My buddy and I rode from Houston to Dallas on our motorcycles.
I was on my '01 GS and he was on his Kawi ZRX1200.
This was my first long ride on the bike and overall I was pretty impressed.
The seat could be more comfortable and some more top end power
would be nice, but overall it did great.
We rode back Saturday into a hellacious headwind. The wind was blowing at 20-25 with gusts higher than that. My visor flew open twice as I looked back to check traffic. That freaked me out a little, as did passing 18 wheelers. The wind effect around them was incredible and I really had to concentrate on keeping the bike were I wanted it in the lane. Gas mileage suffered to. Sixty mpg going up and 40 mpg with the wind.
At one point I was doing 70 in top gear with the throttle wide open...and I wasn't accelerating. I'm guessing the airspeed must have been close to 110 mph, which I think is the max speed for the GS.
As far as the show went....pretty cool. No naked SV to sit on and the faired version seems to have too much of a crotch rocket layout for me.
The new Yamaha FZ6 looked sweet. Ergonomics felt great at first glance and Honda's new 599 was okay.
Okay-no real point in any of this except to say I did a 500 mile trip with strong winds on the return leg and I survived to tell about it. I am now complete. :roll:
I rode around a bit on Saturday, that wind was nasty. I can't imagine riding all the way to Dallas in it! :o
I thought the seat on the FZ6 could be a little bit softer. A nice bike overall, though.
Yeah, winds were terrible that day. I almost got pushed off the roads a few times. :o
I went to the show in San Mateo (SF). If the FZ6 had a headlight as an option I would buy it or at least have a deposit on it already. I like the bike, the seating, the bars, the look... but I hate how that fairing looks from the front. sorry but yuck! it looked too wide or something
The coolest bike there had to be the ZX-10R. My favorite by far. It was also super comfy to me so it makes it that much harder not to buy one. I think I'll consider one when I truly have a death wish :lol:
The next bike I really want now is the Superhawk. I sat on that and it has perfect ergo's for me. There are always a few for sale and they are usually under 5K but I'm still not sure what insurance would be like on one. I like the Speed 4 but I don't like the fact that when I go back to my home in the east bay, the closest dealer will be an hour away. The closest right now is still a half hour from my apartment. I'll have to see what the insurance quotes look like :dunno:
edit - Oh yeah, forgot to say that I think ZRX's are the shiznit. The silver/black ones are tight and they sound awesome with pipe. They are cheap too. It just has a bit more power and torque than I really want to step up to next. The SH is no slouch but it also doesn't have 81 ft lb's of torque stock!