a ninja 400 and parallel twins just don't sound mean at all imo. Many people disagree and love the parallel twins but it's not for me. I'm like you and don't really know much about the technical side of things (engine types/pros and cons, etc).

[kcuviello]

as someone who isn't too familiar with the pros and cons of differing motorcycle engine types, why is this a bad thing?

Buddy of mine was excited about it but he said he was biased because he started on a parallel twin.

here's the easiest way to explain - a ninja 650 is a POS slowAF turd at 649cc....a zx6r, the same company makes with 599cc, 50 less, and has 2x the HP and is better in every way.

its 2 cyl that share the same head for a slow boring experience that doesn't rev high or have any sort of excitable output - its in every slow modern sport bike you can think of. 300s, 400s, 650s, etc.

[Zackad]

I'll let someone else that knows the technicals answer but for me I'm strictly speaking from a sound perspective haha. I personally love the sound of a high revving inline 4. Parallel twin won't rev as high and it doesn't sound like a beast. I had a ninja 400 and parallel twins just don't sound mean at all imo. Many people disagree and love the parallel twins but it's not for me. I'm like you and don't really know much about the technical side of things (engine types/pros and cons, etc).

lol appreciate the honesty. sound is plenty reason enough for us enthusiasts, just asked the current owner of my muffler deleted WRX lol

here's the easiest way to explain - a ninja 650 is a POS slowAF turd at 649cc....a zx6r, the same company makes with 599cc, 50 less, and has 2x the HP and is better in every way.

its 2 cyl that share the same head for a slow boring experience that doesn't rev high or have any sort of excitable output - its in every slow modern sport bike you can think of. 300s, 400s, 650s, etc.

interesting, sounds like power delivery is a lot less efficient to increase throttle smoothness? thats just a quick assessment of my own, correct me if i'm wrong though.

[6spdVQ]

My bike tipped over Saturday on a friend’s driveway 🥺. Cracked the clutch side fairing, broken stator cover and mirror. Got new fairings coming, plugs got fouled from oil. The bike was spitting out white exhaust for about 20 minutes. Whole thing is stripped down now and I saw the water pump is leaking a little too. Only had this f4i for three months and I’m at about 3 grand in parts and some labor

[13nick31]

well...you know what to do...pics or negs...lol jk

awesome to hear though. I've personally always loved naked bikes too, but the main killer for me on a lot of them was the transformer-esque headlights. When I saw the XSR with the bucket style headlight i fell in love

Definitely already been looking at things that I can mod out on my bike as well. It's a curse lol, though luckily there's less to do and parts aren't as expensive as they are for my truck, so i don't feel as bad haha. Got the MSF Cert in the mail yesterday, hitting the DMV this week to finalize the license and then hopefully hit a couple dealers this weekend and do some shopping

Check out first picture in Post #392

Agree on the headlights. I can appreciate most bikes for their design, but not a huge fan of the new styling they've adopted the past few years on the MT09 and MT10. The Street Triple is a toss up for most people it seems; I personally like the bug eyes headlights.

In regards to the parallel twin vs inline-four, to my understanding, generally

The twin will have more torque in the low/mid range and will not redline as high.
The inline-four will have a lot more horsepower and make gobs of power in the higher-RPMs and carry a much higher redline.

They also both typically carry different sounds. My FZ07 with a full Yoshi exhaust sounded very good, to me. It was very throaty and loud, in a good way. With the inline-four, as it'll rev much higher, it just has a different sound altogether. An inline-four sounds "smoother" and more "race-like" to me...if that makes sense..
The sound is different between 1 to 4 cylinder engines in motorcycles due to the amount of detonations happening in the engine at given RPM's. I wouldn't say any are "better" than the other, just comes down to personal preferences.

Then you can throw triples into the mix which carry the best of both worlds.

This is what I love about motorcycles though, endless options, styles, sound, power output at given RPM's, and looks/styles.

[Zackad]

Check out first picture in Post #392

Agree on the headlights. I can appreciate most bikes for their design, but not a huge fan of the new styling they've adopted the past few years on the MT09 and MT10. The Street Triple is a toss up for most people it seems; I personally like the bug eyes headlights.

In regards to the parallel twin vs inline-four, to my understanding, generally

The twin will have more torque in the low/mid range and will not redline as high.
The inline-four will have a lot more horsepower and make gobs of power in the higher-RPMs and carry a much higher redline.

They also both typically carry different sounds. My FZ07 with a full Yoshi exhaust sounded very good, to me. It was very throaty and loud, in a good way. With the inline-four, as it'll rev much higher, it just has a different sound altogether. An inline-four sounds "smoother" and more "race-like" to me...if that makes sense..
The sound is different between 1 to 4 cylinder engines in motorcycles due to the amount of detonations happening in the engine at given RPM's. I wouldn't say any are "better" than the other, just comes down to personal preferences.

Then you can throw triples into the mix which carry the best of both worlds.

This is what I love about motorcycles though, endless options, styles, sound, power output at given RPM's, and looks/styles.

hm none of the pics load for me in that post strangely. can't copy past the links either.

Good info on the difference between the two engine types.

as someone who loves halfway decent exhaust sound...sounds like I'll need an inline four at some point as well haha.

how's a parallel twin compare to crossplane and v-twin? if you know lol.

[13nick31]

hm none of the pics load for me in that post strangely. can't copy past the links either.

Good info on the difference between the two engine types.

as someone who loves halfway decent exhaust sound...sounds like I'll need an inline four at some point as well haha.

how's a parallel twin compare to crossplane and v-twin? if you know lol.

They should load on a PC vs mobile then is my guess..

Crossplane just refers to the crankshaft. The FZ/MT07 is a parallel twin with a crossplane crankshaft.

I'm not super knowledgeable with parallel twin vs vtwin, to be honest. I just know I preferred the sound of my FZ07 over my SV650S (v-twin) I previously had.

[Zackad]

They should load on a PC vs mobile then is my guess..

Crossplane just refers to the crankshaft. The FZ/MT07 is a parallel twin with a crossplane crankshaft.

I'm not super knowledgeable with parallel twin vs vtwin, to be honest. I just know I preferred the sound of my FZ07 over my SV650S (v-twin) I previously had.

hm weird. i'm on PC lol.

noted on the crossplane designation. All i know about V-twins is they seem to be the only engine Harley offers.