NovaGeeze
Member
Picked up a 2023 NC750x DCT from the dealer yesterday. I was pretty nervous since I haven't done any riding in 30 years and this was my first new bike. I'd recently completed 2 day MC safety and permitting, plus another day of training, and did a day of dirtbike training as well, but that was it. I'd be picking up the bike 180 miles from destination and riding it back.
My brother watched me take the first slow-speed maneuvers out of the parking lot, down the block, then back and pronounced himself satisfied that I'd make it, so he drove home and left me there. I rode the bike around town for 15-20 minutes getting used to it. I was super impressed. I trained on Suzuki tu-250s and 400cc dirt bikes, each of them at least 150 pounds lighter than the NC, but the NC seemed to me to handle as light as they did with all that weight down low. Frankly, it felt much more nimble that the suzuki, and nimble in a different way than the dirt bike, which was plenty nimble but with a lot more weight up high. I was worried about not being able to do low-speed U-ies, etc with the DCT having gotten my clutch hand back in shape in training, but dragging the rear brake and running some revs I made nice tight U-turns and didn't feel at all clutzy. So, I filled up and headed out.
I had kurviger find me some small roads to get the bike to destination rather than just taking it onto a 60mph divided highway. So I spent the first hour and a half on small country roads, some of them quite bumpy. Almost no traffic -- not to curvy. The bike felt really great to me. Kurviger routed me on some gravel connectors even though I had put it on highest priority gravel avoidance -- they were just necessar sometimes. I ignored the first few but got at a certain point ya couldn't get there from here without gravel, so I ran several gravel roads 1-2 miles at a time with no real problems. Speeds were low and I just used my dirtbike training (staying calm mostly when the bike would wander in the deeper stuff) and that was all fine. Finally had enough slower-speed stuff under my belt to feel OK with mixing it up on the faster roads, so I took some of those. I was on very low traffic roads all day, and did 220 miles total, frequent stops, slow speed, some towns, some gravel. Weather was perfect. I managed to grab the right gear too, riding jeans with pads and a mesh jacket with pads worked perfectly all day. Hard to imagine a better reintroduction to riding than yesterday.
Love that I could throw my overnight bag into the frunk and have zero worries about luggage for the trip. I ended up tossing cold sodas and hot food in there at times too, where it stayed at temp since it was insulated with clothing. That sort of sealed the deal for me on this thing as the perfect bike for my boring needs. Now it runs all the smaller errands that used to get done in the minivan, which uses a lot less gas and also makes them fun. Everyone around me is used to cruisers or dirt bikes and crotch rockets, so they all ask about the NC, which is fun too. I will be over 300 miles by tonight so I'm glad I pre-bought my filters for the first change. I'll need them before the weekend I bet.
My brother watched me take the first slow-speed maneuvers out of the parking lot, down the block, then back and pronounced himself satisfied that I'd make it, so he drove home and left me there. I rode the bike around town for 15-20 minutes getting used to it. I was super impressed. I trained on Suzuki tu-250s and 400cc dirt bikes, each of them at least 150 pounds lighter than the NC, but the NC seemed to me to handle as light as they did with all that weight down low. Frankly, it felt much more nimble that the suzuki, and nimble in a different way than the dirt bike, which was plenty nimble but with a lot more weight up high. I was worried about not being able to do low-speed U-ies, etc with the DCT having gotten my clutch hand back in shape in training, but dragging the rear brake and running some revs I made nice tight U-turns and didn't feel at all clutzy. So, I filled up and headed out.
I had kurviger find me some small roads to get the bike to destination rather than just taking it onto a 60mph divided highway. So I spent the first hour and a half on small country roads, some of them quite bumpy. Almost no traffic -- not to curvy. The bike felt really great to me. Kurviger routed me on some gravel connectors even though I had put it on highest priority gravel avoidance -- they were just necessar sometimes. I ignored the first few but got at a certain point ya couldn't get there from here without gravel, so I ran several gravel roads 1-2 miles at a time with no real problems. Speeds were low and I just used my dirtbike training (staying calm mostly when the bike would wander in the deeper stuff) and that was all fine. Finally had enough slower-speed stuff under my belt to feel OK with mixing it up on the faster roads, so I took some of those. I was on very low traffic roads all day, and did 220 miles total, frequent stops, slow speed, some towns, some gravel. Weather was perfect. I managed to grab the right gear too, riding jeans with pads and a mesh jacket with pads worked perfectly all day. Hard to imagine a better reintroduction to riding than yesterday.
Love that I could throw my overnight bag into the frunk and have zero worries about luggage for the trip. I ended up tossing cold sodas and hot food in there at times too, where it stayed at temp since it was insulated with clothing. That sort of sealed the deal for me on this thing as the perfect bike for my boring needs. Now it runs all the smaller errands that used to get done in the minivan, which uses a lot less gas and also makes them fun. Everyone around me is used to cruisers or dirt bikes and crotch rockets, so they all ask about the NC, which is fun too. I will be over 300 miles by tonight so I'm glad I pre-bought my filters for the first change. I'll need them before the weekend I bet.
