Another beautiful day here in FL. 78 and sunny. I wish I could bottle this weather up.
First bike I demo'd today was the new V-strom 1000 (the one with the beak nose.. no doubt influenced by the Multistrada).
Excellent machine! Smooth strong motor, with none of the vibration of the Tenere. The powerband is broader than that of Tenere as well, but what really made me enjoy it was how well it rode. None of the squishy, couchy feel of the Super Ten. This bike is clearly aimed much more for the road and much less for off-road. Less buffeting than Super Ten too, and the screen offers manual angle adjust-ability with several detents.. I was able to play with different angles while riding, so very easy to adjust.
If I had to say anything negative about this one.. the seat is very tall.. taller than Tenere. This is the first bike I've had to tip-toe (short of full on dirt bikes).
Oh and get this.. average mpg on the particular bike I rode (demo only.. so everyone goes WOT on these to get the feel for its power)... 50.6
Very very impressive.
Next up was the Concourse.
This bike was on my "maybe one day" list, based on specs and how similar it is to FJR. Having ridden it, it is now off the list.
The good: excellent engine with plenty of very linear power (arguably more refined than FJR). Transmission is smooth and has 6 gears, unlike the FJR.
The not-so-good: unlike the FJR, this bike does not hide its weight well. It feels heavy and wallowy. Perhaps default suspension settings were way off for my weight (170), but there was very pronounced fork dive under moderate breaking and very evident weight transfer when easing off the break.. felt like fork was coming back up and the rear was squatting down quite a bit.
Breaks were very vague. Trying to get on them as progressively as I could.. there's a lot of "nothing is happening" followed by a grab and big fork dive. It also seemed like I could feel a bit of pulsation at the lever.. almost like ABS was kicking on.. or maybe the rotors were warped?
Finally, with my size twelves and my toes on pegs, I could not tuck the heals in against the heal plates. Instead, my heals were bottoming out on the rear passenger foot rest brackets, which essentially had me in a duck-footed position.
This bike has an electronically adjustable screen, just like FJR. Oddly, there was buffeting at any level. More than FJR. Aftermarket screen would be in order, if I owned this bike.
This may very well be a combination of poorly set up bike and me expecting too much out of it.
Last demo of the day was the ZX14R.
Holy power, Batman!! :rof:
This is one of those bike which make my FZ1 feel slow.. very VERY slow
This thing (just like the Busa) is supposed to be an absolute pig, but I found it to be pleasantly maneuverable. I could be crazy, but I think the handling is no worse than FZ1. Difficult to say, as there were only few curves on the test ride, but the few I did take.. bike felt perfectly composed and held its line well. We did a stretch on the highway at about 80mph.. I don't think I ever got out of 3rd gear (and could have easily stayed in 2nd). Roll on from any RPM and the thing shoots forward effortlessly, but in a linear and composed manner. I really enjoyed riding this thing and could probably enjoy owning one.. except for one thing: major heat coming off the engine. I felt it at every stop and it was only 80 degrees out.. not exactly scorching. That's a deal breaker in my book.
Let me know if there's any bike you want me to jump on, while I'm here
(keep in mind there's no Honda, KTM or BMW )
First bike I demo'd today was the new V-strom 1000 (the one with the beak nose.. no doubt influenced by the Multistrada).
Excellent machine! Smooth strong motor, with none of the vibration of the Tenere. The powerband is broader than that of Tenere as well, but what really made me enjoy it was how well it rode. None of the squishy, couchy feel of the Super Ten. This bike is clearly aimed much more for the road and much less for off-road. Less buffeting than Super Ten too, and the screen offers manual angle adjust-ability with several detents.. I was able to play with different angles while riding, so very easy to adjust.
If I had to say anything negative about this one.. the seat is very tall.. taller than Tenere. This is the first bike I've had to tip-toe (short of full on dirt bikes).
Oh and get this.. average mpg on the particular bike I rode (demo only.. so everyone goes WOT on these to get the feel for its power)... 50.6
Very very impressive.
Next up was the Concourse.
This bike was on my "maybe one day" list, based on specs and how similar it is to FJR. Having ridden it, it is now off the list.
The good: excellent engine with plenty of very linear power (arguably more refined than FJR). Transmission is smooth and has 6 gears, unlike the FJR.
The not-so-good: unlike the FJR, this bike does not hide its weight well. It feels heavy and wallowy. Perhaps default suspension settings were way off for my weight (170), but there was very pronounced fork dive under moderate breaking and very evident weight transfer when easing off the break.. felt like fork was coming back up and the rear was squatting down quite a bit.
Breaks were very vague. Trying to get on them as progressively as I could.. there's a lot of "nothing is happening" followed by a grab and big fork dive. It also seemed like I could feel a bit of pulsation at the lever.. almost like ABS was kicking on.. or maybe the rotors were warped?
Finally, with my size twelves and my toes on pegs, I could not tuck the heals in against the heal plates. Instead, my heals were bottoming out on the rear passenger foot rest brackets, which essentially had me in a duck-footed position.
This bike has an electronically adjustable screen, just like FJR. Oddly, there was buffeting at any level. More than FJR. Aftermarket screen would be in order, if I owned this bike.
This may very well be a combination of poorly set up bike and me expecting too much out of it.
Last demo of the day was the ZX14R.
Holy power, Batman!! :rof:
This is one of those bike which make my FZ1 feel slow.. very VERY slow
This thing (just like the Busa) is supposed to be an absolute pig, but I found it to be pleasantly maneuverable. I could be crazy, but I think the handling is no worse than FZ1. Difficult to say, as there were only few curves on the test ride, but the few I did take.. bike felt perfectly composed and held its line well. We did a stretch on the highway at about 80mph.. I don't think I ever got out of 3rd gear (and could have easily stayed in 2nd). Roll on from any RPM and the thing shoots forward effortlessly, but in a linear and composed manner. I really enjoyed riding this thing and could probably enjoy owning one.. except for one thing: major heat coming off the engine. I felt it at every stop and it was only 80 degrees out.. not exactly scorching. That's a deal breaker in my book.
Let me know if there's any bike you want me to jump on, while I'm here
(keep in mind there's no Honda, KTM or BMW
)
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