VOG Forum banner

Time to say hi

2K views 11 replies 7 participants last post by  VvJoel 
#1 ·
I took the leap. Got a 2012 hammer and I love it. Only a short ride so far, need to get a ride to pick it up.

Research time. Got a few changes I want to make. Just minor cosmetic like turn signals. For sure a different feel than my ZRX1100, but I am thinking I'll enjoy it a lot. It has (I think) stage one pipes and a wiseco fuel management controller. Going to need to learn that.
 
#3 ·
Where are you located and where do you need a ride too. Oh and Congrats on the Hammer.
 
#4 ·
Thanks guys. MN here. Getting it in time for prime riding season.

The ride for pickup was really secondary. Banks not open today for cash so I didn't bring anyone with. Easy half hour drive. Been two years since I have ridden due to damn carbs on my other bike and time...so I am a bit nervous to hit the freeway right away. I think I will meander on the way home a bit and hit the freeway after 15-20 miles. Learning where my feet go was a bit of a challenge on the test ride. Bit different on handling obviously, but I liked it so far. Seems like I made a choice I will be very happy with.
 
#5 ·
Welcome and congrats on the new scooter !!
Peter
 
#6 ·
Picked it up yesterday. Love it! Took a long way home so I got two hours on it right away. Impressions and questions: (skip to the bottom for the question if you just want to help me there!)

Far windier than I like to ride in. The batwing was nice for that. Having a heavier bike was awesome compared to what I am used to. It really wasn't bad.

Power is smooth, plenty acceptable. I hit neutral twice by accident at low speeds (coming to light) which is probably more from not riding a couple years than the bikes fault. I upshifted to third on a turn, that was from not being used to where my feet are. Coming from sport bikes the adjustment was still easier than I expected.

Had to do one "spirited" stop thanks to traffic coming to an unexplained halt. Had been practicing using both brakes, and it was zero issue. Gave me confidence in both me using both brakes and the bike itself.

Handling...will take some getting used to. Low speed is plenty easy. Sweeping curves were strange. I am used to my bike leaning into a turn at little more than a thought. This took...effort and thought.

It's a bit loud....I am thinking of putting the baffles back in. If that makes it too quiet I assume I can cut the baffles. I will look at that later. For now I will deal with the volume so I can get out on it and not work on it. I got the stock pipes from the seller also, doubt I will go back to them.

Question:
When the hell do I shift? I RTFM and tried to follow that, felt like it was lugging when I shifted there. I couldn't go by sound or RPM since I have never owned a twin. and for constant speed...best RPM range? On that note, the shifting itself was smooth. Downshifting also was smooth.
 
#7 ·
This is what I have found on my Hammer. Torque for gentle cruising begins about 1,300 RPMs; moderate acceleration about 2,000 and real speed about 3,000. Dropping a gear increases the RPM about 500. For interstate cruising I want +2,000 RPMS.

Good luck on your exploration of your new bike.
 
#8 ·
There is much you can do to improve the handling , braking and power delivery ....

The 106 likes to be revved some ..... I generally stay in the 2500 to 4500 range for the majority of my riding .....and once fully warmed ...the bike really sings at the 3 - 4 k range ......

Peter
 
  • Like
Reactions: Chattanooga_Mark
#9 ·
There is much you can do to improve the handling , braking and power delivery ....

The 106 likes to be revved some ..... I generally stay in the 2500 to 4500 range for the majority of my riding .....and once fully warmed ...the bike really sings at the 3 - 4 k range ......

Peter
Both very helpful. Appreciate it guys. I was a bit more in PJRo's RPM range, but it seems there is nothing wrong with a little lower. I will take that ride by ride.

Putting TM baffles into the straight pipes to tone the noise down a little. Course, there is more to removing the end of the pipes than the two screws I expected...but I only had a few minutes to mess with it. Stage one shotgun pipes if anyone wants to feed me the answer, but I am sure it's on here somewhere.
 
#10 ·
First, congratulations on your new ride.
With open baffles you can hear it log under 1800. As stated this is not a strocker engine. If you drop low just crack the throttle a hair to get the rpms up a little before adding more. Around 2300. For the cheapest add on through on a quarter ring. As for handling put on a metzler cruisetec 260 on the back.
Good luck! I love my hammer also. Fun to drive with a bit of challenge makes it a great cruiser.
 
#11 ·
First, congratulations on your new ride.
With open baffles you can hear it log under 1800. As stated this is not a strocker engine. If you drop low just crack the throttle a hair to get the rpms up a little before adding more. Around 2300. For the cheapest add on through on a quarter ring. As for handling put on a metzler cruisetec 260 on the back.
Good luck! I love my hammer also. Fun to drive with a bit of challenge makes it a great cruiser.
Probably not “new” any longer…the post was from 2015 :)
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top