Managed to get a quick first 180 miles on the S this afternoon. Roads were a good mixture of fast B roads and back lanes, and the bike was great.
I tried all the suspension settings, and engine maps, and Street damping with Sport throttle was my favourite, and seemed to soak the bumps up nicely, and give the sharpest acceleration. I had the screen in the lowest position the whole time, and there was no buffeting on my lid, until getting into silly speeds.
The power and torque are brilliant. Sit behind a car at 30mph in 6th, crank it open, and it just keeps pulling. At one point I stopped in 3rd, turned the bike off then pulled away in 3rd without realising; no extra revs, and it just set off as normal. I loved my XR, but this is so much more usable. I always found myself doing prison speeds on that bike, to get the best from it. This will get there just as quick, but it's not all about the top end on the S.
The handling is very very good. Fast sweeping bends at triple figures, and the bike take it all in its stride.
The computer is a doddle to work, scrolling through everything while riding is very intuitive.
The only niggles, as I'm struggling to think of any negatives, was that the KTM my ride disconnected my phone from my headset when trying to forward songs (I haven't read the manual yet, so this may be my fault), and the mirrors vibrate a fair bit. Other than that, it's spot on.
Am I pleased I bought one? Hell yeah!
I tried all the suspension settings, and engine maps, and Street damping with Sport throttle was my favourite, and seemed to soak the bumps up nicely, and give the sharpest acceleration. I had the screen in the lowest position the whole time, and there was no buffeting on my lid, until getting into silly speeds.
The power and torque are brilliant. Sit behind a car at 30mph in 6th, crank it open, and it just keeps pulling. At one point I stopped in 3rd, turned the bike off then pulled away in 3rd without realising; no extra revs, and it just set off as normal. I loved my XR, but this is so much more usable. I always found myself doing prison speeds on that bike, to get the best from it. This will get there just as quick, but it's not all about the top end on the S.
The handling is very very good. Fast sweeping bends at triple figures, and the bike take it all in its stride.
The computer is a doddle to work, scrolling through everything while riding is very intuitive.
The only niggles, as I'm struggling to think of any negatives, was that the KTM my ride disconnected my phone from my headset when trying to forward songs (I haven't read the manual yet, so this may be my fault), and the mirrors vibrate a fair bit. Other than that, it's spot on.
Am I pleased I bought one? Hell yeah!
