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Just accepted delivery of my first F4

7K views 69 replies 22 participants last post by  spacechumper 
#1 ·
It's 37 and raining out but she's finally here from Colorado! Never had seen one in real life prior to today and man do pictures not do it any justice! Much taller and quieter than I though she'd be though. Can't wait to get her out on the back roads once this weather breaks...
 
#9 ·
So I took her out for a short 20 mile ride today to and from the dentist and here is my initial perception of the bike.

Pros:

- Insane braking power. Gotojoe I took your advice lightly and gave the front break a firm tug at a stop and literally almost fell off the bike. I promise to listen in the future
- Handling is much more scalpel like and takes less effort to get the bike to go where you want it to go. Made me feel like a better rider than I am
- Feels more like you are sitting in the bike than on the bike if that makes any sense
- Never felt I was going as fast as I was.
- Crackling of the exhaust decelerating from 4750 RPM to 4K
- And of course styling is second to none...I have been riding 5 other bikes(newer model GSXRs and CBRs) over the past couple months and none of them ever got as much attention as this thing seems to. Little kids waved and gave thumbs up and old men stared with a sense of masked lust...didn't see any cute women for their reactions yet

Cons:

- What's with the tiny smooth rear brake peg? Still haven't found a comfortable position I'm not feeling my foot will slip of it from
- The rear view mirrors were not all too useful unless aggressively tucked
- Very tall shift from 1st to 2nd. Wound up in neutral many times
- Can feel shifts in the clutch lever
- Sitting in traffic I was 2 bars over the middle and the bike was giving of a lot of heat that could be felt right under the seat
- Short rider here so the tall ride height isn't too great when I have to maneuver the bike in a parking lot. Is it true ride height is adjustable?
- Power wasn't all too impressive in the lower RPM range and I never got a chance to get it over the 9K I read it wakes up at
- Never felt I was going as fast as I was


Any feedback on the cons would be appreciated. Going on a nice long back roads ride tomorrow and will take pics for you guys along the way. Hopefully I'll get used to some the quirks of the bike.
 
#10 ·
Interesting to see that lack of speed perception is both a pro & con for you, as indeed it is! ;)

I think when you tell us what model it is taht you have people will be able to give more feedback on your questions as they do vary. For instance, I have a 1000s & we remedied the lower end fuelling with a PCIII - it still doesn't like to be taken thru shopping centre car parks on a saturday but then again neither do I. We have done a lot of fiddling with fuelling & exhausts (no cat) and it starts to let you know what it has to offer from 7K RPM up.

Can't say anything about the gear box other than to praise it, I don't think I've missed a gear since I bought it!

Ride height, yes you can adjust it, the ride height adjuster sits behind the shock last thing before the rear wheel, you can't miss it, silver thing. I would caution against messing with it as the whole bike's suspension is 'tuned' to a certain ride height. I had mine professionally lowered, back & front to keep the geometry true if that makes sense, I am not a suspension guru hence why I sought professional help, I do however know when a bike feels wrong - it's now exactly how I like it and maybe only an inch or so lower, took ages to get right, thank god they didn't charge me by the hour!

Heat - again on mine, I went to Muzzy fans (aluminium) , larger water pump impeller, ceramic coated headers , cat's gone & engine ice coolant - there's threads here (use search function) about other stuff like fan override switches that you can also do.

We are still waiting for pics ;) :laughing:
 
#11 ·
:D all I can say is "WELCOME TO MV WORLD" :D

It's all exciting and could be frustrating at same time.
These machines are amazing to look at, to ride, and DO require some work though.
They are not "perfectly" built like "robot-stamped" Jap bikes...more hand work is involved w/ MV's..

So there are standard "mods" that I feel like 99% of MV owners do right away when then get their Mv's.

MVista mentioned most of them ;)

so take a little patience w/ these machines and I promise that you will FALL IN LOVE completely with these amazing machines and will not want to sit your butt on anything else besides another MV! ;)

I can speak from my experience ;) hehe :D :D

Post up some pics.....we love pics... :)
 
#14 ·
Good move buying the 2010 and not brand new. That new bike aroma comes with a price tag..and a hassle tag sometimes.

Is your bike a MY10 ie with an oil cooler ? or is it a Europen 2009. I know there is typically a lag of one year in the bikes delivered to the USA. Be intersting and useful to know which you have..

The footrests have a degree of adjustment..

Ciao : )

joe
 
#16 · (Edited)
So during my 75 mile run today some issues popped up that have me pretty concerned. When I turned her on this morning she hesitated to start but I didn't think much of it. I rode all of 1/10 a mile to the Exxon station, gassed her up with premium, and started down the road. Arrived at the first stop sign and the bike cut off. On the dash it stated "Coil 1". I attemtped to start it numerous times and it would struggle to start if at all. When it would it would only be for 2 seconds at most all the while sounding like the starter was still trying to start it. I pushed her into a parking lot and attempted starting her a few more times with no luck and this time the dash read "Crankshaft" so I took the key out completely. A couple minutes later put the key back in in and voila...started right up no problem. Rode about 50miles after that and towards the end I stopped on the side of a road to take some pictures and again it cut out. This time the oil light came on but nothing on the dash. Again the engine struggled to turn over and when it would the starter was still going and immediately shut off. Took the key out tried again and presto like there was no problem to begin with. WTF??? If Italian exclusivity leaves me on the side of the road again with traffic backing up behind me this thing is gone and back to tried and true jap bikes I go.
 
#18 ·
Er oophs, not good. Not had any of those issues (yet) I do hope that is not going to be normal and not read any forums with those specific issues todate. Here's hoping it was just a glitch... :f4: :green: keep the faith and let us know. She is stunning, not that really helps if she does not perform
 
#19 ·
Just tried to take her out again and I couldn't even get out of the parking garage...same thing minus the dash warnings but now the bike just randomly cuts off. No warning, no weird idle, not running hot, no codes, no lights...just off. Previous owner claims to have never had any issues what-so-ever. Definitely regretting my choice of two wheel transport seeings how the closest dealership is 3 hours away and I don't own a truck.
 
#20 ·
How long was it in transit for? As in: How long has it been sitting un-ridden for?

Might be worth checking out the health of your battery, the Can-Bus systems require quite a bit more juice to be happy.

I'm pretty sure the removal of your key and restart being successful is mostly due to when you pull the key the ecu will restart.
(Just like computers, first thing you do is restart em 90% of the time)

Keep us posted.

Congratulations btw, and I hope that you come to love the marque!
 
#21 ·
It was in transit for about a week and had minimal use over the winter as the previous owner states the bike was never been started under 60 degrees. She started right up off the truck and exhibited no oddities yesterday. The key removal trick is no longer working...why exactly would I be in love with a brand that has with in 100 miles of arrival stranded me on the road side and is now a danger to ride if it even wants to start???
 
#23 ·
Get your multimeter and run it over the battery, let us know what voltage you are getting. Then start the bike and again report.

Take her clothing off and start having a little wiggle with all of the connections. Particularly around the ECU.

Is it still under warranty?
 
#27 ·
I would bloody hope that a vehicle, especially a bike wouldn't shit itself over getting a bit wet. Perhaps if it was water blasted up close at electrics, but not rain, etc.

I have found MV tend to use some pretty good connectors and wiring (much better than most Italian cousins). And for added piece of mind, half the electrics are made in Japan anyway :D :drummer:
 
#24 · (Edited)
Well I just went downstairs to disconnect the battery and tried to give it one last go but it wouldn't even start this time. Hopefully disconnecting the battery over night will reset the ECU. If not where exactly is the ECU located for me to see if anything is loose? The bike has the factory warranty till the end of December then has an extended warranty for many years after.
 
#25 ·
Disconnecting the battery may help. What I want you to do is to check the voltage of your battery (trying to determine it's health). Sometimes a battery that may appear to be healthy is actually not quite that good.

Can't remember specifically as regards to ecu placement on the my10+ but I would imagine under the pillion seat in the tail (the little box with all the plugs in it?).

Do you have a charger\tender? If you do then throw it on that.

As regards to your warranty I understand the distance issue but what about a phone call. They may know what to look for. I'm stabbing in the dark.
At the end of the day, not much point in having a warranty if you don't make use of it? I would imagine (correct me if I'm wrong folks) that if the bike is "un-rideable" the dealer providing the warranty service should pick it up?

Anyway, all the best mate and keep the information coming. Hopefully soon one of the more knowledgeable folks will join in here.
 
#26 ·
Why I think it may be voltage or power issue is that you had error messages coming up for a multitude of sensors that physically are in very different places. Making me think that perhaps they were erroring because they aren't getting enough power to provide an accurate signal.
 
#28 ·
My 2: Probably a Koyo Battery....do a search for Koyo.
Check all of your connectios to ground ( earth) and ensure they are clean and tight.
If the Battery is Koyo, just replace it with a quality Yuasa...watch out for polarity on reconnection. MANY people have connected a replacement battery with reverse polarity and done electronics damage.
 
#37 ·
... it started up with hesitation ...
A weak battery can cause sporadic problems. I'd buy a new battery before hauling it 3 hours to Eraldo.
 
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