Endless smooth linear power on tap, quite agile for a Búfala (female Buffalo in Spanish which is what we call her over here hehehe), and she brakes like she weighed way less than she does... ergonomics are very similar to the 5th and 6th gens... just a smidgen more upright... I'm 6'4" and had no comfort issues... didn't notice a difference in stock aerodynamic protection like some people complain about... compared to the 5th gen and the VTEC that is... but I would be needing a higher screen.
Honda let me loose on one for an hour. I found the curviest route I could think of within an attainable radius and rode it several times... I zip tied a camera to the top yoke to record the fun. I haven't posted it on Youtube as they know me quite well at the local dealers and the young salesman has already appeared on a couple of vids of mine (just his voice not his face) and although he's good about it, based on his comments I'd say he's not keen for me to do so... so I don't want to ruin the trust as they do treat me well on prices for bits and pieces and test rides like this one...
But I HAVE uploaded them to Megaupload so folks can download them and check them out... just didn't want them on direct streaming sites like Youtube. I would ask no-one does so with them. Thanks in advance.
Suspensions and chassis... handles well, solid, no head shake under heavy braking... not as flickable as the 800s as can be expected but given enough time to get to know her limits...
I was quite rough on her to see how well she handled... seemed to forgive all sorts of "mistakes"... hamfisted throttle adjustments and gear changes... no heart in mouth moments at all... seems to absorb bad judgement.... ABS never kicked in... front wheel never broke loose... and I really jammed the brakes on... oh yeah, upshifting under heavy acceleration she slipped into neutral a couple of times, but that could be me not being used to her yet.
There's a small and I guess to-be-expected clunk in the shaft-drive when your intermitently On and Off the throttle at low RPM... no drama...
You take off, look down at the console and suddenly you're doing 180 km/h...
But I polished off 3/4 of a tank in about one hour (of which I really only rode 45 mintues as I spent time setting up the camera, stopping and adjusting preload and stuff). The rear tyre was at the wear limit with about 4000 km on it (this thing eats tyres like no-one's business so it's not just the fuel economy you've got to worry about)...
In terms of performance I can't find fault with this machine... but in terms of convenience (fuel/tyres) obviously it will eat a hole in your pocket.
The front wheel will come off the ground with little effort. First and second gear last forever... higher gears seem to get shorter between changes...
It had rained that morning so I had to be a leeedel cautious in the curves. I can confirm that the water/mud will get flung up through the gaps on either side of the forks. That area was all covered in muddy stains. The rear wheel will spin under acceleration in these conditions.
The preload adjuster is a little too close to the frame making it less easy to turn than if it were more seperated but it's not a big issue.
The R/R is humunguous, maybe twice the size and in a better location (fins poke out into the space of the rear wheel arch. I should have called up a girflfriend and thrown her on the back for a bit to evaluate its two-up qualities, but I just didn't think of it. The radiator fan kept coming on quite a lot at lower speeds.
I can say I really had fun riding her... but until they get a bigger tank and better fuel economy and someone develops some tyres to go the distance... it's out of my financial possibilities... 'cause it's not just the initial lay-out for the bike...
Bloody horn and indicator switches are switched around, so I kept hitting the horn when turning off the indicators... even when overtaking a bloody police car :angry: :angry:
Now that the temp gauge is LED "analogue" style, even though the radiator comes on... you're not seeing big 3-digit numbers making you paranoid (celsius over here). The fuel gauge doesn't drop in a linear fashion... I thought at first that she wasn't as thirsty as I had expected... but then suddenly the thing started dropping like it had sprung a leak... got back to the stealers with the reserve blinking away... and on the way back I recalled the salesman saying to himself whther or not he should top her up on fuel... and started to worry. Not good.
It was the Seal Grey colour one. Much prefer this to the red-wine one... the white has a gorgeous pearl effect.
http://img171.imageshack.us/img171/9186/22042010621.jpg
http://img130.imageshack.us/img130/185/22042010622.jpg
http://img265.imageshack.us/img265/5303/22042010623.jpg
http://img21.imageshack.us/img21/396/22042010624.jpg
http://img26.imageshack.us/img26/1858/22042010625.jpg
http://img22.imageshack.us/img22/2966/22042010626.jpg
If anyone has any questions... fire away...
Megaload URLs:
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=0075WE9X
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=YI5GHIH0
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=5YKJMCGX
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=Q5RY0Y4B
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=L74FADFY
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=RQ4KU7YR
Honda let me loose on one for an hour. I found the curviest route I could think of within an attainable radius and rode it several times... I zip tied a camera to the top yoke to record the fun. I haven't posted it on Youtube as they know me quite well at the local dealers and the young salesman has already appeared on a couple of vids of mine (just his voice not his face) and although he's good about it, based on his comments I'd say he's not keen for me to do so... so I don't want to ruin the trust as they do treat me well on prices for bits and pieces and test rides like this one...
But I HAVE uploaded them to Megaupload so folks can download them and check them out... just didn't want them on direct streaming sites like Youtube. I would ask no-one does so with them. Thanks in advance.
Suspensions and chassis... handles well, solid, no head shake under heavy braking... not as flickable as the 800s as can be expected but given enough time to get to know her limits...
I was quite rough on her to see how well she handled... seemed to forgive all sorts of "mistakes"... hamfisted throttle adjustments and gear changes... no heart in mouth moments at all... seems to absorb bad judgement.... ABS never kicked in... front wheel never broke loose... and I really jammed the brakes on... oh yeah, upshifting under heavy acceleration she slipped into neutral a couple of times, but that could be me not being used to her yet.
There's a small and I guess to-be-expected clunk in the shaft-drive when your intermitently On and Off the throttle at low RPM... no drama...
You take off, look down at the console and suddenly you're doing 180 km/h...
But I polished off 3/4 of a tank in about one hour (of which I really only rode 45 mintues as I spent time setting up the camera, stopping and adjusting preload and stuff). The rear tyre was at the wear limit with about 4000 km on it (this thing eats tyres like no-one's business so it's not just the fuel economy you've got to worry about)...
In terms of performance I can't find fault with this machine... but in terms of convenience (fuel/tyres) obviously it will eat a hole in your pocket.
The front wheel will come off the ground with little effort. First and second gear last forever... higher gears seem to get shorter between changes...
It had rained that morning so I had to be a leeedel cautious in the curves. I can confirm that the water/mud will get flung up through the gaps on either side of the forks. That area was all covered in muddy stains. The rear wheel will spin under acceleration in these conditions.
The preload adjuster is a little too close to the frame making it less easy to turn than if it were more seperated but it's not a big issue.
The R/R is humunguous, maybe twice the size and in a better location (fins poke out into the space of the rear wheel arch. I should have called up a girflfriend and thrown her on the back for a bit to evaluate its two-up qualities, but I just didn't think of it. The radiator fan kept coming on quite a lot at lower speeds.
I can say I really had fun riding her... but until they get a bigger tank and better fuel economy and someone develops some tyres to go the distance... it's out of my financial possibilities... 'cause it's not just the initial lay-out for the bike...
Bloody horn and indicator switches are switched around, so I kept hitting the horn when turning off the indicators... even when overtaking a bloody police car :angry: :angry:
Now that the temp gauge is LED "analogue" style, even though the radiator comes on... you're not seeing big 3-digit numbers making you paranoid (celsius over here). The fuel gauge doesn't drop in a linear fashion... I thought at first that she wasn't as thirsty as I had expected... but then suddenly the thing started dropping like it had sprung a leak... got back to the stealers with the reserve blinking away... and on the way back I recalled the salesman saying to himself whther or not he should top her up on fuel... and started to worry. Not good.
It was the Seal Grey colour one. Much prefer this to the red-wine one... the white has a gorgeous pearl effect.
http://img171.imageshack.us/img171/9186/22042010621.jpg
http://img130.imageshack.us/img130/185/22042010622.jpg
http://img265.imageshack.us/img265/5303/22042010623.jpg
http://img21.imageshack.us/img21/396/22042010624.jpg
http://img26.imageshack.us/img26/1858/22042010625.jpg
http://img22.imageshack.us/img22/2966/22042010626.jpg
If anyone has any questions... fire away...
Megaload URLs:
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=0075WE9X
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=YI5GHIH0
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=5YKJMCGX
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=Q5RY0Y4B
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=L74FADFY
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=RQ4KU7YR