Firstly a huge word of thanks goes to Roy "Blue Sweeper" for his green lane guidance this morning around Surrey. Without his local knowledge, the test would have been reasonably pointless. What this now means is that it's all his fault, or so I've told the wife.
My first impression of the HP2 at a fog swamped Vines this morning was, "ah, where did the money go?" My final impression was "bloody hell, it's cheap at twice the price!" The demonstrator model I rode looked very well used and very underloved. The pipes and exhaust especially looked as if they had been through the wars. There are tie clips holding on various bits of plastic, the hand guards look cheap and you're left with a sense of "hang on a minute, what am I missing here."
Roy is better placed to talk about where exactly we went but it was a good 2hrs of green lanes starting at Newlands corner and finishing with the ford crossing at Shere. Upon our return to Vines, both bikes and riders had to jet hosed.
So now I'm back home what do I think? My own GS1200 is a cracking bike, it's great for my daily commute, its carries the equivalent of what's in my attic, it's comfortable and it could be the last bike I ever need.
However, the HP2 just blew my mind. Sure riding out of Vines and through Guildford I thought ok its quicker but is that it. I haven't had this much fun on a bike since I rode 3,000 miles around Alaska on dirt last summer. And that was on a KLR650. Why? it was light, agile and had sufficient power. The HP2 is very light, very agile and has way too much power which is just right! It's a scalpel to my GS1200's broadsword. There is no way I could have ridden my GS1200 with TKC80s around the lanes I was on today. NO WAY!
So I'm left with a problem. In 2hrs I've had more fun on the HP2 than I have in 6 months of GS1200 ownership. Yes they're roughly the same engine but the punch and torque of the HP2 takes your breath away. It's pure biking in every sense of the word.
Now where's the web site for eBay, Autotrader and 1-800-MARRIAGE-GUIDANCE...............................
Regards
Jeremy
My first impression of the HP2 at a fog swamped Vines this morning was, "ah, where did the money go?" My final impression was "bloody hell, it's cheap at twice the price!" The demonstrator model I rode looked very well used and very underloved. The pipes and exhaust especially looked as if they had been through the wars. There are tie clips holding on various bits of plastic, the hand guards look cheap and you're left with a sense of "hang on a minute, what am I missing here."
Roy is better placed to talk about where exactly we went but it was a good 2hrs of green lanes starting at Newlands corner and finishing with the ford crossing at Shere. Upon our return to Vines, both bikes and riders had to jet hosed.
So now I'm back home what do I think? My own GS1200 is a cracking bike, it's great for my daily commute, its carries the equivalent of what's in my attic, it's comfortable and it could be the last bike I ever need.
However, the HP2 just blew my mind. Sure riding out of Vines and through Guildford I thought ok its quicker but is that it. I haven't had this much fun on a bike since I rode 3,000 miles around Alaska on dirt last summer. And that was on a KLR650. Why? it was light, agile and had sufficient power. The HP2 is very light, very agile and has way too much power which is just right! It's a scalpel to my GS1200's broadsword. There is no way I could have ridden my GS1200 with TKC80s around the lanes I was on today. NO WAY!
So I'm left with a problem. In 2hrs I've had more fun on the HP2 than I have in 6 months of GS1200 ownership. Yes they're roughly the same engine but the punch and torque of the HP2 takes your breath away. It's pure biking in every sense of the word.
Now where's the web site for eBay, Autotrader and 1-800-MARRIAGE-GUIDANCE...............................
Regards
Jeremy