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First ride on the new bike
Mar. 6th, 2010 07:28 pmI got out on my new bike today, finally! Rode about 130 miles. Here's my report.
I got it out into the driveway and fired it up, then realized that I forgot to check the tires. Turns out that the rear tire is pretty hard to check, since there's not a lot of access. Note to self - check tires BEFORE putting helmet on.
At driveway speeds it feels heavier than I find ideal, but no worse than my VFR.
The bike vibrates a lot at idle, but smooths out when you roll on. I didn't find the vibration bothersome, even at low speeds. The windshield shakes at idle, but stops shaking when you start moving.
Even though the bike is fuel injected, the throttle rolls on smoothly; it's not all snatchy like some FI bikes I've ridden. It rolls on and off as smoothly as well-sorted carbs, which was a relief - that's one thing I had worried about.
At legal speeds, the bike has plenty of power to out-accelerate any car, but it's certainly not a VFR. It's a little more powerful than my TDM. Perfectly satisfactory and comfortable, but not thrilling. About what I had expected. I rode it around the suburban streets near my house for a while, and then ten miles down the country roads to the next town, where I stopped for lunch and let it cool down; I wanted to make sure to get some heat cycles. I didn't get on the interstate until later in the day. When I did, I didn't get much over 70, since I wanted to keep the revs down because it's still in break-in. But it did fine at those speeds, and didn't feel like it was anywhere near running out of acceleration. I didn't find myself hunting for a 6th gear.
The brakes felt inadequate, the first few times I stopped, but once they started to bed in they were fine. I had no occasion to trigger the ABS. The linked brakes were unobtrusive, except that the pedal was much more useful than most bikes I've owned.
The transmission feels as smooth as a chain bike with a fresh chain, and far better than a chain bike with an old chain. I didn't find it notchy at all. First gear is pretty high and I found I stayed there a bit longer than I do on most bikes. It's easy to find neutral at a stop, from either direction, but it's also easy to click right past it when you mean to - no false neutrals. It has a broader powerband in each gear than the TDM, but not as broad as the VFR.
I took it out on the interstate, and tried various settings on the windshield, each for the span of one exit. At the highest setting, the shield seemed to intrude on my vision and I felt a lot of buffeting. The lowest setting was smooth and quiet but gave too much airflow for this cold. One click down from the top seemed to be the sweet spot.
The suspension was harsh. I dialed down the rear preload and it felt better in back. But the front still felt very stiff. If it still feels this stiff once it's got 500 or 1000 miles on it, I might swap out the fork springs for softer ones, or for progressives.
I wasn't dragging pegs - too much crud on the roads, I was on new tires, and we don't have much for twisties here anyway. But in the curves I did take, the bike handled well, apart from the harsh forks. I quickly felt comfortable pushing it into turns, and it didn't feel heavy there. It did what I asked it to and didn't fight me at all.
I wasn't crazy about the angle of my wrists, so when I got home I rotated the bars back and down as far as I could, and moved the levers so my wrists would be more neutral. Hopefully that will help and I'll like the bars better on my next ride.
My stereo works very well, including the volume control. So do the heated grips and the mounted controller for my heated jacket. Some reviews say the Flash2pass garage door opener lacks range, but mine worked fine from well outside my garage. My driving lights work well, but one of my hyperlites is peeling loose from its mounting; I'll have to take another shot at tacking it down.
I stopped for gas at 110.2 miles and put in 3.132 gallons, but I don't know exactly how full the dealer filled it, so I'm not going to treat that as a data point. The bike's monitor said I was getting 50.8mpg.
I got it out into the driveway and fired it up, then realized that I forgot to check the tires. Turns out that the rear tire is pretty hard to check, since there's not a lot of access. Note to self - check tires BEFORE putting helmet on.
At driveway speeds it feels heavier than I find ideal, but no worse than my VFR.
The bike vibrates a lot at idle, but smooths out when you roll on. I didn't find the vibration bothersome, even at low speeds. The windshield shakes at idle, but stops shaking when you start moving.
Even though the bike is fuel injected, the throttle rolls on smoothly; it's not all snatchy like some FI bikes I've ridden. It rolls on and off as smoothly as well-sorted carbs, which was a relief - that's one thing I had worried about.
At legal speeds, the bike has plenty of power to out-accelerate any car, but it's certainly not a VFR. It's a little more powerful than my TDM. Perfectly satisfactory and comfortable, but not thrilling. About what I had expected. I rode it around the suburban streets near my house for a while, and then ten miles down the country roads to the next town, where I stopped for lunch and let it cool down; I wanted to make sure to get some heat cycles. I didn't get on the interstate until later in the day. When I did, I didn't get much over 70, since I wanted to keep the revs down because it's still in break-in. But it did fine at those speeds, and didn't feel like it was anywhere near running out of acceleration. I didn't find myself hunting for a 6th gear.
The brakes felt inadequate, the first few times I stopped, but once they started to bed in they were fine. I had no occasion to trigger the ABS. The linked brakes were unobtrusive, except that the pedal was much more useful than most bikes I've owned.
The transmission feels as smooth as a chain bike with a fresh chain, and far better than a chain bike with an old chain. I didn't find it notchy at all. First gear is pretty high and I found I stayed there a bit longer than I do on most bikes. It's easy to find neutral at a stop, from either direction, but it's also easy to click right past it when you mean to - no false neutrals. It has a broader powerband in each gear than the TDM, but not as broad as the VFR.
I took it out on the interstate, and tried various settings on the windshield, each for the span of one exit. At the highest setting, the shield seemed to intrude on my vision and I felt a lot of buffeting. The lowest setting was smooth and quiet but gave too much airflow for this cold. One click down from the top seemed to be the sweet spot.
The suspension was harsh. I dialed down the rear preload and it felt better in back. But the front still felt very stiff. If it still feels this stiff once it's got 500 or 1000 miles on it, I might swap out the fork springs for softer ones, or for progressives.
I wasn't dragging pegs - too much crud on the roads, I was on new tires, and we don't have much for twisties here anyway. But in the curves I did take, the bike handled well, apart from the harsh forks. I quickly felt comfortable pushing it into turns, and it didn't feel heavy there. It did what I asked it to and didn't fight me at all.
I wasn't crazy about the angle of my wrists, so when I got home I rotated the bars back and down as far as I could, and moved the levers so my wrists would be more neutral. Hopefully that will help and I'll like the bars better on my next ride.
My stereo works very well, including the volume control. So do the heated grips and the mounted controller for my heated jacket. Some reviews say the Flash2pass garage door opener lacks range, but mine worked fine from well outside my garage. My driving lights work well, but one of my hyperlites is peeling loose from its mounting; I'll have to take another shot at tacking it down.
I stopped for gas at 110.2 miles and put in 3.132 gallons, but I don't know exactly how full the dealer filled it, so I'm not going to treat that as a data point. The bike's monitor said I was getting 50.8mpg.
