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950 test ride

3K views 9 replies 7 participants last post by  Redpawdave 
#1 ·
What do you not like about your 950 ? Does your floor boards scrape the ground when taking a corner ?

JaBo
 
#2 ·
the stock seat leaves me a little sore after 100 miles or so, and yes the floorboards will scrape from time to time, and Star put a little carbide skag on them to protect them. Its a little un-nerving when it happens, I just learned to slow down in the turns a little more.
 
#3 ·
The only thing I really don't care for on my 950 are the hand grips.
On the long rides my hands tend to cramp up a bit, mostly the throttle side. But I'm gonna put some Kuryakyn ISO grips on this spring. And at some point in the future I'll probably go with a 2 into 2 exhust instead of the stock 2 into 1. I would like it just a bit louder.
And as for the floorboards scraping, I've never scraped mine, but I'm not an aggressive rider. I love taking curves, but it seems to me
that you would have to get pretty low to scrape them.
 
#4 ·
My local shop had a blk. 09/ 950T for 6995 but they sold it when I went back over yesterday to look at it again. There is a flood of 1100 Silverado and Classics on the market right now starting as low as 3500.00 but I am looking for a slightly used 950T . It's hard to find a 950 used for they have not been out very long. Yes I want aftermarket exhaust. Is Cobra the only aftermarket exhaust out there so far? Who makes a good seat with a driver back rest ?
I want the fuel injection, belt drive and the air cooled of the 950 .But the 1100 silverado prices are tempting tho.

JaBo
 
#5 ·
My philosophy is that you get what you pay for, and you pay for what you get.
As far as exhaust goes, I'll probably go with the Cobra slash downs, but I know Vance & Hines makes some for the 950 also, but they're way to loud for my taste.
I know Mustang makes a seat with backrest for around $600 big ones. I bought a quick release backrest on Ebay for $99 and and bolted to the stock setup in about 5 minutes, and I love it.
And just a note on my personal preference: When I was waiting at the dealer to have my 4000 mile service done on my 950, I went around and sat on every different bike they had in the showroom, 650's, 1100's, 1300's, Liners and so on. I then concluded that I liked my 950 the best.
 
#6 ·
What you want

Jabo,

Its all in what you want. There are a lot of happy 1100 owners out there. Not fuel injected, more traditional look. More accessories available for the 1100. You would not be unhappy with either bike. I believe the boards are lower on the 1100. I would scrape them a lot on my 1100. Eventually went to a Liner. Never scraped them on the Liner, yet. But, never unhappy or disapointed with the 1100. They are near equal in power. The 1100 has a little more vibration above 70 MPH. The 950 may corner a little better. My buddy has a 950, loves it. Moved up from a 650.

If money is an issue I would not hesitate.

Dave
 
#7 ·
My biggest complaint with my 950 was the seat. Replaced it with a Mustang and the bike fits me much better. Otherwise no complaints. A co-worker has an 100 Silverado. We traded bikes for part of a ride last summer. I didn't really notice much of a difference in power if any. My co-worker liked the responsiveness of the fuel injection. It boils down to personal preference. They're both awesome motorcycles.
 
#8 · (Edited)
never cared for the front fender, how it flares out near the bottom. so i finally replaced it with the Slicer from Klock Werks. will put it on next month when i get the bike custom painted. also never liked how the horn and brake setup on the front of the bike are just sticking out on the side. it's ugly and unprotected. the fender is being replaced but doubt i'll ever do anything about the horn and brake.



i've made a ton of other upgrades, but these 2 things are the only parts of the bike that i just never liked at all.

oh yeah, i scrape my floorboards ALL THE TIME. of course i did lower my bike 2 1/4 inches. when i rode the tail of the dragon, my buddy behind me said sparks were flying through every corner we took on the road
 
#9 ·
Fuel prices / Range

The price of fuel and range of travel are already major issues for me and my wife. She's riding an '09 650 Classic (87 octane-55 mpg - 200+ miles) and I'm riding an American product, 883cc (91 octane-42mpg-110 miles). When we put our gas receipts side by side after a weekend trip, the differences in cost would have bought a better dinner! If you feel funny about feeding it, you'll feel funny riding it; I ride a KYMCO scooter for town errands. (?!) My advice is to buy a bike that makes sense; put it on the road and ride the hell out of it. (And, for us old dirt riders migrating to the street, bigger displacement can mean bigger tickets. I can only do traffic school once every 18 months)
 
#10 ·
Hand Cramp => try moving your palm off of the throttle by gripping it with just your thumb, index and middle fingers. I have a nerve or vein that compresses and makes my hand go numb if the palm of my hand is in contact w/ the throttle for very long. I tried the 3 finger 'claw' out of desparation on a 5 hour trip, and my hand woke right up. It's now my standard 'grab' if I can't use the cruise control ( because I'm riding with someone else). Good luck!
 
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