Drum role please ! It finally happened.... my first problem free ride
Did a 240 mile trip with no faults or mishaps yayyyyyyyyy
Gave me chance to get more used to the bike at least.
Took the first half of the trip at a steady rate up to the 100 mark, to try and get a feel of the handling and braking.
I was taking particular attention to the front end and namely forks. As I’ve heard a lot about them being soft and bottoming out ect.
I observed no such problems. Ok I’ve had better and smoother with more feel ect but the forks, while not the best were certainly a none problem. Of course, there is a slight possibility that the previous owner had them sorted. Although the bike is very stock and does not come across as it was well looked after. So in truth, I doubt the previous owner spent money on getting the said forks sorted.
Started to push it more on the return trip. Spinning it up to and riding around 8500 rpm and speeds around 120-130 mark.
A few notes to myself !
I agree with many on here in that the gearing is a tad high. I think one tooth smaller on the front would send it a tad too low,
So when I change the chain and sprockets I have decided to go just one tooth bigger on the rear. My gut feeling says this will be about right
I also started to tip it on its ear a bit. I found it a tad twitchy on entry but held a nice line once settled.
The forks were better than I expected for feedback. Not great, but enough feedback to make them rather safe.
The rear end was a different matter. Rather hard and seemingly devoid of feedback. That said... the bike was not sliding and so I guess it did it’s job. It did make me wary of too much throttle on exit as I think you could be caught out with a scary high side, having so little feedback.
I believe I can make the handling much better. First and foremost... fitting Metz roadtech 01 will help with stability and improve the ride quality. They are a tad slow turning, so I will rectify it with a 6mm spacer on the rear shock.
When I can afford it... I will have the front forks tuned with some better quality gear and fit a decent rear shock.
I can imagine it being an awesome bike with a bit of money spent
However... just a change of tyre and 6mm rear lift should help to make it very good for now
