Test ride challenge

Of course its just my opinion.

The suspension on the 1050 was always a well documented weak point, so Triumph overhauled it completely for the Sport, lower and stiffer, improved damping and higher spring rates, more like a sports bike less like an adventure bike. I think its a big improvement, but I'm a chunky monkey at 16 stone. Lenny didn't really notice any difference when he rode it. So suspension is a very personal thing.

My problem with the Caponord was it kept adjusting things. If your suspension settings stay constant, you have a good idea how the bike is going to react to any given road surface, if it changes the suspension settings you have to change your expectations too.

When the road surface suddenly changes it doesnt change the settings quick enough. Once your on a particular road surface and its adjusted itself its great.

When you dont know what you're dealing with next, it makes you tentative, knocks your confidence, then your riding turns to s#!t.

Of course anyone who's either just spent 12 grand on one, or anyone who's trying to sell you one, will say it's the best thing since sliced bread! Even some journalists may say its great, but did they hit the right road surface to get it in a pickle? It could also just be the pseudo effect, its the latest technology so it must be the best right?

I didn't like it, but I've been riding bikes with normal suspension for 23 years. You need to test ride it, and I'd advise hammering it through every different road surface you can find and see if you're happy with it.

[L3nny]

Are you able to manually select the suspension settings on the Caponord like you can on the GS? If you can then that would overcome these problems.

You can manually tell it what your loading is, rider/pillion/luggage, but I dont think you can say set my compression at x clicks and my rebound at y clicks, then leave it alone and dont adjust it while riding.

There is of course a cheaper non ADD model, but the whole bike was just a bit to edgy and sporty for what I use it for.

[L3nny]

The dynamic suspension on the BWM R1200GS definitely was nothing like you described the Capanord. Like I said in the review, I didn't even notice it.

Still think the V-Strom offers the best value for money though.

I was on this road here, straight, but horrible road surface, like mini speed bumps and corrugated in places. Blasted down there and the suspension did exactly the right thing, softened off, and soaked it all up, did a great job, tyres stayed in contact with the road, isolated me from the bumps, and floated over it all.


https://goo.gl/maps/3A5Ai


then at the end of that road, I swept into this S-bend, the bike wallowed on the tip in to the first one and the bounce made me run wide on the second, I almost ended up swimming in the river, and I needed new underpants

https://goo.gl/maps/4W5A9


Just to prove a point I attacked the same corner even harder an hour later on a Crosstourer, although it'd had been jumping and skipping off the tarmac on the straight bit beforehand, I can handle that I know that's what it's going to do if I hammer it down a very bumpy road, but it went round the corner no problem at all.

V-Strom is good value, just a shame about the limited powerband on the engine.

[L3nny]

Test 24 - 2014 Yamaha MT09 - 40 Miles - Total 629 miles

After following me up to the GM and doing 1200 miles on her trusty SV the lovely other half was getting a bit jealous of me being comfortable on my V-Strom and has decided she want's something more upright. She also wants something a little quicker so I suggested she tries some naked sports bikes. Unfortunately she hasn't had her license for two years yet and the local Yamaha dealer has a 2 year minimum requirement for test rides, so being the gentleman that I am I kindly offered to test ride it for her

I've realised I've never actually ridden a naked sports bike before so thought this would be a nice change.

If you've read past reviews you'll notice I took the MT-09 Tracer out a few months ago and wasn't very impressed, I was expecting this bike to be exactly the same but with a slightly different riding position..........I was wrong.

Sitting on the bike it feels tiny, everything is tiny compared to the V-Strom but this felt more like my CBR400, I could paddle it around the car park of the dealers effortlessly, even with my stumpy legs.

Started the engine and it feels so smooth, no vibration in the bars whatsoever, the joys of a triple.

Pulling away the clutch was light and easy to use and at 30 mph in 2nd and 3rd it was silky smooth, with plenty of torque meaning you don't need to change gear much around town.

As I reached the outskirts of town and onto a fast A road I opened it up and couldn't believe how much torque this thing had. It felt more like a 1000cc sports bike than a middleweight naked. I soon realised how much difference not having a screen or any kind of fairing makes, at 80 (which is easily achieved in 2nd) the wind was blowing my head back, trying to rip my helmet off. Not really a bad thing though, as it reminds you you're at license losing speeds.

On the handlebar there is a "mode" button. It's not like on the GSXR where it limits the power, or on the V-strom where it sets the traction control (because there isn't any) The three modes are three different fuel maps, Standard, A and B. The salesman described them to me as, when you're on the way to work in the morning and you have a hangover, put it in B, when the hangover has worn off, put it in A for the fun ride home. Standard is somewhere inbetween.

Well I didn't really experience that, STD and A are far too snatchy and make the bike impossible to ride. B is a lot smoother but lacks a bit of torque, so all 3 settings are a bit crap. If I were to buy this the first thing I'd do would be to get a custom fuel map.

Suspension was great, it's not sports bike firm but had plenty of feel, it's not tourer soft, but soaked up the bumps in the road pretty well. I've read elsewhere it's budget suspension but it felt pretty good to me.

The steering was very fast though and it did feel a bit twitchy at times, my Fireblade was the same and it was one of the reasons I got rid of it.

Brakes were excellent, although didn't have much feel, I tried out the ABS and it's a much better system than the V-Strom, no vibration or loss of braking power, just brings you to a controlled stop.

Comfort wise, well this is where this kind of bike is going to struggle, the seat was rock hard, my balls were being bashed constantly and the lack of wind protection would make long rides a chore. Ergonomically though it was a good position, the pegs are just low enough to be comfortable and the bars are just high enough to give you a sporty, yet comfortable position. A fly screen and gel seat would probably fix this.

The controls and clocks are very basic, like supermoto basic, a small LCD display gives you speed and a rev graph but they are difficult to see. There is a fuel gauge though, which is handy. The indicator switch is small and too close to the horn so you end up beeping every time you change direction.

Build quality seemed good, however this demo was over a year old with 3000 miles on it and there were signs of wear from boots rubbing on the engine case and the filler cap lock had corroded making it difficult to open.

Overall this is a really well sorted bike, it has oodles of power and handles well but I think it has a bit too much power, to me the point of a naked is so you can have fun a more legal speeds than you can with a proper sports bike, so a bike that does speeds that make it uncomfortable to ride in 2nd seems a bit pointless. The fuel mapping is pretty bad as well, if it had the map from the tracer it would be a much easier bike to ride.

[Tomor]

If you want another go on a tracer, give me a shout! Love mine and I think they have sorted the fuelling much better than they have done on the MT-09.

[L3nny]

Originally Posted by Tomor

If you want another go on a tracer, give me a shout! Love mine and I think they have sorted the fuelling much better than they have done on the MT-09.

I might just take you up on that. The tracer does sound like a good bike, the thing that put me off is it was a tourer, but without decent luggage or pilllion provisions, which kind of defeats the purpose.

The exhaust on yours sounds epic though

[Tomor]

Just drop me a message and we can sort something out. It has a bigger pillion seat than the MT-09, and it has provisions for silly bags from yam, but that was sorted by Givi for me. Its really comfy and took me round europe for 10 days with ease and I never really wanted more power. A mode is pretty fun!