Why did I buy this thing?
Well I like light weight and this fits the bill. Simple design - it's a single - and the riding position looked right. It was different, not one on every block. It had a Yamaha motor and I trust Yamaha engineering.
First Impression:
Oh boy, this is not good. This thing vibrates at almost every RPM except for an area between 3000-4000 rpm. Now I knew it wasn't going to be Ducati smooth but I didn't expect this. So I get it home and start to check every nut and bolt paying close attentiion to the motor mount bolts. Everything is rock solid. Well it's mine now, we'll put some miles on it and see what happens.
Lets take a look at things:
First thing to do is to put the magnetic tank bag on, but this won't work, it's plastic! Well that sucks, but one advantage of a plastic tank, at least in Minnesota, is that your legs don't suck all the cold off of a steel tank on cool (cold) mornings. I believe that all the plastic on the bike is made by Acerbis. A tail pack will have to do.
The handlbars are the best. Adjustable for almost any angle. I'm 6'2" and the bike fits great. Seat comes off easily for access to the battery. The inner rear fender doubles as the oil tank. The speedo in is mph and the odometer is in kilometers, figure that out? The instruments are large and easy to read. All switches work good even with winter gloves (MSR Cold Pro, great riding glove). Grimeca brakes and Metzler tires round out the bike.
Lets go for a ride:
Set the choke lever and hit the starter and it fires right up. No real warmup is necessary as its ready to go almost immedietly. This is probably the best shifting motorcycle I've ever owned. No clank, just an easy flick and you're through the gears. The front brake is a two finger unit, very powerful. I don't use the rear brake much - as you'll hear later. Easy handling, I've never run out of cornering clearance. Most riding around town is 3rd or 4th gear, 5th is only used on the highway as the motor would be below its "happy" operating rpm. And except for the vibration.......
As time goes by:
Things start to change with about 3000 miles on the bike, it's getting smoother, most noticable are the side panels are calming down. That's the good news. A few problems come to light.
The forks:
There is a noticable "clunk" in the forks and since there is no nearby dealer I called MuZ directly. They send me out a complete new set, no questions asked, which I install myself. Things up front will be OK - for awhile.
The rear brake:
At about 55 mph I notice the engine bogging, I thought I was running out of gas but flipping the petcock on reserve did not help. I had to pull over as the engine would not hold speed. Upon examination, the rear brake had locked up! I could see no reason why, and no I don't "ride" the rear brake pedal. The caliper and rotor were HOT. The only way to unlock the brake was to loosen the banjo bolt on the caliper to relieve the pressure. I rode home, slowly. I was starting to wonder about my MuZ purchase. Another call to MuZ resulted in a new rotor (got so hot it warped) and new brake pads. I bleed the rear brake thoroughly and installed the new parts.
Lets do this again?
At about 5000 miles I repeat the above process. The clunk in the forks returned and the rear brake locked up again. New forks and this time a new rear master cylinder, and again, no problems or questions from MuZ, they apparently honor their 2 year unlimited milage warrenty. The bike is smoother yet.