Bought a Nomad

[Todd]

hey james, what part of the country are you from and where did you get your nomad?? You are gonna love it.....

also, schoeney is right about that heel shifter......

[patmahoney]

Welcome, being fairly new to the Nomad family myself I can tell ya it only gets better. The guys here are great, and willing to help with any questions/issues.

[Griz]

James, I am 5'8" and I just put on 3" Chucksters this week. They give 1 5/8" pullback. I have only ridden about 50 miles with them, but so far I really feel a difference in comfort. I have a mustang seat with backrest and I can tell that I am up against the backrest better than I was. I know that you will love your Nomad.

[james40]

I'm in Northern California, the Woodland/Davis area (just outside Sacramento). I picked up the Nomad in San Diego, a fly-in/drive home. Found it on e-bay, talked to the dealer several times, he had good feedback and seemed like a straight shooter, looked at plenty of pictures, took a leap of faith and bought the bike.

Price was $7395 for a 2008 with 12K on the odo, which shows you how soft the market is. Has the V&H pipes, no other aftermarket mods. Has a new front tire, back tire probably 2-3K more miles on it.

I was concerned about which grade of gas to use, as I'd read it required supreme. So at each fill up, I tried a lower grade of gas, finally filled it up with regular and it runs fine, no pinging.

I have the grasshopper on order right now, as soon as it comes in and I see/feel how it makes me sit on the bike, and depending on how much pullback I need, I'll decide between the Chucksters or the Phat's.

I was a little concerned going from the V65 Magna to a V-twin, but although it's not the rocket the V65 is, it's a comfortable cruiser, which is what I was looking for.

regards, James

I have a 2006 Nomad with V & H pipes that are baffled. I bought it used and assume the baffles are V & H that came with the pipes. I recently took a 1700 mile road trip and they never bothered me and I don't use earplugs. My brother was behind me on his stock RoadKing and he uses earplugs. He told me he was glad he brought them because my bike was loud to him.
I think if you look into getting the baffles that belong in them you will be happy. Alot of others on here have V & H pipes so maybe they can chime in and help you decide. Congrats on the bike, you're going to love it.

[james40]

That's going to be my next move, checking out the baffles to see if they are there and if they are, is the packing in place. I've also read up on the various fixes for the baffles, extra wrap, rope, the metal flashing. I just want to cut down on the blat at cruising speed, I like the sound otherwise. I plan on a 1,500 mile trip next month, so I'd like to have it set up right before I leave. Thanks...

[dogdoc]

Congrats on the nad and welcome. the mileage is kinda low. I have V&H and love them especially when purring along at 70mph IMO.

[nomad561]

Congrats on th new ride.Mileage seems low. I just got home from a 1300 mile ride and averaged 35 pulling my trailer @70 mph.

[watchman]

Be sure the tire air pressure is around 40 front and rear. Clean the K & N filter and give the bike a good drink for Sea Foam with some good quality gas. Our 08's like 91 Octane the best for good gas milage. I will get around 35-36 mpg running 75-80. Add a head good wind and I'm down to around 30 mpg. They will tell you plugs should go 40,000 miles but I have found that changing them every year helps my mpg. If a reasistor was installed to the air temp sensor to help prevent octane pinging, a very large resistor could lower mpg. On my 05 when I had the throttle positioner changed I lost about 2 mpg.

[james40]

Originally Posted by watchman

Be sure the tire air pressure is around 40 front and rear. Clean the K & N filter and give the bike a good drink for Sea Foam with some good quality gas. Our 08's like 91 Octane the best for good gas milage. I will get around 35-36 mpg running 75-80. Add a head good wind and I'm down to around 30 mpg. They will tell you plugs should go 40,000 miles but I have found that changing them every year helps my mpg. If a reasistor was installed to the air temp sensor to help prevent octane pinging, a very large resistor could lower mpg. On my 05 when I had the throttle positioner changed I lost about 2 mpg.

Yep, new plugs on Monday, oil change, clean the T/B's, can of sea foam with a tank of supreme and check the tires. After that I'll start taking a harder look at the mileage.

Thanks.

[flavor]

Bought my '07 new and was getting about 37 MPG stock. Changed to Roadhouse exhaust, put on TFI and took the emission control. (Work done by MAC). Lost about 2 MPG when work was done.

When work was done I found that wearing a full or 3/4 helmet made the exhaust seem even louder than no helmet at all. Sound seems to get trapped in the helmet and resonate. If I wear a 1/2 helmet with the cloth flaps over the ears makes the sound quieter. (RI and CT has no helmet law).

If cruising with the Roadhouse pipes and not on the throttle heavy, such as accelerating or going up a hill sound was pretty quiet but still had a throaty sound.

V&H pipes, which are pipes of choice by many Nomad riders are very similar in sound volume wise.

I believe if you go to the gadgetjq site there are direction for making pipes quieter.

Welcome to the Kaw site.

[garyo4]

Welcome to the "Info Pot of Gold" site!
I've learned so much here since buying my '07 new last fall. I noticed you say you have a K&N filter and V&H pipes, but you didn't mention a fuel programmer. These bikes run quite lean from the factory and by changing your intake to a K&N you'll be running even leaner. Best thing you can do before too much longer is check if your bike has a programmer and if not, get one ASAP. Might not help you with your mileage, but it'll keep the top of your pistons from melting.
Regards and have fun.
Gary
ps....you bought the best colour too;-)

[james40]

Originally Posted by flavor

Bought my '07 new and was getting about 37 MPG stock. Changed to Roadhouse exhaust, put on TFI and took the emission control. (Work done by MAC). Lost about 2 MPG when work was done.

When work was done I found that wearing a full or 3/4 helmet made the exhaust seem even louder than no helmet at all. Sound seems to get trapped in the helmet and resonate. If I wear a 1/2 helmet with the cloth flaps over the ears makes the sound quieter. (RI and CT has no helmet law).

If cruising with the Roadhouse pipes and not on the throttle heavy, such as accelerating or going up a hill sound was pretty quiet but still had a throaty sound.

V&H pipes, which are pipes of choice by many Nomad riders are very similar in sound volume wise.

I believe if you go to the gadgetjq site there are direction for making pipes quieter.

Welcome to the Kaw site.

Thanks for the welcome. I've been all over the gadget site, some great suggestions there. Been going through it article by article, as soon as I find out the baffle situation I'm going to try a couple of the remedies. Thanks,...

[james40]

Originally Posted by gary-o

Welcome to the "Info Pot of Gold" site!
I've learned so much here since buying my '07 new last fall. I noticed you say you have a K&N filter and V&H pipes, but you didn't mention a fuel programmer. These bikes run quite lean from the factory and by changing your intake to a K&N you'll be running even leaner. Best thing you can do before too much longer is check if your bike has a programmer and if not, get one ASAP. Might not help you with your mileage, but it'll keep the top of your pistons from melting.
Regards and have fun.
Gary
ps....you bought the best colour too;-)

No fuel programmer that I have found, but I'm still looking. I do like the black, of course mine needs some cleaning and waxing.

I've been down with an intestinal bug for the last few days, so I've had to put off some of my plans, but as soon as I can get up and about, I'll be here with more questions. Thanks, James

[james40]

Update: Backrest - major comfort difference, I did put more bend forward in it to give me a little more support. So far I've put 200 miles on it and I like it hands down. For the price, the grasshopper is a great addition.

Decided to go with the Phat II risers, they are on order and should be here this week. Also have Vista cruise and highway pegs on order. I will update when I add and review.

Mileage issue: Did an oil/differential change, cleaned the TB's, cleaner and toothbrush and then ran half a can through while I kept the idle going. Cleaned the K&N, left the plugs alone because they looked fine.

Just for informational purposes I went with Valvoline 10-40 motorcycle oil and a Mobil M1-110 filter.

Here's the results of the last tank I ran through
"Get some gas" light first came on at 134, and then went out again, but that was on a downhill grade making a left turn, so may have been a false reading.
Light came on again about 140 and stayed steady. Pulled up to a pump at 162 miles and change, put 4.293 gallons into the tank. So my back of the envelope calculations show 162 miles on 4 gals, which comes out to 40MPG, with 1 gal in reserve. This was done on a a mix of 80/20 highway/city driving. I figure my range is in the 180 mile mark with a bit of cushion. Much happier with the mileage now.

Still learning the bike, but more and more happy with it as the days and miles roll by. I have about 900 miles in the saddle right now and I'm holding off on any other major changes until I get a feel for things I would like to change vs things I have to change. Found that if I keep it below 75MPH or so the pipes don't bother me that much.

That's it for now.