So, as I wrote in
my bike's thread, I had to take my bike back to the dealership so they could fix a little fuck-up from the yearly service. As this was clearly their fault, I asked for and got without hassle a cost-free loaner bike for the day to get home. I told them I didn't care what model as long as I could fit on it I would have taken a scooter, for a short city ride it would be enough.
So.... what did they give me? This:
Yes, the goddamn weird Yamaha Niken 900! Of course, my curiosity was sparked. The guy told me it rides just like a normal motorcyle and you just have to forget that it has two front wheels in order to ride it properly.
And you know what? That's exactly right. It does ride like a normal bike - I needed exactly one corner to be convinced of that - and it will also fall over if you don't put your foot on the ground upon stopping. If it weren't for the giganticly wide front clearly visible from the rider's perspective, you could easily forget it.
Because of cold weather and timing constraints, I really only rode across town from the dealership home yesterday and then the return trip today, managed to get a bit of Autobahn in it, but no proper country roads.
It rides very well. Cornering is charaterized by the front end being extremely stable due to the increased grip. At least riding at moderate speeds, I didn't notice it to be front-heavy, but of course it is. It weighs about 50 kg more than my own bike, with the same engine, and basically all of that excess weight is far forward and relatively high up. Nevertheless, roundabouts (with an extra round to see what it can do), sweeping Autobahn entry/exits, normal cornering... it just felt normal, but extremely trust inducing especially in less than ideal conditions. The front suspension setup - basically a parallelogram mount that ensures the outer wheel going down when the inner wheel goes up due to leaning - allows plenty of lean angle, I'm quite sure more than I'm comfortable with on any bike.
What astounded me the most is that even if you hit a pothole with one front wheel (aiming past is when you have to remember the unusual setup
), it's far less noticeable than I would have thought.
Some more pictures:
I even treated it to a night under a roof:
Apart from the weird three-wheel setup, how is it generally? Well, for one thing, it's not exactly small, and the wide front doesn't really help with parking in tight spaces (like my garage, I'm glad I didn't try to put it in properly). Maneuvering it around came surprisingly eay considering it weighs over 260 kg. Riding position is not ideal for me and my 1.90 m, the knee and ankle angles are too tight. Smaller people should be fine. And I missed wind guards and grip heaters in the cold weather, but I guess those can be had as an option. It has the same engine as my own bike, but it's more civilized when it comes to sound. And the clutch was adjusted way more to my liking. I think I have to do something about that on my Tracer...
Verdict: Everyone is sceptical when they see the Niken. But if you have the opportunity, try it out. It's brillant. But also, the effect does not really justify the additional weight and cost.
