Well its been a long nine months but finally the G/S is on the road. 
Don't think she'll ever be concours in my ownership but would hope she becomes a fairly reliable day tourer. She did start to stutter after some fairly high speed riding, thought it might be vapour lock so scrabbled to undo the fuel cap but no joy. So banking on that it may be the coil (which I expect is original), only seems to occur after prolonged high speed riding and its over 40 degrees here at the moment.
Anyway some thoughts from a a complete airhead newbee, after a few hundred miles:
Agricucltural gearchange as is well reported, though I feel I am now getting the hang of it, scrunching has become less anyway. I find if you patient in letting the revs die off she changes fairly neatly, and then gently does it with the clutch, things can be quite smooth. If you can change quickly through the gears, well I'll have to work on that one.
At speed I've found when you come off the revs after a hard acceleration (say between 4th to go to 5th) the bike gives quite a prominent rocking motion
, a little scary at first but suppose something you just get used to.
Pulls fantastically (I've never ridden a sportsbike) through all gears, 1000cc upgrade not on the cards for me.
I like the shake from side to side at traffic lights.
I have no problem with sidestand, like the way it retracts when the bike comes upright. Useless on all but hard surface I expect though.
The brakes I thought were actually ok. I first rode with the original pads (probably 29 years old) and thought this was just suicide. After braided hose and new pads I can pull an emergency stop, but I'm a fairly relaxed/cautious rider, so hope not to ES too often.
Surprisingly I found the (new) mirrors pretty good (after dropping the levers so I could adjust them correctly) though subject to vibration at high revs.
She starts straight on the button, no choke, but then its hot here. Not a hint of smoke.
Even at only 5'9 I am comfortable with the saddle height which I was surprised at. I cannot flat foot, but balls of my feet are touching both sides. Paddling on any small incline requires me to dismount though.
I think there's a little bit of magic there which few bikes I've owned have. I've had to go for a ride every day since she left the garage (even with the potential dodgy coil). So think she will be coming back to the UK with me in the not too distant future. Spent more than she's worth on parts alone (3.5k)
so now need to get some miles under my belt in return.
The little windscreen is remarkedly protective. I was quite amazed at how little windblast I was getting at 70mph - indicated, needle waves a bit at these speeds so not sure on accuray.
Some photos attached, a little dirty as thought it would be fun to play in the sand, not such a good idea as don't have the skill but just managed to keep going onto solid ground before she buried herself.
Straw pole, should the windshield be white? Not sure myself but someone pointed out that there are too many colours (and everbody has asked why the seat is orange). What do you think?
Hope thats of some interest.
Regards
kavb
Don't think she'll ever be concours in my ownership but would hope she becomes a fairly reliable day tourer. She did start to stutter after some fairly high speed riding, thought it might be vapour lock so scrabbled to undo the fuel cap but no joy. So banking on that it may be the coil (which I expect is original), only seems to occur after prolonged high speed riding and its over 40 degrees here at the moment.
Anyway some thoughts from a a complete airhead newbee, after a few hundred miles:
Agricucltural gearchange as is well reported, though I feel I am now getting the hang of it, scrunching has become less anyway. I find if you patient in letting the revs die off she changes fairly neatly, and then gently does it with the clutch, things can be quite smooth. If you can change quickly through the gears, well I'll have to work on that one.
At speed I've found when you come off the revs after a hard acceleration (say between 4th to go to 5th) the bike gives quite a prominent rocking motion
, a little scary at first but suppose something you just get used to.Pulls fantastically (I've never ridden a sportsbike) through all gears, 1000cc upgrade not on the cards for me.
I like the shake from side to side at traffic lights.
I have no problem with sidestand, like the way it retracts when the bike comes upright. Useless on all but hard surface I expect though.
The brakes I thought were actually ok. I first rode with the original pads (probably 29 years old) and thought this was just suicide
. After braided hose and new pads I can pull an emergency stop, but I'm a fairly relaxed/cautious rider, so hope not to ES too often.Surprisingly I found the (new) mirrors pretty good (after dropping the levers so I could adjust them correctly) though subject to vibration at high revs.
She starts straight on the button, no choke, but then its hot here. Not a hint of smoke.
Even at only 5'9 I am comfortable with the saddle height which I was surprised at. I cannot flat foot, but balls of my feet are touching both sides. Paddling on any small incline requires me to dismount though.
I think there's a little bit of magic there which few bikes I've owned have. I've had to go for a ride every day since she left the garage (even with the potential dodgy coil). So think she will be coming back to the UK with me in the not too distant future. Spent more than she's worth on parts alone (3.5k)
so now need to get some miles under my belt in return.The little windscreen is remarkedly protective. I was quite amazed at how little windblast I was getting at 70mph - indicated, needle waves a bit at these speeds so not sure on accuray.
Some photos attached, a little dirty as thought it would be fun to play in the sand, not such a good idea as don't have the skill but just managed to keep going onto solid ground before she buried herself.
Straw pole, should the windshield be white? Not sure myself but someone pointed out that there are too many colours (and everbody has asked why the seat is orange). What do you think?
Hope thats of some interest.
Regards
kavb
I've always done the old 123 click method with a blip on the "2" when changing down..
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