[shalubee]

Good stuff here. I too am new to the forum and a new rider. 46 years old and bought a vulcan 900 last year. My first bike. I've got 2300 miles on it mostly back and forth to work, 40 miles round trip. I would also like to take a long trip. (200-300 miles) Thats a long trip for me. As mentioned earlier, my main concern is the vibration at 70-80 mph. How can I eliminate some of the vibration at this speed? I have a mustang seat, Iso grips, kawi windshield and mini sissy bar and rack. Tire pressure is good everything seems tight. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

 

[shalubee]

Good stuff here. I too am new to the forum and a new rider. 46 years old and bought a vulcan 900 last year. My first bike. I've got 2300 miles on it mostly back and forth to work, 40 miles round trip. I would also like to take a long trip. (200-300 miles) Thats a long trip for me. As mentioned earlier, my main concern is the vibration at 70-80 mph. How can I eliminate some of the vibration at this speed? I have a mustang seat, Iso grips, kawi windshield and mini sissy bar and rack. Tire pressure is good everything seems tight. Any suggestions would be appreciated

 

[Deeppurple52]

Ford347... I think you are worrying about nothing. The 900 is a much higher revving motor than a big bore bike. What seems like high rpm probably isn't even near the torque peak. My wife's 800 kept pace with my 1600 quite easily on a 1300 mile trip last month....and her power band is higher than mine. Stop worrying and enjoy the ride.

 

[ford347]

Hey Guys!! I'm back!

I left the morning of the 14th and got back the night of the 19th. Good little vaca, not long enough of course.

So the end result with all the accessories before I took off were a 17" windshield, break-away cruise control (which by the way is great and safe too), big offset dually freeway pegs (setup heel from f.b. toe on peg) Phat II Risers, mustang touring seat w/ backrest, sissy bar, luggage rack.

That's pretty much it. It really made the ride enjoyable. The bike did great and I got a lot more confident on it, especially tackling Donner with all of my crazy california neighbors, we all drive very slowly in the pass you know .

You guys were totally right, once you get used to the bike at those RPM's, anything else starts to seem odd. I would say my avg. speed was 80-85. I kept up with most traffic and was still comfortable. The winds were terrible in some areas and that was an experience, but it lasted nearly the entire trip on the way back, and a good 1/4 of the trip on the way there, so I had plenty of time to get used to that.

I absolutely *hate* I-80 btw Fernley and Salt Lake City

Yeah, I'm not a big fan of I-80 through Nevada either. I cut off on highway NV-233 Ut-30 in Oasis and go that route since I head up to Logan. That was very windy on the way there.

Anyway, I really appreciate all of you guys help and suggestions. It gave me the confidence to give this trip a shot, otherwise I'm not sure if I would have considered it. So over-all, the trip was 756 miles ea. way. I made the trip ea. way in 14 hours, normally it takes me 10-11. I had to stop frequently for gas and when I did, I took a few, drank some water, stretched, ate something and got back to it. So all in all it was pretty cool. Glad I did it.

Thanks again!

Josh

 

[budro40]

Glad you had a safe and fun trip.

 

[Thunder Lizard]

Hey ford! As a guy who just got a 900 (LT) a couple weeks ago, I'm totally envious of that trip. I'm loving the bike, and in a few weeks (after break-in) I'll be taking a 300-400 mile trip out to see family, so it's great to hear that you enjoyed the ride.
I won't be making (mostly) those kinds of speeds since it a lot of mountain riding with lots of wildlife, and tons of blind corners, but I am anticipating a total BLAST!
Great to hear you had fun.

 

[saskrider]

Hey 900 riders,

Just got back from a 5200 km cruise in western canada. Took 14 days with a couple of Yamaha buddies.My 900 kept up if not out did a vstar 1100 with a hyperchager. He had the smallest gas tank anyway.If you guys(girls too) get a chance to experience mountain driving ,I highly reccommend it! I hav 16,000 kms on my bike now and have not found any problem thus far. will post pics if i can figure out how to post from photo bucket like everyone else.

Saskrider, Herb Fellwock, Moose Jaw Sk.

 

[saskrider]

posting

I can get it to work if i copy the address and paste it in the addressbar. any help would be appreciated.

Herb

 

[cbr74]

Wow, those pictures are post card material. Great stuff

 

[usmalenurse]

"My wife has run her 900 LT at 80mph indicated (72mph)"

I read a lot of posts regarding the indicated mph being higher than the actual mph. Is this true with all Kawasakis and is there a reason for it? I went down to the beach a couple of days ago and they had one of those speed signs beside the road and mine was off about 5 mph....speedometer registering around 45 and the sign was reading 39-40. I usually try to maintain the speed limit or +5mph and seems like everybody is passing me...but then everybody passes me when I'm in my car trying to do the speed limit. Just wondering if this is just par for the course with the Kawasakis....
Charles

 

[4string]

Hey 900 riders,

Just got back from a 5200 km cruise in western canada. Took 14 days with a couple of Yamaha buddies.My 900 kept up if not out did a vstar 1100 with a hyperchager. He had the smallest gas tank anyway.If you guys(girls too) get a chance to experience mountain driving ,I highly reccommend it! I hav 16,000 kms on my bike now and have not found any problem thus far. will post pics if i can figure out how to post from photo bucket like everyone else.

Saskrider, Herb Fellwock, Moose Jaw Sk.

Need some details of your ride. Obviously 3 hours of it was leaving the flat lands :mrgreen:

 

[saskrider]

trip

We went from Moose Jaw to Medicine Hat,Cranbrook, Vernon, Hope B.C., Victoria, Port Alberni, Nanaimo, Whistler, Kamloops, Golden, Radium, Canmoore,Medicine Hat, home to Moose Jaw. !4 days of riding, 10 of those had some rain, a few there was a littltle bit of snow. The best part was the whole trip seeing all of western Canada.We will probably do the States(Colorado) next year.Two weeks of driving my bike is well worth the adventure.

I got a sticker for my helmet that says everything... " for some there is Therapy, For the rest of us there's MOTORCYCLES !!!!

How true, Saskrider

 

[MeanieRider]

Saskrider - Those pictures are incredible.....beautiful!

 

[idmtchris]

I ride 80 miles everyday at freeway speed. Yeah you will wish there was a 6th gear but it is no big deal. At 80 you still have plenty of engine left, and the vibration on my bike does not even bother me.

 

[GTex]

Hey everyone, I'm new to the forums and have a quick question.

I purchased my vulcan 900 classic last year and have enjoyed it so far. I havent' done a lot of highway riding, mostly stayed around town, back-roads etc. I've been out of town on the bike a few times and to tell you the truth, the RPM's over 65 make me a bit nervous. I've been reading up on some threads here in the forums on the subject and have learned quit a bit, but I'd like to address a few specifics.

It seems as though there isn't really a lot of options to improve this. I've read of a new sprocket out there that reduces the rpm's by about 200rpm, which doesnt' seem that significant. I'm not sure what else I could do. I want to take my bike from here in California to Utah, which is approx. 700mi. That seems quite a ways and I'm not sure if cruising at speeds of 75-80mph is all that practical on this bike. Are the rpm's at these speeds good for the bike? The other thing is at those speeds, since the bike is lighter from the larger models, it feels a little squirly, meaning if there are grooves in the road etc., it seems to move a little, which makes me a little nervous. I'm afraid I'm trying to get the bike to do something it wasn't designed for.

I could use some advise on these things. I'm not really an experienced road biker, but am enjoying myself so far and want to make sure I do every bit of research I can before going out on a long road trip like this. Another option I am considering if the feedback I get warrents, is trading the bike in for a 1500, which is an option. But if I could, I'd like to upgrade the bike with whatever would improve what I have just mentioned.

Also, looking for a good helmet with some bluetooth/speaker tech. inside. I looked into some Nolan helmets, which seem like the best choice at the price so far.

Thanks and I look forward to the feedback!

Josh

 

[GTex]

I own an older Voyager but back in 1989 I trucked my 900 HD Sportster to Sturgis because I was the guy carrying all the gear for the campground. Once there we camped next door to two guys who rode 650 Yamaha's from Minnesota. Biggest thing I can think of that kept them from getting beat to death, they both had fairly large aftermarket windshields. That's one big tip I can pass along. A windshield makes all the difference in the world. If you already have one you know that but as much as I like the wind in my face I rarely ride without a windshield anymore.