Changing the bike...

The V-Strom has a reputation (it would seem) for 'doing it's own thing'
when you get above 110'ish.

Having done 110 on the A34 and finding it very much like wafting along on
one of those water tube rides (comfortable but you don't end up going
*quite* where you expected)- without the rapids - I'm intrigued as to what
will happen when one goes any faster.

 

Going splat into the back of some grandad driving a Rover 216 who has
pulled out to crawl past a lorry?

 

POssibly, though I was intending to try this on an empty road

 

Heh. Nuff said, really.

TBF the gixxer _is_ (for me) as comfy as the Sprint ST, but not as
good as, say, the TDM85o I had some years before that. But that's at
legal speeds - the difference is that for higher speed work the gixxer
remains just as comfortable, whereas the more upright bikes start to
suffer.

Best wind protection on any bike I've ever ridden was a varadero, with
extr-high screen, wot I had for a coupla days when the trumpet was in
the shop one time. Once I'd re-adjusted the pegs and levers to more
realistic angles, it was supremely comfortable, even at highish (it
wouldn't do more than 125mph anyway) speeds, but if you moved just
slightly out of the cocoon of still air it felt like hitting a brick
wall. Plus the upright position, comfy as it was, was much more tiring
after any longish time.

 

I don't think it is. Different shape, but pretty much the same height.

Mine's had a db on for most of its life and it is much superior to the
original, IMO. Then again, I'm taller than you or Champ, plus I rarely
tuck down very low, so maybe I was more in the wind in the first
place.

 

Ahh.. that'll be a fox running out on you then. I had that at an
indicated 120 on my Bandit, and another time deer at 80. Quite how I
managed to avoid binning it I don't know.

 

Ah, that explains it. My mind was doing some sort of "fairing ==
sprotsbike" thing.

The Bandit felt fairly stable at an indicated 145mph, but the front had
a kind of "not in as solid contact with the ground as I'd like it to be"
feeling.

 

Champ says...

I'm still trying to work out how you can do that trip in 1 hour 20
minutes and not go above the ton. I did take the more scenic route too,
not the dead straight 'dual carriageway all the way' road.

 

I had it up to 150 otc, but the wind blast was so strong that I just
didn't see the point in going any faster. **** trying to get it round
even the gentlest of curves at that speed though.

 

Oh, aye, yes. I don't mind the windblast for a little while to see what
it'll do, but that's not really what it's made for, is it?

Had some fun on it last weekend, including Sutton Bank: a couple of
hairpins on a mile of 25% incline; barely nudge the throttle to go for
the first overtake, and the front wheel pops up to say hello. Lovely.

Disconnect the noise wires next, I reckon, <mumble>and fit the engine
bars, just in case</mumble>. Track day in 3 weeks - should be amusing.

 

The day I took a borrowed GSXR600 SRAD out for a spin, I followed it
with a comparison run on the bandit.

Bastard thing kept trying to punch me in the teeth with the top yoke.
Fucking loved that bike!

 

I need to get out and practice on it, so it'll do that on demand. Be a
lot easier once I'm not working away from home - a few weeks commuting
and I'll be a complete nutter on it, I reckon.

 

Zen.

Innit.

No, really. I called Elly to tell her I was finally on the road - I
was behind the Fraser's van at the time, just on the dual carriageway
doing 60. I flowed past Champ and Alex and another couple of cars,
hitting about the ton and never went any faster. I didn't stop mind
you, but was kept down to 40/45 in a lot of NSL by numpties. I was
knackered, so took the directest route that I kneww and didn't ****
about.

I was in the kitchen here, with a cup of coffee in my hand, less than
80 minutes after the phone call. No sweat.

 

YOu could well be on to something there IN fairness to the bike, I think
it's more my lack of experience on it at those speeds combined with perhaps
not the most appropriate gear selection (6th - had to be 6th) for the
situation.

I'll get back to you once it's run in and I've had a few more tries