[Guest]

Heh All:

My new bike comes tomorrow. Well, actually, I purchased a Silver 2003 ST from a dealer in Florida and had it shipped to me. The important point is that it’s the bike I wanted since I started riding in 2004. (Had a 2000 Katana 750; idiot truck pulled a U-turn and i dropped bike to stay alive. his insurance is buying this one!)

The dealer mailed me the keys, title, and Owners Manual, and I had a couple of quick questions.

1. The Manual does not show anything about the hard bags; but mine comes with the factory side bags. Are these easy to take off/put on? Are there any manuals for that.\

2. I read/heard someplace that once the bags are off, you could change the sweep of the exhaust. Is this true? Again, not covered in the Manual; how do I do that if possible?

3. My bike does not have the top bag (Pannier?). I noticed some bikes have a rack (or whatever its called) for the rear. I think the rack gives the bike a better look. Does anyone know where to get that.?

4. Finally, and this is going to really sound dumb - but the picture in the manual showed the bike as 1 down, 2-6 up. Am I nuts or what, but I thought all bikes were 1 up, and 2-6 down? Or was I looking at an Aussie manual?

Gary G :hammer:

 

[iceman]

Gary,

I hope you can sleep tonight.I remember the day before I got my new Sprint - I was 45 years old and as excited as a 10 year old on Christmas Eve - pathetic :-D

I cant answer all your questions but

- bags come off easily- you use the key
- the standard set up for gears nowdays is 1 down and the rest up.

Look foward to a report after your first ride.

Grant

 

[sodapop]

Hey, Gary...
Any new ride is a good ride. Congrats and good riding to you. I have a 2006 Sprint ST which is prolly a bit different than yours.
1.) If you're talking about removing the factory side hard bags when not needing it, yes it's easy to take on and off for mine. Just use the key to unlock and pull off. It shows the arrows which way to turn to either open the compartment or unlock the mechanism to release the bags when removing. At least mine do.
3.) I thought about getting the factory top rack only without the top case so I could always tie my own tail bag to it. I was thinking of just getting it from the dealer. I'm sure those with the older ST's can tell you where else they may have gotten theirs.
4.) From neutral position, 1 down and 2-6 up...sounds good to me.
Have fun and ride safe.

Jess

 

[tbiller]

Hi, and congratulations on your purchase.

1) Very easy to remove and attach, just unlock the clasp and slide the panniers off. Nothing to it.

2) You can't change the can angle as the pannier mounting rails interfere with the upswept position. You would have to remove the rails, and this is NOT trivial. I just choose to live with the lower can position when riding without the panniers.

3) Top pannier racks appear on Ebay all the time. Either there or order them from a dealer.

4) You're nuts. :-D Old British bikes were one up and x down and the gearchange was on the right!

Most modern bikes are left foot change, and the Sprint is no exception - one down and five up.

Enjoy!