va_rider
Wizard
Well... got to meet up with JonDaddy today and do a bit of riding in one of my long lost favorite spots... The day started like any other... we met up... talked trash about glitchy fuel injection.. and breaking frames.... and about archaic carbs that don't self adjust as well as the slow and heavy steel bodied battleship of an old man's bike... we had some laughs, and had some damn good riding... I must say.. I didn't expect much out of a guy from Florida on my curvy roads here... but ol JD did rather dang well... in fact, I'd be willing to say that the man is pretty fast.... Long story short, we rode for several hours... had some good times... didn't see any cops... and talked lots of trash about each other's bikes shortcomings...
So... at the end of the day... We decided to switch bikes and have a good little comparo between the two of us... In many other comparos, people weigh one generation against the other.. sometimes rather unfairly... You can't judge a Modded Gen 1 against a stock Gen 2... and vice versa... and in other comparos, where one stock bike is put up against another stock bike... the results are always questioned with "Well if you did XX mod on this bike.. it'd be better.."
This comparison pitted JD's extremely modded (and extremely clean) Gen 2 against my extremely modded (and extremely dirty) Gen 1.... Pretty much everyone should know JD's mods... mine that matter are as follows: Jet Kit, Timing Advance, Ported Boots, Air-Box mod, 15/47 gearing, Traxxion revalved/resprung front forks, Penske 8983 Rear shock.
After topping off on gas and leaving Mountain City, TN heading for Boone, NC, we switched bikes... After a quick pep talk from each other... we hopped on the other's bike, both fully expecting to be disappointed....
Let me tell ya... there's really nothing I HATE about the Gen 2... The tank is a little too wide... but... I actually fit better on the Gen 2 than I do on my own Gen 1... with the pegs being a bit higher, and my legs being short stubby little things, my knees tucked into the tank rather nicely... power was smooth... but not exactly linear... as with any traditional 4cyl bike, the top end is stronger, and on JD's bike... once you crossed 6k on the tach, the needle jumped across the face of the tach amazingly fast... top end, this thing is a crazy screamer... I kept watching the tach, waiting for it to pass 9k so I could use the quickshifter... man... that thing is neat.. the first couple of tries, I let reflexes take over instead of what I should have done which was just keep the throttle pinned... I'm used to "quickshifting" on my Gen 1... just put some pressure on the shifter, back off the throttle a hair, and BAM... it's in... when doing this on JD's bike.. I was fighting against the quickshifter making a little jerkiness... once I made my brain control my hand... and kept the throttle pinned, it works amazingly smooth.... I really liked that..
Power to power... they're close... the Gen 2 is faster... but the Gen 1 is no slouch... delivery is a bit different... where the Gen 1 is more midrange and low-end... the Gen 2 is midrange and top end... Different power.. but... eithr one, I'm really happy with...
For me.. I would ride either one and be comfortable... I'm 5'9" so I wasn't very cramped on the Gen 2... reach to the bars wasn't bad... JD's clutch took a little getting used to... as soon as you let the lever begin to make a hair of space between it and the grip... it was ready to JUMP..... while waiting to pull out into traffic, a lazy clutch hand almost threw me out into traffic a few times... but, he has it set up like that for drag purposes, and if I was used to it, it would be a non-issue...
Handling was familiar.. nothing out of the ordinary... didn't notice any huge difference.... The bars felt a bit stiffer, with less flex than my stock Gen 1 bars... Suspension was soft for me... but... I'm 250lbs and JD ... well... isn't....
All in all... there's really nothing that I didn't like about the Gen 2... I found it comfortable... power delivery was great... the only thing I noticed, I talked to JD about it, and it's something that would likely never be noticed under typical riding conditions... under ... we'll say 1/32 throttle, there seemed to be a little surging... but... when would you ever really ride down the road with the throttle barely cracked open??? I burnt my boot on JD's high mount pipe... sorry dude...
Would I own one? sure... why not? I'd do all of the mods that JD has done to his... plus suspension.. and ride the hell out of it.. Would I get rid of my Gen 1 to get one? Probably not... but if the Gen 1 dies on me... and I got a good price on a Gen 2... I don't see why not.... I think you really can't go wrong with either one... and with proper modifications, they're both great bikes...
So... at the end of the day... We decided to switch bikes and have a good little comparo between the two of us... In many other comparos, people weigh one generation against the other.. sometimes rather unfairly... You can't judge a Modded Gen 1 against a stock Gen 2... and vice versa... and in other comparos, where one stock bike is put up against another stock bike... the results are always questioned with "Well if you did XX mod on this bike.. it'd be better.."
This comparison pitted JD's extremely modded (and extremely clean) Gen 2 against my extremely modded (and extremely dirty) Gen 1.... Pretty much everyone should know JD's mods... mine that matter are as follows: Jet Kit, Timing Advance, Ported Boots, Air-Box mod, 15/47 gearing, Traxxion revalved/resprung front forks, Penske 8983 Rear shock.
After topping off on gas and leaving Mountain City, TN heading for Boone, NC, we switched bikes... After a quick pep talk from each other... we hopped on the other's bike, both fully expecting to be disappointed....
Let me tell ya... there's really nothing I HATE about the Gen 2... The tank is a little too wide... but... I actually fit better on the Gen 2 than I do on my own Gen 1... with the pegs being a bit higher, and my legs being short stubby little things, my knees tucked into the tank rather nicely... power was smooth... but not exactly linear... as with any traditional 4cyl bike, the top end is stronger, and on JD's bike... once you crossed 6k on the tach, the needle jumped across the face of the tach amazingly fast... top end, this thing is a crazy screamer... I kept watching the tach, waiting for it to pass 9k so I could use the quickshifter... man... that thing is neat.. the first couple of tries, I let reflexes take over instead of what I should have done which was just keep the throttle pinned... I'm used to "quickshifting" on my Gen 1... just put some pressure on the shifter, back off the throttle a hair, and BAM... it's in... when doing this on JD's bike.. I was fighting against the quickshifter making a little jerkiness... once I made my brain control my hand... and kept the throttle pinned, it works amazingly smooth.... I really liked that..
Power to power... they're close... the Gen 2 is faster... but the Gen 1 is no slouch... delivery is a bit different... where the Gen 1 is more midrange and low-end... the Gen 2 is midrange and top end... Different power.. but... eithr one, I'm really happy with...
For me.. I would ride either one and be comfortable... I'm 5'9" so I wasn't very cramped on the Gen 2... reach to the bars wasn't bad... JD's clutch took a little getting used to... as soon as you let the lever begin to make a hair of space between it and the grip... it was ready to JUMP..... while waiting to pull out into traffic, a lazy clutch hand almost threw me out into traffic a few times... but, he has it set up like that for drag purposes, and if I was used to it, it would be a non-issue...
Handling was familiar.. nothing out of the ordinary... didn't notice any huge difference.... The bars felt a bit stiffer, with less flex than my stock Gen 1 bars... Suspension was soft for me... but... I'm 250lbs and JD ... well... isn't....
All in all... there's really nothing that I didn't like about the Gen 2... I found it comfortable... power delivery was great... the only thing I noticed, I talked to JD about it, and it's something that would likely never be noticed under typical riding conditions... under ... we'll say 1/32 throttle, there seemed to be a little surging... but... when would you ever really ride down the road with the throttle barely cracked open??? I burnt my boot on JD's high mount pipe... sorry dude...
Would I own one? sure... why not? I'd do all of the mods that JD has done to his... plus suspension.. and ride the hell out of it.. Would I get rid of my Gen 1 to get one? Probably not... but if the Gen 1 dies on me... and I got a good price on a Gen 2... I don't see why not.... I think you really can't go wrong with either one... and with proper modifications, they're both great bikes...
oke:
