WPZ
New Member
- Joined
- Oct 24, 2017
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- Location
- Chicagoland, Illinois, USA
While traveling under the screen name of my own initials, the newly-arrived NC700XD in the household is actually that of The Missus, TD. With only a small amount of motorcycle experience, she decided to make Autumn '17 the big push to finally get up and running on two motorized wheels. (There was a lot of bicycle in the past, including a good amount of racing, so single-track rides are nothing new.)
She'd decided that the NC with a DCT was going to be the answer, and who am I to stand in the way? The search was on, and a new '16 was looked at at a dealer not too far away and one that I've done Kawasaki business with for years.
But that seemed a big leap for a first "real" bike in terms of expense, despite the outstanding deal offered- out the door under $8K, even with the onerous load of Illinois taxery. (BBK Motorsports, in Elgin, IL, for reference)
One popped up on Cycle Trader in a Detroit-area dealer, Genthe of Southgate. It's a 2012 with quite a few mods, farkles as the new owner prefers to call them: full OEM hard luggage, a Madstad first-gen windshield setup, OEM heated grips, and a few other things, some of which I may not have discovered yet.
It had about 12K miles on it and was wearing Michelin Power sportbike/trackday tires. Hard to figure the crotch rocket tire choice, but they're past mid-life and will be gone for Pilots in spring.
The "adventure" part comes with the purchase and acquisition.
We like to do Amtrak trips, and we'd long been figuring to visit the Ford Museum and Greenfield Village in Dearborn, Michigan. We had some ticket credit from a New Orleans trip last year so we spent it on this trip, Chicago Union Station to Dearborn. There's a good Comfort Inn adjacent to the Amtrak station and Ford Museum is literally just across the tracks. And, the dealer is about 20 minutes away by Uber.
We're in a southwest suburb of Chicago with Metra commuter service in walking distance. We lit out on the Monday morning, grabbed the 6:00am train to Union, walked over and got the Wolverine to Dearborn, and enjoyed the 4 1/2 ride in comfort. We did the museum thing in the afternoon and then Tuesday morning, Ubered over to the dealer just before opening time.
After some discussion, it was decided that I would be the test rider, so the salesman, a mature guy with 187,000 miles on his '84 Gold Wing (good sign!), set me up.
Now, I understand the thinking of the DCT and have ridden her old Hondamatic a little, but I have nearly fifty years and almost 3/4 million miles of riding... with a clutch.
Returning after a short, two-mile pop, my first and emphatic comment was, "that was possibly the weirdest motorcycle ride I've ever been on." Truly bizarre, all that clunking, banging, and shifting going on down below. The downshifting coming to a stop in particular- unnerving.
Still, she liked it and the paperwork commenced. After a short discussion of storage and/or shipping, it seemed only right to me to simply ride the thing home. I'd brought my Aerostich and helmet, and the weather was really nice- 60 degrees despite a stiff breeze. Since there were train options for the return home, noon and 7pm, the nooner was selected for her and I got ready to go home with it once another Uber guy transported the New Owner back to the station (with less than two minutes to spare).
I went to the service manager, asked a couple of questions, then gave him the Eye: would YOU ride this bike to Chicago, right this minute? Sure, he said, so I geared up, posed for the silly dealer's picture attached and lit out westbound on a busy westbound I-94.
First discovery: on a XD, when the odo reads 135 miles in Sport mode against a 25+mph headwind, you really need to gas up right now. I managed to get 3.1 gallons (11.7L) in there. Kinda close.
Apart from that and the struggle to get accustomed to the transmission, it was pretty uneventful for the 300 miles home. Being a Chicago boy, the dense traffic of Corridor 94 isn't especially hard, not compared to the Dan Ryan Expressway.
Meanwhile, new owner was riding back to Chicago (at speeds up to 110mph- the Michigan Service is pretty good) for a transfer to a commuter train back to our hometown.
I had a lunch stop by Kalamazoo, she had snacks in the club car, and given her 45-minute layover at Union, I got home about a half-hour ahead.
So now after a some more mods to make the thing fit, she's off learning the ways of NC.
She'd decided that the NC with a DCT was going to be the answer, and who am I to stand in the way? The search was on, and a new '16 was looked at at a dealer not too far away and one that I've done Kawasaki business with for years.
But that seemed a big leap for a first "real" bike in terms of expense, despite the outstanding deal offered- out the door under $8K, even with the onerous load of Illinois taxery. (BBK Motorsports, in Elgin, IL, for reference)
One popped up on Cycle Trader in a Detroit-area dealer, Genthe of Southgate. It's a 2012 with quite a few mods, farkles as the new owner prefers to call them: full OEM hard luggage, a Madstad first-gen windshield setup, OEM heated grips, and a few other things, some of which I may not have discovered yet.
It had about 12K miles on it and was wearing Michelin Power sportbike/trackday tires. Hard to figure the crotch rocket tire choice, but they're past mid-life and will be gone for Pilots in spring.
The "adventure" part comes with the purchase and acquisition.
We like to do Amtrak trips, and we'd long been figuring to visit the Ford Museum and Greenfield Village in Dearborn, Michigan. We had some ticket credit from a New Orleans trip last year so we spent it on this trip, Chicago Union Station to Dearborn. There's a good Comfort Inn adjacent to the Amtrak station and Ford Museum is literally just across the tracks. And, the dealer is about 20 minutes away by Uber.
We're in a southwest suburb of Chicago with Metra commuter service in walking distance. We lit out on the Monday morning, grabbed the 6:00am train to Union, walked over and got the Wolverine to Dearborn, and enjoyed the 4 1/2 ride in comfort. We did the museum thing in the afternoon and then Tuesday morning, Ubered over to the dealer just before opening time.
After some discussion, it was decided that I would be the test rider, so the salesman, a mature guy with 187,000 miles on his '84 Gold Wing (good sign!), set me up.
Now, I understand the thinking of the DCT and have ridden her old Hondamatic a little, but I have nearly fifty years and almost 3/4 million miles of riding... with a clutch.
Returning after a short, two-mile pop, my first and emphatic comment was, "that was possibly the weirdest motorcycle ride I've ever been on." Truly bizarre, all that clunking, banging, and shifting going on down below. The downshifting coming to a stop in particular- unnerving.
Still, she liked it and the paperwork commenced. After a short discussion of storage and/or shipping, it seemed only right to me to simply ride the thing home. I'd brought my Aerostich and helmet, and the weather was really nice- 60 degrees despite a stiff breeze. Since there were train options for the return home, noon and 7pm, the nooner was selected for her and I got ready to go home with it once another Uber guy transported the New Owner back to the station (with less than two minutes to spare).
I went to the service manager, asked a couple of questions, then gave him the Eye: would YOU ride this bike to Chicago, right this minute? Sure, he said, so I geared up, posed for the silly dealer's picture attached and lit out westbound on a busy westbound I-94.
First discovery: on a XD, when the odo reads 135 miles in Sport mode against a 25+mph headwind, you really need to gas up right now. I managed to get 3.1 gallons (11.7L) in there. Kinda close.
Apart from that and the struggle to get accustomed to the transmission, it was pretty uneventful for the 300 miles home. Being a Chicago boy, the dense traffic of Corridor 94 isn't especially hard, not compared to the Dan Ryan Expressway.
Meanwhile, new owner was riding back to Chicago (at speeds up to 110mph- the Michigan Service is pretty good) for a transfer to a commuter train back to our hometown.
I had a lunch stop by Kalamazoo, she had snacks in the club car, and given her 45-minute layover at Union, I got home about a half-hour ahead.
So now after a some more mods to make the thing fit, she's off learning the ways of NC.
