Gen 4 test ride feedback?

[Marc A]

Interesting to see how most peoples comments are similar....just booked my test ride with Cotswold for Thursday 10am. They have an M Sport which I can have for a couple of hours.....will post findings after.

 

[r25sti]

well i had a quick test ride today. bumpy A roads and a bit of dual carriage way. did about 60 miles. all i can say is i am sorry for the people who have bought one of these or have one on order.lol. im hoping things change for the second test ride. now bear in mind the M Sport i rode had 3500 miles on it and still on original tyres.

good points (this will be short.lol)
Gear box is seamless.
looks nice from the front end.
clock/screen was easy to read.
and thats about it.


Bad points.
from the start to the finish in any gear at any RPM the vibrations were horrendous. 10 times worse than my 17rr, the dealer recons its the warn tyres but imo its not.
Mirrors vibrate so much i was unable to make out what make of car was behind me, again this didnt change at any point through the rev range.
l/h grip and switch gear loose and i mean 3mm or play.
The seat is awful, its 1/2 higher than the one on my rr and is rock hard. my balls were hurting within 10 miles. i know this can be swapped for a standerd seat as it was the M sport one. the seat angle was also weird it altered from front to rear of the seat like there was a slight hump in the middle.
And now the main thing for me was the suspension, boody awful. i only had rain,road,sport and race i think. whichever was selected the bike just wallowed about. i only got over to about 45 degrees and had to lift the bike as it wallowed so much. yes it could be the tyres and most likely is but that combined with the horid vibrations the who test ride wasnt nice. within 10 miles i was thinking i wonder what the rsv4 is like.lol.

the dealer is going to call when the new tyres are on and there address the wobbly grip but i dont think any of this will address the vibrations. They were so bad i lost concentration when pushing on which wasn't a good idea as it did go well.

lastly my missis was following me on her zx10r and is used to following my on my RR and the first thing she commented on was how crap the bike looks from behind. like a cheap 125 from china was her comment.


I was there with my payment to order one which they said wont arrive until april but i kept it firmly in my pocket until i have another go.

 

[r25sti]

oh and the clutch juddered and the brakes were poor compared to my RR, they have a woolly initial bite that may be sorted with different pads.

 

[soofsayer]

@r25sti - sorry to read that. My only comment would be that not one of the bad points you have raised happens on the bike I have. Not one. No significant vibes, mirrors are fine, suspension can be soft all the way to hard, brakes are brilliant, clutch is the same as my HP4 was (nothing wrong with it). Seat is hard but theres no hump in the middle and my enormous balls are perfectly comfortable, infact I am finding the seat is better than the usual mushy seats now I am used to it (it was a bit of a surprise how hard it was at first).

With 3500 miles on I hope my bike doesn’t turn into what youve ridden.

Possibly agree the rear view being ugly because the plate holder sticks out a yard lol.

 

[RammyRR]

@r25sti - sorry to read that. My only comment would be that not one of the bad points you have raised happens on the bike I have. Not one. No significant vibes, mirrors are fine, suspension can be soft all the way to hard, brakes are brilliant, clutch is the same as my HP4 was (nothing wrong with it). Seat is hard but theres no hump in the middle and my enormous balls are perfectly comfortable, infact I am finding the seat is better than the usual mushy seats now I am used to it (it was a bit of a surprise how hard it was at first).

With 3500 miles on I hope my bike doesn’t turn into what youve ridden.

Possibly agree the rear view being ugly because the plate holder sticks out a yard lol.

Absolutely agree this matches my M experience to date - happy to state I’m not familiar with any the negative elements reported above by r25sti, which is definitely a good thing since I can’t readily give the bike back to the dealer like he did!

 

[r25sti]

i was gutted and to be honest, i think there was things wrong with this bike that needed sorting in the workshop. like i said i hope new tyres make the handling as its meant to be but this bike vibrated with a buzzy vibration all over the place. i almost want to try a different bike as i really want it to work for me. ive just read through this thread and the post that people were having ago at for me was all most spot on. . The lad in the shop there said he didnt experience any of these issues on this bike and he reckoned he had done most of the mileage. he was telling me how well it handled and was the best handling bike hes ridden. This bike with the oe tyres has 15mm chicken strips when i first arrived. I will try to get a video of the vibrations next time i go out on it.

 

[noxx]

Same as soofsayer. None of what you described applies to my M Sport.

 

[r25sti]

how are people finding the brakes. i found you had to pull like bugger and it would slow slightly then with a lot more pressure it braked how i thought it should have with the initial pull. nearly overrun onto a roundabout at the end of a bypass.
also what mileages have people got upto now as the demo i had has 3500 miles are these issues ones that are coming to all.

 

[Carsonr6]

I did 200 miles on mines yesterday. The previously present buzzing seems to have gone. Maybe because I was having so much fun knicking on a bit and didn’t notice it. Dropped the tyre pressures to 34psi and seen a huge difference.
Only a couple of times I noticed it difficult to get into neutral.
Can honestly say I’m loving the new bike


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[noxx]

how are people finding the brakes. i found you had to pull like bugger and it would slow slightly then with a lot more pressure it braked how i thought it should have with the initial pull. nearly overrun onto a roundabout at the end of a bypass.
also what mileages have people got upto now as the demo i had has 3500 miles are these issues ones that are coming to all.

The Gen4 brakes are more progressive than the Brembos alright, but they do work exceptionally well. You almost overshooting the roundabout .. well without wanting to step on your toes.. but you should have made yourself familiar with the bike and how it behaves before twisting the throttle.. it's not really the bikes fault.

8000 miles on my first Gen4
1500 on my second Gen4

 

[RammyRR]

My experience with Gen 2 and 3 was savage braking at all times, which was something I grew to really like.

Gen 4’s very much different - almost feels like the response changes depending upon what I’m doing (pace etc), but no less powerful or effective. I absolutely love the new brake set up. One finger only for me.

 

[r25sti]

The Gen4 brakes are more progressive than the Brembos alright, but they do work exceptionally well. You almost overshooting the roundabout .. well without wanting to step on your toes.. but you should have made yourself familiar with the bike and how it behaves before twisting the throttle.. it's not really the bikes fault.

8000 miles on my first Gen4
1500 on my second Gen4

i was so waiting for this response.lol. at no point have i said it was the first time i had to use the brakes. i had done a lot of braking from around 70 to 90 mph but on this occasion i broke from over 100 mph and was expecting the same, But no the brakes felt much more woolly and had no initial bite. then after going for a second harder add to the amount i was braking then i did get some bite. all most like being on track with cold brakes into the first hairpin. it is usable but will take a little to get used to as i like very hard rear wheel lifting brakes.

 

[soofsayer]

I like the brake setup on the new bike. When I was out last weekend I was questioning the benefit of upgrading the mc on this bike. Its firm and progressive. 3500 miles could mean the pads were toast?

Tbh slightly bewildered as to how its done so many miles on the original tyres and its still legal. I have never had a sportsbike tyre last more than around 1800 miles, and they were sports touring. As its a demonstrator you would expect heavy use so much less than that? Perhaps if the bike was setup completely wrong and not regularly checked, then it could handle like a pig and not get used spiritedly, low tyre wear?

I am at around 400 miles and my tyres will be done by 1k.

 

[r25sti]

tbh i did question if it was the first tyres and was assured it was the original ones. the front was on the wear blocks but the rear still had a few miles in it. the front had a fairly rounded shape and the rear slightly but very slightly squared off. it was funny how the sales guy was saying how well it handled and he had done most the mileage but it still had 15mm chicken strips. my tyres generally last 2000 miles if im lucky.
i also did wonder if the front pads were contaminated but the post by RammyRR above was pretty much what i experienced. they were different in different situations. im hoping to get out on it with new tyres next week. i might give them a call tomorrow to see if they will chuck some new pads on it too.

 

[Marc A]

So...I had my test ride at Cotswold BMW yesterday...have to say a real friendly bunch there....
They have an M Sport on demo with dark screen. Was allowed it for 2 hours test ride and I was advised that the tyres were legal but had covered 3500 miles. I was also reinvited back for a test ride once new tyres wgere put on if I wanted to re assess.
I'll start with the negatives....
I wasn't aware that part of the M Package included a complimentary butt plug. For the first hour I thought I was fine. Second hour I was starting to notice just how hard the seat was.
Bodywork - Every demo I have seen the shark fins on right hand side have been broken...I highlighted this to the dealer and they werent even aware but I'm assuming that this is down to the heat from the engine that makes it brittle
Finally left hand grip/switch gear - Whilst clutch lever was secure the grip was able to be moved back and forth with and 1-2cm worth of play.

Pros
Its bloody rapid. I'll be honest I came off a bike 12 years ago...quite badly, breaking neck and spine. I'm no rossi but I only took it to 10 may 11k revs....and for me thats plenty of power.
Ride handling was amazing. Able to change directions very easily and I found it more comfortable than the gen 3. My only gripe is build quality on the above items.

We managed to get to Hereford and back and find some twisties. Nice steady pace.
Decision now is sport or M sport.....and I have to say sport with performance pack and I'm not that far off M Sport money. Deposit being placed next week...with april delivery I'm being told.

 

[r25sti]

So...I had my test ride at Cotswold BMW yesterday...have to say a real friendly bunch there....
They have an M Sport on demo with dark screen. Was allowed it for 2 hours test ride and I was advised that the tyres were legal but had covered 3500 miles. I was also reinvited back for a test ride once new tyres wgere put on if I wanted to re assess.
I'll start with the negatives....
I wasn't aware that part of the M Package included a complimentary butt plug. For the first hour I thought I was fine. Second hour I was starting to notice just how hard the seat was.
Bodywork - Every demo I have seen the shark fins on right hand side have been broken...I highlighted this to the dealer and they werent even aware but I'm assuming that this is down to the heat from the engine that makes it brittle
Finally left hand grip/switch gear - Whilst clutch lever was secure the grip was able to be moved back and forth with and 1-2cm worth of play.

Pros
Its bloody rapid. I'll be honest I came off a bike 12 years ago...quite badly, breaking neck and spine. I'm no rossi but I only took it to 10 may 11k revs....and for me thats plenty of power.
Ride handling was amazing. Able to change directions very easily and I found it more comfortable than the gen 3. My only gripe is build quality on the above items.

We managed to get to Hereford and back and find some twisties. Nice steady pace.
Decision now is sport or M sport.....and I have to say sport with performance pack and I'm not that far off M Sport money. Deposit being placed next week...with april delivery I'm being told.

this is interesting as its the same bike i rode. just out of interest did you not notice the buzzy vibration through the bars and the vibrating mirrors. also what lean angle did you get?

 

[Marc A]

Hey R25...I went to Bahnstormers Maidenhead and started their demo and thought it sounded rough as hell....vibrations through the handlebars and mirrors. Didnt need to ride it...
However Cotswold I checked the mirrors and had no vibes at all....just the left grip loose. I forgot to add that I only found neutral once.....and that was on a roundabout from 1st to 2nd.....and i didn't bloody need it right at that time.
Lean angle I got to 33...wasnt feeling the tyres if i'm being honest. a little squared for my liking

 

[kipperfish]

I rode a sport at vines and I could feel the vibrations through the tank, and the mirrors were made useless.... hopefully it's just a few "bad" bikes, glad to hear a lot of people on here without issues

 

[r25sti]

Hey R25...I went to Bahnstormers Maidenhead and started their demo and thought it sounded rough as hell....vibrations through the handlebars and mirrors. Didnt need to ride it...
However Cotswold I checked the mirrors and had no vibes at all....just the left grip loose. I forgot to add that I only found neutral once.....and that was on a roundabout from 1st to 2nd.....and i didn't bloody need it right at that time.
Lean angle I got to 33...wasnt feeling the tyres if i'm being honest. a little squared for my liking

i didnt have any issues with the neutral.lol. tyres were defo a problem. at 44 degrees the front wallowed and tried to tuck so had to pick it back up. how bloody stupid letting it out on a demo like that in the first place. i was going to order one but couldnt based on how that bie rode. i will try again later this week hopefully with new tyres.

 

[r25sti]

I rode a sport at vines and I could feel the vibrations through the tank, and the mirrors were made useless.... hopefully it's just a few "bad" bikes, glad to hear a lot of people on here without issues

the problem for me is why do some people feel the vibs and some dont. i would love ago on someones bike that have all ready bought it and says theres no vibs at all.