rikw
11th May 2013, 20:52
Well, to get my posting history off zero, here's a brief introduction :-)
I have been riding since 1994, all Yamahas, progressing from an RXS-100 2-stroke (about 12,000 miles) via an air-cooled half-faired commuter XJ600S (about 18m000 miles) to the glorious sports tourer ThunderAce (YZF1000R), the successor to the FZR1000 and predecessor to the more "race replica" focussed R1. I have had 3 of them and covered approaching 100,000 miles (about 160,000km) on them in total. The combination of relaxed, even torque and power delivery together with comfort and fair range (approaching 350km if taken moderately) is hard to beat, and the brakes and handling I find very appealing :-D
I moved to New Zealand at the start of 2010 and although I did a short tour of Northland on a holiday in late 2006 have yet to explore that much on the bike: a weekend somewhere near Fielding, a few days away in Wanganui and a trip "over the hill" to the Wairarapa. I hope to do a week or so around the South Island maybe late next summer with a few friends.
Most of my time on the bike has been commuting in all weather conditions: I wanted to ride from the start regardless of the conditions because I wanted never to find myself dreading a journey home. I've done sun, rain, sleet, snow and wind on each of my bikes. Heavy snow on the 'Ace is not a favourite experience! I also remember leaving a camp site the mornings after packing up in the rain getting wheel-spin in first at tickover, which made things tricky!
You'd have to be quite lucky to have ridden as far without suffering any accidents and biker chats almost habitually migrate to scar comparisons! I have to say I don't have any scars from bike accidents but I have had a few broken bones! The one in 2007 which killed my second 'Ace (the first was stolen) was a collision with a deer at 50mph (80km/h) and broke my right wrist and on the left my collarbone, shoulder-blade and 6 ribs. Thankfully I've completely recovered and got a third 'Ace from a friend which is the machine I ride today.
Well, I could go on all night but if you got this far and are intrigued then feel free to make contact. I occasionally go on rides with others: I'm relatively unusual in that I do love taking pillion and although the pillion seat is very generous and comfortable, the rear pegs are on the high side on the 'Ace so long legs, inflexibility and/or long non-stop rides can lead to a fidgetty passenger - and that's not a good thing!!
Anyway - cheers for now,
Rik
I have been riding since 1994, all Yamahas, progressing from an RXS-100 2-stroke (about 12,000 miles) via an air-cooled half-faired commuter XJ600S (about 18m000 miles) to the glorious sports tourer ThunderAce (YZF1000R), the successor to the FZR1000 and predecessor to the more "race replica" focussed R1. I have had 3 of them and covered approaching 100,000 miles (about 160,000km) on them in total. The combination of relaxed, even torque and power delivery together with comfort and fair range (approaching 350km if taken moderately) is hard to beat, and the brakes and handling I find very appealing :-D
I moved to New Zealand at the start of 2010 and although I did a short tour of Northland on a holiday in late 2006 have yet to explore that much on the bike: a weekend somewhere near Fielding, a few days away in Wanganui and a trip "over the hill" to the Wairarapa. I hope to do a week or so around the South Island maybe late next summer with a few friends.
Most of my time on the bike has been commuting in all weather conditions: I wanted to ride from the start regardless of the conditions because I wanted never to find myself dreading a journey home. I've done sun, rain, sleet, snow and wind on each of my bikes. Heavy snow on the 'Ace is not a favourite experience! I also remember leaving a camp site the mornings after packing up in the rain getting wheel-spin in first at tickover, which made things tricky!
You'd have to be quite lucky to have ridden as far without suffering any accidents and biker chats almost habitually migrate to scar comparisons! I have to say I don't have any scars from bike accidents but I have had a few broken bones! The one in 2007 which killed my second 'Ace (the first was stolen) was a collision with a deer at 50mph (80km/h) and broke my right wrist and on the left my collarbone, shoulder-blade and 6 ribs. Thankfully I've completely recovered and got a third 'Ace from a friend which is the machine I ride today.
Well, I could go on all night but if you got this far and are intrigued then feel free to make contact. I occasionally go on rides with others: I'm relatively unusual in that I do love taking pillion and although the pillion seat is very generous and comfortable, the rear pegs are on the high side on the 'Ace so long legs, inflexibility and/or long non-stop rides can lead to a fidgetty passenger - and that's not a good thing!!
Anyway - cheers for now,
Rik