I rode the Rally down to Hamilton (from Whangarei) yesterday then back again today. Going down just stuck to the main drags to see how the bike performed on the Expressway
. It can maintain speed okay but needs to use the gears if there is a headwind (which there was). So doable but not enjoyable (but when is expressway ever enjoyable on a bike).
Coming back I chose some alternatives north of Auckland - SH16 through Kaukapakapa
and then the exquisite Twin Coast Explorer from Wellsford through to Waipu
. This is the kind of road that the Rally eats - good handling, good brakes and enough power to have masses of fun where it's all about lines and challenging your riding to maintain pace. Much fun.
I'm wondering about the gearing - dropping it down a little. It seems to run out of puff in top a little easily and dropping the gearing may make it just keep the revs up that little bit to avoid having to downshift. I did have a fair load on board - myself at 85kg plus riding gear plus backpack maybe 10kg plus probably another 20kg of bags and gear. I was trying get an idea how it will be when I do my 10 day trip down South next week. I'll leave the gearing as is for now and see how it works for this trip.
First gear on these is quite low and a bit of a jump to second. I discovered that it stall easily at the lights if you leave it in second by mistake
. The fuel gauge starts flashing at about 240km, but filling shortly after uses maximum of 8.5l, - capacity is 10.2l apparently so less range that I thought. Potentially about 280-300km if riding more carefully.
The bike that this reminds me of most of all is my old XR600. Similar height and handling and weight (actually slightly lighter
- and a little more torque
) so I call this the Little Red Pig.
All good
Bookmarks