[nitrogary]

Ricci, for a 5 year old bike it looks gorgeous. Buy the power washer - its worth it. Foam wash is really satisfying
I agree with the improvement in fuel economy with 99 octane fuel. I love it and my 12GS loves it too! Fuel economy goes up by 5-8 percent - I get 21-22 kmpl with 99 octane and 19-20 kmpl with regular fuel. It's well worth the detour to that Chatushrungi fuel station where you get 99 octane fuel.

[theredliner]

Originally Posted by Ricci

What I have realized, is that I am quite comfortable with the Daytona in the winters, especially if the ride is short and I am back home by 10 or 11 AM, and during my rides in these past 2-3 months I ask myself why even contemplate replacing the Daytona with anything else (except an upgrade to a liter class supersport - which I have seriously contemplated) ; but those winter days are short lived, and soon the heat is back. And in those hot days, I would curse myself and Ravensoul while sweating buckets in the slow, dense traffic. This is what triggered my analysis.

The winter is almost over, I'm alternating between sell:don't sell .

Hey Ricci, do you feel as tired even with mesh jacket on?
If not, you can opt for perforated leathers (or even a cooling vest). That would be better than selling the bike IMO. Non-perf leathers during Indian summers are unbearable really.

Also (I posted this on another thread too), how about giving tank grips a try? I'm not sure how slippery the Daytona's tank is with leather bottoms, but looking at how smooth the finish is, I'd imagine, quite a bit. They should be able to take some pressure off your wrists, esp. at lower speeds. I use some tank grips on my RC 390 and it made city riding better. Good quality ones like TechSpec/Stompgrip should be even better.

These two might be able to make the bike more enjoyable for you.

[Ricci]

Originally Posted by theredliner

Hey Ricci, do you feel as tired even with mesh jacket on?
If not, you can opt for perforated leathers (or even a cooling vest). That would be better than selling the bike IMO. Non-perf leathers during Indian summers are unbearable really.

Yes, the problem is the heat is most felt at low speed, due to dense traffic, so there's no air flow and even in mesh jacket, it does get very hot. It's not just the jacket and pants, the helmet too gets drenched in sweat and I seem to have a case of high BP in the heat too - I can hear my heart beating frantically and feel the palpitations as soon as I've stopped in my parking and switched off the engine after a ride in the summer sun. All this happens in the last 30-60 minutes of the ride, the highway part is still tolerable but the city crawl is life-force draining. Short of stopping by and resting indoors/in shade in between this last city crawl , there's no respite.

I don't have perforated leathers, but the Triumph jacket and pants have this TFL coating which does a great job actually - I have worn them as late as April in 2016, though usually up to March as in 2017. Since then I bought the mesh jacket for summers, having purchase the mesh jacket in late 2017. My older Cramster K2K got way hotter than the leather jacket, for that matter. The heat exhaustion has been more of an issue in the last two years (despite having skipped much riding in the summer of 2018 due to knee ligament injury that took 6 months to heal). The committed extreme race ergonomics of the Daytona do their bit to extract some more muscle use, I can't say if the engine heat or bike weight is a contributing factor, but less aggressive ergonomics will at least reduce the problem, though not quite eliminate it.

I have the cooling vest as well, though I haven't used it under the leather gear. I works ok for upto two hours, the problem is then I have to find a place to get cool clean water to soak the vest first before the return ride. I've done this for some of the longer (overnight kind of) rides, where I can just dip it in a bucket or under the shower in my hotel room, not really practical to do in restaurant wash basins, eww.

Originally Posted by theredliner

Also (I posted this on another thread too), how about giving tank grips a try? I'm not sure how slippery the Daytona's tank is with leather bottoms, but looking at how smooth the finish is, I'd imagine, quite a bit. They should be able to take some pressure off your wrists, esp. at lower speeds. I use some tank grips on my RC 390 and it made city riding better. Good quality ones like TechSpec/Stompgrip should be even better.

The entire tank is PPF-covered. I tried the squeezing thighs to the tank method many prescribe, and it doesn't work for me - I feel uncomfortable within a minute , right in the inside crotch area (where the ligament is?), the only relaxed position I can manage is with the thighs slightly splayed out. It hasn't yet caused any problems that you might expect (like on hard braking or on bumps), and I'd rather take this naturally relaxed position (much like how people advise to have loose arms rather than tensed ) over the tensed thighs just to have a tight grip on the tank. That's my rationale for not having tank-grips, I just can keep that thighs tight position, trying to keep it that way detracts too much focus away from the actual riding, so I choose the most relaxed stance I can get away with.

[theredliner]

Originally Posted by Ricci

I have the cooling vest as well, though I haven't used it under the leather gear. I works ok for upto two hours, the problem is then I have to find a place to get cool clean water to soak the vest first before the return ride. I've done this for some of the longer (overnight kind of) rides, where I can just dip it in a bucket or under the shower in my hotel room, not really practical to do in restaurant wash basins, eww.

Expensive, but you can try out a dry cooling vest from Macna/Alpinestars which supposedly keeps you cool for longer and can be recharged anywhere with a 500ml bottle of tap water. I have bought a Macna one, but haven't tried it out due to the corona situation.

Recharging essentially works like this (These are the guys who manufacture it for both Macna and A-stars):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ke27S5nGL-0

Originally Posted by Ricci

The entire tank is PPF-covered. I tried the squeezing thighs to the tank method many prescribe, and it doesn't work for me - I feel uncomfortable within a minute , right in the inside crotch area (where the ligament is?), the only relaxed position I can manage is with the thighs slightly splayed out.

From my experience, the tank grips reduce the slipping even without putting much effort on the knees, I too don't like squeezing the tank on my RC 390, the cheap tank grips still reduced the weight on my wrist. Better quality ones like TechSpec might be even grippier. You can chat with BHPian krishnaprasadgg for his experience with TechSpecs on the R1.

[Ricci]

Originally Posted by theredliner

Expensive, but you can try out a dry cooling vest from Macna/Alpinestars which supposedly keeps you cool for longer and can be recharged anywhere with a 500ml bottle of tap water. I have bought a Macna one, but haven't tried it out due to the corona situation.

Recharging essentially works like this (These are the guys who manufacture it for both Macna and A-stars):

Thanks let me watch it and get back.

Originally Posted by theredliner

From my experience, the tank grips reduce the slipping even without putting much effort on the knees, I too don't like squeezing the tank on my RC 390, the cheap tank grips still reduced the weight on my wrist. Better quality ones like TechSpec might be even grippier. You can chat with BHPian krishnaprasadgg for his experience with TechSpecs on the R1.

In my case,my knees are barely in contact with the tank sides. I find the most relaxed position and stay there, occasionally shifting the balance between wrist and butt.

Meanwhile, did some looking up on the Daytona 765, Street Triple 765 , and some of the other bikes I was looking at, and created a RPM-vs-speed table. Tried to finish off at the most reliable rev limit number available.

@theredliner


Watched the video, it looks like the principle is the same (evaporation, phase change absorbing the energy) , the difference being in this, you pour water via a cap, let the internals soak it up and drain the rest. In my vest, you dip it in water, let the internals soak up water, then squeeze it to drain out excess water. In hot Indian summer, that lasts max 2-3 hours, so I'm sceptical of the 1-3 days of cooling ability from this one.

[theredliner]

Originally Posted by Ricci

@theredliner

Watched the video, it looks like the principle is the same (evaporation, phase change absorbing the energy) , the difference being in this, you pour water via a cap, let the internals soak it up and drain the rest.

Sorry for the long delay. I had not noticed this post.

I could ride only twice this summer unfortunately - both times during the evening, that too only once with the vest on. It seems to work decently well, but needs a high airflow jacket like a mesh one or atleast perf leather. Don't think it'd work well with your non-perf leather one. The temps here in KA would increase a bit around October. Let me test it more at that time if the corona pain has eased a bit.

About the gearing pic: I'm surprised to see the 6R having a considerably taller 6th gear comapred to the Daytona. If anything, I'd have expected it to have a shorter ratio due to it having a higher rev-range.

[Ricci]

On a sad note, I have parted ways with Ravensoul. It may surprise some of you, while some of you might have been thinking this was long overdue.
Blame it on the brain-of-curd happening due to the lack of fresh air and prolonged home imprisonment imposed by the government, the combination of circumstances mangled together by the Lockdown, and whatnot.

The new owner is a bhpian, whose handle I can't recall, so there may or may not be further updates on Ravensoul on the forum.


The story behind the name Ravensoul:
The first name that I thought of was, yes, Toothless. Toothless is a fine name for a cartoon dragon. Would you name a real dragon that? If you had a fierce trained Rottweiler, would you name it Fluffy?

The black-grey colours of the Phantom Black Daytona 675 (only 2013-2014 models) , resemble the black-grey of the crow/raven family of birds, corvidae, known for their intelligence, so who better to be inspired from? A name like Raven definitely sounds so much more appropriate than Toothless, even the USAF's electronic warfare bird, the EF-111 is also named Raven, and lastly Ravensoul sounds like it's right out of a video game storyline.

And Ravensoul certainly has left an imprint, taught me few things and left a Daytona shaped hole in my soul. Look carefully at the pictures, and you'll even see my reflection in Ravensoul

Farewell Ravensoul, you will be missed.

So what fills the space left behind - in the parking, at least, if not heart? Well, the space in the parking is filled by - let the picture do the talking?

Originally Posted by theredliner

-SNIP-that too only once with the vest on. It seems to work decently well, but needs a high airflow jacket like a mesh one or atleast perf leather. Don't think it'd work well with your non-perf leather one.
About the gearing pic: I'm surprised to see the 6R having a considerably taller 6th gear comapred to the Daytona. If anything, I'd have expected it to have a shorter ratio due to it having a higher rev-range.

Yes, I've not worn the vest and leathers together, it's the mesh jacket paired with it.

Totally agree on the ZX-6R gearing. It's rather tall and much closer to the ZX-10R , despite the power being much lower. It certainly seems to help fuel efficiency though, and perhaps a good top speed.

[surjaonwheelz]

Originally Posted by Ricci

Farewell Ravensoul, you will be missed.

So what fills the space left behind - in the parking, at least, if not heart? Well, the space in the parking is filled by - let the picture do the talking?

You lived the dream of owning and riding a super-sports-bike!

You'll always regret the things you didn't do more than the ones you did. Do it. You're not getting younger. Between mind and heart, the heart won this round, and the mind could only face-palm itself to oblivion as that signed cheque went to the dealer.

Glad you did it and lived your dream

We will be waiting for the detailed ownership thread of the '765. I'm lucky to ride with both your ex, Ravensoul to TBHP birthday meet (Team-BHP Birthday meet for Motorcyclist BHPians - Feb 16th @ Mapro Garden, Lonavla) and one of our first monsoon rides of this season with your current partner!



Let's ride often (on better tarmac),
/surjaonwheelz

[//M]

Congratulations on your Street Triple RS.

The Daytona will be missed. One click of yours truly with the Ravensoul, clicked way back in 2014.

Originally Posted by Ricci

The new owner is a bhpian, whose handle I can't recall, so there may or may not be further updates on Ravensoul on the forum.

The new owner's Teambhp handle is Cartik5477.

[RohanDheman]

Congratulations on the RS! It's a brilliant bike (and I say that with a lot of bias!!)

OT: is your RS called Betty too? That's what I named mine.

Here is a recent pic after the akrapovic install



Ride Safe!
Rohan

[Ricci]

Originally Posted by RohanDheman

Congratulations on the RS! It's a brilliant bike (and I say that with a lot of bias!!)

Thanks! It is a very nice bike, no doubt about that. The light weight and agile chassis with top spec brakes and high end suspension does put the price into a zone many consider too high, but then is there anything else that matches it on all counts at a lower price? The Kawasakis are heavier and don't get as good cycle parts, the KTM is light and has lean sensitive ABS (wow!) , but as some say, isn't as well made. There isn't a perfect bike made yet.

How is the Akra now? I'm always wary of aftermarket pipes attracting cops, so wasn't planning on using one, but for the RS, I'm thinking of putting on the Arrow slip-on. It was part of the offer anyway, and the Arrow does seem to have the bassier kind of sound like, without being much louder. I probably wouldn't even bother if the Arrow wasn't part of the offer, though. Spending 50+ grand to get 1-2hp more isn't I can justify to myself.

Originally Posted by RohanDheman

OT: is your RS called Betty too? That's what I named mine.

Oh, so you noticed, eh?
I haven't yet decided on the name for the RS yet.
I though of naming it Ravensoul II - just as the USAF likes to reuse some names, as in the F-35 Lightning II, A-7 Corsair II. It even has the RS initials in the name!

That Betty and Veronica thing is to explain my predicament - the Daytona and Street Triple RS are in some aspects very similar, the RS even inherits some higher spec parts like titanium valves and nikasil coating that the older Street Triple didn't - but yet, they're different enough to make the use case that both can coexist in the same garage! The Daytona is the sultry, sexy one but also very demanding - just like Veronica, while the RS is easy going and comforting, like Betty. Now enter Archie mode and answer, wouldn't you like to keep both?

[balenopower]

That's a smart decision. The RS comes with a lot of yummy bits that should help make your transition from a supersports to a naked easier. I made a similar decision moving from the RC390 to a 790 Duke and i think its the best one i ever made.

[RohanDheman]

Originally Posted by Ricci

How is the Akra now?

Its been good so far. No issues with fueling etc or throttle response. Can feel the 4-5bhp gain and she is pulling cleaner around the 4-6000 rpm mark. I have kept the baffle in else its just too loud for my liking.

Have not faced too many issue with cops yet despite having been stopped once for checking papers- they saw the akra but did not say anything. A friend who has a two brothers full system on his gixxer 1000 was fined a couple of weeks back. So i am open to about switching back to the stock exhaust if the need arises. Takes 15-20 minutes at most in any case.

Originally Posted by Ricci

Now enter Archie mode and answer, wouldn't you like to keep both?

Oh i would love to have it all. Bring in Josie and the Pussy Cats too i say! (you know we bikers want it all! )

Initially i was really keen to get a proper faired super-sport instead of a naked. But i have some back issues that prevent me from riding for longer duration in that demanding riding position. Hence got myself the best naked super-sport i could get. Since i wanted the bike to be with for at least 6-7 years, i wanted the absolute best and back in December 2017- this was the only option.

Ride safe!
Rohan