Well I'm 180+ miles in ....
First impressions .
Coming from an air/oil hexhead to a liquid/oil model engine noise, or lack of it was a revelation
Weight - supposedly 12G heavier than the old hexhead.
Really? it was far easier to wheel around with the engine off, and just as chuckable when on the move
, cant fault it here
Front screen New slimline small screen
This, I dont like ... I have a tinted version, and whilst it may look asthetically pleasing I prefer a clear version
Adjustability - Yes it's adjustable .. but for what purpose ... it made no difference whatsoever ... Why....
Wind noise!!! OMG, all i can say is thank god for earplugs. it was horrendous, and adjusting the screen made absoloutly no difference.
No actually it did make a difference. worse to even worse, Thank god i had taken my peak off for the winter months ..
LED Headlamp
Its pretty and has a nice spread, but where is the front punch? It lights up a nice area, but no discerned hot spot or target area.
My old LED's & spots whilst not ideal at least gave a good throw and hot spot, albeit not very far in front but a fair sized window so to speak
Suspension
Compared to the simple preload on my Wilbers & original oem shock the new dynamic ESA stuff seemed to perform well, soaked up loads of humps and bumps with no protests , so cant complain there
Seat
Low seat fitted, not as comfortable as the hexhead low seat, could do with a bit more padding in the back end
Kombi
One of the reasons of going to the new model was the new LCD display & integration with the NAV VI
Whilst the RHS of the kombi is large and clear to see/ read, the speedo portion for me is way way to small .
I'm going to have to wear bifocals just to see the speedo portion its that small ...
I thought you could get speed to show on the Nav VI, but that sits a tad too far forward, so it covers the rev counter & controlling it with the nav wheel is fun lol
controls
Coming from the LH / RH indicator set up from the hexhead & going back to the LH combined set up was a bit of a learning curve lol, a few people got tooted instead
... Learing curve
Heated grips- nice but odd .. Hexhead - Press 1- hot, press 2 -defcon 1 hot LC press 1 - Defcon1, press 2 - hot bizzare ?
Cruise controll - brilliant nuff said. getting used to it was fun for a few attempts
wonder wheel, not sure, i need to know should it be very stiff to operate or quite loose? mine appears quite stiff
It's a lovely bike, and compared to the hex is a revelation , but this is going to seem odd..
It's almost soulless. The hexhead has a unique character, the lumbering thunking pots as it spins up ,almost asthmatic,
and whilst not the most dynamic it had a certain charm as it lumbers out of corners or dives into bends
This new one just does it, no fuss histrionics almost too eager to please. nothing requires thought or effort. I'm not saying its a bad thing,
but it's as if ive got a F1 race car, tucked in there, always wanting to get out and run at every oppertunity.
which i fine but sometimes i just want the low lolloping gait of the hexhead if i'm cruising ...
Lets see what i think in the next 500 miles or so
Two big niggles & one Q
The rear tyre is square, and whilst it has loads of tread, it made transitions
In & out of bends interesting ( how that didnt get picked up in the service is beyond me) ; )
Spoked wheels... pretty to look at , but i'm not a fan if i'm honest
Ive had a hub fail on a smaller bike, and given that this beast loads everything from one side does make me wonder how long the rear hub/ wheel will last
One question ...
general engine temp was 79-82 c all the way back.
I stopped briefly to check the headlights and left the engine running the temp got up to 92c and a warning triangle popped up on RHS of the kombi ( yellow lamp)
it went off an on a couple of time, but went off when i started moving again - i'm guessing its a temperature warning.. is it normal, or should it be off for good ?
Well thats it...
I'm back
First impressions .
Coming from an air/oil hexhead to a liquid/oil model engine noise, or lack of it was a revelation
Weight - supposedly 12G heavier than the old hexhead.
Really? it was far easier to wheel around with the engine off, and just as chuckable when on the move
, cant fault it here Front screen New slimline small screen
This, I dont like ... I have a tinted version, and whilst it may look asthetically pleasing I prefer a clear version
Adjustability - Yes it's adjustable .. but for what purpose ... it made no difference whatsoever ... Why....
Wind noise!!! OMG, all i can say is thank god for earplugs. it was horrendous, and adjusting the screen made absoloutly no difference.
No actually it did make a difference. worse to even worse, Thank god i had taken my peak off for the winter months ..
LED Headlamp
Its pretty and has a nice spread, but where is the front punch? It lights up a nice area, but no discerned hot spot or target area.
My old LED's & spots whilst not ideal at least gave a good throw and hot spot, albeit not very far in front but a fair sized window so to speak
Suspension
Compared to the simple preload on my Wilbers & original oem shock the new dynamic ESA stuff seemed to perform well, soaked up loads of humps and bumps with no protests , so cant complain there
Seat
Low seat fitted, not as comfortable as the hexhead low seat, could do with a bit more padding in the back end
Kombi
One of the reasons of going to the new model was the new LCD display & integration with the NAV VI
Whilst the RHS of the kombi is large and clear to see/ read, the speedo portion for me is way way to small .
I'm going to have to wear bifocals just to see the speedo portion its that small ...
I thought you could get speed to show on the Nav VI, but that sits a tad too far forward, so it covers the rev counter & controlling it with the nav wheel is fun lol
controls
Coming from the LH / RH indicator set up from the hexhead & going back to the LH combined set up was a bit of a learning curve lol, a few people got tooted instead
... Learing curve Heated grips- nice but odd .. Hexhead - Press 1- hot, press 2 -defcon 1 hot LC press 1 - Defcon1, press 2 - hot bizzare ?
Cruise controll - brilliant nuff said. getting used to it was fun for a few attempts
wonder wheel, not sure, i need to know should it be very stiff to operate or quite loose? mine appears quite stiff
It's a lovely bike, and compared to the hex is a revelation , but this is going to seem odd..
It's almost soulless. The hexhead has a unique character, the lumbering thunking pots as it spins up ,almost asthmatic,
and whilst not the most dynamic it had a certain charm as it lumbers out of corners or dives into bends
This new one just does it, no fuss histrionics almost too eager to please. nothing requires thought or effort. I'm not saying its a bad thing,
but it's as if ive got a F1 race car, tucked in there, always wanting to get out and run at every oppertunity.
which i fine but sometimes i just want the low lolloping gait of the hexhead if i'm cruising ...
Lets see what i think in the next 500 miles or so
Two big niggles & one Q
The rear tyre is square, and whilst it has loads of tread, it made transitions
In & out of bends interesting
( how that didnt get picked up in the service is beyond me) ; ) Spoked wheels... pretty to look at , but i'm not a fan if i'm honest
Ive had a hub fail on a smaller bike, and given that this beast loads everything from one side does make me wonder how long the rear hub/ wheel will last
One question ...
general engine temp was 79-82 c all the way back.
I stopped briefly to check the headlights and left the engine running the temp got up to 92c and a warning triangle popped up on RHS of the kombi ( yellow lamp)
it went off an on a couple of time, but went off when i started moving again - i'm guessing its a temperature warning.. is it normal, or should it be off for good ?
Well thats it...
I'm back
