DPSCOTT
May 7th, 2006, 9:57 pm
I resisted elJeffe's offer to ride his new GT early this morning, but in the early afternoon he offered again in Mena, AR and I thought okay just a short 15-20 mile ride to the Lodge would be innocent enough. Jeff rode my RS and I rode his GT.
Just enough time and distance to start feeling comfortable on the new GT.
When I first got on the bike it felt very tall, seat was in the high position; very nice for tall long legged people, felt very close to the R1200RT position. The leg room was great and Jeff says in the high position he can stretch his legs by letting them hang down without touching the road.
The tall sitting position makes the bike feel top heavy, but goes away very quickly with a little bit of speed. Hand grip position is different but you quickly adapt to the new position. I liked the more upright position, feels like it would be comfortable all day. Seat felt okay but on a short ride hard to evaluate.
Throttle takes a little getting used to, very little movement creates many RPMs, very quickly. Clutch felt good, not too much effort. Brakes didn't feel grabby, very progressive, good feel, very good stopping power.
Windscreen didn't keep all of the wind off my helmet but the air that was coming off the windscreen felt clean to me, very little buffeting, just the clean whoosh of air rushing by the helmet. Most of the rest of the air protection from the body work felt very good.
Temperature was in the mid 60's to 70, no heat problems from the engine.
As others have said the bike goes where you want it to go almost without thinking, it's almost scarey at first. Very little input needed to initiate a turn. The tall profile takes a little getting used to as you almost feel like you are falling into the turn.
Need more time to evaluate the different suspension settings. Even though I felt on top of the bike it felt even more planted in the turns than my RS.
A little vibration comes through the seat on deceleration, but none noticed on acceleration. Very quiet and very quick. Where you can feel the RS engine working to pull uphill in the higher gears, the new GT doesn't feel like the engine is working very hard at all. It just goes.
I enjoyed watching Jeff pass, the new GT steps out and gains speed so quickly. Now that Jeff is past the 600 mile break-in a full-on pass with downshift could be interesting to observe; if you're not paying attention it may be over before you realize it!
Since I can't afford a new GT right now, if all of you with money would go out and buy one then maybe I can get a good deal when you can't stand the looks any more and go to sell it! I'm not saying it's a beautiful looking bike but the bike is beautiful in its execution!
Curse you elJeffe, now you've got me wanting one!
Just enough time and distance to start feeling comfortable on the new GT.
When I first got on the bike it felt very tall, seat was in the high position; very nice for tall long legged people, felt very close to the R1200RT position. The leg room was great and Jeff says in the high position he can stretch his legs by letting them hang down without touching the road.
The tall sitting position makes the bike feel top heavy, but goes away very quickly with a little bit of speed. Hand grip position is different but you quickly adapt to the new position. I liked the more upright position, feels like it would be comfortable all day. Seat felt okay but on a short ride hard to evaluate.
Throttle takes a little getting used to, very little movement creates many RPMs, very quickly. Clutch felt good, not too much effort. Brakes didn't feel grabby, very progressive, good feel, very good stopping power.
Windscreen didn't keep all of the wind off my helmet but the air that was coming off the windscreen felt clean to me, very little buffeting, just the clean whoosh of air rushing by the helmet. Most of the rest of the air protection from the body work felt very good.
Temperature was in the mid 60's to 70, no heat problems from the engine.
As others have said the bike goes where you want it to go almost without thinking, it's almost scarey at first. Very little input needed to initiate a turn. The tall profile takes a little getting used to as you almost feel like you are falling into the turn.
Need more time to evaluate the different suspension settings. Even though I felt on top of the bike it felt even more planted in the turns than my RS.
A little vibration comes through the seat on deceleration, but none noticed on acceleration. Very quiet and very quick. Where you can feel the RS engine working to pull uphill in the higher gears, the new GT doesn't feel like the engine is working very hard at all. It just goes.
I enjoyed watching Jeff pass, the new GT steps out and gains speed so quickly. Now that Jeff is past the 600 mile break-in a full-on pass with downshift could be interesting to observe; if you're not paying attention it may be over before you realize it!
Since I can't afford a new GT right now, if all of you with money would go out and buy one then maybe I can get a good deal when you can't stand the looks any more and go to sell it! I'm not saying it's a beautiful looking bike but the bike is beautiful in its execution!
Curse you elJeffe, now you've got me wanting one!