Ambling around

I came across this one parked near me in a supermarket bike-park. As well as having the typical outrageous muffler and various blingy bits, this one was another step above the rest. It had some kind of pneumatic system to raise and lower the whole swingarm. To park it he doesn't use the side-stand, instead the whole bike lowers right down and rests on a couple of small runner wheels underneath the body. You cant see those little wheels too well in the photo, but you can see that the stand is not being used.

Well the 'wee VFR' now has a couple hundred more kms on it, I was surprised to find I still had gas with the tripmeter on 205km. I was planning to let it run dry so I could measure exactly how far a tank could take me, as a reference for the future, but didn't fancy pushing it around just in case the reserve system was not working and I was actually already using the reserve portion of the fuel. It seems to be doing 19.5km/L, around town which is better than I expected. Strangely every time I take it to a gas station the attendant asks if I want regular or 'high-octane', which is beginning to worry me a bit. I have only given it regular (unleaded in NZ) so far but maybe these guys have seen other bikes like this coming in and taking high-octane (regular in NZ). Anyone know if I should be giving it.. uh... this naming is getting confusing... more octane?

It takes a fair bit more warming up than my other bikes, kinda reminds me of my old 1970 Escort. I discovered a handy idle adjustment knob which is easily found with gloves on, and can be reached to be changed when stopped at lights, so this is replacing the choke-lever which doesn't seem to work. Once warm it never misses a beat, now that I know not to flick the throttle open too quickly from idle.

The 'go' mode I was talking about before is more like from 9krpm, not 7k. With the kind of roads I drive around, I don't really have much use for this mode - the 90km/h red warning light comes on partway through third gear...
On the one occasion I was on a decent stretch of road, I had it up to 150km/h without too much trouble, although it was beginning to fade. I ran out of road (and balls) at that point but I'd say it could have done 160. This is quite a bit better than my old XJR400 which would be busting its arse just to do 140.

One thing I don't like much is the extremely limited turn of the handlebars, but I suppose all bikes of this type are like that, and the SV is not much better. I guess I am too used to the KLX, on which I can u-turn in less than 4 metres. I am also used to having the box on the KLX which is the main reason I dont ride the VFR more.