carl

yup, lol...it'll top out at about 115~125 indicated. only did that once on mine...going downhill.

i had one as my first bike...excellent place to start, pretty good aftermarket. if she's small, then it might be better for her. granted, i got rid of mine about 6-8 months after i got it...but it served the purpose well.

every vehicle has a "wall." this is when road load forces (namely aerodynamic drag) become equal to the accelerative force exerted by your rear tire on the road surface. if you know the torque curve of the bike via a dyno ("at the wheels"), then it's just a matter of dividing the torque values by the moment arm (radius of the rear tire)...this will give you your accelerative force. if you know the aerodynamic properties of the bike (Cd and A), you can then determine the aerodynamic drag at various speeds. then, it's just a matter of finding the point at which the aero drag overcomes your accelerative force. *the below taken from "Fundamentals of Vehicle Dynamics" by Gillespie. This was the class text for my Automotive Engineering class in college. Da=(1/2)*rho*V^2*Cd*A where: Da=aerodynamic drag rho=air density V=velocity Cd=aerodynamic drag coefficient A=frontal area of the vehicle rho=0.00236*(Pr/29.92)*(519/(460+Tr)) where: Pr=atmospheric pressure in inches of mercury Tr=air temperature in degrees Fahrenheit *at standard conditions (59 degrees F and 29.92 inches of Hg), rho is simply 0.076 lb/ft^3...divide by gravity (32.2 ft/sec^2) for mass density and get 0.00236 lb*sec^2/ft^4 PS - if someone would be so kind as to post the Cd and A for the XX, i'll run the calcs and post graphs and whatnot.

i typically use a quick detailer on the bike for day-to-day "washing". i use a cotton terry towel. a car soap will not strip the wax...but a dish soap WILL. once clean, you can use claybar to remove grit that's stuck in the paint...but that's not something that needs to be done often. 3M imperial hand glaze is an EXCELLENT polish...this is what will give the paint a luster. i use 3M wax as well...this is what protects the paint.

absolutely right, in the number 180/55-17, the 55 means that the profile height is 55% of the width. 180*0.55=99, 190*0.50=95....so the 190 would be a little bit shorter overall than the 180, thus it WOULD lower the rear end a little bit (~1/8-3/16"). so...you need a different rim to run a 190? if so, which rim is that?

so.... can we use a bigger (than 180/55) rear tire?

so i took the new bird down to galveston this weekend; it was the first longer ride she's been on. i've noticed how "bouncy" the ride of the bike is, but this longer ride (and the fact i had a passenger) seemed to just exacerbate the problem. i feel ashamed because i'm a mechanical engineer, but i'm totally ignorant about how to properly set-up the bike's suspension. i'd get out there and start fooling with the settings, but i don't know that i'd be able to discern what would be considered an improvement. i'm 6'2"-6'3", ~230 lbs. can anyone help me out with how to set the bike up? (the more detailed the better)

my '01 F4 rode 13 hours in the back of a truck tied down with a canyon dancer. worked beautifully. we didn't really need to, but we also tied the tail of the bike down from the passenger peg mounts (kept ass end from hopping sideways over bumps)