Luke’d
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Wife & I rode about 80 miles up into the Susquehanna park area. Rode through Indiantown Gap & then up into the mountains some more. Had a good time. She was on her PCX150, her little scoot did great.
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I can say similar things comparing the BMW F850 GS to the NC750X. The NC is easier to ride and the handyness Frunk is irreplaceable . However, on ill-maintained roads that could frustrate a Land Rover driver the better suspension is more than appreciated.I took my X-Adv on a round trip of about 100km today. I had one purpose for the ride and that was to ride the bike over the roughest roads in my locality and take a fresh assessment of how it is handling them. The reason for that in turn is because the X-Adv has for the third time in my 6 years of ownership become at risk of being traded. It fended off the other two protagonists, but the current one is more of a risk to it.
I rode the new Transalp a couple of days ago and I liked it. I liked it a lot. What I liked most about it was its compliant suspension over the rough roads that I live on. It is considerably more compliant than my X-Adv despite my efforts to make that bike more compliant with a new shock and adjustments to the forks etc. However, no matter what adjustments I make I am always up against the two small wheels that the bike has as standard. They are 17" and 15" respectively and not ideal for roads that are bordering on offroad. Despite this I have lived with the bike for 6 years on these roads because I love its individuality and uniqueness. I have a strong bond with it and I know exactly how it will handle anything that it encounters on the road. I love the motor and the DCT etc etc. However there are times when those small wheels hammer my ageing carcass, and as I get older I am struggling a bit with that. The Transalp on the other hand was a joy to ride the other day over similar roads.
I now have to decide if the cost of trading is worth the difference in the suspension compliance. I tried to get a feel for that today and I came home thinking that I could probably continue to live with the X-Adv, but I am not sure. If I hadn't ridden the Transalp I would have continued without giving it a second thought other than to make a further adjustment to the forks that at best would make a slight difference.
Accordingly I will return to the shop on Tuesday and take out the Transalp again. I will ride both bikes back to back over the same route and make my mind up. The Transalp is a better motorcycle but nowhere near as characterful as the Scoot.
@Griff....you know the guys on the Transalp forum (I assume there is one) probably complain about the non-compliant suspension and get a new rear shock and fork kits for them (plus a seat and a windshield lol). Good luck with your decision. Transalp is a cool looking bike. Rumor has it the U S will get it as a 24 model.
Mrs Ferret and I went for a leisurely 43 mile after lunch ride. She followed me on her 300X Max and is starting to ride pretty well. 84 degrees, humid and cloudy. It was supposed to start thunder storming 1/2 hour ago, but so far nothing. I even snuck in cutting my grass.
meanwhile, I’ve been riding other bikes - 5 other ones just in the past week. Total motorcycle miles this week was about 500.
Topping off battery charge and maintaining tire air pressure are the only timed based maintenance chores I do, so even with a seldom used bike, it‘s no hassle for me. The main thing is, I want to ride them all, so running them on a regular basis comes naturally. Between the wife and I, we’ve had as many as eight; we currently have seven and probably will for awhile.Thats a consideration with owning a few bikes. Running them all regularly. I have four and each one has a purpose. My ideal number would be three. The other hassle is routine maintenance on them all and my pet hate, washing
I don’t mount my NC standing on the left peg (I do on my CRF), however my NC sidestand was wobbly early in life. I had to file the slot parallel and add a shim washer to snug up the fit of the sidestand. Sloppy manufacturing or loose specs was possibly the root cause.Put a new side stand on my 2015. A few years of my “not dainty” hulk standing on the side stand to mount the bike deformed it a bit, so on with a new one (and replaced the bolts, nut, and spring because, well, I was in there anyway). Nowadays I step through to mount (took some practice but doable). Then, of course, had to test drive it for 50-60 miles (in the heat).