Right right, I had a post up on the newbie side as a local dealer's got a 2010 reg' 1125r that I thought worth a spin. Managed to find space in work and warm/sunny day to go see and a 10 mile spin on it so more to update the guys who responded to the post originally here's what I found.

Looks better in the flesh than photos suggest. Not so much engine noise when idling. Vibration at certain revs was quite severe, is dead smooth off idle but a bit higher up (not sure exactly as the tacho's not so easy to look at and prefer looking at what I'm aiming at) was a patch that was a real buzzer in the bars/pegs and set the mirrors off, was more throttle opening than revs really thinking about it tho', it did improve a bit as it heated up.

Fairing works well.

Thing that probably means I won't go back for a longer go, dealer said I could take it out for a while, as he'd never seen me before I didn't wanna go off for an hour leaving a ratty old fazer! Was it's very hard to get turning, the front end seemed fine, actually quite nice, not over sprung, certainly not when you were braking it felt good, best brake I've tried since the Spondon's 4 pot Lockheeds/320mm discs, isn't as good as those by any means but it is stopping 50-60kg more bike, powerful and easy to use but I had to make it lean with a fair bit of bar pressure, riding position didn't encourage me to hang off and weighting a footrest made no difference, neither did braking into a turn which should quicken steering but it's got a pretty steep head angle so not sure why it would be so overly stable.

It has Avon tyres which I guess might be a reason, maybe with Dunlops on it'd be better but didn't inspire "going at it" on entering fast sweeping bends..... wasn't understeering so much when I started accelerating tho' I was fairly gentle with it but getting it into a turn was a noticeable effort. Back end was too solid for me which I'd expect and a Nitron shock would fix it but softening that up would make the front worse and not sure raising the back a load would help. You're right over the front wheel so plenty of weight for attack mode.

Didn't have much road space cos' of a lot of traffic and time meant I couldn't find a spot for a few circuits to get the feel of it better but unless anyone's got an idea on turn speed think I'll be back to looking to 675 Daytonas, 636 ZXR's and 750 GSXR's. To be fair I've not ridden a sports bike for some time so they are different and I am wanting a spin on an RSV if I can find one locally as that'd be a good comparison.

Cheers ears

V Bodysnatcher

Nice write up

Always nice to get opinions from fresh faces...

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08 Specialized Langster

when I got my 1125r it was on pirrelli's which I wasn't overly keen on
I switched to Dunlop sport smart and no issues with turn in or cornering
out of all my bikes the 1125 is the one I feel most comfortable on as well as for hanging off
I certainly feel like I can go at more than on my sp1

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Buell X1
Buell xb12s
Buell 1125r
Ebr 1190rx
Bimota Db7
Norton v4rr??



http://www.aph-performance-engineering.com

Buells are actually very sensitive to suspension changes. It's easy to bugger them up... Mine tips in lovely, Pirelli Dragon corsas, softer rear end from when I got it. Does sit up on the brakes though, just need to make sure you've got it right before tipping it in - otherwise you've got a headge-seeker...

I found it the same with all three of mine, including the Harley-engined ones.

Flipping mental bikes though

Simon

Thanks for the input lads, the Spondon was a different bike from Pirelli MP7 (was mid 90's....) to the Dunlop 208 I think they were, perfect for the bike even though I'd a wider rear rim 5.5 from a 4.5 so a wider tyre - 180 from 160 it still turned/held a line better than with the Pirellis, would grip and slide as you fancied in the dry, a delight, so am a fan of the Dunlops. That stood up on the brakes too which I think is the sheer amount of grip still available at the front, if it didn't it'd push the front and slide I imagine but you could have a whole lot of brake trailed into a turn and it wouldn't understeer, tho' it was much lighter and higher c of g I reckon makes a bit of difference, the Buell feels like it's c of g is pretty low

As it was/is it felt on the one or two faster bends I encountered if you opened the tap you'd understeer more tho' I guess with a big twin it's going to tend to accelerate you more rapidly without stressing the tyre like a four whatever the revs so will perhaps want to push you sideways.

All I can really say is it felt too stable! Flet like my old ZXR750 power-wise and stability-wise but without that bikes' turn speed. Had Dunlops on that.

Front end felt really good on the brakes, in a straight line haul up it was superb, had a go on an FZ1 a while back and the brakes on that weren't a patch, it stopped fine, powerful enough but the feel wasn't there, most Japanese bikes I've had/ridden the brakes seem to feel like that, I thought it maybe as they were old bikes but as a new one prep'd out of a dealer didn't feel that hot maybe it's not that.

From what you're saying it could/should be a fab handler, the whole rather seems like a special build and yep it's much easier to mess the handling with a bit of tweeking than make it better.

Is the first thing I've tried out, see shopping list of stuff, just want something that to quote Albert I feel comfortable on. 4k is a bit to spend on something to have to work/spend cash/time on making it work and be enjoyable I think is the real thing as don't have much time available mostly. So will try some other stuff and see where we come out.

Andy