Converting from soft to hardtail?

[Hiflyer]

Hello.

I'm looking into doing a few basic modifications to my bike but also considering converting to hardtail. Just wondering if anyone has any opinions (preferably first hand) about the change in ride quality and cost?

Bike in question is a 96 Yamaha XV 535.

Thanks in advance!

[FJRider]

With the high standard of New Zealand roads ... you'll never notice the change ... <_<

[Hiflyer]

With the high standard of New Zealand roads ... you'll never notice the change ... <_<

exactly my fear! It's marginal at best around the city.

Coro loop on the weekend was fine though. Guess I could put that down to slightly higher speeds over the bumps... :msn-wink:

[FJRider]

Just remember .... suspension affects bike handling ... more than rider comfort.

[Robert Taylor]

Hello.

I'm looking into doing a few basic modifications to my bike but also considering converting to hardtail. Just wondering if anyone has any opinions (preferably first hand) about the change in ride quality and cost?

Bike in question is a 96 Yamaha XV 535.

Thanks in advance!

If you look at the Harrley application of this it is for all intents and purposes an engineering nonsense.

[Motu]

What people leave out with a rigid frame is the sprung saddle. They are very riderable with a sprung seat. Unfortunately I've thrown a few Lycett saddles out in the hard refuse, one of the reasons they are worth so much now.

[AllanB]

Plenty of US websites selling sprung seats if you go down that path. In this day and age the hard-tail is for the look - want the look then you accept the related negatives.

[SMOKEU]

Why would you take an already ill handling bike and turn it into a dangerous pile of shit just for lulz? The suspension is there for a reason. Keep it.

[MIXONE]

You might as well just slot the motor into a pushbike frame.:no:

[F5 Dave]

First try filling the forks to the top. That'll learn ya.

[admenk]

I rode a hardtail FJ1100 in the UK for the best part of ten years with no major problems (I appreciate that many NZ roads aren't as good quality). Sure, if you want to it to handle like a sportsbike, you'll be disappointed, but with a bit of common sense you'll be fine. We toured in France with friends on standard bikes, and it was often them that wanted a break first. As with any bike, you need to know its limits and ride accordingly. I think it helped that my chop used all the original running gear and was the same length as the original bike.

I started off with a sprung seat but found I kept "rolling" off the back when I accelerated. I found a standard stepped king/queen seat to be far more comfortable as you could sit back into it and it gave far more lower back support with higher handlebars.

I suspect that a lot of the "experts" have never really ridden one! Will be interested in how you get on. As always, be safe and enjoy your bike however you want to.

[Robert Taylor]

I rode a hardtail FJ1100 in the UK for the best part of ten years with no major problems (I appreciate that many NZ roads aren't as good quality). Sure, if you want to it to handle like a sportsbike, you'll be disappointed, but with a bit of common sense you'll be fine. We toured in France with friends on standard bikes, and it was often them that wanted a break first. As with any bike, you need to know its limits and ride accordingly. I think it helped that my chop used all the original running gear and was the same length as the original bike.

I started off with a sprung seat but found I kept "rolling" off the back when I accelerated. I found a standard stepped king/queen seat to be far more comfortable as you could sit back into it and it gave far more lower back support with higher handlebars.

I suspect that a lot of the "experts" have never really ridden one! Will be interested in how you get on. As always, be safe and enjoy your bike however you want to.

So to get some modicum of barely credible comfort you fudge it all by fitting a very ''compliant'' seat. Whilst the remaining reality is that the ultimate amount of mechanical tyre grip available is severely compromised by the rigid suspension. It would have to be ridden very carefully and slowly, even then that doesnt preclude the possibility of hitting an ''unexpected'' pothole and being spat down the road. All for the sake of ''looks''. Its early 20th century stuff to have no bump absorbing suspension and whether you are expert or inexpert it doesnt make any sense at all.

Leave it to the bikes of that period that dont have the speed capability of a more modern bike that you intend to bastardise.

[admenk]

I can only speak from my own experience and I have to say I can't recall a hair raising moment due to the fact I was riding a hardtail. Maybe I was just lucky, maybe I rode with a little bit of common sense.

[Drew]

Robert, it's an XV535 for fuck sakes! It wouldn't be as fast as the ancient bikes that were built as a hard tail.

Biggest thing crossing my mind, is careful tyre selection. If it has the same enormous hoop around a 16in rim like the 750, get something that can run at low pressure. 20psi is firm for a hard tail.

[Robert Taylor]

Robert, it's an XV535 for fuck sakes! It wouldn't be as fast as the ancient bikes that were built as a hard tail.

Biggest thing crossing my mind, is careful tyre selection. If it has the same enormous hoop around a 16in rim like the 750, get something that can run at low pressure. 20psi is firm for a hard tail.

Its still stupid. Why would you make something handle a lot worse andf take away a whole load of mechanical grip? And the point I am trying to make is that you are significantly lowering the ''threshold'' of how easy it is to crash that bike.

[Drew]

Its still stupid. Why would you make something handle a lot worse andf take away a whole load of mechanical grip? And the point I am trying to make is that you are significantly lowering the ''threshold'' of how easy it is to crash that bike.
So long as it gets ridden accordingly, what's the problem?

Chap's hardly trying to turn it into a performance bike. Just something different to reflect himself when people see it.

[admenk]

Its still stupid. Why would you make something handle a lot worse andf take away a whole load of mechanical grip? And the point I am trying to make is that you are significantly lowering the ''threshold'' of how easy it is to crash that bike.

I take your point Robert, but I guess the whole bike riding thing is all about personal choices and preferences. Most of us ride bikes for enjoyment, and we all get that in different ways. For some it's performance, others it's practicality, safety, economy, style, speed and so on and so on. Which one is most important to us, helps to determine what kind of bike we ride.

For me personally, I have more fun on my chop than any other bike I've owned or own at the moment. Of course it has it's drawbacks, but then I know that and try to ride accordingly.

If we all thought the same and rode the same bikes, we'd have nothing to argue about!

[Robert Taylor]

I take your point Robert, but I guess the whole bike riding thing is all about personal choices and preferences. Most of us ride bikes for enjoyment, and we all get that in different ways. For some it's performance, others it's practicality, safety, economy, style, speed and so on and so on. Which one is most important to us, helps to determine what kind of bike we ride.

For me personally, I have more fun on my chop than any other bike I've owned or own at the moment. Of course it has it's drawbacks, but then I know that and try to ride accordingly.

If we all thought the same and rode the same bikes, we'd have nothing to argue about!

Yes I hear you about freedom of choice etc. But I think at normal road speeds to keep pace with normal traffic a rear end that has no means of positively reacting to and compensating for road irregularities is actually dangerous. There would be people that would ride such machines at elevated speeds, a danger to themselves and to other road users

[Drew]

Yes I hear you about freedom of choice etc. But I think at normal road speeds to keep pace with normal traffic a rear end that has no means of positively reacting to and compensating for road irregularities is actually dangerous. There would be people that would ride such machines at elevated speeds, a danger to themselves and to other road usersThere are people who ride inappropriate machines at elevated speeds everywhere. Customised or no. Your argument is flawed to my mind, because there are many vehicles out there currently that cannot keep up with traffic flows anyway.

So this bike needs to use suggested speed signs at turns religiously, (hypothetically of course), and the rider needs to learn to read a road surface. Fuck, it'd be a wonderful thing if every rider had to do that for a while before getting on a thou and trying to carve up.

[buggerit]

So its illegal for a boy racer to drive round on his bump stops, but this is ok?

[Drew]

So its illegal for a boy racer to drive round on his bump stops, but this is ok?

No it isn't. The car just needs to be certified, same as the bike.

Christ, when did everyone turn into grumpy old men?

Hard tail it, and ride it like ya fucken stole it!

[Robert Taylor]

There are people who ride inappropriate machines at elevated speeds everywhere. Customised or no. Your argument is flawed to my mind, because there are many vehicles out there currently that cannot keep up with traffic flows anyway.

So this bike needs to use suggested speed signs at turns religiously, (hypothetically of course), and the rider needs to learn to read a road surface. Fuck, it'd be a wonderful thing if every rider had to do that for a while before getting on a thou and trying to carve up.

Yes its a whole issue that needs to be tidied up, including as has been correctly pointed out boy racers and bump stops. So much stuff that shouldn't be on the road

[admenk]

So much stuff that shouldn't be on the road

I know it's far from perfect, and is only a minimum standard, but isn't the WOF meant to look at the physical safety and suitability of the bike to be on the road. The way it's ridden is all then down to the rider, and even the world's safest bike in the hands of an idiot is still going to come to grief.

[Robert Taylor]

I know it's far from perfect, and is only a minimum standard, but isn't the WOF meant to look at the physical safety and suitability of the bike to be on the road. The way it's ridden is all then down to the rider, and even the world's safest bike in the hands of an idiot is still going to come to grief.

Idiots are being made faster than improvements in technology! Plus common sense is only common to those that have it.

[admenk]

Plus common sense is only common to those that have it.

Ah, that's where I've been going wrong all these years!

[AllanB]

Get into it mate - for tooling around the city it will be cool. You'll find you run a lower tyre pressure in the rear to compensate for the lack of suspension. Mind you 80's Italian bikes sported suspension at the rear but it was effectively rigid and Jappers of the same era had mush shocks.

We survived (OK most survived) - it was quite a thing dragging your stand and bouncing your mufflers off the road mid corner.

[ellipsis]

...couldn't be much harder than my Sportster...

[F5 Dave]

Or for a change you could consider riding a real motorcycle and discover what the rest of us are on about rather than a posing platform. Went for a great ride today out the boondocks. Bumpy in sections but discover this great country we live in.


And and the pies at the corner store in greytown.:drool: