R3GT ride today

[KiwiCol]

It's a cracker day here, but too much wind for fishing, so decided to take the R3GT for a bit of a lap round the place. Left Westport, down the coast via Punakaiki, turned off at Taylorville rd & headed up the Grey valley via Blackball.  (Photo opportunity) Then headed to Reefton & home via the Buller Gorge. 260 odd K's & 3½ hours. Bike is running very well, averaged 5.8L/100k on this run & it's possible I might have seen 200 clicks on the speedo during this run too, so I reckon the remap has definitely improved the fueling over standard.
Beer o'clock now I reckon.

[GSXKING]

Nice 👍 🍺🍺🍺
The only bike out there by the looks 🙏

[Pommeroy]

Great pub. Tried, unsuccessfully, to convince my wife we ought to buy a place in Blackball for weekends away from Christchurch about 15 years ago. Love the West Coast, with a ride 'around the block' being a favourite day ride...once had a patrol cop wave me and a mate past, when we were sitting behind him at 100km/h, and when we crawled past he gestured we should go for it

[KiwiCol]

Nice 👍 🍺🍺🍺
The only bike out there by the looks 🙏

Only in the pic, couple of Hardleys pulled up as I was leaving (I stopped for a chat) & passed another couple on the way out of town.

What I'm noticing lately is riders (especially of Hardleys) appear to be 'old blokes' with white hair.  Most look to be late 60's to early 70's.  Don't see very many at all of the 'younger' owners. 
Just had a thought, maybe they are younger, just they have prematurely aged because of the handling of their Hardley?   

[GSXKING]

Perhaps they're old enough and wealthy enough to purchase a (Suzuki) Harley Davidson unlike their younger counterparts. There's a plethora of 300cc bikes with P plates in Brisbane at present. A young chap at work just got his open license and jumped from 300 to 1000, I don't expect him to live much longer ☠️☠️☠️🤡

[KiwiCol]

Another loop today, Westport to Springs Junction to Maruia Falls & back through the Upper Gorge & Lower Gorge.  I got rained on 3 times, (which enabled me to try out the rain mode, so a small plus there) but managed to dry out between episodes.  Bike is going great, really getting to grips with it & becoming intuitive on it now.  




On a rather sad note, I rode the 2 bikes back to back the other day, well rather I tried to ride them the same loop, done the local loop on the R3GT came home & swapped onto the 14, expected it to feel like 'coming home' or putting on a comfy old pair of slippers.  Nope none of that, I couldn't ride the thing, everything was wrong & my feet felt like they were behind me, just everything felt wrong, so much so, I only rode round the block & back into the shed.  Bugger!!   I really wasn't expecting that at all.  I'm somewhat stunned myself after all the thousands of k's I've done on the 14 for it to suddenly feel like that?!   Got me rather perplexed to say the least.  Maybe shows when you find something that 'fits' everything else feels sorta 'wrong'   

[Hooli]

That's odd Col, as it took me months to feel natural on a cruiser & my 14 still feels like an old pair of slippers to get on.

[Pommeroy]

Col, perhaps you've just found a bike that really fits with your body as it is now...we all get a little less flexible over time, or have some aches more often. Or maybe the Trumpet would have always been good for you!
Either way, I'd just enjoy it   

[Andre]

The curse of the tall. If I were to transfer to a country/world where my body height is average then I wouldn't want to come back to this one. It looks like I am riding a Honda Dax when viewing myself on the security camera coming/going on the 14. Would be funny to see Col instead of me. Imagine it would look like he was riding a miniature bike.

Reminds me of the NBA player (center) whom I met in a hallway. Poor guy had to hunch over. Another time a NBA player was in front of me at the checkout. He was the shortest guy on the team, dwarfed by the others. He is 2cm shorter than me. Always a weird feeling when I meet someone taller than me.

The other day I sat on a hardly street glide. Very comfortable.

Let's face it. The 14 is a Japanese bike. Designed for a Japanese. Includes the suspension. After some alterations the 14 suits me well enough for my riding profile and meets all my emotional requirements for what a bike should be. She is a keeper. Rocket, Street Glide, or GS1250 don't fit the bill for me.

Sounds like a nice 14 is going up for sale.

[KiwiCol]

I'm going to have another couple of goes at it Andre, it used to work just fine & I'm buggered if I can understand it, so stubbornness will prevail for the time being. 

[KiwiCol]

Got it!  Went out to the garage this morning, sat on the Blue while on the main stand. Got the feel of where everything was, felt ok.  Got my gear on & went out for a ride. Everything all good again! Dunno what happened, but it could be because I rode the Blue first today & not the R3GT.  Reckon the 'old dog' body learned a new trick & promptly forgot the first.  Bit of retraining & now the old dog body has 2 tricks. 

Comparing todays ride with riding the Trumpet, the 14 felt so much lighter & dare I say flickable, in comparison.   This also was a surprise to me, because when I'm riding the R3GT it feels just fine for manoeuvrability.  Guess ya just adjust to each machine as you become accustomed to them & ride accordingly.

Very happy that the riding technique for the 14 was retained inside somewhere & it found it's way back to the surface!    

[Pommeroy]

Phew!!! Sounds like the 14 still has a home : cheers:

[GSXKING]

I'll bet your other report involved a 🤮🤮🤮 black bike lmfao 🤣

[grog]

Col, i also remember getting back on 14 after 2 weeks on Rocket. Lighter, smoother, feet in way diff position. Soon got used to it 

[Andre]

Way to go Col. Just keep the proper order: #1 first, then the couch

I think that you'll learn shortly to switch between the 2 easily.