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I just finished a week on the bike getting in a last big ride before the weather turns in the Pacific Northwest where I was headed. I have a few impressions that stick in my mind about the bike and this trip.
With the SAENG wind deflector that I added to the stock fairing, the wind/rain protection is excellent. Nothing wanting there.
On cool mornings I used a electric jacket with no apparent ill effects to the electrical system. The jacket draws more current than a vest because the sleeves are heated.
The Corbin seat pretty much disappeared underneath me. I know that the stock saddle would have forced me to stop more often, but I prefer not to have a pain in the rear be the reason to pull over.
The bike is fine maintaining 65-75 mph all day (as many others have pointed out). I do wonder how long it'll last though. The highest mileage bike that I have is my 70,000+ mile Blackbird. Figure that the 250 crankshaft and valves have to cycle at 2x the frequency of the Blackbird's at 75 mph in top gear and a rule of thumb would have the 250 going for at least 35,000 miles... It occurs to me that maybe the 10-30 oil is better for such a high revving engine than 10-40.. don't know.
It would be perfect for touring (for me) if the bars were about 1 inch higher and 1 inch back.
The chain didn't show any additional slack after the trip. I only lubed the chain once at about 1000 miles after riding through a rain storm.
The new Racer 'Multitop' gloves that I got for this trip are completely waterproof (as they claim that they are). I had some waterproof winter gloves but I got the 'Multitop' gloves because they aren't so bulky and it wasn't going to be really cold on this trip.
The bike handles getting dirty from rain really well. The upper part of the bike doesn't get any spray. The side fairing got just a little. All the muck is on the engine cases and the coarse lower fairing. Cleaning the lower fairing will be easy since there's no delicate paint finish to worry about (no news here for most of you I guess).
I notice how there isn't a lot of bug splatter on the bike while by way of contrast my helmet was constantly getting it. The sharp edge of the headlight got it the most. Every other part of the fairing must have quite a 'layer of air' flowing around it.
I changed the oil and filter before the trip. Honda full synthetic 10w-30. At 1,000 miles in, the oil in the sight glass shows no darkening of the oil yet (makes me feel better that the rings have probably seated properly during breakin).
The bike now has about 5,000 miles on it and the rear tire looks barely worn. The stock rear will last more than 10,000 miles, easy.
Except for not being able to take off like a rocket from 70-80 mph, for a solo rider, touring on this bike doesn't feel much different than on a full liter sport touring bike.
Good bike.
Photo: An impressively expansive lava flow in Central Oregon, where the lava flow on the right stopped and did not intrude on the forest to the left.
With the SAENG wind deflector that I added to the stock fairing, the wind/rain protection is excellent. Nothing wanting there.
On cool mornings I used a electric jacket with no apparent ill effects to the electrical system. The jacket draws more current than a vest because the sleeves are heated.
The Corbin seat pretty much disappeared underneath me. I know that the stock saddle would have forced me to stop more often, but I prefer not to have a pain in the rear be the reason to pull over.
The bike is fine maintaining 65-75 mph all day (as many others have pointed out). I do wonder how long it'll last though. The highest mileage bike that I have is my 70,000+ mile Blackbird. Figure that the 250 crankshaft and valves have to cycle at 2x the frequency of the Blackbird's at 75 mph in top gear and a rule of thumb would have the 250 going for at least 35,000 miles... It occurs to me that maybe the 10-30 oil is better for such a high revving engine than 10-40.. don't know.
It would be perfect for touring (for me) if the bars were about 1 inch higher and 1 inch back.
The chain didn't show any additional slack after the trip. I only lubed the chain once at about 1000 miles after riding through a rain storm.
The new Racer 'Multitop' gloves that I got for this trip are completely waterproof (as they claim that they are). I had some waterproof winter gloves but I got the 'Multitop' gloves because they aren't so bulky and it wasn't going to be really cold on this trip.
The bike handles getting dirty from rain really well. The upper part of the bike doesn't get any spray. The side fairing got just a little. All the muck is on the engine cases and the coarse lower fairing. Cleaning the lower fairing will be easy since there's no delicate paint finish to worry about (no news here for most of you I guess).
I notice how there isn't a lot of bug splatter on the bike while by way of contrast my helmet was constantly getting it. The sharp edge of the headlight got it the most. Every other part of the fairing must have quite a 'layer of air' flowing around it.
I changed the oil and filter before the trip. Honda full synthetic 10w-30. At 1,000 miles in, the oil in the sight glass shows no darkening of the oil yet (makes me feel better that the rings have probably seated properly during breakin).
The bike now has about 5,000 miles on it and the rear tire looks barely worn. The stock rear will last more than 10,000 miles, easy.
Except for not being able to take off like a rocket from 70-80 mph, for a solo rider, touring on this bike doesn't feel much different than on a full liter sport touring bike.
Good bike.
Photo: An impressively expansive lava flow in Central Oregon, where the lava flow on the right stopped and did not intrude on the forest to the left.
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