First Ride - Impressions

[Jim R]

Hi all. For the benefit of those who haven’t experience it yet, and to compare with those who have, and I’ll jump right into my thoughts and reactions after pulling the ADV1 for the first 40 minutes (I’m sitting in Dunks in the middle of my first ride and thought I’d share my first impressions while they are fresh in my mind)

Note regarding the bike and trailer setup: My bike is a 2018 Yamaha Super Tenere. I removed the panniers and top box to reduce weight. The trailer was completely empty.

I went into this kind of nervous, fearing it would be a very different (and perhaps unpleasant or unsafe) riding experience, and after about 25 minutes around town and 15 minutes on the highway, I can say I was greatly relieved to find I barely noticed the trailer was even there. On the highway I took it up to 65 (Massachusetts speed limit) and I can say that I’m confident I could go out west with their higher speed limits without any concerns.

At any speed above 15 MPH, I had absolutely no idea the trailer was even there. I tried and could not notice anything different (you can’t even see it in your mirrors). Handling, including turning and braking, felt exactly the same. Below 15 MPH, I was struggling to notice anything, but there might have been a little something there. A couple times, when initiating a slow turn, I think I noticed a slight hesitation. I’m not even sure hesitation is the right word. It’s more like you just need to do a little more of what you are already doing when starting to turn. But when I tried the replicate the feeling, I couldn’t. I might be trying so hard to find something that I’m imagining it. Or maybe it’s that when I’m just using muscle memory, my body notices something slightly different. But when I’m actively thinking about it, I just make the bike do what I want it to do and I don’t notice anything different.

Sorry, if that explanation is confusing. It’s kind of hard to describe. I bet the feeling will be more noticeable as I add weight. But the good thing is that I’m not worried about it since I assume it will be extremely easy to deal with. That’s my hope at least. I’ll provide an update after I do a test ride with it loaded up.

-Jim

 

[Jim R]

Did another test ride and this time with 45lbs of gear on the trailer. Still very smooth and easy to ride. I do think there’s a bit of sluggishness at slow speed, but it’s barely noticeable. Still completely disappears and you don’t know it’s there at higher speeds.

One thing I wasn’t expecting is how hard it is to back up. Backing out of a parking spot is easy. Initiatiate a slight turn and just keep that angle as you back up. But since I have a huge dumpster in my driveway, I tried to back it up about 40 feet in a straight line to my garage. Couldn’t do it and gave up. I think that trapezoidal hinge makes the turning very unpredictable when going backwards. Maybe I’ll get the hang of it with experience.

-Jim.

 

[Tony D.]

@Jim R
My experience is identical to yours. When I stop overthinking it, the trailer simply isn't there.
As far as that real/imagined feeling, you know when you put a noob backpack on and they don't lean in with you exactly, they have not yet learned how? You lean, then a moment later, they do. That's what I feel about the ADV1, it's doing exactly what I want it too, just half a heartbeat later than I am used to.
Then after a while you come to expect that very subtle change in angular momentum, just after you start your drop into a turn, and now it's normal.
Until you disconnect the trailer and ride, then "your bike" handles like shit for a minute

And backing up sucks, for everyone. Except Luke, but that boy aint wired right.

 

[roddesu]

@Tony D. I agree...Luke is a weird exception!! As I've said before, I have driven semis and backed them uphill with a turn in the middle. I can back up a boat trailer to within half an inch of where it's supposed to be. I can't back up an ADV1 two feet without jack knifing it!

@Jim R, I'm sorry for my slow response! I had to give a presentation at a pretty big conference this week and have been pretty focused on that. I'm really glad to hear about your initial experiences. If anything, I'd say you could probably tighten the trap (the Forum lingo for trapezoid hinge) a little. It sounds like maybe you should feel it a little more below 15 mph. The tighter you can keep the trap, the more stable you will be above 15 mph, and especially out west where Tony lays down the miles...and at the speeds he does!! (The topic that will not be discussed, heretofore will be know as the Voldemort Topic. )

The ADV1 looks good on your bike! I'm blown away by the disportionate number of Super10 are pulling ADV1s. It's way out of proportion to the number of them on the road as compared to GSs and Tigers. Anyone have an explanation?? My only thought is the Super10 forum I post on is the friendliest ADV forum on the web...did any of you learn about the ADV1 there?

 

[Jim R]

Hi Rod,
To tighten “the trap” do I do that by tightening hex bolt right on top of the pivot point?

And I have no good ideas regarding why so many S10s? One idea I can come up with is the result of what the primary use case is for the ADV1, which is to carry a bunch of gear while you go moto-camping. So you need a customer who has enough money to buy a big ADV bike, but then avoids hotels and goes camping instead. The S10 isn’t cheap, but it is probably the best value purchase (especially used) in the big ADV bike world. So maybe that crowd is more likely to avoid hotels and enjoy camping. And likewise, maybe the European ADV bike owners (The Starbucks crowd) are generally more likely to just go to hotels?

 

[s10ere'rider]

Hi Rod,
To tighten “the trap” do I do that by tightening hex bolt right on top of the pivot point?

And I have no good ideas regarding why so many S10s? One idea I can come up with is the result of what the primary use case is for the ADV1, which is to carry a bunch of gear while you go moto-camping. So you need a customer who has enough money to buy a big ADV bike, but then avoids hotels and goes camping instead. The S10 isn’t cheap, but it is probably the best value purchase (especially used) in the big ADV bike world. So maybe that crowd is more likely to avoid hotels and enjoy camping. And likewise, maybe the European ADV bike owners (The Starbucks crowd) are generally more likely to just go to hotels?

Hi Jim, I'll jump in on the pivot question. Yes, you make the adjustments by tightening/loosening the two nylock nuts of the pivot bolts, just make sure you put a #10 allen wrench on the underside of the bolt as it is not "captured" and simply turning the nut on top will likely just rotate the bolt.

 

[PBKrarup]

Any thoughts on the trap tightness affecting turn radius or stiffness in turning?

 

[s10ere'rider]

Any thoughts on the trap tightness affecting turn radius or stiffness in turning?

To find the "ideal tightness" of the pivot setting...for my S10/ADV1...I torqued the pivot nuts to 37.5nm, then backed them off 1/4 turn/rotation...EVENLY. That worked great for around town, but...not as stable as I'd like at 60mph and above with the ADV1 loaded with all our camping gear. So, incremental (1/2in wrench travel) tightening/riding with a 13mm and #10 allen at the ready until I got it dialed in. There's a slight resistance while low-speed turning, but I can still pull off tight u-turns (rear brake/throttle/clutch style) without issue. I think getting the right pivot setting is an individual thing, affected by several factors/preference. That's how I did it...with MY bike/ADV1/gear. If running across Nevada was on the days menu...I'd tighten it up. If checking out spots in a town all day was the plan, I'd back 'em off a little.

 

[Jim R]

Are the three circled Allen bolts (plus the one that’s not visible) what I should be tightening? There’s no 13mm bolt. Just 10mm Allen bolts.

 

[PBKrarup]

Definitely NOT.

Take the round black covers off the two higher points to the left (in your picture) and adjust the bolts there. :thumbup

 

[Jim R]

Yikes. I guess it’s a good thing I asked.

 

[PBKrarup]

Yikes. I guess it’s a good thing I asked.

I had a Lieutenant Colonel whose favorite saying was, "It's cheaper to ask a dumb question than pay for a dumb mistake." I've always taken that to heart because I'm cheap and I don't mind asking dumb questions.

 

[roddesu]

In case you didn't get it, attached is my latest right up on adjusting the trap.

The bottom line is, if you don't feel the ADV1 causing some resistence to turning at low speeds, it's not tight enough for the highway! You should feel some resistence. @s10ere'rider nailed it.

There's a slight resistance while low-speed turning, but I can still pull off tight u-turns (rear brake/throttle/clutch style) without issue.

There should be slight resistance at low speed. If you don't feel the ADV1 "pushing back a little bit" as you take a turn from a stop sign, it's not tight enough for speeds above 45 mph.

If running across Nevada was on the days menu...I'd tighten it up.

Now who on earth would do something like that?