Sunny wrote: Fri Apr 11, 2025 10:16 pm
weeksy wrote: Fri Apr 11, 2025 6:49 am
mboy wrote: Thu Apr 10, 2025 10:35 pm
Another 70 miles done today... 143 on the clock now.
Should manage about the same again tomorrow, then hopefully get 100 or so in on Saturday, and again on Sunday as long as the weather plays ball... Should be run in by mid next week anyway.
YOu haven't actually said if you like it, how it rides, what it does well/badly...
That's cos he's only been to the shops on it so far
Exactly... Still running it in, so bit early for a full review... Done 350 miles on it now though, still not exceeded 5500rpm (redline is 9k), but so far I'm loving it! It's the most fun I've had on a bike at "sensible" speeds in a very long time. Riding this thing is a real event... Not in a "oh my god it's difficult to ride" way, just in the way that it feels so rewarding all the time. The long wheelbase means its inherently incredibly stable on the long sweeping corners, though it does take a bit more leaning into tighter corners than you would expect (only a little though), but the chassis feels superb, the engine is probably the most characterful V-Twin I've ridden (and I've ridden most of them, owned lots of them)... It's a very mechanical feeling bike (Zero rider aids except ABS, not even traction control on this base model), but it doesn't feel like it needs them. I thought I might miss a quickshifter, but aside from the long 1st to 2nd shift through neutral (use the clutch for sure here), clutchless upshifts feel very natural on it just rolling off the throttle a little to allow the dogs to release the current gear. As for downshifting, well it's an absolute joy to blip it... Perfect blipped downshifts every time, so predictable is the throttle and the clutch and the gearbox... It makes you feel like a real hero just riding along at about 4 or 5 tenths. The debaffled Akra sounds perfect too with the cat still in place... Not too noisy, but sounds just right. Any louder would be too much. Even the stock suspension (Sachs/ZF front and rear) is way better than I was expecting, given the shock is the same as came fitted on my old Ducati Streetfighter V2 and it was bloody awful on that bike.
The way I put it to a friend yesterday is it's like a 2 wheeled Mustang Convertible, but a modern one not a 60's one... So it has decent enough performance and handling if you want to press on (unlike a classic that would get all out of shape very quickly if you started to hustle it), but the reality is you're more likely to drop the hood and savour the sights and the sounds of engine at or near legal speeds instead...
Even the pissy little 13L tank isn't quite as bad as I feared it might be. So far have had 112 and 115 miles before the reserve light has come on (reserve is only 2L mind, so you NEED to stop as soon as it comes on if not before)... I've had Tuono V Twins and a V4 that with an 18L tank were only getting about the same, and the MT-10 I had would usually be on reserve (albeit a 4L reserve) before 100 miles anyway...
Put some little bar end mirrors on now, and fitted a USB-C port so I can charge my phone (and use it as a Nav) whilst riding. Oh and some R&G paddock stand bobbins. Heated grips will be going on at some point once I've decided if I'm keeping the stock handlebars or want to change to a different shape. But other than that, probably not going to do too much to it, other than ride it... Maybe a small fly screen just to take a small amount of wind blast off my chest (it's as bad if not worse than my Supermoto for wind protection, absolutely non existent!), but doesn't feel like it needs anything else...
Can't wait til after the first service (500 miles) so I can open the taps a bit more now!
