Nice dry day here in semi-rural Hampshire so I checked the tyre pressures and filled the new steed with 15 litres of Esso's finest and have just got back from a 35/40 mile shakedown first ride. Roads were still wet in places but not a lot of leaves on the ground so all was good
Well, despite the thread title, it's not totally unsuitable for old fat feckers such as I...as regards the riding position it was just as (un)comfortable as I remember my 954 'Blade.
It only seems to affect my neck, everything else I can cope with. Even though there was a fair amount of 30/40 mph dawdling my wrists, knees and joints didn't ache any more than when I left. It's definitely a bike I will need to acclimatise to, though, if I decide to do 2-3 hours at a time, not that I think I will be doing many 300 mile days on the old girl.
As to the bike itself, handling is sharp and solid, pretty much as I remember my Gen1 Mille R, engine is sweet although clutchless up changes are not as easy. It revs really nicely and the shift light is useful when making progress.
I think the gearing must be standard as it's definitely a little longer than the Mille which I changed from 17/42 to 16/44.
The major bugbear, well the only thing that annoyed me really, was the mirrors..........they only really gave me a good view of my wrists and forearms, not even my elbows
So I'll be having a play with those before my next ride.
Only other things on the agenda will be a higher screen so that I can see the clocks better and some db killers for the twin Akras. I love the sound of the Rotax V-Twin but I don't reckon this system is any quieter than the Ti Racing end can on the Mille - and that struggled to get through the 105db limit at a Cadwell trackday
That's all for now, folks, it's still gonna be here for Xmas
Kev
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