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[jotjotde]

Congrats to your new bikes.
17 k is a fanatastic bargain!

[smithy]

Thank you for that suggestion, standing on the peg i can lift and heft right over, even from the high side it works.  The bike moves a little bit and first try I was like oh jeesus I didn't have the thing a day and im already gonna knock it over !! but she held very steady !!

The kick stand is a bit weird, it stands the bike up a little bit too straight IMO, but that's easily adjustable.  On the contrary my racing bike the EGO that bitch is leaned way the hell over on it's stand and im like man this thing just want's to go over, but it never does 

Ill have to check again but my vin is 287 or something like that.

speaking of, holy shit, I had to find the vin for the DMV we looked for about 20 minutes on that thing, the Ribelle it's right on the shock, this one is buried way up under the hood and you need a light and a pig sticker to move some wires out of the way to see it !!  That might be a good thing when swapping plates tween bikes 

At lower speeds and in parking lots etc, the balance on the bike is so much better and handles really easy, even with the foot pegs being right where I want to put my feet at.  I need to remember to be careful when I get back on my ribelle not to relax too much when jockeying it around or ill drop it...again 

The pirelli tires, yah im not impressed either,but it's the italian thing, gotta take care of 'family'....I get it but will be putting continentals on it the moment these are worn down, which given the history of my past pirelli's won't be too long. 

Right now I really have not taken it for a real hard core 'test ride',  Ill take it to the track for that but from my initial feelings.  It bobs in and out very nicely in traffic, back and forth is really good but yet on the same hand, im really afraid to lean it way over like I'd do with the EGO or Ribelle, as I don't feel the confidence it'll handle that well.  I am believing that though is just the tires, they are a bit slick, .  that is ANOTHER thing about electric bikes. you can hear, which also enhances your feel, the traction of the tires!  On the track, I use this often to let me know when I am pushing my limits, and especially with the continentals, and their warning rumble, you get the skitch skitch you know you are very close to your limits.

I have a feeling once I get a bit more familiar with the bike I'll be able to sling it all over.  It feels like a lighter bike, I mean it's like I can really sling it here and there like I'd do on a 300 lb ninja, not a 600 lb electric bike.  Even with it being the same weight as the EGO and Ribelle it just feels so much lighter.  probably because the motor is lower and the center of balance is a bit lower.   Man I'd LOVE to have this bike with the Corsa's power train on it,  lose the bags   hehe.

Aaron

I ran Continental Road Attack 3's for a while, easy to go to the edge of the tyre, I really liked them but a horrible puncture on the rear forced me the change them...I fitted Bridgestone S23's which are brilliant and I was also able to get to the edge of the tyre quite easily. You'll love them.

Below is a pic of the S23's after just ~150km.

Smithy.

[jotjotde]

Isn't the S23 typically for sportbikes? I would have thought you would rather use a tyre made for touring bikes (Conti RoadAttack, T32, Angel GT or something).

Just asking, bc I am thinking about trying a sport touring tyre next as the Pirelli Rossos and the Mitas Sportforce I used up to now are done after 4,500 km and I wonder if a touring tyre would give me more longevity without compromising cornering quality.

[smithy]

Isn't the S23 typically for sportbikes? I would have thought you would rather use a tyre made for touring bikes (Conti RoadAttack, T32, Angel GT or something).

Just asking, bc I am thinking about trying a sport touring tyre next as the Pirelli Rossos and the Mitas Sportforce I used up to now are done after 4,500 km and I wonder if a touring tyre would give me more longevity without compromising cornering quality.

Yes, the S21, 22 & 23's are indeed "Hypersport" tyres...and they won't last as long as sport touring tyres...but I like the grip and knowing they won't let go whilst leaned over. I did have Conti Road attacks before the S23's, they are also very good.

Smithy.

[flynnstig82r]

Another vote for Road Attack. I had RA3's on my Ducati Multistrada and they were just as good as either of the 2 sets of Michelin Pilot Road tires I've used, and quite a bit cheaper.

[Motoproponent]

I run Trail Attacks whenever I can get them. Or rather I run Trail Attacks exclusively unless they aren't available. I tend to like heavy bikes with a bit of ground clearance and Im a year round moto commuter. I like the stiffer side wall of the Trail Attacks and they are the best rain tire Ive ever used. They wear really well also. Not as sticky as a Pilot Road, but Im not dragging knees on the Experia.

[Specter]

You won't go wrong with the Conti Attacks on your bike.  Very good tire, plenty of grip, you can lean them to the walls and they will hold even cold.

Conti has this unique feature with their tires, it's like a warning bark or rumble that you are pushing it too hard.  When I am leaned way over into a turn and trying something new... or whatever, if I start getting too far into the lean, past what would be safe, you will feel a bit of like a rumble in the tire, like a skitter slip, before it just lets go on you like a Pirroll-me would do to you or a Dunflop.  They are purposely designed this way to let you know when you are approaching the limits of safe lean.  Of course NOTHING will replace YOUR good sense and control but any indicators help.

One of the reasons I went with the conti attack 2's on my racer was I wanted something that yes I CAN take it on the street if i want to, and also, something that will be runnable if the tire is a bit cold.  When I first made the decision to go over to them, I wasn't on slicks and warmers yet (i wasn't that good to really need them yet TBH)  and they were recommended to me stating, you can run these cold, just be careful... run a lap or two to warm them up and they'll be good to go.  Sure enough, it's absolutely true, I can feel the grip on the tire, and being electric, you can also HEAR the grip really well so if you are paying attention you can also hear what your tire is up to as well as feel it.  About a lap and a half and my tires are warmed up enough to go full bore.

Now that the temp's are in the mid 30's, I don't give a shit how good of a warmer you have, one lap on that cold ass track and your tires are cooling off just like runnin thru water.  Id rather run dot's than slicks because slicks cold, umm yah, no thanks.

Aaron

Let me add one more thing, if you DO plan on doing any spirited riding, with ANY tire, pressures are critical.  Street pressures will wipe you out if you start leaning and playing.  Even as little as a pound or a pound and a half can mean the difference between a high speed turn being handled like a pro, and queuing up the Green Acres music because you are going turf surfing !  Ask me how I know this ! 

[Specter]

so,.  I tried to kill myself today.

One of the reasons I bought the Experia is to make deliveries with.  I sell coffee online.  Mostly green coffee and people roast it themselves, but also sell already roasted specialty coffee, word of mouth mostly.  anyways.

Here I am, I have a load of coffee I need to take to the UPS dropoff point since they shut down the service center right by my house.  It's 14 miles away.  Ok no big deal.  The bike has got plenty of storage, let's see what we kin doos !!!!

45 Lbs of coffee in the back storage rack.  (note: I got 45 lbs of weight on my bike now, up at shoulder to head height) sitting there playing nice... or not.

25 lbs of coffee in each side saddle bag..

95 lb total, plus ehh 5 lbs or so packaging.

off to the ship store I go !!!!

Well today.  the weather happens to be cunt factor 12.
Wind is blowing 20 to 25 mph with gusts up to 35 and 40, and here i am on my lil ole bike taking my virgin 'two up' ride with the eq of a passenger in weight on the thing !!!!  Yayyy!!!

The wind was blowing me all over the highway,  it seems with that weight up there, the bike pushed around more and was .. less ..receptive to body inputs to go here or go there.  Maybe that is just me because I never really ran a bike with a load before or a passenger, but it seemed a bit squirrely, like the wind affected it quite a bit more than if it is just lil ole me on it.

so here I am going over the bridge at 75 mph, because that is what traffic is doing, im ducking down behind the windshield hoping that helps with  stability because it lowers COG and gets the wind off me, but it really does not help much, she still wants to buffet and shimmy all over in my lane and sustained gusts, you have to lean into to go straight !!  Not fun....

so here i am on the bridge wind is howling and now it starts raining, PELTING one of those florida, half a block wide rainstorms, where if you re in that half a block you are damned near getting hailed on...  wind rocking me back and forth, im just saying to myself, great, im gonna fucking die on this bridge.... at least EMS will have some fresh roasted coffee to drink while they  are squeezey ing up the smear stain.

Somehow I manage to make it to my turn off, into town and where I need to go to drop off the 100 lbs of load I got on my back.

what made it worse was, the wind was a head wind coming from my right quadrant at about a 45 degree angle so it was really just trying to shove me all over and into the next lane etc etc.

Lets  offload the coffee and get back on the highway to go home.

Well, NOT having 50 lbs about head high really made a HUGE difference in how the bike handled, but it still was being pushed all over the place by the wind.
Now I have to be honest,  winds this bad,  it's gonna blow you,  on my Ribelle it'd do the same thing,  on the EGO it's only worse because when I got THAT bike on the highway, im not doing 55 if you know what I mean.and even though you are hunched over, you get hit with a big wind gust, it's going to act on you badly.

Once I got back, I had to go somewhere else, empty but still highway speeds ..and well.  to be totally honest. in retrospect.. full or empty, the bike handled very well.  IN all honesty having that much weight on a bike is going to affect the handling majorly.  No you are NOT going to take corners at 40 mph leaned at 38 degrees when you are loaded up, that's a fools folly.  But taking easy deliberate turns /corners, the bike was actually very sturdy on it's wheels.  Even when it did get a hard blow, it leaned, I leaned and we wanted to be pushed into the next lane but and I have rode other bikes, it's not like it just kind of skidded you over there or felt like it wanted to pick you up and slam you over there... the bike held it's own pretty darned well.  We were able to bowl thru the nasty 35 or so mph gusts and keep on riding with little more than an attitude to show for it.

The bike is built very well, and yes it's heavier, but when in shitty weather, that weight helps keep you where you need to be WANT to be.
BTW the rain, Pirelli tires, I have absolutely made my mind up now, they SUCK, period !!!  I know why Energica uses them, it's the Italian thing, but man, there are a LOT better tires for your Energica brand line to ride on.  Once these wear down a bit, I don't want to just throw them away, unless they piss me off THAT bad, im going to put continental's on and see how they run.  If it's anything like on my race bike or Ribelle (which soon will be about the same) I'll be riding them from now on.

The more I ride this Experia, the more I am loving it, but dammit, it's going to be really hard come weekend mornings, hmm who do I want to ride, the Ribelle, or the Experia?  Maybe Ill run the nekkid racer to have my fast fun, then come back and hop on the experia for my lets calm down and do a scenic run and have sane fun.... run..

I like the way the Experia feels, lower COG is really nice, but then again, i gotten way used to the Ribelle and can sling her aound as needed too...  whine...  if only I could put the Ribelles performance into the Experia (youd' have to ditch the bags of course heeee) that would be a bike made in heaven !!

Hey Energica.... I got a project for you once the company is back on solid feet!!  You want to know what your next model is going to be?  Here's a starting point 

Aaron

[Specter]

So I went out again today with about the same loading on the bike minus the hurricane outside and the bike handled WAYYY better on the road.  The rise was actually very smooth and even with that extra weight that high up it did not post the problems with control that it did in the nasty weather.  Granted you know the weight is there at stop lights and such, and you definitely don't want to be leaning one way or another but once you get going you really can't feel it that much.

I wonder why having the bike loaded up made it such a bitch more to control and it was so squirrely?  Yes I get it, you got 90 extra pounds moving around and wanting to roll over in the wind but at the same time, you'd think it'd make it that much harder to blow in the first place  I guess once you get that mass moving it's just more effort to stop it's momentum.  Ive towed plenty of trailers and the worse weight was just a little bit of weight on them,  empty you can snatch em right up, heavy they are like a tank but a little bit of weight they want to be all over the place, Id have thought that much weight on a bike would kind of classify as being loaded up.

Now all I need to do is figure out how to get those boxes off when I am going to put a passenger on the bike.

For those who have done thins,  the steel rack that holds the bags, once you get the bags off, is that in the way of a passenger any at all?  It seems like it'd intefere a bit where they would need to put their legs and you'd be better off undoing the 6 bolts and just taking the entire frame assy off. 
Just curious.

[Grauteufel]

I've had pillion on, who weights.... more than 100 lables.... and aside from needing a little more effort to get the bike to change direction (leaning) I did'n't notice any significant handling changes in winds gusting to 60km/h, as you suggested, more mass actually should be more stable in crosswinds. All I can think of is your tyre pressures may have been low changing the profile of the contact patch?

The standard luggage racks don't interfere with pillion accommodations, she actually preferes the feeling of security when the side boxes are on.

[CagivaRider]

I agree that the panniers and top box help the passenger feel more secure. My wife road 10s of thousands of miles with the bike configured that way ... however, she quickly got her own motorcycle (and soon started road racing and offroad racing) .

[Specter]

So you leave the panniers and box ON and have a passenger as well and it's all good together?  Interesting.   How do they get on  / off the easiest way?

Aaron

[Grauteufel]

You know what, I have no idea. I hop on first and she magically appears behind me. Likely she’s up on the pillion peg with her left, and then tucks her right in as she turns forward.

When she get on first she just uses the front pegs and shuffles back.