I had the first service done and have had some issues with the dealer which will be resolved this week to my satisfaction.
I took the bike on its first trip which unfortunately wasn't round the world or indeed to any where exotic but in 2 days managed 587 miles in Wales with only 40 on a motor way the remainder on some of the smallest roads with tarmac i could find and some good fast A roads.
So my impressions and i shall try to be objective :
The bike behaved faultlessly for a start.
The suspension is, in my opinion, sublime and that is comparing it top the non ESA wilburs i had on the old bike, in road mode with all but hard settings it justs wafts along ironing out all the little or big imperfections, broken and very rough road surfaces were only really noticable through the noise which i put down to the Anakee 3s rather than the bike. It is certainly not harsh!
The Handling is excellent although on the very small and twisty roads it is a big bugger to haul around particularly when full of fuel and harder work than the old TC but i shall get used to it (or try and become more tosser proportioned instead of the svelt athlete that i am) and that will be a distant memory, on wider B roads and A roads it is as good as i could hope for in this type of bike, maybe the Multi strada or KTM would have the edge if really pushed but in the real world you can corner as hard as you would want and certainly harder than i would dare and i did try (quite hard) to get the chicken strips off but failed.
Performance is fairly shattering compared to the old bike and I managed to keep within reasonable distance of my pals Super duke during some spirited riding ( it wasnt emabarrassing at least) and again in the real world it has all I will ever need.
The Gear box is quite lovely (I must be lucky and have a good one) and the Quickshifter is feckin brilliant, upshifts are snickety snick although i need more practice going down the box, it doesnt seem to cope with multiple shifts in quick succession as it does using the clutch.
Of course being Wales it rained very heavily on a couple of occasions letting me try rain mode, I was allways in the "I am the traction control unit and why do i want all this fancy electronic trickery" brigade, i am a convert, the traction kicks in and lets me know it is time to back off a bit or as i got more used to it carry on pushing and let it sort itself out. Very confidence inspiring it is !!
Road mode is just fine and the use of dynamic seemed just greedy !
I dont like the sidestand which seems to keep the bike too upright even on level surfaces and looks positively precarious on uneven ground which will take some carefull planning when parking.
The seat is far comfier than the old OE seat although i cant wait for the Sargent to come i need to adjust the bars a little for optimum comfort in the arm department My knees which used to suffer a bit no longer ached at the end of the days ride so thats a bonus
Cruise control came in handy on the last leg home on the M1 road works with 50 mph average speed cameras
Tank range is brilliant (compared to what i was used to) and fuel economy which isnt high on my list of priorities, is at least as good as the old bike. It didnt use any oil wheras the old bike would have done.
All in all Happy days, I love the bike and cant wait to Hoon it round the Highlands at the end of this month.
A couple of snaps !!
I took the bike on its first trip which unfortunately wasn't round the world or indeed to any where exotic but in 2 days managed 587 miles in Wales with only 40 on a motor way the remainder on some of the smallest roads with tarmac i could find and some good fast A roads.
So my impressions and i shall try to be objective :
The bike behaved faultlessly for a start.
The suspension is, in my opinion, sublime and that is comparing it top the non ESA wilburs i had on the old bike, in road mode with all but hard settings it justs wafts along ironing out all the little or big imperfections, broken and very rough road surfaces were only really noticable through the noise which i put down to the Anakee 3s rather than the bike. It is certainly not harsh!
The Handling is excellent although on the very small and twisty roads it is a big bugger to haul around particularly when full of fuel and harder work than the old TC but i shall get used to it (or try and become more tosser proportioned instead of the svelt athlete that i am) and that will be a distant memory, on wider B roads and A roads it is as good as i could hope for in this type of bike, maybe the Multi strada or KTM would have the edge if really pushed but in the real world you can corner as hard as you would want and certainly harder than i would dare and i did try (quite hard) to get the chicken strips off but failed.
Performance is fairly shattering compared to the old bike and I managed to keep within reasonable distance of my pals Super duke during some spirited riding ( it wasnt emabarrassing at least) and again in the real world it has all I will ever need.
The Gear box is quite lovely (I must be lucky and have a good one) and the Quickshifter is feckin brilliant, upshifts are snickety snick although i need more practice going down the box, it doesnt seem to cope with multiple shifts in quick succession as it does using the clutch.
Of course being Wales it rained very heavily on a couple of occasions letting me try rain mode, I was allways in the "I am the traction control unit and why do i want all this fancy electronic trickery" brigade, i am a convert, the traction kicks in and lets me know it is time to back off a bit or as i got more used to it carry on pushing and let it sort itself out. Very confidence inspiring it is !!
Road mode is just fine and the use of dynamic seemed just greedy !
I dont like the sidestand which seems to keep the bike too upright even on level surfaces and looks positively precarious on uneven ground which will take some carefull planning when parking.
The seat is far comfier than the old OE seat although i cant wait for the Sargent to come i need to adjust the bars a little for optimum comfort in the arm department My knees which used to suffer a bit no longer ached at the end of the days ride so thats a bonus
Cruise control came in handy on the last leg home on the M1 road works with 50 mph average speed cameras
Tank range is brilliant (compared to what i was used to) and fuel economy which isnt high on my list of priorities, is at least as good as the old bike. It didnt use any oil wheras the old bike would have done.
All in all Happy days, I love the bike and cant wait to Hoon it round the Highlands at the end of this month.
A couple of snaps !!
I've not started counting sleeps until mine arrives, yet!
