Now that the Kwak's gone, I feel okay about talking about its replacement. The other Friday, as first crack of sparrowfart, I dragged myself from the house, and wheeled my shiny new steed from the garage. Silver, it is. Perseus silver. I bungeed the large rucksack onto the seat, and clambered aboard. For a very large motorcycle, it's very narrow across the middle; the seat is firm, and the controls fall easily to hand. On with the choke, and press the starter. None of that silly kicking nonsense any more, oh no. First press, and with a cacophony of rattles and whirrs, it bursts into life. Choke straight off, and I warm it up on the throttle. Good job it has decent silencers on, as it's still only 05:15. Once it had settled down to a nice quiet rustling idle, it was back indoors for lid, coat, gloves, and a last fag. Then it was off to the Eurotunnel terminal to meet Simon and darsy. Arrived at the Texaco garage on Cotton St, and found that the "spare" key did not open the petrol tank cap. Good job I'd decided not to leave fuel until Maidstone services. Back home, other key, fuel, and off. To discover that the Blackwall tunnel had not been re-opened yet, from overnight maintenance. Arse. Back along the A13 to the Rotherhithe tunnel, then. Through the Victorian horror, and onto the A2, across Blackheath, and away. Due to time problems, I was now in dire need of making good progress - on an unfaired, 26 year-old bike, that I'd previously done 24 miles aboard. It did the 50-60 mph section of the A2 with ease, then seemed quite happy zinging up to 70 on the M25. Handling foibles were hinted at on the long sweeper from the M25 to the M20, but were more than acceptable at 85 or so. The M20 was despatched at a steady 90, with the occasional foray >100, topping out at around 110. Windblast, and a flappy jacket prevented (discouraged) me from trying any harder. I arrived at the terminal (at a guess) around 7-ish, which was a bit of a problem, as our train was due to depart at 6:58. The other two had been there some time, but weren't even slightly shirty about my tardy arrival. We got bumped onto the next train anyway, so not too much time was lost. We filled up at the French Terminal (I put twice as much fuel in the CBX as darsy did in the 400 Four), then it was onto the A16/26 to J4. Leaving the autoroute, where we'd held a steady 75 or so, it was onto the D341 towards Le Touquet, which was a pity, as we wanted to go East. We would have stopped before four miles had been completed, but neither of us Honda riders could catch Simon on the Guzzi. Back on the right route, I ended up in the lead, until frustration at my "familiarisation" technique forced the other two to pass me. I found I could go significantly quicker following, than any speed I felt comfortable leading at. We stopped for coffee at Cambrai [zymurgy will be pleased to note we had no problems navigating], and it was here that Simon's Guzzi nearly induced a seizure in a small child, who was investigating the rear of the T3 when it was started. From Cambrai, we battled on through the heat to Le Cateau, then Hirson, and Chimay. Along these French Roads, the CBX proved to have adequate punch for overtaking, provided I was prepared to rev it. The handling was adequate, if not inspiring, but perhaps I'm not the best judge, anyway. It pulls sweetly from 1500 revs, with a slight stutter at 2500, before getting a real step in the power at 5-6000 revs. From here, the temptation to hold onto a gear for too long is quite strong, but the noise tails off with the power anyway, so it's best to shift at around 9k for best progress. The brakes, which were truly terrifying when I bought it, got progressively better during the trip, suggesting that the main culprit was new pad syndrome. They're okay now, but no more than that. The rear is quite good. Anyway, we got our tickets, entered the campsite, camped, ate, drank and spectated for two days. Good, it was. Then we went home. I dutifully adopted the role of tail end Charlie, and off we chugged, Simon thundering into the distance, with darsy wringing the 400's neck keeping up. I got dropped off the back in traffic, then, attempting to catch up, I went onto reserve - after 102 miles. The other two doubled back, and filled up, too. The journey to Cité Europe was uneventful, and we filled up once more. I was already on reserve. 108 miles. Holding a steady 80-90 on the autoroute was more tiring than expected - perhaps I've been spoilt by fairings. The run home up the M20 was dispatched into the teeth of a howling gale, and I declined to fill up for the third time in a day before going home. Still, the CBX had now done more miles, in two days, than the KH500 and TS250 had done between them in seven years of combined ownership. Without the slightest hitch. In summary: it's impractical, dreadfully thirsty, a bit squirrely under braking, and not terribly fast. Narrow tyres (though they were the same as fitted to the Guzzi) did not inspire confident cornering -though I imagine it will corner quicker with someone else on board. The rear shocks need to be eased off at least a notch, as Ace will no doubt testify, following his journey back from breakfast on Saturday. I love it. Now to make it a bit tidier. -- | ___ Salad Dodger |/ \ _/_____\_ GL1500SE-V/CBR1100XX-X/CBX1000Z |_\_____/_| ..76331.../...19254.../..30836. (>|_|_|<) TPPFATUICG#7 DIAABTCOD#9 YTC#4 |__|_|__| BOTAFOT #70 BOTAFOF #09 two#11 \ |^| / IbW#0 & KotIbW# BotTOS#6 GP#4 \|^|/ ANORAK#17 IbB#4 PM#5 WG* '^' RBR Clues: 29 Pts: 485 Miles: 1967
Salad Dodger wrote By coincidence matey knocked on the door tonight to try and sell me a Suzuki Gamma and/or a 48" Hayter mower. He will have the list of the loft contents for me tomorrow apparently.
Thank you for your post There was never a mention of A or B There was,until very recently,a link to,"Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" but's it's all been invaded and robbed by Web advertizing crap trying to make a quick buck and they are using crappy lock-in no back codes on the pages.Hmmm.Might have a few words with some of me Quake M8s.Dey do love a good hacking spree =) "When I set off from A on my motorcycle it's sometimes great not to know where B is" Shep©
<snip> Excellent right-up, although I'd expect nothing less from you. Wasn't that bad, TBH, considering what we were riding over. But yes, it could probably benefit from moving off the "very very hard"suspension setting. As did I, I have to say. I remember drooling over them when they first came out, so it was great to see one in the flesh, alive and kicking, as it were. Two, actually, as there was a frog one there too, in a similarly "well-used" condition to yours, as I'm sure you noticed. You could start by replacing the missing engine bolt. Surprisingly, you completely fail to mention the fact that that huge great lump[1] was only held on by 5/6 of its normal complement of Mr. Whitworth's finest for most of the ride out there and, presumably, all of the trip back. [1] The engine, not you. -- _______ ..'_/_|_\_'. Ace (brucedotrogers a.t rochedotcom) \`\ | /`/ GSX-R1000K3 `\\ | //' BOTAFOT#3, SbS#2, UKRMMA#13, DFV#8, SKA#2 `\|/` `
Filled it up yesterday. £12 @ 86.9p, after 77 miles. 25mpg. At a steady 80. Shite. -- | ___ Salad Dodger |/ \ _/_____\_ GL1500SE-V/CBR1100XX-X/CBX1000Z |_\_____/_| ..76331.../...19254.../..30836. (>|_|_|<) TPPFATUICG#7 DIAABTCOD#9 YTC#4 |__|_|__| BOTAFOT #70 BOTAFOF #09 two#11 \ |^| / IbW#0 & KotIbW# BotTOS#6 GP#4 \|^|/ ANORAK#17 IbB#4 PM#5 WG* '^' RBR Clues: 29 Pts: 485 Miles: 1967
That is a bit! I'm sure they're not meant to be that bad. Perhaps a word with that specialist chap you spoke to?
Sweet as a nut, apparently. He'd only serviced it some 500 miles previous to my buying it. That was the back from Dover into the wind bit, and I made no attempt to reduce the cross section presented to the airflow. -- | ___ Salad Dodger |/ \ _/_____\_ GL1500SE-V/CBR1100XX-X/CBX1000Z |_\_____/_| ..76331.../...19254.../..30836. (>|_|_|<) TPPFATUICG#7 DIAABTCOD#9 YTC#4 |__|_|__| BOTAFOT #70 BOTAFOF #09 two#11 \ |^| / IbW#0 & KotIbW# BotTOS#6 GP#4 \|^|/ ANORAK#17 IbB#4 PM#5 WG* '^' RBR Clues: 29 Pts: 485 Miles: 1967
