The Evil that is 13....

• The fly-by-wire throttle is a bit snatchy when coming off the line in first gear, creamy buttery smooth after that.
  
• The cruise control is to die for. Unbelievably consistent going up or down road grades.
  
• The instrument panel is beyond awesome.
  
• The dash turn signals are tiny. Very tiny.
  
• The heated grips will melt your fingers in short order
  
• Alternator output has allegedly been increased to just under 600 watts.
  
• The seat configurations are identical to GenII... so all custom Gen II saddles will fit fine.
  
• Holy fucking shit, the LED aux lights are STUNNING!!!
  
• The new dash area cowling will be challenging for fabricators to design a sturdy dash for LD goodies. All our "traditional" hard mounting points are gone.
  
• Speaking of fasteners... the side body work has gone the way of the Hayabusa... there are no side bodywork fasteners. It is all tabs and slots now.
  
• The Bridgestone BT023 are exceptionally sticky. I don't think the rear will last too long. B)
  
• The beamcast from the headlight reflector housing is... different, but very, VERY good.
  
• The paint has less metallic then originally thought, and displays more green in natural sunlight, compared to florescent lighting.
  
• The brakes are righteous once the pads are bedded in... they are a bit wooden coming right off the showroom.
  
• It is not clear to me yet if the Givi will transfer over from my Gen I. I have reservations that it might not.
  
• The Top Gun aux light brackets are not a direct bolt-on to the Gen III. The new mirror holes are deeply recessed, requiring spacers to stand the light brackets off the bodywork. Possibly, a complete redesign might be indicated.
  
• Initial observations suggest the V-Strom hand guards will strike the new dash at full lock turns. Maybe even before they are fully locked.
  

Fairlaner said:

Dale did you ever have a Gen2? these dash turn signal lights are huge compared to those......

Damn i would have loved to have 13 as it is my birthday...i got 25.

I rode mine home in touring mode and it was not snatchy at all on the throttle.

R

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Clarification edit: While it is true the Pazzo levers for the GenI (2003 model) do not fit the GenIII bike, the Pazzo levers for the three other Gen I model years (2004, 2005-a, and 2005-b ), as well as all Gen II years, DO fit the GenIII bike just fine.

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Fairlaner said:

Gen2 pazzo's do fit......

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Skyway Sliders on the other hand do not....

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Fairlaner said:

Hal there is a canister, just not sure where it is yet...

Dale have you seen the sliders they got coming out in Europe in January?

Sliders

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• The dash lighting is extraordinary! It is a soft gray-whitish light that makes the large LCD dash instruments very "readable".
   
  
• The low beam is actually quite a bit different from the GenI/II reflector housings... the GenIII beamcast does not throw to the far sides as much as the GenI/II, which I find a little bit unfortunate. Mind you, where the light does strike the ground in front of the bike, it is as excellent as the previous generations.
   
  
• The High beams are similar to Gen I/II bikes... really lights up overhead passes and the owls high in the trees. WTF, Yamaha?
  
  
   
  
• Upon reaching traffic on the way into work this morning, it is obvious that my headlights need to be lowered.... they are a solid 3+ inches higher than where they should be (mind you, this could simply be the settings on my bike, not all GenIIIs. Regardless, is easily fixable by a few twists on the headlight adjustment knobs).
   
  
• The LED angel eyes (Yamaha calls them "aux lights", which of course has a different meaning when we say "LED aux lights") are NOT just cosmetic, they actually light up a goodly portion of the ground immediately in front of the bike, mostly filling in the area that the older, rounder reflector housings lit up when in low beam. That having been said, they LED angel eyes do look AWESOME just by themselves!
   
  
• I lowered the headlight aim when I reach the parking lot at work, and have not had the bike back out on the road since. Perhaps some of my earlier complaints about beamcast have changed, but I won't be able to find out until tonight.
   
  
• Holy crap, it has been over 12 years since I've ridden a bike with heated grips... what a friggin' treat to light off these babies on low setting, and have toasty hands in less than 60 seconds. B)