It took a few days to get the new battery and test drive the bike. It is very cold nature, and takes at least 10 minutes of warmup on a finicky choke before you can even ride it.
I took a long ride on it with my friend Adam last Sunday. It is light and nimble enough, but pewny compared to the 1100, and not as stable at high speeds. I scared myself pretty bad hitting the groove between two lanes at 85, especially when the handlebars started swinging after I finally got out of the groove.
Also, as pretty as it is with its two tones finish and all that stuff hanging on it, it is a very very traditional looking bike, trying too hard to look like a Harley, without the roar and the power. And I bought it specifically to bob...
So I got up early a couple of days ago and started unbolting everything off it: fenders, bags, rear seat, mufflers, chrome covers real and plastic, air box and plastic intake filter.
I have to say I much prefer it naked! I even chopped off the rear part of the frame that serves no purpose but make it look "sort of like a hard tail", and hang stuff on. I was going to cut the top part all the way to the tank to fully expose the horizontal shock and suspend the seat on a leaf spring, but decided to keep a support for the existing seat, which is pretty comfortable, at least for the moment:
I also took off the ugly handlebars, and put on short black half bars I had. I moved the battery and all the electrical peripherals flat on top of the swing arm(to be fitted later in a pretty brass )box:
Yes, the short pipes are too skinny, but I like the clean look of the back end. The tank mounted speedometer will have to go when I cover the tank with non skid aluminum, and the big fat headlight too. The floor boards should make way to cool pegs, but I have to say they are less tiring on my weak right ankle...
As is, it is too noisy, and runs awful(won't even run without choke), so I took it to the shop for adjustments.
I took a long ride on it with my friend Adam last Sunday. It is light and nimble enough, but pewny compared to the 1100, and not as stable at high speeds. I scared myself pretty bad hitting the groove between two lanes at 85, especially when the handlebars started swinging after I finally got out of the groove.
Also, as pretty as it is with its two tones finish and all that stuff hanging on it, it is a very very traditional looking bike, trying too hard to look like a Harley, without the roar and the power. And I bought it specifically to bob...
I have to say I much prefer it naked! I even chopped off the rear part of the frame that serves no purpose but make it look "sort of like a hard tail", and hang stuff on. I was going to cut the top part all the way to the tank to fully expose the horizontal shock and suspend the seat on a leaf spring, but decided to keep a support for the existing seat, which is pretty comfortable, at least for the moment:
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