Brammo Owners Forum
General => Welcome Forum => Topic started by: roma258 on November 11, 2014, 04:58:17 PM
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Hey folks, might be jumping the gun a little since the bike is not yet in my possession, but it's all but official. I pulled the trigger on one of the Brammo Empulse R press bikes being sold on ebay by Automania out in Oregon. This Silver jawn in particular: http://www.ebay.com/itm/281490638821 (http://www.ebay.com/itm/281490638821)
I actually went back and forth between the yellow and silver, and in the end the stealth bomber aesthetic won out.
I've been riding bikes for about 10 years now, started riding track about 5 years ago. I race minis with our local MiniGP club based in NJMP and did my first big track race on my track SV when AHRMA came through in July. I binned it on the last lap unfortunately ??? My current street bike is a 2001 Yamaha FZ1 which is a terrific all-arounder, and I'm gonna try to finagle a way to keep it.
I've been following electric bikes ever since they came on the scene. Generally speaking, I'm not much of an early adopter, but something has always resonated about the idea. I remember being blown away by the initial sketches of the Empulse and eagerly waiting for the reviews to start pouring in. It took a while, but once they finally hit the market, I was in love. Wes Siler's review for the long lamented Hell for Leather website really sealed it for me. Unfortunately at $19k it's been completely out of my price range. When the Brammo fall promo came around, I called up our local dealer (Eurosports) and they had a 13 Empulse R demo in stock. I took a test ride, loved it....but still just couldn't pull the trigger. Finally seeing the press bikes come up, that was it, I could almost justify it to my wife :) Anyway, I'm seriously excited, this winter is going to be agonizing, but I can't wait to start zipping around all over the place and freaking people out with tie fighter stealthiness.
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Congrats and welcome to the forum. I miss Hell for Leather, too. One good thing about an electric bike is that you don't have to winterize it, so you can take it out for a ride anytime the weather breaks.
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Where ya from?
Throw your info on the map at www.evfr.net
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Where ya from?
Throw your info on the map at www.evfr.net (http://www.evfr.net)
The thread title is a bit of a giveaway. Will do, though once I have the bike in the garage. Still a bunch of logistics to work out and I've never shipped a bike cross country, so don't wanna jinx it.
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Welcome to the club! Do you post on FZ1OA? I used to ride with those guys a lot when I was in Indiana. Ironically, none of them had FZ1s by the time I left.
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Sorry. Reading this on tapatalk and it's small text. Welcome! Good luck!
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Welcome to the club! Do you post on FZ1OA? I used to ride with those guys a lot when I was in Indiana. Ironically, none of them had FZ1s by the time I left.
I posted there a little bit when I was learning about the bike, but I have a group of guys in Philly that I usually ride with.
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Welcome to the asylum.
And don't let not having the bike keep you from posting... NONE of us had bikes for a LONG time in the beginning and we slung opinions around like they were free t-shirts at a rock concert!
Wow, looks like you got the best price ever on the Empulse! Congrats and we need photos of it in your garage, or it isn't real. Preferably with your BrammoGrin (tm) attached.
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Welcome to the asylum.
And don't let not having the bike keep you from posting... NONE of us had bikes for a LONG time in the beginning and we slung opinions around like they were free t-shirts at a rock concert!
Wow, looks like you got the best price ever on the Empulse! Congrats and we need photos of it in your garage, or it isn't real. Preferably with your BrammoGrin (tm) attached.
Heh, fwiw the price in the link is NOT what I paid. Though that would've been awesome. Pics gonna take a while, need to get it shipped over here from Oregon, but will def post once in possession.
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Congrats on getting the bike!!
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Congrats on the bike!
I'm up in northern NJ and ride a Zero, maybe we can meet up sometime.
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Congrats on the bike!
I'm up in northern NJ and ride a Zero, maybe we can meet up sometime.
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Sounds good. Hopefully there's a charging station somewhere at the midway point :)
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Welcome to the Brammo family, Roma258. I am also in Northern New Jersey -near the Delaware Water Gap. Great area for riding.
Good luck with your new Empulse. I look forward to seeing pics after it arrives on the East Coast.
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There are plenty of chargers between us, you can find them on Plugshare.com. I took a 6,000 mile trip last summer on my Zero and went across the country on it the summer before. Getting too Philly will be a snap.
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There are plenty of chargers between us, you can find them on Plugshare.com. I took a 6,000 mile trip last summer on my Zero and went across the country on it the summer before. Getting too Philly will be a snap.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Ha, you're going to have to teach me some tricks of the trade. Definitely should get together for a ride next season.
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Well, the charger's here! Bike's still a few weeks away.
(https://fbcdn-sphotos-h-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xfp1/v/t1.0-9/998142_10152939826573919_9204016002982871156_n.jpg?oh=9f757cf0a084e9ce0be613a8886c20a5&oe=554556CB&__gda__=1430638914_9dd69c67b1d413a170f1399433b13f8b)
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I hate waiting; even my microwave takes too long to heat coffee!
Post more pix when she arrives!
And thanks for joining me in combat on the recent Livewire comment page. Those sure were a couple of persistent quasi-intellectual trolls!
Pouring rain (finally!) in San Francisco. Empulse still works, even if a troll called me stupid AND stubborn for riding in it. ::)
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I hate waiting; even my microwave takes too long to heat coffee!
Post more pix when she arrives!
And thanks for joining me in combat on the recent Livewire comment page. Those sure were a couple of persistent quasi-intellectual trolls!
Pouring rain (finally!) in San Francisco. Empulse still works, even if a troll called me stupid AND stubborn for riding in it. ::)
Ha, guess I'm officially enlisted in the emoto couch army. As far as waiting for the bike, it's not so bad since I pretty much stop riding street once it hits below 40. Broke my hand during prime riding season in October...now that suuuucked!
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Bike's here!! Not sure if this qualifies as Brammo grin, or "sleep deprived, battling a cold, but still super stoked" grin, but there it is.
(http://i.imgur.com/yg18khu.jpg?2)
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That's a beauty. Congratulations!
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Quick story, my riding buddy who I've known for years is not a guy who holds back on his opinions, but he knows his stuff. Yesterday was the first time he got a chance to take the Brammo for a quick spin. He came back grinning ear to ear, had no idea it'd be that quick. "This completely changes my opinion of electric bikes"and "This thing has some big boy stuff on it." Ofcourse than he goes on to say "WTF is the point of the clutch?" and "Shame about the range". But it's cool to see someone you know well "get it".
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Yes, the BrammoGrin is contagious!
Clutch? Helps in down shifting.
Range? Not a problem if you use the bike to meet your needs and your needs are within its range. After 23K miles, I've actually run out of charge about the same as I ran out gas on my BMW: once. And even then, I made it home after waiting a bit. Can't do that with gas!
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Yes, the BrammoGrin is contagious!
Clutch? Helps in down shifting.
Heh that was pretty much my explanation. Looking forward to our local Tuesday hang where everyone is gonna lose their shit ;D
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Clutch? Helps in down shifting.
And any rare times that you want to just coast.
This is my one issue with the "has a transmission so it will be familiar to ICE riders" marketing bullet point. Yes, it's possible to ride it and shift it just like an ICE, but it will be quirky, spin to redline a lot, and act all sorts of crunchy. It does tie in to that muscle memory quite a bit, but you need to know a few differences to really be happy with it:
- Don't use clutch at stop or to launch. It's unnecessary and detrimental.
- Don't use clutch to upshift unless/until you learn to power shift it, then never again.
- You can learn to not use it on downshifts, but it's not much of an issue either way.
- Don't upshift prematurely, target 5000RPM. Higher RPMs are often more efficient with more torque.
- Roll back 1-2 inches at a stop to eliminate drivetrain clunk completely.
- (Early on I sometimes used the clutch when parking or maneuvering in garage to prevent accidental throttle input. I dropped the bike once by not realizing I was twisting the throttle while parking until I got more used to the live throttle.)
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Clutch? Helps in down shifting.
And any rare times that you want to just coast.
This is my one issue with the "has a transmission so it will be familiar to ICE riders" marketing bullet point. Yes, it's possible to ride it and shift it just like an ICE, but it will be quirky, spin to redline a lot, and act all sorts of crunchy. It does tie in to that muscle memory quite a bit, but you need to know a few differences to really be happy with it:
- Don't use clutch at stop or to launch. It's unnecessary and detrimental.
- Don't use clutch to upshift unless/until you learn to power shift it, then never again.
- You can learn to not use it on downshifts, but it's not much of an issue either way.
- Don't upshift prematurely, target 5000RPM. Higher RPMs are often more efficient with more torque.
- Roll back 1-2 inches at a stop to eliminate drivetrain clunk completely.
- (Early on I sometimes used the clutch when parking or maneuvering in garage to prevent accidental throttle input. I dropped the bike once by not realizing I was twisting the throttle while parking until I got more used to the live throttle.)
The test ride was weird, and I kept clutching at stops and when starting again. But it's a really quick adjustment. I seriously love not having to use the clutch at stops, especially living in the city. The highway ride was interesting. There really didn't seem much of a difference between 4th and 6th. In fact I actually preferred 4th. But I'm still squarely in my experimental phase with the bike.
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- Don't upshift prematurely, target 5000RPM. Higher RPMs are often more efficient with more torque.
The test ride was weird, and I kept clutching at stops and when starting again. But it's a really quick adjustment. I seriously love not having to use the clutch at stops, especially living in the city. The highway ride was interesting. There really didn't seem much of a difference between 4th and 6th. In fact I actually preferred 4th. But I'm still squarely in my experimental phase with the bike.
I would refer you back to the rule I left quoted above. The table of best RPM for efficiency and power are in the Wiki at this link:
http://www.brammoforum.com/wiki/index.php?title=Empulse_Motor_Efficiency (http://www.brammoforum.com/wiki/index.php?title=Empulse_Motor_Efficiency)
If you have a non-R then you can aim higher than 5k for more power and settle back on a gear where you are closest to 5k for efficiency. But if you have an R, then it is 5k for everything.
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In general, a quick read-through of the Operation section of the Wiki gets you a bunch of tips fairly quickly:
http://www.brammoforum.com/wiki/index.php?title=Operation (http://www.brammoforum.com/wiki/index.php?title=Operation)
(The "roll back a little at a stop" tip is wonderful for eliminating the clunk accelerating from a stop, for instance...)
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In general, a quick read-through of the Operation section of the Wiki gets you a bunch of tips fairly quickly:
http://www.brammoforum.com/wiki/index.php?title=Operation (http://www.brammoforum.com/wiki/index.php?title=Operation)
(The "roll back a little at a stop" tip is wonderful for eliminating the clunk accelerating from a stop, for instance...)
Good stuff, thanks for posting. So quick update, took the Brammo to our local Two Wheel Tuesday hang, everyone freaked out. Not used to my bike getting this kind of attention. I'm sure this is nothing new to most of the poster's here. Another buddy took it out and came back with a huge grin, couldn't stop talking about how awesome it is. I'm sure this will get old hat at some point :)