Perspective

[the Ferret]

Sometimes my local Yamaha shop asks me to test ride customer bikes to either diagnose or assure that repairs were done satisfactorily. The other day the owner asked if I would be able to stop up and ride a customers Yamaha 1300 something or other that the customer complained would stop running after an extended period of time.The mechanics felt they had it cured but weren't willing to go on an extended test ride or give it back to the customer without making sure it wouldn't quit. I said sure. I'm retired. Riding other peoples bikes is a fun gig.

So today I go up, and they roll this out.



My worst nightmare lol. Buckhorn bars 4' wide, floor boards with heel toe shifter, life saving pipes with no baffles. Gads. Climbed on fired it up, had a hard time finding things such as neutral light, turn signal indicators, speedo, tach ..(they were all in a pod on top of the tank) but eventually found everything pertinent. The thing is stupid loud. I have the shop owners personal phone number in case I need to get trailered back to the shop, and I was aware there was that possibility. One of the perils of being a test rider. Then again I get a good discount on parts and service when I need them, and they always make room in the service schedule for me at my convenience. A worthwhile trade off IMO. Plus I do get to ride some interesting and cool bikes on occasion. Anyhow, I clunk it in gear, and take off. Handles ponderously thru the curvy road that leads down to the 4 lane. The heel toe shifter is difficult to use, and 20 minutes into the ride I pull over, remove my helmet, reach in my pocket and stuff my some gel ear plugs into my ears. They don't help much. I rode for a little over 2 hours, enough to burn through more than 1/2 a tank of gas and figured it wasn't going to quit. At partial throttle...say 1/8-1/4 throttle it sounded like it was missing on one of the cylinders, at 1/2 throttle and above it ran fine, back off the gas and you were greeted with loud backfiring and decel popping. I was told this is all normal. Who in their right mind would ride something like this?

Anyhow I drop it off give them my report, have a bottle of water, then climb on my CB for a ride on my own bike. Funny thing is, now it felt like there was something wrong with my CB. My hands seemed like they were too close together, as did my knees. And I was sitting so high lol. The whole bike seemed tiny. I texted the owner and told him after riding that behemoth for 2 hours riding my CB felt like I was riding a Grom.

I love my CB!

[misterprofessionality]

is that a 1300? it looks like the big 1700 raider engine.

i know exactly how you feel, though, just the opposite way around. The first time i got on the CB it felt huge. it felt muscley and assertive, while i was used to much smaller engines, and had just come off a featherweight little 500 at the time. now when i go back to bikes that size i feel like i might as well be pedaling with my feet. my wife's bike is a 380lb 650 cruiser and when i ride it i feel like i'm sliding down the road on a slice of bread with a noisy pandemonium attached.

[the Ferret]

MP I really couldn't tell you the engine displacement. I thought it was a 1300, but it could be a 1700 or 1800 I suppose. All those cruiser motors look alike to me.

[LongRanger_imp]

Ferret, you crack me up. Great write up!

[peterbaron]

Sometimes my local Yamaha shop asks me to test ride customer bikes to either diagnose or assure that repairs were done satisfactorily. The other day the owner asked if I would be able to stop up and ride a customers Yamaha 1300 something or other that the customer complained would stop running after an extended period of time.The mechanics felt they had it cured but weren't willing to go on an extended test ride or give it back to the customer without making sure it wouldn't quit. I said sure. I'm retired. Riding other peoples bikes is a fun gig.

So today I go up, and they roll this out.



My worst nightmare lol. Buckhorn bars 4' wide, floor boards with heel toe shifter, life saving pipes with no baffles. Gads. Climbed on fired it up, had a hard time finding things such as neutral light, turn signal indicators, speedo, tach ..(they were all in a pod on top of the tank) but eventually found everything pertinent. The thing is stupid loud. I have the shop owners personal phone number in case I need to get trailered back to the shop, and I was aware there was that possibility. One of the perils of being a test rider. Then again I get a good discount on parts and service when I need them, and they always make room in the service schedule for me at my convenience. A worthwhile trade off IMO. Plus I do get to ride some interesting and cool bikes on occasion. Anyhow, I clunk it in gear, and take off. Handles ponderously thru the curvy road that leads down to the 4 lane. The heel toe shifter is difficult to use, and 20 minutes into the ride I pull over, remove my helmet, reach in my pocket and stuff my some gel ear plugs into my ears. They don't help much. I rode for a little over 2 hours, enough to burn through more than 1/2 a tank of gas and figured it wasn't going to quit. At partial throttle...say 1/8-1/4 throttle it sounded like it was missing on one of the cylinders, at 1/2 throttle and above it ran fine, back off the gas and you were greeted with loud backfiring and decel popping. I was told this is all normal. Who in their right mind would ride something like this?

Anyhow I drop it off give them my report, have a bottle of water, then climb on my CB for a ride on my own bike. Funny thing is, now it felt like there was something wrong with my CB. My hands seemed like they were too close together, as did my knees. And I was sitting so high lol. The whole bike seemed tiny. I texted the owner and told him after riding that behemoth for 2 hours riding my CB felt like I was riding a Grom.

I love my CB!

OMG, Ferret, glad to hear, you are in one piece after shaky, vibrating and unsafe ride....
Now, you may need to take strong dose of Prozac..lol
Luckily they did not ask me, bcoz if they did, I would answer, I do NOT even saddle or touch two wheel tractors at all !!... , sorry

As Ferret said, I love my CB as well

[Honda_Fan_imp]

That’s a fun gig to have on the side.

[Cormanus]

Good on you, Ferret. Great story.

[Bazbro_imp]

And how much do you pay to have a job like that, Ferret??

[Gone in 60]

Just remember, that bike is someone's pride and joy. I used to drive cruisers, and my largest was a VTX1800. I borrowed an R1200GS for a weekend, and discovered that there were bikes out there that can actually turn and stop, and don't have all of their gauges down on the gas tank. I sold the VTX for an R1200R, which felt tiny to me at first. I was riding a GS when I bought my CB1100, and it felt tiny to me at first.

[the Ferret]

is that a 1300? it looks like the big 1700 raider engine.

i know exactly how you feel, though, just the opposite way around. The first time i got on the CB it felt huge. it felt muscley and assertive, while i was used to much smaller engines, and had just come off a featherweight little 500 at the time. now when i go back to bikes that size i feel like i might as well be pedaling with my feet. my wife's bike is a 380lb 650 cruiser and when i ride it i feel like i'm sliding down the road on a slice of bread with a noisy pandemonium attached.

Ok I texted Tom (shop owner) and he said it was a 1700 Road Star

It didn't vibrate, in fact I was surprised at how smooth the motor and drive train actually were. Brakes seemed more than adequate. Probably a pretty nice cruiser in stock form from Yamaha.

Yea it's a pretty nice gig. I don't get called on too often, but every now and then if they have an issue. When I test ride I ask them NOT to tell me what the owner is complaining about, I want to discover it for myself.

Once there was this 900 Yamaha cruiser thingy and it was making a noise, but it wouldn't make it in the shop. It was too cold for the mechanics to test ride it so they called me knowing I ride in any weather. I discovered what the owner complained about in the first 2 miles, it was a noise coming from the clutch area, but I rode it 50 miles...at 25 degrees... just in case what I was hearing wasn't what the owner was hearing, and there was something else. I came back gave my report and they said Yep that's what he's complaining about. The owner ended up trading it in on a new bike. Actually became friends with the owner (Larry) later when he found out I was the one who had ridden his bike. Nice guy.

Another time I took a used Valkrie out that they had sold that had sat on the sales floor a long time and hadn't been ridden in awhile and they wanted to make sure it would run good for the customer. I hadn't gone 5 miles when the rear wheel locked up. I was going around a curve and it almost dumped me. I'm sure it would have dumped someone with less experience. A customer could have gotten injured. Anyhow I sat there a minute and it let up and I nursed it back to the shop, but when I got into the lot it locked up again. The salesman came out and said how is it? and I said try and push it. He couldn't budge it. He said is it in gear? I said no, the rear brake is locked up. So off to the shop it went to have that fixed.

I've had lots of uneventful rides though, mostly used, but some new sales floor bikes that hadn't been ridden for a few months. Just needed exercising. I'll walk in or they will call and say Hey Mickey feel like riding something for us today? Sure whatcha got that needs ridden? New gas, some Seafoam, and let him run the gas through it. A Vmax, a VFR 800, a few DCT bikes, a T max scooter, a leaning Piaggio Scooter thingy, a BMW F800, a BMW 1150 Boxter, an FZ-09 and others.

BTW went out and rode my CB agaiin this evening, filled it up in anticipation of a small breakfast group ride in the morning and everything felt normal sized again. And again, I love my CB!