skelstar
6th January 2006, 21:47
"Guided Missile" - 01 Honda CBR1100XX Blackbird
We find ourselves in Featherston. Luckily it appears that theres a closed controlled road between Feathers and Martinborough in which I can have a ride of a bike Im not licenced to ride....lucky....
I havent been a fan of the 'bird's look since I saw them. Quite pointy at the front I thought. I like the 'busa but then I had the theory that they were the fastest prod bike, thats sex appeal right there! The 'bird looks quite heavy and the tail section was quite...thick. But Im sure she has a nice personality.
Anyway...I hop on the bike and find out the obvious straight away: this bike is heavy. Its approx 220kg whereas my bike is 160kg. Engine starts up and the bike idles quitely. Nervously I take off into the 50km/h portion of this 'closed road'. As I found on all of the road rockets, its quite hard to judge the speed at which you are travelling. It gets easier but initally quite difficult.
Since this is my first inline4 that I have ridden, I find it hard to rev the 'bird above 8k RPM. It just feels like it is revving WAY too high. I ride my bike around the 6-10k range when taking off and accelerating. When cruising on my korean rocket the bike is sitting at 7k at 100km/h. On the 'bird I get to 100km/h and find that despite the engine revving at 3500rpm, Im looking for 7th gear.
The bike's stock exhaust was pretty quiet. Not as quiet as my Hyobag but quiet. This doesnt fit my 'lauding it over the cagers' mentality at all. The power delivery waas smoooooooooooth. So this is what they have been talking about...the bike is super easy to ride. We are pretty much going in a straight line at the moment. Thank god. VT is riding infront of me on my Hyobag. Not for long. I have completed my calculated 100m familiarisation routine and flick the indicator on. Not sure if the blessed thing flashed more than once before I had put another 100m on my journey! If that was 1/4 throttle I wonder what 1/2 throttle feels like?
Dab the wonderful brakes, slip back to the legal limit, check the ergonomics maybe...giggle a little. The 'bird was quite comfortable. I didnt ride it at 50km/h for very long so I didnt have time to assess that aspect, but I rode at 100km/h+ for a bit and concluded that I could have ridden this thing most of the day. I understand that my buttocks may ache a little after a while but then they do on my Hyobag after 200kms. The sensation of riding this thing was amazing. It really felt like I was sitting on a guided missile. A bit like Slim Pickins was in Dr Strangelove (but not falling).
Does this thing go around corners? I was about to findout. I head into a 75km posted corner and turn in like I do on my Hyobag. The bike doesnt tip in all that quick and I find myself ruunnnniiiinnnggg real wide into the corner. So this is what 'tip-in' is :). It takes me another couple of corners until I get it sorted. I would def have to ride this thing slower than my Hyobag before I got the hang of cornering. I cant imagine what this would be like in the tight twisties.
"The Bar Stool" - 05 GSXR1000 K6
We get to Martinborough and Ive lost the boys. No I wasnt doing a runner! This gives me an opportunity to do laps of the 'closed roundabout' in MB on the 'bird. I finally catch up and Dafe asks me for a ride on my Hyobag. What could I say? He had a miserable puppy-dog expression and wouldnt take no for an answer ;). So I hop onto the K6. Ive sat on this beastie before but never in anger. I start the motor, its quietish too. I do what anyone does with a new bike and blip the throttle. OMG. The bikes engine goes 'weow' quicker than you can say...ummm....'weow'. Its hard to explain, but needless to say you could balance your checkbook in the time it takes for my bike to settle back to the standard metric korean idle speed :).
It seems the 'owners' have taken off after Dafe...hes tapped into the awesome 27HP that the Hyobag offers and is making good use of it. Infact he IS using all of it. I put the bike into gear by using the VERY sweet gearbox that Mr Suzuki provides with his bikes. Man this gearbox is sweet. I wish I had remembered to try out the slipper clutch. Dammit...just realised :).
So Im off, legal speeds (off course) and Im wondering where the bloody bike has gone? F*ck me this thing is small. Its like when you go to a bar and sit on a bar stool. You know youre sitting on a seat, but theres little visible evidence that its there. This is a 165kg, 150HP bar stool.
The bike is comfortable. Surprisingly comfortable. You assume that when a maker makes something thats semi-intended for the track that it would be fairly unforgiving. Comfort would be one of the lesser concerns. I think that the seat will bite after a shortish while but I didnt feel any discomfort from my 15min ride. The instruments are cool. I really like the gear indicator. Again I didnt rev the bike much higher than 8k. Id get over it if I was lined up against a generic boi racer-type car.:devil:
Ok, Ive been pootling along and im quite happy. Still cant find the bike but am assured it is there. VT is behind me now on the 'bird. The mirrors werent amazingly great. I know now what Darkman was looking for when I was following him earlier. They werent real bad, but you had to move your head a bit to see other riders behind you. So as I gain confidence in the throttle, Dafe waves me past him furiously. This bike can haul. Very fast at 1/4 throttle. But then the power is a given and wont be covered. The power curve again was very linear up to 8k and thats where I was happy to leave it. I doubt this bike has ever done $1.20 in fourth gear before. We park up and depsite having ridden VT's SV1000K3 a week before I casually ask for another ride to 'refresh' my memory.
...more to come...
We find ourselves in Featherston. Luckily it appears that theres a closed controlled road between Feathers and Martinborough in which I can have a ride of a bike Im not licenced to ride....lucky....
I havent been a fan of the 'bird's look since I saw them. Quite pointy at the front I thought. I like the 'busa but then I had the theory that they were the fastest prod bike, thats sex appeal right there! The 'bird looks quite heavy and the tail section was quite...thick. But Im sure she has a nice personality.
Anyway...I hop on the bike and find out the obvious straight away: this bike is heavy. Its approx 220kg whereas my bike is 160kg. Engine starts up and the bike idles quitely. Nervously I take off into the 50km/h portion of this 'closed road'. As I found on all of the road rockets, its quite hard to judge the speed at which you are travelling. It gets easier but initally quite difficult.
Since this is my first inline4 that I have ridden, I find it hard to rev the 'bird above 8k RPM. It just feels like it is revving WAY too high. I ride my bike around the 6-10k range when taking off and accelerating. When cruising on my korean rocket the bike is sitting at 7k at 100km/h. On the 'bird I get to 100km/h and find that despite the engine revving at 3500rpm, Im looking for 7th gear.
The bike's stock exhaust was pretty quiet. Not as quiet as my Hyobag but quiet. This doesnt fit my 'lauding it over the cagers' mentality at all. The power delivery waas smoooooooooooth. So this is what they have been talking about...the bike is super easy to ride. We are pretty much going in a straight line at the moment. Thank god. VT is riding infront of me on my Hyobag. Not for long. I have completed my calculated 100m familiarisation routine and flick the indicator on. Not sure if the blessed thing flashed more than once before I had put another 100m on my journey! If that was 1/4 throttle I wonder what 1/2 throttle feels like?
Dab the wonderful brakes, slip back to the legal limit, check the ergonomics maybe...giggle a little. The 'bird was quite comfortable. I didnt ride it at 50km/h for very long so I didnt have time to assess that aspect, but I rode at 100km/h+ for a bit and concluded that I could have ridden this thing most of the day. I understand that my buttocks may ache a little after a while but then they do on my Hyobag after 200kms. The sensation of riding this thing was amazing. It really felt like I was sitting on a guided missile. A bit like Slim Pickins was in Dr Strangelove (but not falling).
Does this thing go around corners? I was about to findout. I head into a 75km posted corner and turn in like I do on my Hyobag. The bike doesnt tip in all that quick and I find myself ruunnnniiiinnnggg real wide into the corner. So this is what 'tip-in' is :). It takes me another couple of corners until I get it sorted. I would def have to ride this thing slower than my Hyobag before I got the hang of cornering. I cant imagine what this would be like in the tight twisties.
"The Bar Stool" - 05 GSXR1000 K6
We get to Martinborough and Ive lost the boys. No I wasnt doing a runner! This gives me an opportunity to do laps of the 'closed roundabout' in MB on the 'bird. I finally catch up and Dafe asks me for a ride on my Hyobag. What could I say? He had a miserable puppy-dog expression and wouldnt take no for an answer ;). So I hop onto the K6. Ive sat on this beastie before but never in anger. I start the motor, its quietish too. I do what anyone does with a new bike and blip the throttle. OMG. The bikes engine goes 'weow' quicker than you can say...ummm....'weow'. Its hard to explain, but needless to say you could balance your checkbook in the time it takes for my bike to settle back to the standard metric korean idle speed :).
It seems the 'owners' have taken off after Dafe...hes tapped into the awesome 27HP that the Hyobag offers and is making good use of it. Infact he IS using all of it. I put the bike into gear by using the VERY sweet gearbox that Mr Suzuki provides with his bikes. Man this gearbox is sweet. I wish I had remembered to try out the slipper clutch. Dammit...just realised :).
So Im off, legal speeds (off course) and Im wondering where the bloody bike has gone? F*ck me this thing is small. Its like when you go to a bar and sit on a bar stool. You know youre sitting on a seat, but theres little visible evidence that its there. This is a 165kg, 150HP bar stool.
The bike is comfortable. Surprisingly comfortable. You assume that when a maker makes something thats semi-intended for the track that it would be fairly unforgiving. Comfort would be one of the lesser concerns. I think that the seat will bite after a shortish while but I didnt feel any discomfort from my 15min ride. The instruments are cool. I really like the gear indicator. Again I didnt rev the bike much higher than 8k. Id get over it if I was lined up against a generic boi racer-type car.:devil:
Ok, Ive been pootling along and im quite happy. Still cant find the bike but am assured it is there. VT is behind me now on the 'bird. The mirrors werent amazingly great. I know now what Darkman was looking for when I was following him earlier. They werent real bad, but you had to move your head a bit to see other riders behind you. So as I gain confidence in the throttle, Dafe waves me past him furiously. This bike can haul. Very fast at 1/4 throttle. But then the power is a given and wont be covered. The power curve again was very linear up to 8k and thats where I was happy to leave it. I doubt this bike has ever done $1.20 in fourth gear before. We park up and depsite having ridden VT's SV1000K3 a week before I casually ask for another ride to 'refresh' my memory.
...more to come...