Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[rayivers]

I was at the dealer last Wed. for a parts order, but they had a 6.5 FXS in stock so next thing I know I'm sitting on it with a loaner helmet on.  I think they got a little nervous when I asked where the nastiest stretch of road was but it wasn't so rough after all and we both returned without a scratch.  I believe the charge at beginning of ride was 86% or thereabouts.  When I got home, I took my '14's out on the street briefly for comparison.

The first thing I noticed was the front brake, which had excellent power and feel - it completely blew away my stock FX brake, and worked better than my modified unit too, especially with just one finger - and no squealing!  The rear brake worked much better too, although the ABS activated if I went too nuts with it (I never felt the front ABS kick in, even during panic-type stops).  I thought I'd hate the ABS, but this one worked flawlessly for me.

The Showa forks were a lot better than my FastAce units as-delivered.  I hit a number of sharp-edged potholes at speed, at angles, with the brake on hard, etc. and the fork just dealt with it, with much better compliance over the small stuff too.  The rear suspension did a good job when braking, coasting, and under moderate power, but when accelerating hard over one medium-deep pothole I got a really harsh kick to the shock that made me immediately worry about the belt snapping (I didn't do this again).  When I got home I tried the same things on my bikes - no shortage of potholes on my street - and found my belt-drive bike did the same thing on a similar pothole, while the chain bike did a kind of spin/snatch thing that affected the tire more than the shock.  At any rate, a big thumbs-up for these Showas.

I've ridden '13, '14, and '15 FX's, and the FXS seemed to accelerate about the same as all of them (if anything, the '13 seemed the quickest to me, but that was also the first one I tried so who knows).  The FXS did not steer like any of them, though - it was closest to the '15 SR I rode last fall (noticeable oversteer), but not to the same extent as the SR, which may be due in part to the much greater weight on the SR front wheel.  The road that ended at Pothole City was a long, serpentine hill through a quiet neighborhood w/no traffic, low-speed cornering heaven - by the 2nd pass I was beginning to get the hang of the steering response, although it's still different than any other bike I've ridden except the SR.

I felt instantly at home when first sitting on the FXS, so I guess not much has changed ergonomically.  It's a nice bike!  If it steered like my '14 I'd go for it in a heartbeat.

Ray

[Kocho]

What do you mean by "oversteer"? I test-rode an FXS this week and I felt the front wheel was a little too eager to rotate into the turn, even as speed picked-up some. I even thought that "overactive" steering might bet me in trouble... It felt less directionally stable and more "flickable" than my Vectrix, and I feel the Vectrix is nimble! I don't remember having that feel on the '14 S and SR and FX that I test-rode a couple of years ago, but that was a while back, and certainly was not the case for the '16 DS, which felt the opposite to me - required a bit too much countersteering input to turn.

[rayivers]

Oversteer is the tendency of a vehicle to turn more sharply than was intended (I take your "too eager" to mean pretty much the same thing).  The '15 SR I rode showed this tendency increasingly as turning progressed, requiring me to steer outward (against the oversteer) to hold my line; the FXS initially oversteered and then seemed to transition to a mild understeer.  In some turns the FXS would snap right into the corner and then start drifting outwards (a couple of times into the oncoming lane a bit) requiring that I re-steer the bike back into the corner.

My bikes (all of them) corner like this: lean / turn / done.  This is what I prefer, and am most comfortable with.

Ray

[Kocho]

Got it. Yes, that's what I felt too. But my FXS ride was really short and did not involve high speed turns, I so didn't really have time to play with it. Plus I was more focused on how the bike fees in terms of ergonomics and power.

[NEW2elec]

Yeah I test rode a 2016 SR and the brakes jumped out from the first touch as way superior to my 2013 DS.  I had a BMS issue last summer that killed my regen for the first 7 or 8 miles and the brakes alone are somewhat scary.  The dealer kept telling me the torque will kick that back wheel out from under you and had me sign all the "you break it you buy it paper work" so the only time I really punched it was when a Harley guy didn't nod back as he passed me while I was stopped to turn so I shot by him like he was standing still about 3 seconds later.  I'd like to ride one of the F bikes but the range would just leave me going through withdrawals