ianhogg
Race Dog
- Joined
- Apr 24, 2010
- Messages
- 1,510
- Reaction score
- 31
- Location
- 34 Stanbury Street, Proserpine, QLD
- Bike
- Kawasaki Versys
[I put this into the T7 concept thread but it is really a new part of the conversation]
Yesterday I had to go into Mackay to take my wife for an appointment so I got hold of Bullet bikes and asked if I could take a T7, Australia’s best selling bike for a spin. In a country full of cover your arse regulations they photocopied my licence and gave me the keys, no questions asked.
I felt immediately comfortable and well balanced on it, so much so that I managed to hold stationary for the few seconds that the robots took to change outside the bike shop. It might sound stupid but at times it felt well planted like a horse. On the road two things struck me, firstly the little screen doesn’t do that much for you, the 1100 Katana had a similar little screen that was fantastic, so I don’t know what happened here. Secondly, there is not that much vooma. I was expecting closer to its older sibling the 900 twin rather than the Kawasaki 650 I’m using at the moment. Nothing wrong with that but it may be a bit shy for two up on a twisty climb.
I found my way into the Pioneer river so I can confirm that it laughs at sand and is a blast up a muddy bank. They never looked at the bike when I brought it back so they didn’t say anything about getting it a bit dirty. It feels very light but drop it into a hole and I’m sure you will find out how heavy it is. I think I would cry the first time I threw it away. There is such shiny and breakable plastic on the side with pernickety little fasteners. Someone was awake because the sump guard is not attached to the sump but on a false downtube cradle.
The air filter is in the sensible place under the seat and it is a foam one here. I can only roll my eyes sometimes with guys who either didn’t know their expensive adventure bike had a paper filter under the tank or were quite happy to let the dealer deal with it in 40,000km.
I think there should be a law that any bike you can’t lift onto a Coca Cola case should have a centre stand. For me that starts at 130kg. I don’t think you can do the trick of canting it back on the side stand and dropping it on the box either because the sidestand is a very lightweight aluminium jobbie. It comes with tubes and the rear rim looks too wide for a Tubliss system. It doesn’t worry them here because there are no thorns to worry about and if you find a rock garden it’s because you’ve been looking for it.
The questions I asked myself is 1) is it worth the price of two brand new Dr650's? ANSWER: Yes 2) Would I spend $17k on a bike? ANSWER: No, I'm still too cheap for that.
Yesterday I had to go into Mackay to take my wife for an appointment so I got hold of Bullet bikes and asked if I could take a T7, Australia’s best selling bike for a spin. In a country full of cover your arse regulations they photocopied my licence and gave me the keys, no questions asked.
I felt immediately comfortable and well balanced on it, so much so that I managed to hold stationary for the few seconds that the robots took to change outside the bike shop. It might sound stupid but at times it felt well planted like a horse. On the road two things struck me, firstly the little screen doesn’t do that much for you, the 1100 Katana had a similar little screen that was fantastic, so I don’t know what happened here. Secondly, there is not that much vooma. I was expecting closer to its older sibling the 900 twin rather than the Kawasaki 650 I’m using at the moment. Nothing wrong with that but it may be a bit shy for two up on a twisty climb.
I found my way into the Pioneer river so I can confirm that it laughs at sand and is a blast up a muddy bank. They never looked at the bike when I brought it back so they didn’t say anything about getting it a bit dirty. It feels very light but drop it into a hole and I’m sure you will find out how heavy it is. I think I would cry the first time I threw it away. There is such shiny and breakable plastic on the side with pernickety little fasteners. Someone was awake because the sump guard is not attached to the sump but on a false downtube cradle.
The air filter is in the sensible place under the seat and it is a foam one here. I can only roll my eyes sometimes with guys who either didn’t know their expensive adventure bike had a paper filter under the tank or were quite happy to let the dealer deal with it in 40,000km.
I think there should be a law that any bike you can’t lift onto a Coca Cola case should have a centre stand. For me that starts at 130kg. I don’t think you can do the trick of canting it back on the side stand and dropping it on the box either because the sidestand is a very lightweight aluminium jobbie. It comes with tubes and the rear rim looks too wide for a Tubliss system. It doesn’t worry them here because there are no thorns to worry about and if you find a rock garden it’s because you’ve been looking for it.
The questions I asked myself is 1) is it worth the price of two brand new Dr650's? ANSWER: Yes 2) Would I spend $17k on a bike? ANSWER: No, I'm still too cheap for that.
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