shapemaster
New Member
I did a 6 day, 1700 mile trip a couple of weeks ago through Georgia, Tennessee & Alabama. I'm 5'-7" and just under 165 lbs. I spent a considerable amount of time with mods to make the bike better for long distances. I settled on a Sargent seat with an additional 1/2" layer of firm, closed cell foam, and it works fine for 400+ mile days. I'm using a Puig windshield. I tried a Madstad and it's sitting in a box in my attic. I prefer to lean forward on a bike and the Madstat blocked so much air I would get a sharp pain between my shoulder blades from holding my head up. The Madstad is also so big that it has a noticeable detrimental effect on the bike's already not so perky high speed performance. The bike is perfectly happy to do 75-80 all day long with very little vibration. A tingle comes in past 80. A helmet with good aerodynamics makes a big difference in how much your head gets buffeted around. (I got a Shoie RF 1200 and it made a big difference.)
The biggest issue I have with the lack of zip with the bike is on two lane, twisty roads with lots of elevation changes: the amount of distance needed to make a safe pass of slow moving vehicles is often longer than most straight sections. The bike handles fine once it has a set of decent sport bike tires. I find the suspension to be good here in the South where there is little to no snow & ice that breeds potholes. In places with crappy roads, the ride can probably be harsh. The front end is a little under damped, but that can probably be addressed with a change of fork oil.
Depending on how future trips go, I think I may be looking at something like the Yamaha FJ-09 next year.
I am running Battle Axe tires. What are you running that you like?