Test rides
What an epic day! Sensational weather. No wind. Good people.
Got in to Red Baron at 9am and started looking round, talked to the sales guy, showed me a few bikes, particularly the Ninja 650R, and the Z750. Then he pointed it out, an '04 FZ-6. "Wanna take it for a test ride?" he inquires, "YES" is all I can manage to stutter.
'04 Yamaha FZ-6 "Fazer" ($8995)
My first "Big Bike" experience. Wow. I had to stick to an organised route so that it sticks within Red Baron's Insurance, but the highlight was certainly the Motorway on ramp. I've never experienced anything like that. It seems that all you needed to do was sneeze and it hits 140 in 3rd. Unfortunately the pre-determined test route doesn't involve any corners, but the bike certainly felt well balanced. Looks amazing, particularly liked the rear-end with the twin under-seat exhausts. Engine was just so smooth, very quiet, and good seating position. Seat was a little small for my fat arse though. Instrum,ent panel was really hard to read, with both a digital speedo, and tach. Maybe if i'd found the contrast button, it would have been easier to read. No fuel gauge/gear indicator either which seem like fairly simple things to put on, and make a real-world difference, particularly the fuel gauge.
Head over to Holeshot where i'd talked to the sales guy a week earlier about taking out a few bikes. One of which was the Street Triple. Unfortunately, 10 minutes after I talked to him last week, someone came in and bought the demo model. No Trumpet ride for me. Somewhat disappointed, I carried on with the other bikes on the list.
'08 Suzuki GSX-F 650 ($11,495)
Looks awesome, apart from the massive bazooka that is the exhaust. Apparently the actual muffler contains all the cat converters as well, which explains it's moon-like proportions. Awesome seating position, very upright, with nice wide, and straight bars. Easy to read instrument panel, with gear indicator, and fuel gauge. Digital speedo, normal (analogue?) tach. Wicked setup. Dealer chucked some gas in it, and we were off. Coatesville/Riverhead was the test route, and man, that engine was smooth. I was suprised at how easy it was to corner, and how comfortably it did so. Heaps of leg room, which is important, as i'm quite a large (tall, but also a little round) fella. It seemed like this bike had way more potential than I ever thought it could have. Incredibly forgiving, good steering feedback. front suspension was a little soft, but nice for commuting (or communtering). I just seemed to "click" with this bike.
'08 Suzuki SV 1000S ($11,999)
I heard this before I saw it, and man, did it sound awesome. No real suprise how easy these are to sell when the demo is fitted with dual Yoshis. Stunning looking bike in blue, with the belly pan on. Jumped on, and was suprised at the amount of vibrations. Perhaps it was riding the two quad cylinders beforehand, but the vibrations were quite severe. Maybe heavier bar ends would help. Who knows. Power comes on in massive lumps. Scared the shit outta me. Was quite hesitant to start with, as what seemed like the slightest twist would result in an extra 40km/h. Perhaps as a weekend bike, but I think i'd have trouble living with this everyday. Too hard to commute on, I need something a little smoother. There is certainly something special about the V-Twin rumble though, whether is setting off car alarms as yu go past, or the "special feeling" that comes up through the seat.
'06 Suzuki GSX-R 750 (Can't remember the price)
I'd kinda excluded all the hardcore sports bikes from my test ride list (GSX-R, ZX-R, CBR, R6) as they are amazing bikes, but just too small for me to live with on a day-to-day basis. I'd certainly have one as a weekend blaster, but right now I need something of an all-rounder. Having said that. you'd be mental to pass up an oppourtunity to have a go. This thing has completely redefined what I thought was possible on a motorcycle. Having only had experience on 125's and 250's, this completely blew me out of the water. What's the point of having something that hits 160 odd in 2nd gear? I don't know, but shit it's fun. The way it went round corners was mind blowing. it felt so solid, no mater how hard (admnittadely, this wasn't very hard at all. It scares me) you pushed it. I stayed in 3rd gear the whole time. The other 5 gears went completely to waste. Only problem was it's size, once I was crouched over, I could feel my helmet was out beyond the screen. No tucking in for me then. I now have a whole new respect for people that are able to even use 1/5th of the potential of a machine like this.
Finished up test riding at 2pm. Smile so wide on my face that I thought i'd break my helmet.
Epic day. Amazing bikes. Awesome people. Mint weather.
I don't know how so many of you manage to hang on to your licenses. (well, some of you).
I'm leaning towards the GSX-F 650 at the moment, but the toss up is between that, and the FZ-6. Then again, it's probably all going to change once I get my hands on a Street Trpile. I intend to ride as many bikes as I can. I'm sure the salespeople are going to get sick of me pretty quickly.
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Originally Posted by Gubb
Test riding is so fun. I've got a few on my list. 09 R1, 08 CBR1000RR and 09 CB1000R. Have to take the Daytona out to compare to my CBR600RR too.
For the record Qkkid was in my bed, not the other way round
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