Well looky here, there's a grin on my dialI took a trip at lunchtime up to Mt Eden Motorcycles to do my weekly tyre-kicking, and there on the shop floor, where you can fondle to your hearts desire (unlike Big Boys Toys where "look but don't touch" was the mantra for the day) was a couple of spanking new Er6-Ns. A quite bit of banter with the guys and before I knew it, I'd accepted the offer of a test ride (well, who wouldn't).
I had been impressed by the first photos that I had seen of this beastie floating around the net, but being able to throw a leg into the saddle and fire it up was a different story. At first it seemed a little tall in the saddle. I had to shift around in the seat a bit to get comfortable, but once I did, I found the bars and controls all were within easy reach and I was in a fairly upright position, which I like anyway. So off we go. Turn right out of shop and down to the roundabout. Enter the roundabout to the left hand side to give plenty of room to do a right hand turn, tweak the bars and....bloody hell, this thing turns like a 250!! Just to be sure, I head up Mt Eden (my usual handling test) and wayyyy-heyyyyy. Short squirts and quick cornering is a breeze on this thing. A few nice chicanes while under mild acceleration (it's still being run in) and a couple of nicely handled cattle stops later and we're at the top. Nice. So nice in fact, I had to go around again just to make sure it wasn't a fluke
After the fun and game son the mount, I headed to the Khyber pass on ramp for a squirt down the motorway. Filter to the front of the queue, tight left hander (easy does it on this notoriously on ramp), and start running through the gears. Wow! Even short shifting it runs up to the legal limit and just a little past it in no time at all, and all accompanied by the most satisfying rumble and roar of the underslung pipe.
A quick note here. I was expecting your typical in-line twin whirr and zip but this thing sounds, feels and pulls like a perky v-twin. Lots of good vibrations that flatten out after about 4k or so, but the throaty roar still follows you through. I didn't get it past 5k, as the guys had said to treat it nice, but I'm sure it will pull strongly all the way to the 10k limit
For just under $11k it's a great package, and I'm sure we'll see a lot of these around in the near future. It'll do me for the next bike, so hopefully I'll be one of them. Now to convince the wife
*** UPDATE ****
Just something I forgot to mention. Big (and by that I mean tall) people will LOVE this bike I think. I'm of average height and my feet were just flat on the floor when stopped, and there was a good few inches left between the top curve in the tank and my knee (in fact, I think I'd need to get a tank bra for my knees to get a good grip).
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Originally Posted by Devil
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