As you guys seem to have a few Terras in your garages and made some evaluations already, I'm curious if you already got any ideas on how to reduce the weight of the bike ? To be honest, if I would be able to reduce the weight by say 5-10 kilos, it would be then perfect... Is it at all possible ?
I can see a few area's that weight could be reduced well within the more desirable parameters for dual sporting purposes. But currently the biggest issue with this bike is not even getting a mention. That of 'high centre of gravity' or hcg. I am hearing of farkles this that and the other. But just having returned from a 750 miles 3 dayer with creek crossings, mud, clay, cinder, gravel, hard pack and snow passes. I can affirm this is by far the biggest issue, least for me and i can't honestly see this going away for others. By the way it plays out up front, it feels like that's where the issue rests, somewhere up front. It's all a little bizzare considering the efforts taken to lower centre of gravity or lcg. This has been the issue for me from the get go. This trip was to test this out and see what i could find. I don't have the time right now, but hopefully will write a full follow up report. As probably close to 200 miles covered were on dirt, county and fire roads. Right where the Terra's at home, besides incredible hwy ability. But as it sits this 'is' a big issue. As the front end wants to break away and tuck under in many of the above scenario's. On the flip side, were this not the case the bike ticks many box's and whence addressed will for me provide a near perfect platform for this desire segment of the developing ds/adv segment. My main concern is without pulling things apart. The main culprits would appear to be a monstrous radiator, but still not mounted that high. Or the oil tank in frame and return tank for cooling system. Non of which would logically counter the effects of the mass below. The effects are more subtle on the roads without a load, but they are definitely there. To accentuate the effects i had a small day pack on my back roughly 12/14 lbs and the difference was astounding! I mention all this because as the bike sits it would of coped with all above conditions no problem, were it not for the top heaviness. A diet would be a great improvement. But more over this for me, would be the addressing the hcg first and foremost as everything else follows suit. I'll try and do a post ride write up soon and go into detail, as this is the topic i want to get aired.
Single muffler and a light weight battery would be the two big noticeable and EZ to do items, after that it gets a lot harder. The bike is what it is and i just plan to use it that way. If I want to do hard Ds I'll take my Te511.
I can't even image much dirt performance out of the TR, especially cornering, unless the stock front tire is swapped for a more "dirt" worthy tire.
I agree completely. No need to put this one on a diet. It just needs a few protection items and a little clean up on the foot controls.
Agree. Battery is a pretty decent size. I lost 7 pounds switching to a Shorai on my Super T. Given its location, bet it would help with the hi CG issue. Mufflers would be the next thing. Pulling mine off today. Want to see what they wiegh and at a glance it looks like it has a disc welded in the center pipe. At least from this end. Might see about moding til they come out with some aftermarket light weight ones.
What model Shorai or other lithium-iron battery are you guys going with (for the sake of saving weight, of course)?
Yep yep yep. Anybody worrying about the weight bought the wrong bike. Don't attempt to turn it into something it wasn't designed for. You'll waste plenty of $$ trying and still only get half the way there. _
I used Shorai for my Yamaha and have one here for a BMW that i am planning on using for the Husky. Will post model number later today.
It's a BMW battery, but not sure if it is a gel or or AGM. Not lead acid for sure. Dealer said to use a regular battery charger, so I assume AGM. I think going to a Shorai would be a good, easy move, and I'll probably do that on all three of my bikes. It's a good place to loose a few pounds.
Over at Dan's today and he handed me a set of stock bars with weighted bar ends............holy cowabunga! Enough steel for the Chinese to extract a small refrigerator! There's an easy fix! Couple of foldable light weight mirrors perhaps?. Mind, i kind of like these big uns', nothing like looking in the rear view and seeing as far back as 1948!
The symptoms you are describing are DIRECTLY related to the STREET tires that come stock on the bike, change out to a D606 or a Pirelli and I bet most of what you are experiencing will go away. If after the swap and it did not completely fix the problem, I would look into stiffer fork springs. Under sprung forks are a major contributer to under steer. Bundy
Bundy is right, go with D606's and the front end is going to bite a lot better off pavement. A street bias tire is going to wash out very easily. The 606's fronts on my bikes last about twice the rears, so 5K to 6K for me. A little noisy and not quite as smooth as the Saharas but they grip pretty well on pavement and a lot better on gravel and dirt. I haven't changed my front yet, but will as soon as I head out to do some real dual sporting.
I liked 606s' when I had them on my klr250... except when going to a stop, they tended to loose grip at about 3mph cause that is when the knobs were effectively farther apart. Simple enough to get used to though.
For the Strada it would be for me to lose 30 pounds, Dymag wheels and a one can Leo Vince pipe. Well, two out of three ain't bad.
Thanks for the input, i'/d certainly be favoring a more aggresive knobby on the dirt, not so sure about street. I do a lot of coastal black top twisties and enjoy cornering pretty hard at times. I tend tend to find more aggresive tires develop weird wear patterns, particularly up front. But from what i read seems like an excellent dirt boot! Part of my problem is the top heavy feeling. I know you mentioned under sprung. But i feel the bikes pretty stiff all round. Hard to compromise between dirt and street, firmer ride on the street feels great, not so on dirt. But between springs and oil weight i could see an improvement. Post 3 day ride whilst pressure washing the caked crud from the bike. I noticed that the radiator was not attached to the lower stud on lhs of frame, protrudes at 90 deg. The reciprocating radiator bracket with rubber cush insert was displaced from the lug. The bracket was fore of the lug equal to 1/2' displacement. Realizing this i noticed the distance between the radiator and front fender was reduced to zero. backside of the fender was scuffed and scored. Face side of the rad polished from the friction. Many moons ago i had a head bearing go out on an R80 GS on an overland trip that mimicked a symptom similar in sensation to that i have been experiencing with the Terra. My hopes are once i can attend to this matter, the sensation, or top heavy feeling will improve dramatically. Its a little more tricky for tires. This last ride was 750 miles and maybe 200 of which were dirt. always a compromise one way or the other i guess. I'll certainly give the 606 some consideration. By Pirelli, do you mean the MT21's?
Great feedback, sounds like a fairly high miler. what is your estimated dirt to street ratio resulting in that kind of mileage? Would that be on a bike similar in weight to the Terra?
