Demo Days at GP
- Thread starter Klaatu
- Start date
Relax
Well-known member
You slot in towards the back in front of the sweep and the guy in front of you parks it in the corners.
Can't even slingshot from the back or the sweep will pull you aside after the ride and give you a stern talking to.
Or so people have told me...
You're doing it wrong. Go last, and go slow so the person in front of you is already through the corner before you enter. Unless that's what you mean by slingshotting, but then why would they care?
Relax
Well-known member
That's what I want to try, but only to confirm how underwhelming it is so I can stop being tempted by the unsold leftovers at 30% off. All the reviews say it's amazing and my heart wants to believe, but so did the 690 SMCR reviews, and that was hugely disappointing. So glad I didn't buy before trying.
Glenn/RZ500
Well-known member
FWIW...anyone looking to ride `26 Royal Enfields next Sat. June 27th, 9 to 2 at Classy Chassis in Lakefield. .N. of Peterborough. www.usedhd.ca 888-292-8305. Beautiful twisty Kawartha roads, I live here, no endless straight line gridlocked roads. Good dealership too.
I was at PowerSport TO this morning. I wasn't doing much today and though why not, and I had registered. I actually ended up riding all the 3 bikes they had for a demo. Not writing a full-blown review like @PacoT . Rode the Daytona 660 first, then the Trident 660, and finally the STriple. The Trident 660 isn't for me. It's a decent bike but just too comfortable and upright for my liking. 
I haven't ridden the older Daytona 675/675r (or the 765) but the newer one feels easy to ride. Very linear power delivery, and managable. Ergonomic too. It's now more of a sport touring bike than a supersport I'd say, which is sad. The older Daytona's were iconic (at least for me). The S Triple was nice to ride. Out of the lot, if I had to pick one - it would be the S Triple given it had more power, the engine felt really responsive, and overall it was more of a fun bike. The quickshifter was smooth when rpms were right.
There was no one leading a group, it was more individual, unlike the last time I was there. So, despite it being stop and go (and I never made it past 3rd gear, mostly 2nd), I did ride each of the bikes for a good 20-25 mins. I didn't have any expectations of fun to begin with, so all good.
Spent a good 2-3 hours there and had a nice chat with the rep who was running the event after.
I haven't ridden the older Daytona 675/675r (or the 765) but the newer one feels easy to ride. Very linear power delivery, and managable. Ergonomic too. It's now more of a sport touring bike than a supersport I'd say, which is sad. The older Daytona's were iconic (at least for me). The S Triple was nice to ride. Out of the lot, if I had to pick one - it would be the S Triple given it had more power, the engine felt really responsive, and overall it was more of a fun bike. The quickshifter was smooth when rpms were right.
There was no one leading a group, it was more individual, unlike the last time I was there. So, despite it being stop and go (and I never made it past 3rd gear, mostly 2nd), I did ride each of the bikes for a good 20-25 mins. I didn't have any expectations of fun to begin with, so all good.
Spent a good 2-3 hours there and had a nice chat with the rep who was running the event after.
Aens
Well-known member
They really don't like it when you do that. Probably a liability thing. I've seen it actively enforced. This was a buddy at a KTM demo day at Apex. It wasn't just after the ride but also during the ride.
Mentioned something about not wanting to see someone crash in front of him on a demo ride... also something about demo bikes are not just for me, but for other riders after me... and then something something Street Rossi...
Not really sure. I couldn't really hear him clearly since I was rev-bombing the bike the whole time he was lecturing me.
Yeah my buddy let me ride his 690 Enduro while on a street ride. You have to rev the snot out of them to stay in the powerband. 698 is probably the same with it's 10,250 rpm redline and peak power at 9750 rpm...
Relax
Well-known member
There's a power band? Pretty sure I bounced it off the limiter and still nothing. I switched from 2-strokes to 4-strokes and then from I4's to twins to avoid gutlessness off idle, and expected more from a single. I have read/heard that the Ducati does need to be reved higher to make its power. Guess some people like that.
Aens
Well-known member
You have to do a tune on them. The default tune on them is atrocious. The 5k rpm torque dip on the pre-2026 models is insane. The 2026 enduro has a slightly better stock tune at 5k rpm. It's all for emissions and it makes a tune mandatory. I have a 2023 with a full system rottweiler set up with a fuel+timing advance and it just kicks ass now. Another buddy has a 2024 with rade+wings slip on+rapid bike auto-tune and that one is just smooth as butter.
Still sad you didn't ride either of ours where it mattered!
Only Hyper I rode was the older 821 and it was fun for a short while but not something I want if I'm actually leaving town. Monster 1200S was superior in every way except for hooliganism.
My buddy does really well off-road on his. Anything more is just free wheelspin in the dirt - which is not a bad thing IMO...
He just replaced his old Enduro with a newer model, he absolutely loves that platform.
I think for me, I would rather have two or more focused weapons for each kind of riding rather than one do-it-all bike. 500 thumper for tight and gnarly and a big Adventure bike for faraway gravel. But different four-strokes for different folks!
Sochi
Well-known member
watching Youtube videos now how to switch all settings quick to the minimum level so have all the power avail and min interruptions
When I test rode KTM SAS - all settings were on max restrictions - guy in charge of demo-ride/leader noticed me changing it and said all good, just don't forget to put it all back after, he also explained that there were no levels to wheelie control and i'd need to disable all traction control all together and he wouldn't recommend it if I am not sure what i am doing - I definitely left TC On LOL
On the other hand when I tried BMW S1000XR- they didn't let me touch anything...
Rental companies are doing that too.
On the S1000RR track bike I rented at Phillip Island, the pit crew sets the initial riding mode to Road mode which nerfs the settings down from Dynamic or Race mode. They were pretty good about letting the customer set their own mode if they wanted to, so each time it was my session, they would switch it back to Race mode for me. I appreciated that.
Just rented a couple of bikes recently for one of our road trips and the rental company actually went into the settings for Sport mode and turned the power down! We got on and immediately selected Sport mode. Then we were both like, "Did they de-tune these bikes?!?"
At the next stop, we dove into the menus and found they customized the Sport mode settings and dialed it down to Medium power.
Nope nope nope. Full factory reset (plus I turned all the TC, ABS, MSR, BBQ, etc off for me) and we set off happy once again.
Still, that was pretty sneaky and underhanded IMO!
I absolutely dislike all these electronics on the new bikes. If you buy a 200hp motorcycle and ride around in Rain mode all the time, just go buy a F-n 70hp motorcycle in the first place.
Aens
Well-known member
Sorry, I was talking about a couple different bikes here. The tuned ones are SMCRs. I threw in the 2026 Enduro because I had the opportunity to ride it on the dragon with sumo wheels in otherwise stock form a couple weeks ago. The 2026 engines are very different and I'm sure there's nuance between the SMCR and Enduro models. Comparing stock 2023 to 2026, the 2026 feels like the 5k rpm gap isn't as bad, but its still perceivable.
The biggest problem is the swell of power at around 4k rpm, the immediate reduction of power at 5k, and then back on at 6k when the engine is really starting to shake with the single cylinder. Since the 2019-2025 had no tach, you had no idea except the noise the engine is making so its hard to know in just a limited test ride where 6k is. I was watching the tach on the 2026 enduro and its a bit easier to manage expectations. On pavement, you need to ride the stock tune like a light switch, which is awful.
