I did 430km. For the first half of the ride I was with a friend, Jeff. He rode a CBF250 and this was his first proper country ride. He did very well. Last time I took a first-timer out on these roads - Chum Creek, Myer's Creek Road - she crashed. If Jeff's new job -- in a Bee Gees tribute band in Las Vegas -- falls through then he will appear more on this blog. Speaking of blogs, check out my other one, here.
After Jeff left at 4PM, I continued on through the Black and Reefton Spurs, with no traffic to hinder me. The day was warm, and sometimes wet, sometimes sunny. In the next post I will offer a review of the W650 based on this ride, but suffice to say I rediscovered the feeling of getting myself lost in the motion of the road.
Matt, the resemblance to the Bonnie is striking. But why not, as Triumph is shamelessly copying from BMW when it comes to dual purpose bikes.
ReplyDeleteI like the double exhaust. I take it the W800 comes with an electric starter? Do you miss to kick start your SR500 some times?
Sonja,
ReplyDeleteyes, the modern Triumph crowd sometimes get worked up about this bike, and yet their bikes are very influenced by modern Japanese design in my opinion.
The 800 only has electric start, but the 650...has both! There's speculation that the kickstart can easily be installed in the 800 - the hole for it appears to be there and smiply plugged.
I do have the thought that years from now, when my engine is getting tired, it might be easy enough to pick up an 800 from the wreckers and fit it. Apparanetly they are quite a better engine, despite being only 100cc more (and highly, highly strangled by emissions laws).