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Ownership Verified: I bought two more wheels (Kawasaki ER-5)

Yeah, upside of bikes definitely. And the fact you can reach everything without walking around it constantly.
 
I ended my first season already a month ago, but forgot to write anything here.

I did a bit over 4000 km this year on a bike, mostly commuting and driving around the town, but we had a couple longer rides with mikas and Galantti on b-roads, and I did some exploration on my own as well ;) Can't say I'm proficient at it yet, took me whole summer just to be smooth with controls and stop thinking all the time about which gear I'm in, or need to be in. Leaning in corners is still mildly scary, and so is driving on loose surface.

I've also tried mikas' triple r for a little bit during the last "big" ride, and the contrast to the er5 is immense. Triumph was a lot stiffer and confidence inspiring, it felt like I could immediately lean it much more without panicking. To the point where I'm questioning whether I want to keep the er5 much longer. It's is cheap to keep and insure though, and I can't afford to keep all the cars and get a sportier bike anyway, so it will have to do for one more year at least.

Meanwhile, I've crossed 40kkm on the odo, and a big service was scheduled already for 36k. I've done chain and sprockets during the summer, and now I plan to do the rest. At least I'm going to change fork seals and oil, adjust valve clearance, clean and sync carbs, change all liquids, possibly change throttle cables, and see if I can do anything to improve brake feel.



Slowly coming apart.
 
Keep the ER5 longer, until you have the same confidence you had on the Triumph.
Then you will know you mastered it and you're ready for something bigger.
 
Yeah, I agree with Redliner: if you're unsure on the smaller bike, don't upgrade yet. Upgrade when the smaller one actually feels boring, that's when you know you're experienced enough :)
 
:p
 
Common sense advice from former Fireblade owner.. :lol: But anyway, you could try fitting a wider bar for the Kawa, cheap and easy to do. It's silly how narrow the original bar feels and it makes quite a difference on the (feel of) stability. Both Benelli and Triumph have wider bars, in quite a different angle.
 
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I gotta say, I'm already very curious what the new fork oil will do, and if I can rescue some front brake feel. The old oil that I drained seemed really thin (and dirty).
 
When you've mastered it, try a 400+ cc supermoto. It'll be cheap to run and buy, but probably a little more fun :mrgreen:
 
Also, bye bye license! :lol:
 
Bumping for the new season.

The work on the bike was stalling for a few months, but since the sun is peaking out, I got it reassembled in a hurry over the last couple of weekends :)

In the end I changed fork oil and seals, adjusted valves, cleaned carbs, changed throttle cables, cleaned brake caliper and changed all liquids. I did a short test ride, and the throttle response seems to have improved, at least the downshift-blipping seems easier now. But of course, it's been months since the last ride, so I can't really be sure ;) Didn't notice any change in fork behavior immediately, I'll need a longer test for that. One thing for sure, brake fluid change did nothing for brakes, they are still very spongy and weak. I have now ordered a steel-braided hose and sintered pads, hopefully this will help. I'd also like to measure if carbs are synchronized well. No complaints about how the engine runs, but just for the peace of mind, since I had the carbs apart.

But most importantly, it was damn nice to ride the bike again! All you non-bikers are missing out, honestly.
 
Nice work! You saved a lot of gas money by doing all that yourself.

I also had quite weak and spongy brakes on my CBR in the end of the first season. I changed the fluid, bled the brakes carefully and changed the old, nameless pads to EBC street/race pads and that did wonders to the stopping power. It would have benefited from quality hoses as well, but I ran out of dinero at that point :D
 
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