Soldato
Had the XR in for a service and a first MOT (where has the time gone?!) yesterday, so took this little gem out for a couple of hours.
I still really like the R Nine T, but for the first time I was riding it to see if it ticked a few more boxes:
- could it be as much fun as I had on the CB400 earlier this year, in a back to basics sort of way; and
- could it still, with some compromises, be capable of crunching through some decent miles to tour
So yesterday's two hour session included one of of sitting on dual carriageway at cruising speed, the other enjoying all that Norfolk's finest roads can offer at this time of year (slow bunched up traffic queued up behind farm machinery).
With the benefit of a longer test ride this time around, some of may hopes are clearly flawed. The riding position and lack of wind protection means that this isn't a machine I could use to cover a few hundred miles in a day. Cruising above 70 would be painful, and in Europe the standard is 85. For for normal day to day riding, the bike is really quite nimble once on the move, especially seeing as it is is really a bit heavier than it should be, and the torque is lovely. I think it is oddly a bit much for what I'm looking for though - if they could stick an 800cc engine in there with around 85 - 90 bhp then it would feel a better bike.
I'm going to try the Scrambler version next, as the seating position is a little more upright.
I still really like the R Nine T, but for the first time I was riding it to see if it ticked a few more boxes:
- could it be as much fun as I had on the CB400 earlier this year, in a back to basics sort of way; and
- could it still, with some compromises, be capable of crunching through some decent miles to tour
So yesterday's two hour session included one of of sitting on dual carriageway at cruising speed, the other enjoying all that Norfolk's finest roads can offer at this time of year (slow bunched up traffic queued up behind farm machinery).
With the benefit of a longer test ride this time around, some of may hopes are clearly flawed. The riding position and lack of wind protection means that this isn't a machine I could use to cover a few hundred miles in a day. Cruising above 70 would be painful, and in Europe the standard is 85. For for normal day to day riding, the bike is really quite nimble once on the move, especially seeing as it is is really a bit heavier than it should be, and the torque is lovely. I think it is oddly a bit much for what I'm looking for though - if they could stick an 800cc engine in there with around 85 - 90 bhp then it would feel a better bike.
I'm going to try the Scrambler version next, as the seating position is a little more upright.
Explorer
