Glee? So many questions

[Firestorm]

I have a few questions for the Glee owners on the Forum as I'm thinking of returning to the Fold and swapping my BM for a Glee, subject to Mrs Firestorm liking the pillion perch and me finding it more comfortable than the Vee  we owned.

How do people find the comfort ?- yes I'm going to test ride one but I'm interested in how it compares to the old one and peoples opinions. Its hard to get a demo bike for a 200 mile trip.

What is two up performance like? Particularly motorway/Autoroute speeds. We weigh a combined 24 stone plus luggage for B&Bs

Economy?

Is 6th gear useable on normal roads at normal speeds - will it, for example pull 55mph in top without shaking itself to death when loaded.

Handling I can judge for myself on a short demo ride.

Rear suspension when loaded? Is it up to it?

Thanks All in anticipation

Andy

[stibbs]

I have a few questions for the Glee owners on the Forum as I'm thinking of returning to the Fold and swapping my BM for a Glee, subject to Mrs Firestorm liking the pillion perch and me finding it more comfortable than the Vee  we owned.

How do people find the comfort ?- yes I'm going to test ride one but I'm interested in how it compares to the old one and peoples opinions. Its hard to get a demo bike for a 200 mile trip. no problems for distance

What is two up performance like? Particularly motorway/Autoroute speeds. We weigh a combined 24 stone plus luggage for B&Bs personally not done two up

Economy?I get 63mpg with "spirited" riding

Is 6th gear useable on normal roads at normal speeds - will it, for example pull 55mph in top without shaking itself to death when loaded.why would you want 6th in normal 60mph limit? You need to have control of the bike. Personally I only 6th on duals and m/ways

Handling I can judge for myself on a short demo ride.

Rear suspension when loaded? Is it up to it?

Thanks All in anticipation

Andy

[Jacko]

It's a 6th gear bike, no worries.. Pulls well from low down with 15 and 1/2 stone of me on it.. It's goes to show you don't need big cubes to build a 6th gear bike.. Drop it to 5th for snappy overtakes if you like but good planning will render it unnecessary.

[user650]

Two up no probs and nearly all day comfort (providing you don't have the seat lowered)

[Juvecu]

My old K5 is fine two up, I did change the rear spring, uprated the front springs and upgraded the front brakes. I don't think you'll need any of those suspension changes on the Glee and my bike's springs were pretty old too. Brakes are a personal thing, most of the time fitting some braided hoses and better pads (EBC HH on the front, GG on the rear) makes the brakes decent. My Wee was geared longer than standard and was still fine through Europe with the good lady on the back and about 150-160 litres of luggage (top box, panniers and tank bag.) Surprisingly MPG ended up the same or better than usual, but that's likely because I wasn't ragging it like I usually do. Don't usually go much faster than 85 indicated with her on the back and the Wee does that over hills and all without trouble two up in 6th. The Glee will be fine as long as you don't expect sports tourer performance.

Don't tell them you're going for a 200 mile test ride, just ask if you can collect it early and try doing it in the week when no one else would really have a test ride booked on the same bike

[Jacko]

You won't need, nor should you take, it on a 200 mile test ride.. That's being a bit cheeky to say the least, at most it's a monumental piss take..

[Firestorm]

Thanks for this Folks. I certainly don't expect sports bike performance - its a 650 twin after all. I do expect to be able to use all the gears in normal day to day riding as I much prefer to be pootling along in top at 5000 rpm rather than riding all day in 5th at 6000 rpm. Changing down to overtake I expect and if I'm out for some 'spirited' riding  I'm as happy as the next man to dance on the gear change. Good to hear about the suspension.
200 mile test ride was largely a figure of speech but given that I may be spending up to £7000 the only thing that I think is 'taking the p*ss' is expecting me to be able to evaluate a bike that I will use for 2000+ mile tours in 1/2 an hour. My old Supermoto was comfy for half an hour! 2 hours is what I'm hoping for so fingers crossed! I'll see how I get on and report back

[Fatbelly]

Big tours are no problem, I did one last year and it handled the long dull bits really well (ie Motorway from Scotland to Folkestone) and the good twisty bits really, really well (Alps, Corsica). On a 500 mile motorway day I only started to feel bum discomfort in the last 50 miles - that's better than any other bike I've owned.

Sixth gear is just a normal top gear, no probs there. You want to accelerate from 55? then of course you must change down.

I am big and fat. No way I would spoil my ride by putting an extra person on my bike, even if I was skinny as a skelington.

[Abercol]

I can't see why a longish test ride isn't an option. Most bikes are comfy for the first 50-60 miles. I did over 200 miles on my Vee before I bought it, Cupar M/C's were happy for me to have it for well over an hour on both of the test runs & the same for the Bandit 1250S I tested from them as well. It was one of the reasons I liked them, no pressure to come back straight away & bikes were all prepped, very clean & fully fuelled.

Shirlaws in Aberdeen had me wait for ages for a Fazer 1000 as they were fitting new Maxxis tyres & the fuel light was flashing when I turned it on. They told me to take it very easy in the pouring rain on the new tyres! Bike ran like a pig & they said it'd come in like that & they would sort it if I bought it. WTF!?? Why not sort it anyway as you are trying to sell it!

Mind you, I went into Ecosse in Aberdeen, asked to take out the Tiger 1050 they had there and was told "you don't want that bike, its not right for you" Eh?? What?? I was 43 yrs old, been riding for 25 yrs and they know, by looking at me, exactly the machine I need! wow! I was so impressed I put my helmet back on and left. Pity as they are across the road from my work, very handy.

Hmmm...seem to have hit a nerve there....rant over, will go lie down for a bit.....

[greywolf]

6th gear can be used down to 40mph at 3000rpm. It will also do a real 75mph, indicated 80-81mph, hour after hour, day after day, at 6000rpm in comfort. The windscreen and seat will intrude on your sensibilities before vibrations will unless crash bars are installed with little care. Windscreens and seats are available from the aftermarket for those who want maximum comfort for very long trips. I'm good with the stock ones for a couple of hours.

[skinny5216]

I have also sold my 1200 bm and down sized with the glee, purely arthritic purposes for me.  

Single riding at good speed last week on a 225 mile trip around north Wales was returning 69mpg so the on board computer says.
We also tour, myself and the wife are a little heavier. We had 3 trekker boxes packed for a weekend in the lakes, another 200+ mile trip and was still returning 60mpg. The bike is good enough just ride it as it needs to be ridden, I did wonder at first though coming of a 1200s. Suspension!!! Well could be better. Overall I like it and as I've said before it does what I want it to do. Also comfy enough.  

[Jacko]

200 mile test ride was largely a figure of speech but given that I may be spending up to £7000 the only thing that I think is 'taking the p*ss' is expecting me to be able to evaluate a bike that I will use for 2000+ mile tours in 1/2 an hour.

I see your point. Maybe I'm a little over-conscientious, perhaps my dealer would have happily let me out for 200 miles if the sale swung on it, who knows.. 40 miles was enough for me though, only issue was the buffetting, and that was apparent within the first mile

[Firestorm]

All good stuff - thanks one and all. Greywolf, an indicated 80 all day without thrashing it will be fine for us.
Jacko - I understand your view and if I was just out for 'I fancy a test ride on something' 1/2 hour to 40 mins is all I'd do. This is a bit different and I'm pretty sure  my local Dealer will let me out for a good run as its comfort that concerns me. I can evaluate the rest in 30 miles or so. Skinny, good to hear your views particularly as you traded down from something very similar and are quite happy. Also, the economy seems pretty impressive so one fine day next week and I'm off to see how I get on then, if all goes well, tackle raising the money!

[blackops]

Why would you want to downsize to a 650 when you obviously could do with a litre capacity bike for your trips ?

[greywolf]

Light weight, fuel economy, insurance costs, better fuel mapping in stock condition, smaller pistons for reduce vibration amplitude, longer range, possibly longer rear cushion and bearing life, total lack of clutch chudder, better aerodynamics, the ability to use top gear under 60mph and the refinement of a newer design come to mind. The DL1000 gives much more power and a lower rpm at any given highway speed on the other hand. Only about half seem to develop chudder. Each rider can decide what qualities are more important and whether more power is more likely to get them in trouble or out of trouble.

[Firestorm]

that's a good question - and no easy answer! Now I've built a sidecar outfit for winter  I can't afford a Tourer and a 'fun' bike as well. The BM is a great tourer but for a bit of a 'B' road blast its not 'fun' so I'm looking for something I can have fun on that will tour once or twice a year. I also have to consider Mrs Firestorm who likes a roomy pillion. My choice of an allrounder if there was only me to consider would be a CBF1000 or a Fazer 1000 or perhaps a 1250 bandit. None of these satisfy the roomy pillion requirement, we've tried. My Wife likes the comfort of the Adventure bikes and I can't afford a Versys 1000 which would be the first choice of the current Adventure style bikes. So --- I'll try a Glee and sacrifice a bit of grunt for 3 or 4 weeks a year if it delivers the fun factor. We'll see.

[Jacko]

Big cc bikes - Pay more for more ability you'll never use.

The Versys 1000 is a bit of a pig by all accounts, really weird front end feel, thirsty engine which dates back to the 1998 zx9r. Nearly 10 grand? Come on...

[doboy]

well I can be of help here as I've had an 1150RT and I now have a new glee ....I did a lot of mileage on the BMW ...France .Germany ..cz .. great bike and very good on fuel ..the only problem I found was its a big heavy bike and with a pillion + luggage a bit of a beast... my wife is very critical on pillion comfort and says the new glee is the most comfortable bike she,s been on [ and that says a lot believe me ? ]  and I find the glee  no problem 2 -up [ at times I find it hard to believe at times its only a 650 ] ..I think if I was looking for anything to complain about the only thing I can say is I find the brakes could be better ..but the a.b.s does help ...the 1150RT may be good on fuel but the glee is simply unreal ..on a day out [ with the wife on pillion ]  just having a nice steady ride out down back lanes at 50- 60mph I got "72" mpg [ worked out on the gps not speedo ] and as stated here in other threads , 80mph with pillion is no problem but have found that above this speed mpg start to drop down to the 40,s  ... the finish on all Suzuki,s isn't good but not a problem if well looked after ..saw a glee the other day that was rust from front to back . talking to the owner he said I use it everyday no matter what the weather for work [ you could tell ? ] I've had it from new its now done over 30k .. have you had any problems with it .....no its never missed a beat ...

[Oop North John]

Went down to Croatia two up last year and my wife finds the glee to be better than the BM GS's we have owned, and getting about 60 mpg when cruising at a GPS 75 mph was nice.

I'd recommend Cupar MC's as well, I use them to service the bikes and will probably be getting another glee shortly, and I live north of Aberdeen.

More power needed? Only if you have the ability of Valentino, and the roads he rides on for 99% of your rides. Otherwise, why bother will all that extra weight and complication that seems to be needed, eg traction control as the engine makes so much power  

[neltek]

I do find all this talk of needing 1 litre for a tour very funny

My first tour round France was done on a £50 off ebay MZ 2 stroke Saxon Tour 300cc
I had an amazing time
admittedly 75-80 was full throttle with a trailing wind

I then got a SV650 - I am 20 stones and had full luggage packed to the brim and tank bag
Still was fastest bike on tour - MZ 660 Skorpion, and 2 BMWs

I travelled round Europe on the SV including over to East Germany and the Netherlands
Never needed any more power at all
In fact those I travelled with were on various old bikes and found my power to be over the top
(The East Germany Trip was in the company of a few 250cc 2 stroke MZs)

The SV was hard work on long distances - my knees and arse basically fell off

I now have a 2010 650 V-Strom
Comfort is fantastic for hours - usually do 8 hour days with a couple of stops in Europe
I presume the new one will be the same

The difference between the SV and Wee is eagerness of bike.
SV was very eager and cruised comfortably at higher speeds
Wee is less eager but actually easier at lower speeds in town
Still comfy at 75-85 and can happily do more if I want
I load the bike lots - so would probably have almost the same weight as you 2 up by the sound of it  

hope that helps