A Ride Denied

No engine start today

I had planned to head out for a good long fun ride on my Daytona today. Part of the ride I would be riding with a bunch of folks headed north to Cairns on “The Long Ride” which is a charity multi day bike ride. While not heading off for the full trip I planned to ride with them today at least, before heading home. The bike was ready as I’d completed the first service last week. Still in restricted RPM but it was a little higher.

I had also almost finished sorting out my video camera for riding. I have the helmet mount and camera sorted, the only trouble I am having is getting a good mic set up so that I can record my comments as I ride. Actually the latest test went well in reverse. The camera mic really only gets wind noise, but I set up another mic in my helmet. Only it didn’t pick up any talking, but it did pick up the engine really well.

And lastly, Mrs wasn’t working and she wanted my home by dinner. Fair enough. It’s dark by then anyway.

And I felt weak and sickly all evening last night. While I might commute when I’m not feeling  100% doing a full day ride isn’t a good idea.

So no ride…

Both bikes sitting quietly in the garage.

Its Still a Secret

I’ve been keeping the secret of my new bike from all of the riders at my work. Until I do, I will have to keep posting my thoughts here as some are aware of my VFR blog, so no good posting it there. I plan to arrive early on my first day back and leave it parked before most arrive. That will get the buzz going as they all try to figure out who’s it is.

I didn’t have the kids to look after today, but the weather was looking a little threatening. I took a chance and headed into the hills to the north west of the city for the first serious outing on my new bike.

OH WOW! Not sure how else to say it. Why didn’t anyone tell me to buy a supersport bike before. This bike is so easy to ride quickly and so confident that while I didn’t break any records or (almost) any speed limits I still have a grin after getting home after lunch. The bike just wants to go and go. It takes lots of control to keep your licence on this kind of bike I’m sure.

I dodged all the rain and spent about 2 hours in the mountains. Got home, had lunch and gave it a wash before it was time to grab the kids from school/childcare.

I did get both bikes out for a bit of a photo shoot…

 

You sick of it yet, I’m not

Slipped away for 10 minutes

The recovery after my surgery seems to be going really well. With my parents here helping me and a break in the weather I slipped out of the house for a 10 minute ride, around the block, up the freeway and home again.

Damn its a fun bike!

Second Ride.

You might also notice that there have been some posts added to the blog. I’ve decided that since I’ve added so much more bike stuff recently I’ll consolidate my VFR blog to here as well. I’ll keep posting there, but will copy them here as well, just easier to archive things from here. Also the other website occasionally crashes and I suspect WordPress is better supported than it (no offence to the couple of hard workers maintaining the VFR one).

More waiting

Almost there. Hopefully Tuesday. Still better off than the guy who paid his deposit the day after me. He has to wait until May or June. If you order one now you have to wait until August!

O Canada

Down under is currently hosting a Candaian from the VFR website I frequent. He’s been here a week and already clocked up 2000km on the 2000 VFR that he procured for his time here. Wow.

I spent the week trying to pick a day to take off and go for a ride with him, but work commitments made it impossible. I suggested we catch up on Saturday for a short ride up the Putty to the Grey Gums. While the weather initially was forecast as showers, I was convinced it would be clear by Saturday. I invited some of the regulars from work, but with the short notice and they didn’t believe me regarding the weather, only two turned up.

Of course it dawned a little cloudy, but the kind you know is going to burn away leaving only sunshine… perfect. We left Windsor with me leading. My first time leading a group and while I kind of enjoyed not playing catch up the whole time, I didn’t really like it. So it was a easy ride up to the Grey Gums Cafe.

At Grey Gums, see the two blue VFRs

We stopped here for a coffee break. The plan was to head back again down the Putty and home. However we pulled out a map I had brought along and started talking with our guest about where he wanted to head and what his plans were. Turned out he really wanted to head north, ending up near Brisbane.

Well, says we, you’re already a couple of hours on your way. With some of the best roads around stretching north towards Brisbane it was suggested that he head north from Grey Gums. It was only about 10am so he had a lot of (very nice) daylight to use up.

So I bid farewell to our guest and turned to follow the others home.

We headed almost the same way home, with a little detour to the Sackville Ferry. There’s another ferry on the river, I didn’t know about this one either. It wasn’t really a great detour as the road wasn’t in the best shape. Though much nicer than the north side of Wiseman’s!

Sackville Ferry

I arrived home sometime around 1pm. As I write this, I presume our guest is winding away north, enjoying roads such as Thunderbolt’s Way. I hope to catch up with him on his return this way.

It’s almost here

The shop has my bike… yes, I’ve decided to buy it. My money isn’t quite ready so I have to be patient for a bit over a week.

Here is MY bike.

Another Test Ride

The Daytona’s arrival in Australia has been delayed. Which is actually a good thing. It gives me some more time saving money before I get it. It also gives the Internet more chance to put news and reviews from other owners out there.

In the meantime, my dad and the salesman both suggested I try the Triumph StreetTripleR as some way to start to get some idea of the new Daytona. It’s not a bad suggestion, while tuned a little differently with a different seating position it is the same triple engine and similar in weight etc.

This afternoon I had a little time to spare so I dropped into the shop to check one out.

Sitting on it, I recalled my Ducati test ride last year. They are a similar style bike, but I felt more comfortable on the Triumph. I can’t say that’s because the bike suited me better or if my expectations were closer to reality after that experience. I left the shop and headed to the freeway, planning to get onto some side streets on the way back to the shop.

My main goal was to see what it was like sitting about in traffic, whether I was swapping gears all the time getting about a slow speed.

After a short dash up the freeway (heavy traffic so not much chance to let it have its head) I hit a couple of local roads I knew as I headed back to the shop. Traffic was easy and even from low revs the bike was happy to pull away, exactly what I was looking for. It was also happy in one gear at city traffic, makes it easy to manage and you’re not pulling in the clutch al the time.

The brakes were great too, big initial bite almost caught me out as it’s a lot stronger than my VFR. But again, that was easy to get used to and ride merrily along.

Overall, I was really happy with the performance in the areas I was looking at.

BUT I didn’t like it. After two rides of the “street fighter” style bikes, I’ve not liked them. The seating position feels even more upright than my VFR. They’ve both been slim between my thighs and I like to have something there to grip.

And at the end, I’m more happy with how I expect the Daytona to feel.

Flipped

The bike choice has flipped right over. I’ve put some money down on the Daytona 675R. They are due into the country in mid March and if I’m to have any chance to even look at one in the next couple of months, you basically need to be buying it.

And to be honest, I only have the couple of concerns about it still. The seating position, though it shouldn’t be much different to the GSXR that I have ridden already. The other, is the difference between a 750 and a 675. I know it doesn’t sound like much, but you never know.

I do plan to have a ride of the new 675R Street Triple to get some idea of the engine response etc. Won’t be the same, but closer than anything else.

But they are small concerns, and the pluses are pretty good on paper. Plus the Daytona is slightly more exclusive and I’d have one of the first in the country! I can pose all over and people will follow me and I will be famous…. and rich…. lol!!

And really you should avoid blog entries without them if you can, so here’s some more pictures.

Out of left field

I have pretty much decided upon the GSX-R750, and the votes on colour went pretty much the way I had expected, black being most peoples favourite and mine as well.

I had been running through most of the other manufacturers and styles of bikes, just to check that there wasn’t something else out there that I would be interested in, that was close in price to the GSXR. There are some exotic bikes that I would consider, but their price pushed them out of the running. Otherwise they were bikes I wouldn’t ride, or were similar to my VFR.

No fuel gauge? What is this 1913?

I rang Triumph to get a quote for their Daytona 675. Unfortunately they don’t have any, and won’t be getting anymore.

Because in February the 2013 bike comes out… and its an all new bike.

The price was also close to the GSXR, so I did some research on the bike and the GSXR now has a challenger, at least until I ride the 675.

But its more than just the price, the upgraded 675R that I’m looking at is only a little more than the standard one and comes with ABS, Olins suspension, Brembo brakes and a few other modern bits and pieces. These are top notch systems. Even little details like the fact it has a fuel gauge. It’s also a brand new, latest tech bike, whereas the GSXR is 3 years old now and Suzuki tends to lag on putting all the nice stuff into the 750 as it doesn’t have any competitors (the 600 and 1000 are a different story). So maybe the ’14 or ’15 bikes will get some improvements. It’s also a great looking bike (and will make my dad as envious as hell if I bought a Triumph, lol)

Let’s put a white bike against a white background…..

The 675 does give up a little bit to the 750, but reviews of the older 675 suggest it’s actually easier to ride on the street, with the torque curve lower down. However the riders position is more aggressive, so perhaps not so good for longer rides or commutes. At higher speeds, the 750 would pull away easily from the other bike.

So now its a proven 750 with a lot of good stuff that I’ve eyed up for a long time, or the newcomer with all the extras, that I might find less enjoyable in the long term. The other thing is that I can walk into the Suzuki shop and basically ride out (almost) but the Triumph I could well end up on a waiting list. And I do want to strike while the iron is hot.

Decisions, decisions

Ok, Mrs has obviously been taken away by aliens and replaced by a copy. How do I know this …. it’s pretty simple, she seems to be letting me buy a new motorcycle. Soon… like weeks (not centuries)*

I’m going to post this here, so I can keep it a surprise from most of the guys I ride with, but I’m really excited and have to tell someone. I already have looked through a lot of bikes, and previous posts have discussed some. I test rode a GSXR-600 a couple of months back and enjoyed it, but most of the people I’ve discussed the matter with (in roundabout ways so as not to arouse suspicion) have agreed that the 750 is a better buy, a couple who have the 600 wishing they had the budget to stretch to it. I like the 700-800 capacity after my many years on the VFR800 that I ride.

So a Suzuki GSXR-750 is on the shopping list. And here is your part dear reader… colour choice. First up…. Blue/White, the classic Suzuki sport bike colours.

2013 GSXR750 Blue/White

Or Black, with a tiny bit of grey running through it.

2013 Suzuki GSXR-750 Black/Grey

(Thanks to this post in the PNW Riders Forum and there are more pictures there if you want to look at different angles before making your choice.)

Okay, it’s probably already decided, but I would love some input from the peanut gallery. Comment on your colour preference.

*okay, so that’s probably pretty unfair to my Mrs. One of her motivations is that she’s worried I’ll have a crash because my bike is old (it’s only 9 this year, its not like its 30!) which is a pretty nonsensical fear, but really sweet.